The Fabler

Pope Hats is one of those rare comics that delivers a narrative that is both surreal at times and incredibly familiar.

Its themes of directionless youth and awkward/witty attempts at human connection will resound with you as genuine, just as you will very likely find yourself fascinated with the kind of idiosyncratic conversation that can be produced by a nondescript cartoon ghost.

This is the world that author and artist Ethan Rilly has created; a place that you will be able to relate to while keeping you guessing where the book is going with every page turn.

The story of Pope Hats centers around a young woman named Frances Scarland and her self-destructive roommate, Vickie. As Vickie careens down a path of alcoholism, Frances does her best to help her friend – but Franny has her own issues, which often come out in her interactions with a literal ghost named Saarsgard.

Ethan’s deft ability to construct a sincere narrative laced with convincing dialogue, combined with his knack for breezy, expressive illustration, contributed to Pope Hats winning a Xeric Foundation Grant in 2008. At the time, Pope Hats had manifested only as a limited-distribution minicomic.

Pope Hats # 1, a 32 page black-and-white comic book, saw wider distribution in 2009 via Adhouse Books.

The reason that we have yet to see a second issue of Pope Hats is owing to Ethan’s decision to follow the first comic with a longer length graphic novel, which he states on his website that we can hope to see in late 2010.

Being the impatient sort myself, I tracked down Ethan for an interview about the new book, his illustrative beginnings, and some general miscellany about what he’s up to outside of Pope Hats.

Read on, humble reader, and be enlightened:

KD: How far back does your interest in comic books go?

ER: I started reading comics in the early 90s around when Marvel was re-launching the X-Men books with Jim Lee as the main artist. I’m Asian, so I guess that was a pretty big deal for me. But those early books almost never cross my mind anymore.

KD: When and how did you decide that you first wanted to try your hand at making a mini-comic?

ER: I started a couple gag-ish comic strips for a campus newspaper when I was a student at McGill University. I needed an outlet that felt like the opposite of academia. My first mini didn’t require a lot of deliberation – I just xeroxed all those terrible strips together into a book and sold it in Montreal. To my surprise, people really responded to it.

KD: What formal education have you received in illustration?

ER: None, except for high school art classes. I guess I’m a little skeptical about art schools in general, though I am impressed by a lot of the young illustrators graduating from OCAD in Toronto. I’m more interested in good writers, which is a different ballgame.

KD: On your website it states that in addition to cartooning, you work for the Ontario government. Are you still occupied there?

ER: Yes, but recently I’ve been lucky enough to take some time off work for comics.

KD: How do you typically draw a balance between the responsibilities associated with your job and the sheer time commitment that being a professional artist entails?

ER: It’s never a perfect balance when I’m working full time. I don’t really have any good tips other than forsaking sleep (laughs). I sometimes dream about getting some kind of “bonus year” where I don’t age, don’t have any social or job obligations whatsoever, and where I just work intensively on comics.

Of course, in reality, that would be the end of me.

KD: How far along are you with the forthcoming Pope Hats graphic novel?

ER: A fair chunk is drawn, if I keep it down to a modest size.

KD: At this point, what are you able to tell me regarding what it’s about?

ER: It’s partly about failure. And there’s a part where I had to draw a whole lot of snow.

That’s all I’m going to say for now!

KD: Are you self-publishing it? Do you have plans for it to be distributed by AdHouse?

ER: I’m holding out until I finish it before I officially look for a publisher. I don’t want to get ahead of myself.

KD: How much of the story in the new graphic novel did you already have in mind when you put together Pope Hats # 1?

ER: Not much. Some of the parameters are the same. There’s something in particular I’m trying to capture, that Pope Hats touched the surface of.

Even with other projects I’m working on, it feels like I’m generally aiming for the same thing.

KD: Do you feel at all daunted by expectations for the new book, since the first Pope Hats received so much positive attention?

ER: To be honest, I don’t think there’s a great deal of expectation for my new comic or “graphic novel” or whatever you want to call it. Which is perfect. Agonizing over such things is hazardous.

KD: What else are you currently working on that you might like to share some info about?

ER: I’m working on a project where I interview real people and turn it into a wordy comic. I’m trying to marry comics with personal anecdotes that you would only tell when you’re at your most vulnerable–like at a seedy bar at two in the morning or something like that.

I like the project because it’s got “bad idea” written all over it. There are a bunch of logistical challenges. And it also satiates my interest in documentary-type stuff.

For more from Ethan, you can check out his official website. Popehats # 1 may be ordered directly from AdHouse.

-Interview by Kevin de Vlaming