Dan Clowes: He-Man Comic Artist

Cheap and Common

m: Is there a lot more money in that end of the business?

d: Oh yeah, I mean. . .

m: Does that ever piss you off?

d: Yeah, all the time. Yeah, I would give anything just to make a decent living just drawing comics, but I have to do all this horrible freelance stuff just to make extra money. Whereas, you know, even some hack who draws Thor or something makes, you know, fifty grand a year or something. . . .I mean, lately, I've [had to do] stuff for OK Cola for godsakes [laughs].

m: [laughs] Really?

d: Yeah.

m: For magazines I take it or. . .

d: No it's like they have a product that they're debuting next year that's this sodapop designed for generation-x, like the lowered expectations of the new generation. So they wanted my depressing images on the can. But it's like, you know, I can do that stuff in like two days and make more money than I make on an issue of Eightball, which takes me about four months of working about seventy hours a week. So, you know, it's hard to pass up. I wish I didn't have to do it [laughs].

m: Geez.

d: It's drudgery even for just two days.

m: It really takes that much time, or were you exaggerating, for an issue of Eighball?

d: No, no, that's absolutely what it takes.