Peter Kuper, a charter friend of DART, will be enjoying a career retrospective exhibition opening next Thursday at Scott Eder Gallery, in Brooklyn. As if he didn’t already have enough to do, I sent him a page of questions. Here’s what he wrote:

Q: What were you doing immediately before you picked up a pencil to make your first drawing?

A: At age four or five, looking at my tearful mother (Why was she crying? I don't remember.) So did a drawing for my mom that said "Don't be sad, be happy!" That launched my career as a socially conscious political cartoonist. 

Q: When did you know, for sure, that cartooning would be your way of life?

A: In high school I broke into a cold sweat imaging myself working in an office. I thought my choices were: office-worker, homeless hobo or cartoonist. I chose hobo cartoonist.  

Q: What are some of the most interesting jobs you’ve taken to support your art?

A: I sat in a chair on a street corner and offered to draw people as the animals I thought they looked like. All the guys ultimately wanted to be drawn as lions (note to self; avoid drawing men as dogs or pigs). As the women were not so picky, I settled on various birds. My next job was as an inker on Richie Rich comics. It took a day and a half to ink my first page—the pay was $8 a page. Though later this technical ability came in handy during the G.W. Bush era when I used the style of Richie Rich to parody the President as "Richie Bush, The Poor Little Oligarch."  

Q: How long did you keep drawing and working jobs before you could just keep drawing, and teaching?

A: I was fortunate to start getting illustration work straight out of college at the New York Times. Doing comics, on the other hand, was financially a dedicated hobby. I drew them all the time, but for the first decade it was a labor of love. I started teaching in 1986 long before I was fully qualified, but I wanted to spread the gospel of comics. Hallelujah, can I get a witness?!

Q: What was the Eureka moment that caused you and Seth Tobocman to found World War 3 Illustrated? Where did you hold your first editorial meeting?

A: It started in Cleveland where we both grew up—we had done fanzines starting at the age of 11. We landed in art school together in Brooklyn and were still comic enthusiasts, but with no outlets for our politically-charged stories. It was clear we'd be waiting a long time for venues, so the "Ah-ha moment" was deciding to self-publish. We put it together on the floors of our apartments and stapled the magazine together by hand to save on the printer's charge, then sold it outside the cafeteria at Pratt Institute and at newsstands and record stores around town. Them was the days! Actually we are still at it (in our 38th year) and aside from selling outside the cafeteria at Pratt, not much has changed. 

Q: What do you feel is the most under-reported social issue of the day and how would you illustrate ways to bring about meaningful change?

A: There's a small question! Climate Change is numero uno since it touches all the other issues and will determine whether there is a world that remains where people can read comics and go to gallery shows, among other critically important things. It's not under-reported, but given we have presidential candidates arguing its validity, the question needs to be put to rest. As far as actions; MAD magazine taught me everything I needed to know: question authority, use art as a weapon, What? Me Worry?? Yes! MAD wonderfully subverted and transformed several generations. Art can do that and we need that kind of illuminating work, now more than ever. Right: cartoon for New Yorker.

Q: Can you imagine what it would be like to live in a perfect world for a week? Would you be able to draw during that week?

A: In a perfect world that's all I'd do... when I wasn't having sex.

Q: The subject of climate change formed the spine around which you built the story of your new graphic novel, Ruins. What are some of the subjects you are considering for future projects?

A: Climate change and also maybe something about climate change, but with lots of laughs.

Q: What are your plans for the summer?

A: To get a break from it all I'll be putting on lots of sunscreen, adapting some Franz Kafka short stories, doing a new Spy vs. Spy, finishing work on a new issue of World War 3 Illustrated and submitting cartoons to the New Yorker every week (mostly on climate change).

Peter Kuper’s illustrations and comics have appeared in magazines around the world including MAD where he has written and illustrated Spy vs. Spy every issue since 1997. He is the co-founder of World War 3 Illustrated, a political comics magazine.He has produced over two dozen books including The System, Sticks and Stones, Diario de Oaxaca, Drawn To New York, Ruins and adaptations of many of Franz Kafka's works into comics including The Metamorphosis. Kuper has been teaching comics courses at The School of Visual Arts for 25 years and is a visiting professor at Harvard University. 
Editor’s note: Before being published by PM Press, Diario de Oaxaca ran in serial form in DART from 2006 to 2008. Read it here.

Peter Kuper: Outside the Box, opening reception Thursday, June 16, 6-9 pm. Scott Eder Gallery, 18 Bridge Street, Brooklyn, NY. Info [Dumbo]