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Peter Kuper: Ruins

By Peggy Roalf   Friday September 25, 2015

New York cartoonist Peter Kuper has written and drawn Spy vs Spy for Mad magazine since 1997, and is a co-founder and editor of World War 3 Illustrated. His 25 books in the graphic novel form include an adaptation of Kafka’s Metamorphosis; an autobiography; and The System

His latest, Ruins (Self Made Hero 2015), charts the migration of a creative couple from New York, to Mexico. A parallel tale of the life, and migration, of Monarch butterflies is interspersed. The wordless story of the Monarchs, rendered in dusky shades of blue and gray, punctuated by the butterflies’ orange tones, creates a strikingly cool contrast to the vivid coloring within the noisy story of the urban couple. Both narratives unfold with elements political unrest and artistry, of surprise and suspense, capped by a plot twist to remember.

At the book launch party this week at the Strand Bookstore, Peter gave an illustrated talk about art, politics, and life. Yesterday, he did this exclusive Q&A for DART readers.

Peggy Roalf: During your talk at the Strand book launch for Ruins, you said that politics is like a fire in your couch: if you don’t pay attention, it will burn your house down. At what point in your youth did you realize you were a political animal as well as an artist? And when did your art become a site of expression?

Peter Kuper: It was organic. I grew up during the Vietnam war and we watched the nightly news while we ate dinner. Those images burned into my brain and at the same time I was a voracious comic book reader including underground comix and Mad magazine. In Mad I saw how humor could be included with politics and it served as a way to digest the indigestible. When I began doing my own comics I realized how difficult the whole process was, and if I was going to put that much time into something, I didn't want it to be just for a clever punchline. At the beginning of my career I felt a further sense of urgency with the Cold War in full swing, and Ronald Reagan about to have his finger on the button. For better and worse, that sense of urgency hasn't left, though how I express that is constantly evolving.

PR: How have you managed to keep two of your childhood passions—art and entomology—alive and part of your work?

PK: With Ruins it really came together. When I lived in Mexico my daughter and I raised Monarch butterflies and then we travelled to the state where they migrate in the millions. It renewed my enthusiasm for insects and it was ideal to incorporate the Monarch's journey into my book.

PR: Ruins traces the parallel journeys of a creative Manhattan couple who take a sabbatical to Mexico with the very short-lived migration pattern of Monarch butterflies as they wing from Canada to Mexico in search of a mate. In the process of creating this major work, did you find that people are more like, than unlike, those graceful, seemingly fragile creatures?

PK: We share a common environment and that environment is rapidly disappearing. Our fate and the fate of the butterflies are intimately linked, but the big difference is that only one of us can do anything to fix the problem.

PR: Ruins is not exactly autobiography, but there are significant elements that come from life. When you and your family “migrated” to Oaxaca for two years, what were some of the most important things you discovered that had been missing from your lives lived in New York City?

PK: It was seismic (literally, due to earthquakes!) There was much more time to be together—in general it was a time to slow down and smell the coffee, mole, tortillas etc. Since life there was less expensive than in NYC, we didn't have to work as much, which I turned into time to draw in my sketchbook. 

PR: How did you work some of those elements into your family life on returning to the city?

PK: I knew in our second year that I wanted to create a story that portrayed our time and that gave me even greater impetuous to draw so I'd remember the details. The first book that came out of this was Diario de Oaxaca, which collected my sketchbook drawings and the writing I did for you in DART.

PR: What was there about that experience that prompted you to create Ruins?

PK: Ruins is my attempt to capture the entire experience of Mexico and throw in the kitchen sink with all my other interests. Doing the book—it took me many years to finally start, and to find a publisher, then another three years to complete—was also a way for me to return to Oaxaca. As I sat drawing in the freezing NYC winter I could dive into my memories and escape back to the warmth of Mexico.

PR: Once your international book tour for Ruins is over, what will you start working on? Have you decided on the subject of your next book?

PK: I have several different projects I'm considering. I may choose to do something wordless since Ruins has so much text. I get restless easily and I like to change up what I'm doing on each project.  

PR: If you had to choose only one political issue to be concerned with for a year, what would it be, and what would you do?

PK: Climate change is my main concern and it trumps all other issues—even Trump!  I'm working on a short comic now called Climate Unchange that starts with a dead earth, NYC underwater and then makes its way back to the present, so you see things repairing, rain forests going from burned to green, ice-caps from melted to frozen. I could see doing this as a longer piece that rolls back before the industrial revolution. Show the world as it once was and could be. If I'm going to fiddle while Rome burns, the least I can do is draw a bucket and water.

Peter Kuper is the co-founder of World War 3 Illustrated. He has written and drawn Spy vs Spy for Mad magazine since 1997. He has also produced over 25 books including an adaptation of Kafka's The Metamorphosis. Peter teaches comics at The School of Visual arts and is a visiting professor at Harvard University. 

Ruins Book Tour 

Sept 25-30 Mexico City Universidad Tecnilogico de Monterrey

Oct 9-11 NY Comic Con, Javits Center

Oct 20 Library of Congress Wash. DC (Presentation at noon)

Oct 21 Pollinator Project, Department of the Interior ,Wash. DC

Oct 22 Harvard Bookstore Cambridge Ma. (Presentation with Liniers 8PM)

Oct 23-26 Hay Festival Mexico City (Presentation with release of Spanish edition)

Oct 27 Oaxaca, Mexico (La Jicara bookstore 7 PM)

Nov 13-14 Dallas Comic Con

Nov 18 Word Up! Bookstore, NYC  (Presentation 7PM)

Nov 28-Dec 6 FIL Guadalajara, Mexico

Jan 8-10 Wizard Con, New Orleans, La.

Jan 28-30 Angouleme Comics Festival, France (Release of French edition)

Feb 2 Super Hero Bookstore, Paris, France


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