Interviews from APE: Larry Young

The Tamworthian says that Larry Young’s beard and space suit make him pretty close to Brian Blessed, and although Young didn’t holler “DIVE!” at any point during this interview, he’s still six kinds of awesome. Young turned the tables on me a bit at the beginning by asking about this site, but then we got down to talking about AIT/ Planet Lar and which books I should read.

Larry Young: Why did you start Pink Raygun?

Pink Raygun: Well, we have a comedic, sci-fi webcomic called Intergalactic Law and around last December we were trying to find some places on line to promote it and thought “let’s try to market it toward women who like sci-fi”, so we were online for days trying to find webcommunities for women who like sci-fi. We kept coming up with hits for like “Hot Babes of Sci-Fi” or ultra-feminist sci-fi sites, which wasn’t what we were looking for. And I just got so frustrated that I couldn’t find a place online where women from all over were talking about sci-fi in a fun way. I was bitching and moaning about it to John, and he blurted out, “Then start your own website!” And that’s how Pink Raygun was born.

LY: The reason I ask is because that’s exactly what happened to us. The stuff that I was interested in wasn’t being served in comics, and my wife said, “Why don’t you just do it?” So we did. I did Astronauts in Trouble, which spawned this whole empire. (laughs)

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PRG: How long have you been running AIT/ Planet Lar?

LY: We count it as March 17, 1999 because that was the first Wednesday you could go get a copy of our book in a store, but we were working for about 18 months before that.

PRG: Before you started AIT/ Planet Lar, what was your work background?

LY: I was a writer, did everything but draw. That’s why I got professional comic artists to draw my first one, because I tried to draw it and was like, “Yeah. This isn’t gonna work.” Before that I worked in advertising and marketing and newspaper jobs, and was an art director. Stuff like that. Cut granite for two and a half years. Worked with an orthodontist. I lived some life before I started this. (laughs)

PRG: Are you still writing your own comics?

LY: Yeah, my latest book is coming out in May, it’s called The Black Diamond and its about – in the future a highway spans the country and America’s red state/ blue state thing separates into vertical and horizontal, in that on the ground is this Saturday Evening Post sort of thing – moms walking dogs and stuff – and on the highway above them is just Mad Max craziness. So a guy has to get from one side to the other really fast and fights the army, saves his wife. Your standard thing: boy meets girl, boy drives a fast car to go get girl, girl says “thanks very much” and everyone lives happily ever after.

PRG: I’ve got to be honest, there are a lot of smaller comic companies that I’m not terribly familiar with, but I’ve heard of AIT/ Planet Lar. I’ve read the script book for Demo, but that’s really the only exposure that I’ve had. So, considering your line of comics, for someone who is new to AIT/ Planet Lar, where would you recommend they start?

LY: Here’s the thing about that. It’s kind of a loaded question. You can’t answer that question. So, here’s what I do when I get asked that question. I have them answer three questions. This is such a secret, I’m giving you an exclusive: my trick for good marketing. (laughs) The first question is “What did you have for breakfast?” No matter how you answer that, that tells me a third of what I need to know to put a good comic in your hands. And that’s how you start the day. So if you just grab a bagel and some coffee on the way out, you want something quick and easy. The second question is “Where did you go on vacation last?” Which tells me what you do with your free time or what you like to do. If you went to Italy, you might like a more cosmopolitan kind of thing, you’re open more to those sorts of stories. If you just got your boyfriend or girlfriend and got a hotel room for $60 and didn’t leave for the weekend, that tells me that you’re into a more intimate experience of entertainment. The last question is “What’s your favorite movie?” That tells me really quickly what sort of genres you like. So, let’s do this. Now, I am going to be cheating a little bit because I already know you like science fiction. What did you have for breakfast?

PRG: Today it was Starbucks coffee and a doughnut.

LY: That’s good because you had a doughnut. You didn’t have some kind of Clif Bar or something. Where did you go on vacation?

PRG: Last year I came to San Francisco with a girlfriend.

LY: OK, girls’ night out. That’s good. What’s your favorite movie?

PRG: The Wizard of Oz.

LY: OK, that’s awesome because that gives me a wide range to work with. I’d probably say Smoke and Guns for you. It’s about cigarette girls who – did ever see the movie The Warriors?

PRG: No, but I’ve heard about it.

LY: Yeah, it’s warring gangs. One person from one gang has to try to cross the city to get home. It’s a little like that. But, cigarette girls like from the 1940s – in the future you can only buy cigarettes from officially approved cigarette girls. Each one is set up in a district, so if you like District 5 cigarettes and you live in District 3, you’re not gonna get them unless you go to District 5. Through a series of unfortunate events, Scarlett, who is a cigarette girl who has dreams of selling cigarettes everywhere, ends up outside of her district and has to cross the city to get home.

PRG: That sounds awesome!

LY: It’s pretty cool! If you were in a lighter mood, I might have said Colonia, which is basically Pirates of the Caribbean for 10th graders. It’s very kid friendly, with talking ducks, a man made of fish, mermaids and a kid from Massachusets who ends up in this world where there were no American Indians, so when the Spanish conquistadors came they just took over. It takes place in 1999 in America, but it’s not called America because the Spaniards took it over. That’s the Wizard of Oz stuff there.

PRG: Do you do primarily creator owned properties?

LY: Yes. Absolutely. We’ve been going for eight years and have almost a hundred books now. There’s literally a different way to pitch us a book. Some people give us a finished book, and go “Here, read this, we think it’ll fit your line.” Then there’s the Full Moon Fever story. Joe Casey, who is a respected writer – he does Superman, Batman and other creator owned stuff – comes up to me in San Diego and says “I’ve got a book for you. Werewolves on the moon.” I said “Come on, man. We’ve got Astronauts in Trouble, we don’t need more moon stuff. But, werewolves, go ahead. Keep talking.” He says, “There are always werewolves on the moon because it’s always a full moon on the moon.” I was like, “OK, that’s awesome.” It was literally a two sentence pitch. Then three weeks later, we had an artist and signed contracts and put together a book. That’s the whole end of the spectrum.

PRG: What qualities are you looking for in a property you’re interested in publishing?

LY: It’s just gotta be good. Comics and entertainment are so subjective. Pick any TV show that you love, that’s critically acclaimed and gets canceled in eight episodes. Was that really a good TV show? The stuff we do is kinda hard to quantify. It’s like it just hits us right. What do you think, Mimi?

Mimi: It has to appeal to us because it’s hard to market things that we’re not interested in.

LY: If we don’t like it, it’s hard to convince other people to like it.