Traveling Pants: An Interview with Eddie Campbell

 It’s been a long, interesting ride for Eddie Campbell. Luckily, it’s been well-documented in comics form. In comics, Eddie assumes the alter ego of Alec MacGarry, who, in the course of 30 years, has grown quite a bit. Campbell documented his life in such works as Graffiti Kitchen, How to Be an Artist, and After the Snooter, all of which (along with many others composed over the years) have now been collected in one giant omnibus, Alec: “The Years Have Pants” (the title refers to how we can tell our appropriate ages by the types of pants we wear). Compiling one’s life in a volume is a massive undertaking, and we recently spoke with Campbell about the process and why he decided to take it on at this point in his life.

Alec is a fantastic read. I’m curious, though: Why are you doing this collection now?
“The time has come, the walrus said…” Actually, a couple of the books have been out of print for some time, so some kind of action was called for. That and the recent trend with authors of long standing, such as Eisner and the Hernandez Bros., for collecting a bunch of books into one. Furthermore, I find that there is finally a more widespread receptiveness for my best work, which has always been the autobiographical strain.
 
What does it feel like to look back on so many years worth of work, all depicting your life?
There are 30 years of material in this compendium. However, I think I would have preferred to have invented something useful and ended up rich and unbelievably famous, and the satisfaction I’d derive from that would remove any need to communicate with my fellow man. But what you gonna do about it? Maybe readers can find something useful in my pictorial blatherings anyway.
 
What growth or changes in style do you see in your work, and what evolution do you notice now?
A “style” is something that needs to be revised for each and every project, so I don’t see an evolution in style, but rather advances in the choices of style to be used. It was interesting to try to recreate the older Alec style for the set of new pages I’ve drawn for the book. There are, however, great advances in drawing ability that are visible. I wish I could still draw as well as I was drawing in the middle of How to Be an Artist, which has the loosest drawing of all the Alec books. I’m not getting as much practice these days, what with hours spent scanning stuff on the computer for both the current Alec and the forthcoming Bacchus.
 
Why did you decide to use Alec MacGarry as your alter ego in these stories?
I thought it would be dangerous to use real people’s names. I’m still not convinced otherwise. At any minute, somebody could sue me. We live in litigious times. I think the only thing stopping folks from bringing to bear the power of the law is the assumption that there’s not that many reading it and shouting aloud would only attract attention. I’m sure my depictions of many parties in How to Be an Artist, a racing account of all the artists I’ve met over the years, still have the power to get me in trouble.
 
You’ve been doing autobiographical comics since the 1970s. What’s kept you interested in the format for this long?
The real world interests me more than any fantasy. The world of fantasy has ceased to have cause and effect, and everything gets put back in place at the end of the episode. I want a world of small but valuable causes, whose effects are felt and remembered. Events in my earliest books can become images of mythical significance in the later ones. Every life develops its own peculiar language as it goes along.
 
As you’re revisiting all this work that you’ve compiled throughout the years, are you editing anything? Are you tempted to change anything?
I’d love to fix it all, make myself look less foolish and naïve at the beginning, but that’s now all part of the story. In fact, there’s so much in it that I couldn’t have arrived at consciously. But a time traveler must never alter anything in the past. The repercussions can be catastrophic. That’s not to say I didn’t correct a few errors.
 
What’s the hardest part to revisit as you look back?
The section titled The Dead Muse was composed during a very low period, and it can be a little painful to reread. It turned out to be the lull before the storm of success.
 
What brings back the happiest memories?
The pages in the middle of After the Snooter are the opposite of the above and recall days of merriment and companionship. They’re full of beery parties and the funny things that kids say.
 
Will there be more autobiographical comics from you?
Yes, I’m currently trying to get started on a new book titled The Awful Horrid Stuff, the overriding subject of which will be money, the titular “stuff.” The world recession and other recent, more personal events have got me thinking about money as a grand philosophical subject, as well as a source of more commonplace mirth.

-- John Hogan