Reflektor

Der-shing Helmer: The Meek

Would you have any positive word to say for young authors, who are just starting to write comics?
Definitely be patient and do not rush your comic. I am excited that so many people are enjoying my comic, mostly because I know how much work I put into it and it is nice to see folks responding to that. There are many many hours of drawing behind each character that do not get shown, and I think it is those hours that make my characters and settings more believable and interesting. Years of practice and careful consideration of the plot (and asking for crits about them!) have also made my concepts more “waterproof” and I think in the very end, readers will appreciate that attention to detail.

Tell us more about what The Meek means to you and what do you think it should mean for readers? What was your main inspiration for story?
The Meek is about a lot of things that I find interesting, like science and politics and human interactions. It is basically a way for me to combine a lot of things that I think about into one story. Hopefully my readers will pick up on that, or better yet, see some things that I did not intend that get them thinking as well. My main inspiration would probably have to be the idea of Mutual Assured Destruction. Outside of the nuclear warfare context, I think it is something that we are all moving towards, but could stop if we really wanted to.

Interesting choice with Mocheril as one of the main character. Is this part where your biology kicks in? Do you want to educate readers in biology or is that just part that makes comic interesting with unknown animals?
Well, I do have a great love of biology! The Mocheril (which is an animal native to Slovenia) was just too interesting an animal not to work into my stories, and thankfully it has a very strong place there. I won’t say more at the moment since I do not want to give anything away. My aim is not necessarily to educate my readers (I’m sure they can get a fine biology education on their own if they are interested) but I would like them to be aware that biology and science in general frames our lives.

Hopefully my readers will also see some things that I did not intend, that get them thinking as well.

Do you wish to publish The Meek as a book or as standard comic at some time?
It would be nice to publish The Meek one day, but given my schedule I doubt I could publish it as a standard monthly/quarterly/whatever comic. The best I can manage is to offer them when i have a chance when I get a free moment and enough money to print some. They might make it into a book one day, but I can wait to think about that until I have at least a few chapters completed.

Which web or non-web comics do you read and would recomend?
I would really recommend all of the comics on my link page, they are comics that I find both artistically accomplished and have great stories as well. Not a lot of comics have that nowadays! I also try to link comics that I find every week to promote my fellow webcomic artists, so those are some good suggestions as well. I confess I don’t read a lot of non-web comics, but Jeff Smith’s Bone is always a good choice! And my favorite comic (art-wise), Skydoll.

That would be it. Thanks for interview and hope to hear and see more of you in the future.
Thanks for interviewing me! The only other thing I have to say is to mention that I am a self-taught artist, and I really support the work of other artists who are learning how to make the best comics they can! To anyone this applies to… keep working hard on your projects.