In July, Image will release a brand new graphic novel called Wild Children, from writer Ales Kot and artist Riley Rossmo, that deals head on with school shootings, LSD, and… Well, that’s probably enough to create a bit of controversy, right? Still, the book isn’t just trying to provoke a reaction (though it will), it’s also exploring the ideas of what school is, why we go there, and how it affects who we are in the long run. We chatted with the busy team in advance of the release about all of this, as well as their inspiration – and what’s coming up next for them. Oh, and we've also got an exclusive first look at some panels and interior pages from the book:
MTV Geek: I’m sure it was any number of things, but given the subject matter, was there a specific event, or circumstance that inspired Wild Children?
Ales Kot: I had gone through six schools by the time I was seventeen. The schools felt designed to thwart my creative impulses. I did my best to explain that to the teachers and to my parents, but I eventually had to take the hard way and drop out while I still had something that resembled free will, critical thinking and creative impulses. I never regretted leaving school behind.
There's more, though: reading Douglas Rushkoff's 'Life, Inc.' and seeing this Ellwood P. Cubberley quote for the first time: "Our schools are, in a sense, factories, in which the raw product (the children) are to be shaped and fashioned into products to meet the various demands of life. The specifications for manufacturing come from the demands of twentieth-century civilization, and it is the business of the school to build its pupils according to the specifications laid down."
Ellwood P. Cubberley is, by the way, still somehow considered to be a pioneer in the field of educational administration.
That quote definitely sparked something interesting. See also: Marilyn Manson talking about school shootings in 'Bowling for Columbine'. Hakim Bey's essays. Grant Morrison's and Philip Bond's 'Kill Your Boyfriend' and 'Hellblazer: Shoot' by Warren Ellis and Phil Jimenez. Gus Van Sant's 'Elephant', Godard's 'Pierrot le Fou'. Musicians like Fuck Buttons, MGMT, Nosaj Thing, Coil and Digital Mystikz, Matt Seneca's comics theory...all of this, and much more, created a lot of useful madness in my head. So I sat down and started transcribing the noise. Read More...
For all the focus Chew’s writer and co-creator John Layman had initially put on the main character - heck, his name is basically there in the title - it’s surprising and incredibly pleasing to see how far he’s come in fleshing out the supporting cast. Take issue #26 of the series, which barely featured Tony Chu at all, and instead focuses on his siblings, Toni and Chow.
