{"id":38,"date":"2011-11-26T12:31:52","date_gmt":"2011-11-26T12:31:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/microcosmpublishing.dev\/blog\/2011\/11\/interview-with-ed-choy-moorman-of-the-muppet-themed-zine-stitching-together\/"},"modified":"2011-11-26T12:31:52","modified_gmt":"2011-11-26T12:31:52","slug":"interview-with-ed-choy-moorman-of-the-muppet-themed-zine-stitching-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/interview-with-ed-choy-moorman-of-the-muppet-themed-zine-stitching-together\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Ed Choy Moorman of the Muppet-Themed Zine, Stitching Together!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Just in time for the release of the new <em>Muppet<\/em> film, we   interviewed <em><a href=\"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/catalog\/zines\/3311\/\">Stitching Togethe<\/a>r<\/em>&#8216;s author\/artist, Ed Choy Moorman!<em> Stitching Together<\/em> is a  collection of Muppet-related comics\u2014a series of shorties backing up  the zine&#8217;s showpiece: an epic look at the life, career, and death of  Jim Henson. It&#8217;s a wide-spanning portrait of the dude, from youth and  young manhood, to hittin&#8217; it big in the 1970s with most sensational,  inspirational, celebrational Muppetational <em>Muppet Show <\/em>(and  beyond)<em>.<\/em> The final piece in the zine, a pilgrimage to  Henson&#8217;s former home (as told in comic frame Polaroid snapshots) is  heartbreaking and smart and bittersweetly funny.Published by Bare  Bones Press, Ed Choy Moorman&#8217;s comics are beautifully drawn (think  Nate Powell meets <em>Fart Party<\/em>) and capture all the sweep and  movement of one man&#8217;s extraordinary life.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><meta http-equiv=\"CONTENT-TYPE\" content=\"text\/html; charset=\" utf-8=\"\"><\/p>\n<p><title><\/title><meta name=\"GENERATOR\" content=\"OpenOffice.org 3.3  (Win32)\"><\/p>\n<style type=\"text\/css\">  \t<!--  \t\t@page { margin: 0.79in }  \t\tPRE.cjk { font-family: \"MS Mincho\", monospace }  \t\tP { margin-bottom: 0.08in }  \t-->  \t<\/style>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><b>Q: So, how did the <i>Stitching  Together<\/i> zine come about?<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><strong><br \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">A: I made the center story, the tiny  bio of Jim Henson, as a response to an assignment for a nonfiction  comic in Zak Sally&#8217;s class at MCAD. Later, I realized I had been  doing work referencing the Muppets for years, and threw them in,  along with some other stuff, in the first version of the zine. For  the second printing I changed the title, redid the cover (and again  for the most recent version), threw out one piece and added the story  about visiting Henson&#8217;s hometown, which had<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">happened after the first printing.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">  <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Alt text\" src=\"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/images\/snm.gif\" \/><\/p>\n<pre class=\"western\"><\/pre>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><b>Q: When you say you&#8217;d been  referencing the Muppets for years, where else did Muppet stuff pop up  in past work?<\/b><\/p>\n<pre class=\"western\"><\/pre>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">  A: In my first comics class at MCAD, taught by Barb Schulz, we had an  assignment to do a biography of a fictional or real person, out of  five choices voted on by the class. One student threw out Dr. Bunsen  Honeydew, Beaker&#8217;s tormentor, and I drew a page on him. I used a  friend&#8217;s childhood crush on Kermit as a detail in a coming-of-age  story&#8211;but from an older perspective,  with the character talking  about the childhood crush. If I did it now, I&#8217;d show the crush  developing.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">And I did other stuff that referenced  them, but it was hoity-toity and embarrassing.<\/p>\n<pre class=\"western\"> <\/pre>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">  <b>Q: Are there any Muppets who seem like folks you know in your  life?<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">A: The old blue-collar Chicago guys at  my old letterpress studio job reminded me of Statdler and Waldorf. I  can be Fozzie, self-conscious and eager to please. I&#8217;ve known Miss  Piggys, and I love them.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">  <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Alt text\" src=\"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/images\/crit.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><b>Q: What&#8217;s your favorite Muppet  movie?<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">A: I like <em>Muppets Take Manhattan <\/em>for  its balance of gags and lonely, quiet bits.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><strong><br \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><b>Q: Any you really didn&#8217;t like? I saw  <em>Muppets from Space <\/em>recently and it was a massive letdown.<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">A: It was for me, too, though I wasn&#8217;t  expecting much. Kermit fell under the Mickey trap&#8211;the team working  with him drained the life out of him and made him a milquetoast. In  his original version, Kermit would at times get angry and butt heads  with the other Muppets when things would blow up. If his character  can&#8217;t have human reactions and drives, <span style=\"font-style: normal;\">he&#8217;s  not Kermit. There is one later Muppet movie that I like, though,  <\/span><em>Kermit&#8217;s Swamp Years.<\/em><\/p>\n<pre class=\"western\"> <\/pre>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">  <b>Q: You excited to see the new Muppet movie that came out a couple  days ago?<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">A: I&#8217;m looking forward to it, it sounds  like it should be fun, and it comes out on my birthday. That said, I  think of any Muppet stuff following the deaths of Henson and Richard  Hunt and the thinning out of the original teams as not the Muppets.  &#8220;Queen &amp; Paul Rogers&#8221; isn&#8217;t Queen, after all.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><strong><br \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><strong><br \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><b>Q: I hear ya. Did you ever see the  original Muppet sketches on the old <em>Saturday Night Live<\/em>? That  shit was dark! And druggy.<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">A: I haven&#8217;t! As anyone who saw that  touring museum show can say, their body of work is amazing, in that  they produced so much great stuff, experimented constantly, and most  of it remains uncollected. I&#8217;d especially like to see Henson&#8217;s  experimental films like <em>Time Piece <\/em>collected on a DVD.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">  <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Alt text\" src=\"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/images\/hesnon.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><strong><br \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><b>Q: What&#8217;s next for you,  zine-wise?<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">A: I&#8217;m finishing up a comic adaptation  of James Joyce&#8217;s &#8220;Araby&#8221; from <em>Dubliners<\/em> for an  anthology called <i><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">The Graphic  Canon<\/span><\/i>. I&#8217;ll also put out that story as a minicomic, and  pad it out with some new stuff about Joyce&#8217;s dirty letters. I&#8217;m also  collaborating with Sam Sharpe (I wrote, he draws) on a comic for 2D  Cloud&#8217;s anthology <em>Little Heart, <\/em>about a transgendered kid who  finds a book in the library stacks that knocks their socks off. I&#8217;m  also doing some other stuff that I can&#8217;t talk about yet.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><strong><br \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><strong><br \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><b>Q: I love Joyce. Those letters are  great too. I mean, it&#8217;s not surprising if you&#8217;ve made it to Molly&#8217;s  soliloquy in <em>Ulysses<\/em> or Bloom&#8217;s episode at the baths but I  think they still catch folks off guard. When will the Sam Sharpe  colab be out? Looking forward to that. Sounds outstanding.<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">A: If a beautifully-worded fart fetish  doesn&#8217;t catch you off-guard, I&#8217;m impressed. Thank you. I&#8217;m excited  too, Sam&#8217;s wonderful. I&#8217;m not sure when. Spring maybe. I&#8217;ll be  announcing it on @edchoymoorman on twitter and I&#8217;m sure 2D Cloud will  too.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><em><br \/><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><em><br \/><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><i>Look for Moorman&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/catalog\/zines\/3311\/\">Stitching  Together<\/a> here.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stitching Together is a collection of Muppet-related comics\u2014a series of shorties backing up the zine&#8217;s showpiece: an epic look at the life, career, and death of Jim Henson.  Just in time for the release of the new Muppet film, we interviewed Stitching Together&#8217;s author\/artist, Ed Choy Moorman!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogifesto"],"my_excerpt":"<p>Just in time for the release of the new <em>Muppet<\/em> film, we   interviewed <em><a href=\"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/catalog\/zines\/3311\/\">Stitching Togethe<\/a>r<\/em>'s author\/artist, Ed Choy Moorman!<em> Stitching Together<\/em> is a  collection of Muppet-related comics\u2014a series of shorties backing up  the zine's showpiece: an epic look at the life, career, and death of  Jim Henson. It's a wide-spanning portrait of the dude, from youth and  young manhood, to hittin' it big in the 1970s with most sensational,  inspirational, celebrational Muppetational <em>Muppet Show <\/em>(and  beyond)<em>.<\/em> The final piece in the zine, a pilgrimage to  Henson's former home (as told in comic frame Polaroid snapshots) is  heartbreaking and smart and bittersweetly funny.Published by Bare  Bones Press, Ed Choy Moorman's comics are beautifully drawn (think  Nate Powell meets <em>Fart Party<\/em>) and capture all the sweep and  movement of one man's extraordinary life.&nbsp;<\/p>  <p>\u00a0<\/p>  <p>\u00a0<\/p>  <p><meta http-equiv=\"CONTENT-TYPE\" content=\"text\/html; charset=\" utf-8=\"\"><\/p>  <p><title><\/title><meta name=\"GENERATOR\" content=\"OpenOffice.org 3.3  (Win32)\"><\/p>  <style type=\"text\/css\">  \t<!--  \t\t@page { margin: 0.79in }  \t\tPRE.cjk { font-family: \"MS Mincho\", monospace }  \t\tP { margin-bottom: 0.08in }  \t-->  \t<\/style>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><b>Q: So, how did the <i>Stitching  Together<\/i> zine come about?<\/b><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><strong><br \/><\/strong><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">   <\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">A: I made the center story, the tiny  bio of Jim Henson, as a response to an assignment for a nonfiction  comic in Zak Sally's class at MCAD. Later, I realized I had been  doing work referencing the Muppets for years, and threw them in,  along with some other stuff, in the first version of the zine. For  the second printing I changed the title, redid the cover (and again  for the most recent version), threw out one piece and added the story  about visiting Henson's hometown, which had<\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">happened after the first printing.<\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">  <img alt=\"Alt text\" src=\"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/images\/snm.gif\" \/><\/p>  <pre class=\"western\"><\/pre><p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">  <\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><b>Q: When you say you'd been  referencing the Muppets for years, where else did Muppet stuff pop up  in past work?<\/b><\/p>  <pre class=\"western\"><\/pre><p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">  A: In my first comics class at MCAD, taught by Barb Schulz, we had an  assignment to do a biography of a fictional or real person, out of  five choices voted on by the class. One student threw out Dr. Bunsen  Honeydew, Beaker's tormentor, and I drew a page on him. I used a  friend's childhood crush on Kermit as a detail in a coming-of-age  story--but from an older perspective,  with the character talking  about the childhood crush. If I did it now, I'd show the crush  developing.<\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">And I did other stuff that referenced  them, but it was hoity-toity and embarrassing.<\/p>  <pre class=\"western\"> <\/pre><p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">  <b>Q: Are there any Muppets who seem like folks you know in your  life?<\/b><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">A: The old blue-collar Chicago guys at  my old letterpress studio job reminded me of Statdler and Waldorf. I  can be Fozzie, self-conscious and eager to please. I've known Miss  Piggys, and I love them.<\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">  <img alt=\"Alt text\" src=\"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/images\/crit.jpg\" \/><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">    <\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><b>Q: What's your favorite Muppet  movie?<\/b><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">A: I like <em>Muppets Take Manhattan <\/em>for  its balance of gags and lonely, quiet bits.<\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">   <\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><strong><br \/><\/strong><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><b>Q: Any you really didn't like? I saw  <em>Muppets from Space <\/em>recently and it was a massive letdown.<\/b><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">A: It was for me, too, though I wasn't  expecting much. Kermit fell under the Mickey trap--the team working  with him drained the life out of him and made him a milquetoast. In  his original version, Kermit would at times get angry and butt heads  with the other Muppets when things would blow up. If his character  can't have human reactions and drives, <span style=\"font-style: normal;\">he's  not Kermit. There is one later Muppet movie that I like, though,  <\/span><em>Kermit's Swamp Years.<\/em><\/p>  <pre class=\"western\"> <\/pre><p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">  <b>Q: You excited to see the new Muppet movie that came out a couple  days ago?<\/b><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">A: I'm looking forward to it, it sounds  like it should be fun, and it comes out on my birthday. That said, I  think of any Muppet stuff following the deaths of Henson and Richard  Hunt and the thinning out of the original teams as not the Muppets.  \"Queen &amp; Paul Rogers\" isn't Queen, after all.<\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">   <\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><strong><br \/><\/strong><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><strong><br \/><\/strong><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><b>Q: I hear ya. Did you ever see the  original Muppet sketches on the old <em>Saturday Night Live<\/em>? That  shit was dark! And druggy.<\/b><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">A: I haven't! As anyone who saw that  touring museum show can say, their body of work is amazing, in that  they produced so much great stuff, experimented constantly, and most  of it remains uncollected. I'd especially like to see Henson's  experimental films like <em>Time Piece <\/em>collected on a DVD.<\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">  <img alt=\"Alt text\" src=\"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/images\/hesnon.jpg\" \/><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">   <\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><strong><br \/><\/strong><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><b>Q: What's next for you,  zine-wise?<\/b><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">A: I'm finishing up a comic adaptation  of James Joyce's \"Araby\" from <em>Dubliners<\/em> for an  anthology called <i><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">The Graphic  Canon<\/span><\/i>. I'll also put out that story as a minicomic, and  pad it out with some new stuff about Joyce's dirty letters. I'm also  collaborating with Sam Sharpe (I wrote, he draws) on a comic for 2D  Cloud's anthology <em>Little Heart, <\/em>about a transgendered kid who  finds a book in the library stacks that knocks their socks off. I'm  also doing some other stuff that I can't talk about yet.<\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">   <\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><strong><br \/><\/strong><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><strong><br \/><\/strong><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><b>Q: I love Joyce. Those letters are  great too. I mean, it's not surprising if you've made it to Molly's  soliloquy in <em>Ulysses<\/em> or Bloom's episode at the baths but I  think they still catch folks off guard. When will the Sam Sharpe  colab be out? Looking forward to that. Sounds outstanding.<\/b><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">   <\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">A: If a beautifully-worded fart fetish  doesn't catch you off-guard, I'm impressed. Thank you. I'm excited  too, Sam's wonderful. I'm not sure when. Spring maybe. I'll be  announcing it on @edchoymoorman on twitter and I'm sure 2D Cloud will  too.<\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><em><br \/><\/em><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><em><br \/><\/em><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><i>Look for Moorman's <a href=\"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/catalog\/zines\/3311\/\">Stitching  Together<\/a> here.<\/i><\/p>  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><\/p>","my_excerpt_rendered":"<p>Just in time for the release of the new <em>Muppet<\/em> film, we   interviewed <em><a href=\"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/catalog\/zines\/3311\/\">Stitching Togethe<\/a>r<\/em>&#8216;s author\/artist, Ed Choy Moorman!<em> Stitching Together<\/em> is a  collection of Muppet-related comics\u2014a series of shorties backing up  the zine&#8217;s showpiece: an epic look at the life, career, and death of  Jim Henson. It&#8217;s a wide-spanning portrait of the dude, from youth and  young manhood, to hittin&#8217; it big in the 1970s with most sensational,  inspirational, celebrational Muppetational <em>Muppet Show <\/em>(and  beyond)<em>.<\/em> The final piece in the zine, a pilgrimage to  Henson&#8217;s former home (as told in comic frame Polaroid snapshots) is  heartbreaking and smart and bittersweetly funny.Published by Bare  Bones Press, Ed Choy Moorman&#8217;s comics are beautifully drawn (think  Nate Powell meets <em>Fart Party<\/em>) and capture all the sweep and  movement of one man&#8217;s extraordinary life.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><meta http-equiv=\"CONTENT-TYPE\" content=\"text\/html; charset=\" utf-8=\"\"><\/p>\n<p><title><\/title><meta name=\"GENERATOR\" content=\"OpenOffice.org 3.3  (Win32)\"><\/p>\n<style type=\"text\/css\">  \t<!--  \t\t@page { margin: 0.79in }  \t\tPRE.cjk { font-family: \"MS Mincho\", monospace }  \t\tP { margin-bottom: 0.08in }  \t-->  \t<\/style>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><b>Q: So, how did the <i>Stitching  Together<\/i> zine come about?<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><strong><br \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">A: I made the center story, the tiny  bio of Jim Henson, as a response to an assignment for a nonfiction  comic in Zak Sally&#8217;s class at MCAD. Later, I realized I had been  doing work referencing the Muppets for years, and threw them in,  along with some other stuff, in the first version of the zine. For  the second printing I changed the title, redid the cover (and again  for the most recent version), threw out one piece and added the story  about visiting Henson&#8217;s hometown, which had<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">happened after the first printing.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">  <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Alt text\" src=\"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/images\/snm.gif\" \/><\/p>\n<pre class=\"western\"><\/pre>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><b>Q: When you say you&#8217;d been  referencing the Muppets for years, where else did Muppet stuff pop up  in past work?<\/b><\/p>\n<pre class=\"western\"><\/pre>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">  A: In my first comics class at MCAD, taught by Barb Schulz, we had an  assignment to do a biography of a fictional or real person, out of  five choices voted on by the class. One student threw out Dr. Bunsen  Honeydew, Beaker&#8217;s tormentor, and I drew a page on him. I used a  friend&#8217;s childhood crush on Kermit as a detail in a coming-of-age  story&#8211;but from an older perspective,  with the character talking  about the childhood crush. If I did it now, I&#8217;d show the crush  developing.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">And I did other stuff that referenced  them, but it was hoity-toity and embarrassing.<\/p>\n<pre class=\"western\"> <\/pre>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">  <b>Q: Are there any Muppets who seem like folks you know in your  life?<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">A: The old blue-collar Chicago guys at  my old letterpress studio job reminded me of Statdler and Waldorf. I  can be Fozzie, self-conscious and eager to please. I&#8217;ve known Miss  Piggys, and I love them.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">  <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Alt text\" src=\"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/images\/crit.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><b>Q: What&#8217;s your favorite Muppet  movie?<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">A: I like <em>Muppets Take Manhattan <\/em>for  its balance of gags and lonely, quiet bits.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><strong><br \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><b>Q: Any you really didn&#8217;t like? I saw  <em>Muppets from Space <\/em>recently and it was a massive letdown.<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">A: It was for me, too, though I wasn&#8217;t  expecting much. Kermit fell under the Mickey trap&#8211;the team working  with him drained the life out of him and made him a milquetoast. In  his original version, Kermit would at times get angry and butt heads  with the other Muppets when things would blow up. If his character  can&#8217;t have human reactions and drives, <span style=\"font-style: normal;\">he&#8217;s  not Kermit. There is one later Muppet movie that I like, though,  <\/span><em>Kermit&#8217;s Swamp Years.<\/em><\/p>\n<pre class=\"western\"> <\/pre>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">  <b>Q: You excited to see the new Muppet movie that came out a couple  days ago?<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">A: I&#8217;m looking forward to it, it sounds  like it should be fun, and it comes out on my birthday. That said, I  think of any Muppet stuff following the deaths of Henson and Richard  Hunt and the thinning out of the original teams as not the Muppets.  &#8220;Queen &amp; Paul Rogers&#8221; isn&#8217;t Queen, after all.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><strong><br \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><strong><br \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><b>Q: I hear ya. Did you ever see the  original Muppet sketches on the old <em>Saturday Night Live<\/em>? That  shit was dark! And druggy.<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">A: I haven&#8217;t! As anyone who saw that  touring museum show can say, their body of work is amazing, in that  they produced so much great stuff, experimented constantly, and most  of it remains uncollected. I&#8217;d especially like to see Henson&#8217;s  experimental films like <em>Time Piece <\/em>collected on a DVD.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">  <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Alt text\" src=\"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/images\/hesnon.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><strong><br \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><b>Q: What&#8217;s next for you,  zine-wise?<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">A: I&#8217;m finishing up a comic adaptation  of James Joyce&#8217;s &#8220;Araby&#8221; from <em>Dubliners<\/em> for an  anthology called <i><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">The Graphic  Canon<\/span><\/i>. I&#8217;ll also put out that story as a minicomic, and  pad it out with some new stuff about Joyce&#8217;s dirty letters. I&#8217;m also  collaborating with Sam Sharpe (I wrote, he draws) on a comic for 2D  Cloud&#8217;s anthology <em>Little Heart, <\/em>about a transgendered kid who  finds a book in the library stacks that knocks their socks off. I&#8217;m  also doing some other stuff that I can&#8217;t talk about yet.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><strong><br \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><strong><br \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><b>Q: I love Joyce. Those letters are  great too. I mean, it&#8217;s not surprising if you&#8217;ve made it to Molly&#8217;s  soliloquy in <em>Ulysses<\/em> or Bloom&#8217;s episode at the baths but I  think they still catch folks off guard. When will the Sam Sharpe  colab be out? Looking forward to that. Sounds outstanding.<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">A: If a beautifully-worded fart fetish  doesn&#8217;t catch you off-guard, I&#8217;m impressed. Thank you. I&#8217;m excited  too, Sam&#8217;s wonderful. I&#8217;m not sure when. Spring maybe. I&#8217;ll be  announcing it on @edchoymoorman on twitter and I&#8217;m sure 2D Cloud will  too.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><em><br \/><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><em><br \/><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"><i>Look for Moorman&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/catalog\/zines\/3311\/\">Stitching  Together<\/a> here.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}