Sean Dietrich: Q&A

Posted: Monday, March 1, 2004
Posted By: Tim O'Shea

Sean Dietrich’s February was a good month—it was the month that saw the trade paperback release of his work, industriacide, through Rorschach Entertainment. According to Rorschach: “industriacide is the story of the adverse effects of industry on society and the mental ramifications it induces. Through the eyes of three main kids and a hallucinated teddy bear, our story focuses mainly on Schmaltz our main character trying to put his life back together after escaping from an experimental hospital; Jake, Schmaltz's replica, who is drug obsessed and constantly at odds with his hallucinated friend and teddy bear Ernie; and Natalie, the girl who inherits a huge factory capable of producing two-thirds of the nation's electronics, and which holds a torturous past. As the story progresses each child must face everything the outside world can throw at them as well as deal with all their psychological anguish as it slowly seeps into the outside world. All this leading up to a boot-to-the-face conclusion in which Natalie shows the city just what she can produce up in that factory, Schmaltz comes to terms with his own inner connection with Natalie and the factory, and Jake obtains his memories and realizes just what the teddy bear means.”

Tim O’Shea: How good does it feel to finally have the whole industriacide work released, given that its original run back in 2002 never reached its full conclusion?

Sean Dietrich: It’s pretty intense. When I first held the completed graphic novel in my hand after so many years of working on it I almost felt dirty, as if I did something wrong. It was as if I wasn’t supposed to finish. I’m extremely happy to be able to finish the storyline for those who picked up the book two years ago, and there’s definitely a sense of loss when I think it might be awhile before I get to hang out with Schmaltz, Natalie, Jake, and Ernie again.

TO: How much, if at all, did you revise the work from the initial 2002 format/layout etc, to the present incarnation.

SD: I didn’t revise too much. I might have changed a few sentences here and there to make it fit better, but it’s basically the same story. The lettering is much better. The first series was lettered by my old editor who sucked, but Jay La Valley did a wonderful job this time around.

TO: You fully admit that you're not really following the current comic industry scene. Do you feel that to a certain extent that allows you to have a unique voice/perspective that is unaffected by an influence from contemporary storytellers?

SD: In a way yes. I mean if you don’t allow yourself to be influenced by other writers and artists then you’ll develop something that is unique. I made the decision early on after years of collecting but only a short time of drawing comics that I wouldn’t use other comic artists as reference. I try to use music, life, whatever, just not the latest issue of Spiderman to get ideas for page layouts. I think the subject matter I choose to work with plays a big part as well—not too many comics handle what I write about. I try to choose interesting subjects and combine them into something different like with my upcoming book Heart Murmur where I took heart transplants and cockroaches melded them into a working story.

TO: Looking at the work, I'm struck at how expressive the eyes of your characters are. Was this an intentional effort on your part and when did you first determine the effect these distinctive eyes could have on the tone of your scenes?

SD: They do show a kind of innocence which others have noted as being a stark contrast to the environment in which I threw them. As far as them being intentional I would say yes, I mean I feel they show the fear etc. that is inside the kids even though throughout the book they deal with innumerable atrocities without holding back.

TO: In a nutshell, what do you hope people take away from industriacide?

SD: I hope people take away something unique in comics. I hope they read the book and it pulls some reaction out of them be it anger or happiness in what I wrote. It’s not an easy book to digest, there’s a lot of political and social aspects as well as the writing reflecting the mental instability of the children. I didn’t think writing a clean book with a clear cut path through it would justify the torture these kids are going through. I just want to open people’s eyes to something very different.

TO: Why do you feel music has such an influence on you artistically?

SD: I’ve always escaped to music. I remember my first ‘real’ rock album I got from my aunt when I was a kid was Pink Floyd’s The Wall, which was a huge influence on my art. After only listening to top forty I was shocked to learn that there are bands out there that are creative. When I started to listen to post modern industrial music I was again blown away by the talent level and the subject matter. Here were guys writing music about some pretty hairy things from lost love, to torture, to sadism, mental deficiencies, etc. and all in the same album. I liked it and wanted to do sort of the comic version of it and this is how my art has turned out.

TO: What can you tell folks about your upcoming work, Heart Murmur?

SD: It’s still being scripted but it’s basically a psychological murder mystery set in 1938 involving a man who is drugged and has a heart transplant attempted on him. The doctor implants a roach inside his new heart and now millions of roaches follow him around and steal bits of his flesh. The book takes place over the last few days of his life as he attempts to find the doctor and of course why this was done to him. There’s also a huge underlying story involving the city which I’m still fleshing out, but that’s basically it.

TO: Is there anything else you'd like to discuss?

SD: Not really other than thanks for those who pre-ordered industriacide, hope you like it, and to anyone else who wants to purchase the book, check with your local retailer or log on here and click on the STORE icon.

Got some comments on this item?
Have your say at the Silver Bulletins forum.