I think it started with my fascination with nature probably—like creatures, insects, animals, flora and fauna. We talked earlier about animism or imbuing objects and scenarios with spirit and personification. Animals and bugs are like that for me, especially when I was a child.

Did you draw a lot of bugs and stuff like that?

Well, I was obsessed with bugs, animals, and extinct creatures. I spent a lot of my childhood catching bugs with the kid across the street. That was our main activity. I loved predatory insects that were scary and almost seemed like they had superpowers, so it was an easy transition to cartoons, action figures, and comic book type worlds, watching TV and identifying with specific superheroes or heroines. Those subjects and their superpowers sparked awe in me. I would imagine myself as them, like an avatar in my imagination that helped me form a fantasy where childhood aspirations could develop into concepts of personhood.

I always identified with the underdog or obscure, femme-powered characters. I can’t recall which cartoons, but channels like Nickelodeon or PBS come to mind. And then I discovered Street Fighter II, and video games of that era, some dinosaur themes crossover. I would copy from TV, video games, comics, and card games. It always started with copying, and then in my own free time I would try to draw different versions that I liked from my imagination.

I remember feeling like that about Spawn. I was already into a lot of that comic book stuff, but when Spawn happened, it blew my fucking mind. I was obsessed with trying to draw it.

What blew your mind about it?

I liked how fucked up everything was—evil clowns, the really sharp, crazy teeth, and rotting faces. It was very formative. It’s interesting you had such a strong affinity towards strong female characters; I had such a strong affinity towards deformed or fucked up men, like monstrous men. Men that had mutated, like the Hulk, or what’s-his-face from Mortal Kombat.

Baraka. I had Baraka friends, but I was a Katana person.

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