by Adam Prosser

The following is my interview with Josh Wagner and Joiton, the team behind the extremely quirky and original comic miniseries, Fiction Clemens. I gave the book a five-Viking rating when the first issue came out back in May, comparing it to a bizarre but entertaining cross between a LucasArts game and “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. The third issue is on the stands now, and the series has definitely maintained its quality right up until the end.

I sat down with Wagner and Joiton in the comfort of their spacious castle in the Swiss Alps, by which I mean I emailed them some questions and they wrote back to me.

According to your site, you created Fiction Clemens as a dare. Can you tell us a little more about that?

Josh Wagner: Sure! It all started about 10 years ago. My friend Christian came up with the name "Fiction Clemens". He just liked how it sounded, so he told me I should write a story about someone with that name. I took up the challenge and the long road to the Graphic Novel began.

Fiction Clemens first appeared in your novel, right? Tell us a little about that.

JW: Yep. "The Adventures of the Imagination of Periphery Stowe". Fic takes on more of a Chewbacca role to Trixie's "Han Solo", as they transport the novel's main character from the physical world to the world of the Mind. The novel is somewhat stranger than Fiction Clemens in many respects...Fiction and Trixie actually help to bring the story a bit "down to earth", if you can believe that.

What's the idea behind the weird SF/western world of the comic?

JW: I tend to default to sci-fi elements in my writing. Probably because of my childhood reading list. But I've never been very good at hard sci-fi. I've never been very good at any sort of genre writing, actually. The writing beast inside me is easily bored. He's a sensationalist and a change junkie. So I have to keep adding elements into a plot just to keep him satisfied. Fiction's story started out as a poetic western, then I added an alien element, a dash of steam-punk, psychadelia, space ships, conspiracies, some pulp noir, humor, subplots, Shakespeare, romance! It's almost a race with myself. If I can get to the end of the script before I run out of new ideas and bore myself, then I've got something that's a pretty wild ride, and a far cry from anything I intended when I started out.

Joiton: Well, steampunk is one of my favourite things to draw. I love to come up with weird machines and gadgets, and mix that with characters and landscapes. So it was not a hard thing to get into Josh crazy written world. For me, some of the most fun is playing with expressions. Josh's characters had very diverse personalities, that made it easy for the playing. Also the landscapes and stuff all around was so diverse, that I was able to work on their mood and expressions too. I think that was the main feeling under which I worked on the project, trying to breathe some crazy life into every object.

What are your influences?

JW: It's not your typical list. Although I was rabid about comics as a kid, movies and novels have been far more of an influence to my storytelling. Particularly Terry Gilliam flicks and Dostoevsky novels. I listen to a lot of music when I write. Godspeed You Black Emperor, Stravinsky, Bach, Strauss on shuffle. Artists and philosophers, mystics and crackpots have been strong influences as well. And the world: trees, insects, rivers... I couldn't tell a story without them.

J: Influences I have a lot of, but the biggest ones of all-time forever (maybe) are: Carlos Nine, an Argentinian illustrator and comic artist. I'm also strongly influenced by old game art such as Earthworm Jim and Monkey island, and not-so-old game art like Oddworld. There are many more but they would fit more in the "world creating" influences.

I was thinking about Eric Powell's comic, The Goon, and how he describes it as taking place in an overtly comic-book setting--that is, a world that overtly exists within a comic book, almost (but not quite) to the point of breaking the fourth wall, and that setting meant he could basically throw in any element he wanted from the existing medium without needing to explain it. It seems to me that Fiction Clemens could be said to be in a similar setting, kind of a Platonic comic-book idea-space...am I describing your intentions correctly, or am I just nuts?

JW: I wouldn't go so far as to say those were my intentions, but you're certainly onto something. One of my original plans for Fiction Clemens (the character) was to make him a universe-spanning traveler to whom boundaries don't apply. I wanted to have him pop-up cameo-style in as many projects as possible, and cross-over with other people's worlds, whether comics, novels, film, or music. I'm sure this master plan had a lot to do with Fiction Clemens (the graphic novel) winding up so unapologetically inclusive.

For Joiton: your art has a very European feel to it, not just the style but the storytelling as well. Is that a coincidence? Do you enjoy European comics?

J: I do enjoy them, and and usually prefer them. Of course, I am also into Argentinian comics, which have a lot in common with European ones (the culture down here is pretty much European as it is). I think European comic artists tend to explore more of the "artistic" part of comics, going beyond entertaining only.

The story is subtitled "the adventures of a Zen space cowboy" and there does seem to be a certain amount of philosophy to it, Zen or otherwise. Do what degree did these ideas impact the story?

JW: The underlying theme in Fic is the reconciliation between fate and chance. This argument is as old as dirt. Is the universe mechanical or chaotic? I don't claim to solve the puzzle, but I've tried to cook up a little food for thought. Fic's personal philosophy toward life owes itself to a mix of Zen and existentialism, particularly certain parts of Albert Camus' existentialism. Ever since reading Camus' book "the Stranger" I've tried to draw connections between existentialism and the "lone Cowboy" types. Sometimes we forget that the "Old West" was going on in the late 19th century, when, half a world away the roots of post-modernism were being born out of minds like Nietzsche, Kierkeggard, Dostoevsky. It's one of my favorite juxtapositions in history.

Now Fic's concept (swiped from Camus) is that life itself is all that matters; the form or quality that life takes on is just window dressing. Even if you're experiencing a wretched, painful life, you've still got life--that's the stuff--and you'll still fight tooth and nail to hang onto it. No matter how much it seems to suck, it's possible to find joy in suffering, beauty in boredom, etc. Of course, Trixie is counterpoint to Fic in almost every way, and she takes a whole different stance on what it takes to be happy.

And then there's some hindu philosophy floating around in there, too. Particularly in book three.

Big thanks to both of you, and I hope you keep making comics for years to come. Fiction Clemens is available on shelves now and should be in trade format soon.