THE FOREVERS: CURT PIRES INTERVIEW

Over the weekend we had a chance to interview Curt Pires about his new series, The Forevers, which sees it's second issue released today from Black Mask Studios. We talked about the creation of series, the team involved and little about what's to come next. Enjoy.

Geek Of Oz: Hi Curt, thanks for taking the time out for this interview. In The Forevers we have a group of individuals struggling on the brink of stardom, who then take up a black magic pact to achieve everything they wanted. Now stories about selling your soul or making a pact with the devil in exchange for fame and fortune are fairly well trodden ground, what inspired your unique take on the trope with The Forevers? 

Curt Pires: I think what started everything for me was that first scene in the book. It just came to me. The imagery of them all getting ready to participate in this ritual, to just sort of cut in on it in a really obtuse way where not much is explained, and then jump forward in time. I think that while there have definitely been stories like this before, none of them sort of tackle things in the exact same way.

Since POP you've had quite a few series come out in between then and now. Do you like to keep very active with your writing? How do you juggle the various projects you have going on? 

It’s weird for me. I like to have something going all the time because I just like making art, but at the same time I think it’s important to know when to slow down. I feel like the concept of Capitalism has bled into art, into time in general and there’s this sort of mentality in comics that if you don’t have stuff coming out you’re going to be forgotten.

I want to unplug and disassociate from that notion as much as possible. I like to think of myself as an artist in general terms, and I feel like putting out a new book, a new series for me is a lot like putting out an album for a musician. I’d rather wait and make something worthwhile, than rush something out to compete in the ratrace.

Has your writing style/process changed much over the past two years? 

My scripts have tightened up structurally, and I’d say I’m quite a bit smarter from when I started. I hope I’m improving craft-wise as well, but it’s hard to evaluate myself objectively.

Art wise, the whole book feels and looks like it takes place in a drunken haze; scenes intersect and melt into one another and the art has this gorgeous blurr to it. Was this look and feel something you envisioned from the beginning or did you work on it with Eric Pfeiffer? 

That’s all Eric, to be honest. It looks totally different from the way Eric drew his last book (Arcadia) and I think it really works for the projects tone. It adds to the Lynch vibe, I think.

I'm an avid watcher of Supernatural type films, and The Forevers so far feels like a great 90's Supernatural film. Did you mean for that to come through? 

Not intentionally, but I welcome it. I have a fond memory of films from that era. I still remember finding a VHS of “I Know What You Did Last Summer” and being incredibly excited by how scary it looked. It feels so taboo when you’re a child, it’s wonderful. If I could stir up some of those feelings in people, that’s awesome.

As with all of your work this series feels like a labour of love from the entire team involved. Can you tell me more about you all came together for this series, and what they bring to the table other than their work? 

For sure. I think Eric added me on Facebook a while back, maybe early 2015ish. We just sort of started talking and let each other know we were fans of each other's stuff. We talked a bit about what we wanted to work on and eventually decided on THE FOREVERS.

Colin has been lettering most of my stuff since MAYDAY, so he was a natural choice. He always comes through for me, and is a joy to work with.

Ryan is one of my oldest friends in comics, and always sort of helps me out behind the scenes on stuff. Aside from being an amazing writer, he has a really strong background in graphic design, and I can literally just pickup the phone and talk to him about what I’m envisioning, so it was really clear to me that he was the right choice.

I know you're a big fan of music. What would you recommend to listen to while reading the series?

Libertines. Babyshambles. Manic Street Preachers. Blur. Frank Ocean. I’ve been really into Travis Scott lately and think that works with this too. Neon Demon score by Cliff Martinez. There’s tons of things I could suggest. I think the key for this book is that if the song seems decadent, or deprived, or like “sweaty” in anyway, it fits the mood.

Now I asked this question last time I interviewed you, and I thought I would ask it again in case your answer has changed. What advice do you have for any creators starting out?

Develop a voice. Tell the stories you want to read. Have a vision and pursue it at all costs.

Finally can you give our readers a bit of a tease for what's coming up for the rest of the series?

More people die. More people fuck. More people do drugs. And also some *feelings*, or feels if you prefer.

Thank you very much for chatting with me, Curt

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The Forevers #2 is on sale now. You can find it and the previous issues digitally from the Black Mask Studios website, or from your local Comic Book store. 

Curt Pires can be located on Twitter and his Blog
Eric Pfeiffer can be located on Twitter and his Site
Colin Bell can be located on Twitter and his Blog
Ryan Ferrier can be located on Twitter and his Blog