For Part One of this interview, Click Here.
Steve Rude turned the tables on me in the middle of our conversation and interviewed the interviewer about working in comics. In part two, The Dude talks about talking the plunge, doing what you love and following dreams. I found it very motivational.
Steve Rude: Tell me about your interest in comics and possibly making them. Are you thinking about making a career out it?
Lisa Fary: At the moment, I keep reading that the industry is dying and that comic sales are down and it’s getting harder to generate new readers. I’m thinking that at this point in my life, I’m 30 years old, I’m thinking that trying to make a transition to speculatively writing comics full time might be a mistake. It would be better to write comics as part of an overall writing career, including Pink Raygun and whatever else I work on.
SR: I’m gonna tell you my opinion about that. I am incredibly pessimistic about the human race. I don’t like people. I think they’re miserable and most of them should feel ashamed of what they haven’t done in their lifetime to acquire knowledge and overcome their faults to become better people. They just keep getting stupider every year. Yet, when it comes to comic books, I don’t believe any of that garbage about the pessimistic attitude that I hear about daily. I just don’t believe it. And when you come up against a guy who doesn’t believe something, the will of optimism is almost insurmountable. The plans I have and the dreams that I have for Rude Dude are so vitally important that I just don’t buy what these nay sayers are telling us about the industry. Even if it’s valid, so what? I know how important the work that I’m doing is, and it’s gonna be maintained with my perpetual learning about the business part and how to promote and get better and better. For ten to fifteen years, this is all I’m gonna be doing. That’s a great way to end my life. I’m already fifty, which is a great year by the way. I spent the last 30 years of my life in comics and I’m just as optimistic as you could imagine. So if I were to counsel you, if you were to ask me if you should take the plunge or the chance in a world that’s giving you nothing but pessimistic platitudes, I would say, Lisa, go for it.
If this is something you love, here’s something to keep in mind. People will say the time is bad. I say it’s exactly the reverse of that. You have all these nay sayers talking about the end of comics because no one is buying them or whatever. That’s usually the exact time in history, as historically has been noted before, that the biggest changes take place. In the fifties, comics were virtually a dead medium. There wasn’t a single professional in that time period who thought that comics were going to go beyond 1960. Guess what happened? Some guy, Jack Kirby, had so much faith in trying again and seeing this as a moment of opportunity rather than thinking that the world was coming to an end like everyone was shouting, to give it a try at Marvel and resurrect some things that seemed to be the only things that were selling in comic books at that time. They tried it, they sold, and success leads to success. So all these people that tell you these things, they’re not necessarily wrong, but it’s amazing how quickly they can be proven wrong by a single optimist with a dream and the drive to seize the moment. I’m gonna do it. I couldn’t care less about what they’re telling me, about how bad the business is. I’m ready for a renaissance and I want to be the guy who starts it off. You can do it too. There isn’t any doubt in my mind.
[nms:Steve Rude,4,0]
SR: I’m happy to think that I’m one of those people who has learned the lessons that people are supposed to learn in the 70 or 80 years we have on earth. One of the things I’ve learned is that you never listen to something that other people are telling you that is contrary to what your conscious believes. Your inner voice, the only guiding thing that you will ever have in life that is truly your own, is giving you signals about what would make you that happiest girl in the world. The only smart thing to do is to listen to it because great things happen and can grow from those sprouts. That is the essence of what is great about the human race.
When the Germans destroyed Russia in WWII, they decimated everything that the country ever worked for, as far as the great pieces of art and museums and everything, but slowly they rebuilt it. I can’t imagine that was an easy thing to do, that’s the hardest thing a group of people can ever do, but it was part of their heritage, it was of great importance to them and they took one small step at a time.
You also have to think about this in terms of the context of your entire life. If you have this drive and this will to succeed with great creative ideas, that’s the stuff that ultimately ends up becoming the great human interest stories that inspire people, that inspired you to begin with. That’s the great purpose of the human race. If I have to take the lead, I’m ready for it. I’m past the hump, I know what I want for my life, and I’m so excited I want to burst because I have a purpose. Not just to put out comic books, but to put out comic books the way that I used to enjoy them.
LF: What do you think is behind this negativity and pessimistic attitude that runs in the comic industry and this hyper-aggressive style that’s become so prevalent that you want to change?
SR: It’s all individual attitudes and individual attitudes can turn into group attitudes after a while. They have no more validity than any other attitude. And it’s a horrible way to think about things. I don’t imagine too much fun comes out of an attitude like that. It’s just a bunch of dumb guys sitting around, ones you’d want to date, I’m sure, that just have sour, terrible attitudes. I’m sure you’ve dated people like that and it’s not good. You want to be around the kind of person everyone wants to be around, which is someone who makes you feel good about your dreams. People come into this world with dreams, but they don’t always have them right away. If they discover them later, that’s even better. Without dreams, we’re a dead race. Anyone who thinks you can’t have your dream is wrong. At the very least, there is nothing more important than trying for it. And I believe that you can do it.
LF: Have you ever considered doing a book on the topic? I’m not trying to be a smart alec, it’s just that you have such a different perspective than the “how to” books sitting on the shelf at the bookstore. It’s refreshing to hear this from someone.
SR: There’s going to be a big coffee table book coming out in San Diego this July. Everything I know about life pertaining to comics and life in general is in there. All my philosophies, all my accrued ways of thinking that are designed to help people see that there is a rung hanging above their head that they can eventually reach.
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Rude Dude Productions was kind enough to provide us with a seven-page preview of July’s Nexus #99. Enjoy.
Related Stuff:
Lisa Fary's earliest influences are Princess Leia, Rainbow Bright, Astronaut Barbie, and her 6th grade teacher, Ms. Palmer. She's angry that it's 2011 and she still doesn't have a hovercraft, but will accept a jetpack as consolation. That jetpack had better be pink with a rhinestone monogram. 
Way to go, Lisa! That was a pretty slick turnaround Steve pulled on that interview.
Looking forward to picking up Nexus in the near future.