Welcome to “Who Are You?”, the Webcomic Overlook’s first foray into interviewing people involved in the business of webcomics. This feature was actually going to go by a completely different name, but I had The Who on my iPod playlist this morning. You might call it fate.

The husband-and-wife team of Bengo and Pug produce two cartoony comics that are a pleasant mix of humor and drama. Li’l Nyet, which updates weekdays, conerns a feline demon in Soviet Russia. Scratchin Post, which updates weekends, follows the adventures of a group of eccentric, city-dwelling friends. In addition, Bengo manages a directory known as Psychedelic Treehouse (on which The Webcomic Overlook is featured as a link). Both have blogs: Bengo with a webcomic-focused blog called The Floating Lightbulb, and Pug with a more informal blog called Dog Toys and Dried Blood.

On The Floating Lightbulb, Bengo has not been afraid to speak out about several issues in webcomics today. His candor is sometimes confrontational, oftentimes refreshing, and always well researched. I contacted him via e-mail if he and his wife were game for an interview, and he and Pug gladly accepted.

Interview with Bengo and Pug

Scratchin' Post & Li'l Nyet

The Webcomic Overlook: Most people tend to work on webcomics by themselves. So I think it’s a pretty unique situation when there are two people working on a webcomic, and even moreso when the other person is your wife. How did you guys end up doing comics together?

Pug: We just wanted to make each other laugh. We still do. We are our audience. But next thing we knew we had shelves and shelves of sketchbooks loaded with Scratchin Post stories, and we thought, “Hmmm…” We didn’t start out with any sort of plan. For my part, I wasn’t even aware of the whole webcomic phenomenon. Not at all. The idea that we could clean up these drawings and put them online was completely new to me, and I’m not exactly a Luddite where the internet is concerned.

Bengo: We’ve only found about five other webcomics done by married couples, like nemu nemu. But there are of course many partnerships of friends and married couples where one manages the business end. Considering that print comics have pencillers, inkers, colorists, letterers and editors, doing a strip alone is pretty heroic.

We always wanted to collaborate professionally, so we’re pleased to be in a medium we love and which makes good use of our skill sets.

WCO: Looking at both Li’l Nyet and Scratchin’ Post, both prominently feature cats. Are they based on any felines you know in real life, or do you just like to draw cats?

Pug: I like drawing animals generally, but a number of years ago I’d started working on a comic about a whole cat universe after I found myself in accidental possession of 6 cats at once and became fascinated by the complexity of their relationships, and the various equations possible, e.g. take the orange one to the vet and suddenly the white one beats up on the spotted one, that sort of thing. Their universe was in perpetual flux. I called the comic strip “Nine Lives to Live”, since the whole thing was so soapy to me.

The tiniest things make cats SO MAD, and most of the humor was based on this simple truth. One character would, say, move closer to another cat it didn’t like, creating a thrilling cliffhanger. This ridiculous yet reality-based dynamic reminded me of old soap operas, when something bad was about to happen, with the accompanying “duh DUHHH” of an organ playing off camera. In a cat’s mind, sitting closer to another cat is a bold, hostile move akin to aiming a crossbow at their head. As with soap operas, nothing ever actually happens. (Well, mostly.) The downfall of “Nine Lives to Live” was my perfectly insane idea to create it using linoleum cuts. I thought it was genius, and it looked cool, especially hand-colored, but everyone thought I was nuts. You see, you make these linoleum cuts of each character in numerous poses, and you… never mind.

Trixie is based on a Black Lab I loved hopelessly for 14 years. Hence her last name, “Schwartz”, (German for black) even though the character is brown. It’s just about impossible to render a completely black cartoon character. At least it was with Trixie. Believe me, I tried. It could be said that I invented my Lab’s persona, but I think it came about organically. I’d say that’s the case with every pet I’ve had. They tell you who they are, the same way your best characters “write themselves”, as so many artists have observed about their own work. I know that sounds egotistical–or lazy–but it’s true. A good character writes itself, and tells you it would never say that and to cross it out and start over.

Bengo: Yes, some are based on pets, pets past and present. Dogs, too. But others derive from ideas or people. Katrinka of Scratchin Post and Li’l Nyet herself actually trace back to the same willful animal who likes to leave dead voles on our Wacom tablet.

But also, family. My grandmother fought Cossacks, starred in early motion pictures, shared one bed with her entire family, was betrayed by smugglers… She in turn told me many stories about her father, an inventor. That was an unusual vocation for anyone in that time and place. He reminds me of myself. I’ve had only a few real jobs, inventing my own career along the way.

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