Enjoy,
Kathy
Kathy Peterson: How did you first get into drawing comics? Was there anything in particular that inspired you to do Out There, or did the characters and story line develop slowly over time?
Robert Monroe: I started drawing comics when I was very, very young; I never really had much interest in drawing anything other than comics. I stopped drawing shortly after I got out of college, however, partially due to disillusionment; I couldn't see much likelihood in a syndicate buying the kind of strip I wanted to draw. The other reason I stopped was I got involved in another type of creative outlet, and I didn't think I could devote the time to both pursuits.
I think what mostly inspired me to do Out There was becoming disillusioned again (with the aforementioned other creative outlet), coupled with the discovery of webcomics, which had existed for 7 or 8 years by the time I became aware of them.
As for the characters and situations, I just tried to come up with a few characters that I thought people would find interesting. The situations are of minor importance in my strip, they're just things for the characters to react to, ways to get them to reveal their individual personas.
I actually put very little thought into what the strip was going to be about before I started writing it. When I had written about 100 strips, I decided I liked where it was going, and that's when I started trying to figure out what the characters should look like. it was weird, because I hadn't drawn in years.
KP: The comic began with John and Miriam "Out There" on the road, and you currently have Miriam and Sherry out on the road. Do you plan to continue the theme of traveling across the country or at some point do you want to get everyone to Portstown and have them stay there?
RM: As you guessed, the title "Out There" did originally refer to the two main characters being on the road, although I knew from the beginning their road trip was going to end. But I suspect traveling will be a theme I return to many times. When people travel together there are long stretches where there's nothing to do but talk, and dialog is pretty much the only tool I employ to develop the characters.
I have no idea who is going to stay in Portstown or for how long. People move around in real life, so they'll do that in the strip as well.
KP: Compared to a lot of other web comics you use a very traditional format and style. Have you ever considered trying to get Out There syndicated in newspapers? Or do you prefer the freedom of the web?
RM: Syndication is and has always been the goal. At some point I'll pitch it to the syndicates, once I figure out how to best go about that.
I don't really use the freedom the Web gives me all that much. It's an adult comic, but it's not an "adults only" comic; there's nothing in my strip that isn't widely portrayed on prime-time TV (in the U.S.); in fact my strip is tame by comparison to a lot of TV shows. I may have to tone it down a hair if I get syndicated but I'll cross that bridge in the unlikely event that I come to it.
KP: It's been about a year since you made the move to Keenspot, looking back how would you describe the transition?
RM: The transition was easy, but in some ways disappointing. I had a very unrealistic image of Keenspot. I thought that getting 'Spotted meant instant wide-spread recognition and a massive jump in readership. Didn't happen. I did get a pretty big spike in unique visitors and page views but my numbers had been minuscule to begin with. Growth has occurred slowly.
It's not Keenspot's fault, of course. Being on Keenspot has been hugely beneficial, and I'm very grateful to them for accepting me. I just had an inaccurate perception of what being on Keenspot meant.
I think that there's just so many webcomics now, it's really hard to get people's attention.
KP: You recently released your first book of comics, how has it gone so far? Now that you're making the big bucks of a webcartoonist, any plans to quit your day job?
RM: If this is the big bucks of a webcartoonist, I think I'll try something more lucrative, like panhandling. Actually, putting out the book was probably a little premature, but it's something I wanted to do, and Keenspot made it possible. It's okay if I don't sell a huge number of copies right away (which I haven't); as the popularity of the strip increases, so should sales. I hope I haven't hit the peak of my popularity already; that would be truly disappointing.
KP: So you're a Giants fan? I'll pass on asking you about Barry Bonds, but how did you get into the Giants in the first place? Do you play baseball yourself? If by some miracle the Giants were to play the Tigers in the world series would you be willing to put $10 on the series with me? :)
RM: My grandfather liked the Giants, my dad liked the Dodgers. You can't like both of those teams, you have to pick one. I probably went with the Giants because they were a better team at the time; tragically that has not been the case very often since.
A friend of mine used to say, "There's only one thing that kept me from becoming a Major League ballplayer-a complete lack of ability to play the game." He may as well have been talking about me.
The Giants playing the Tigers in the World Series would indeed take a miracle, but I'll tell you what: if my "other" team (the Angels) plays Detroit in the playoffs, it's on.
KP: Last, what's the one webcomic you'd recommend people check out that they're probably not reading already?
RM: I can only pick one? In that case, I'll go with 8:1 by Brian Duffy.
