Over the past decade, Kramer’s Ergot has established itself as the world’s premiere collection of underground comics. Quickly evolving from a hand-printed zine into a luxurious hardcover book, before climaxing in a massive, Malaysian-printed seventh volume, the anthology’s editor (and Family co-founder) Sammy Harkham’s visionary project has become so vast in its scope that even the legendary Matt Groening contributed a special Life in Hell strip to the latest installment.
Now Harkham is returning the favor, taking the editorial reigns at Groening’s Simpsons Comics for the October issue– and he’s brought many of the Kramer’s Ergot crew along with him. What’s sure to be the weirdest, raddest (officially sanctioned) take on the Simpsons ever boasts contributrions from Jordan Crane, C.F., Matthew Thurber, Jeffrey Brown, Paper Rad, and many other revered alternative comic dignitaries. Not only will each of these bodacious artists be translating The Simpsons into their offbeat personal styles, but this will also be the long-running comic’s fifteenth annual “Treehouse of Horror” issue– meaning each story must not only be funny, they’ll also have to riff on the conventions of horror. Nerdy mouths everywhere are watering in anticipation.
It’s been two and a half years since principal shooting wrapped on Where the Wild Things Are. While Max Records and his father Shawn haven’t drifted into complete Hollywood radio silence– they flew to Serbia, for instance, so Max could shoot The Brothers Bloom– they’ve remained for the most part sheltered from the PR machine in their hometown of Portland, Oregon. On the morning of the big Warner Brothers presentation at Comic Con, Max was sent on his first whirlwind publicity tour. Shuffling through a series of hotel junkets and convention center green rooms for photo shoots and interviews, the younger Record found himself at the mercy of media outlets instructing him to lounge on piles of pillows bearing the cadaverous visage of Robert Pattinson, hordes of preemptive megafans clamoring for autographs, and busty entertainment journalists leaning in closer than most tween boys are comfortable with.
Overwhelmed by the frenzy, the Records escaped to their hotel room to recover after the panel. Max and his younger brother Sam ate room service grilled cheese sandwiches while they filled me in on the details of the Portland Trailblazers’ dramatic showdown with the Houston Rockets. Since he’d been through the standard behind-the-scenes questions all day, I wanted to give Max a chance to relax and talk a little about himself and his interests outside the movie. Check out our interview below, where Max fills me in on the work of Osamu Tezuka, his favorite Portland bands, and local legends of Matt Groening’s mischievous childhood.
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