Deep Fried: Jason Youngbluth Speaks

Jason Yungbluth is the creator of Deep Fried, a comic for people who like BEER! WOMEN! SPORTS! GADGETS!--wait, that's the blurb for Maxim. Deep Fried is for people who would like to take every reader of Maxim and give them a colonoscopy with the Hubble space telescope. This interview was conducted via email.

Steve Johnson: First off, where did the name Deep Fried come from?

Jason Yungbluth: A friend of mine, from when I was a lowly (and terrible) artist at a T-shirt company, often commented that I was "fried," as a reflection on the state of my brain and my humor. We shared a similar comedic sensibility though, and he got me into Negativland and Firesign Theatre. Anyway, seeing as how my comic was meant to plumb the depths of my evilness, the name Deep Fried seemed appropriate.

SJ: Is Deep Fried your first major work in the comics field, or have you done this before?

JY: "Major work?" You flatter me, sir! I've done a few small-press thingies for other folks, Forever Eve for Shadow Song, The Accumulator for Buffalo Nickle Comics, both of those as penciller. I also pencilled two issues of a comic book for Caliber called Tatters, which has yet to be released. Those weasels have lost my art for issue #1, incidentally, and are trying to avoid paying me any form of compensation. For God's sake, young artists: DO NOT DO WORK FOR CALIBER!

SJ: What comics do you read, and what artists/writers/creators do you feel have influenced your work?

JY: Read COMICS? That shit's for wussy boys! I read sports pages and Tom Clancy novels! That's steak for the brain, baby! Okay, to be honest, I read a FEW comics. I read Transmetropolitan, mostly because I like gritty sci-fi and also because I think I could write and draw it about ten times better (Fuck you. I could). I like Authority, but I'm sorely pissed that Frank Quitely has jumped ship to work on a new piece of X-shit for Marvel. I like most anything by Evan Dorkin. Ditto Jhonen Vasquez, and I read Patty Cake for my cutsey-poo fix. Frank Miller, John Byrne and Bill Sienkiewicz are my strongest influences artistically. I'd have to thank Evan Dorkin for inspiring my alternative side, and I should throw a nod to Jim Davis for Garfield, which was my earliest influence, though I despise it now.

SJ: Let's talk about some of the characters in the comic. Two of your regular characters are Beepo and Roadkill. Beepo is a cynical, alcoholic clown and Roadkill is his cat, who's sort of a cross between Garfield and Dogbert, only on crack. Anyway, my question is this: Shakes the Clown--great movie or giant waste of film?

JY: The comparison to Shakes inevitably comes up when people read Beepo. Goddamit, the drunken clown didn't originate with Shakes! All clowns are drunks! That's why making them alcoholics in fiction feels so authentic! Shakes is a perfect cult movie. In fact, I need to rent that one again, light up a bowl of premium purple chronic and laugh my scrotum off! Ironically, I have always imagined Bob Goldthwait, who played Shakes, as the voice for Roadkill. But how about Steven Wright for Beepo? I think I've just cast the voice talent for my inevitable HBO special!

SJ: One of the B&R stories in issue #1 has the pair going to the video store, which results in Roadkill holding the store hostage with a copy of The Basketball Diaries. The cover is a weird parody of the old Kool-Aid Man ads in the context of the Columbine shootings. This leads me to believe that you have strong views on some of the recent attacks on violence in movies and other media. Care to share your thoughts?

JY: I'm glad you got the Kool Aid Man reference. I was afraid that one might go over everyone's heads, seeing as how Kool Aid Man doesn't crash through walls anymore. Thanks to computers, he's been doing a lot more morphing. Strong views? You bet your Harvard-educated ass I have strong views! I can dead lift 500 pounds with my views! First off, there have been about 17 school shootings since Issue #1 of Deep Fried appeared in stores in February, and I haven't been credited with causing a single one! Fucking "Eminem" is society's nightmare now, stealing my thunder, but even he didn't get the finger pointed at him in this latest round of high school holocausts! Have I missed out on yet another trend?

It is interesting that no one went media-bashing after the most recent wave of shootings. Have you noticed how these rampages are becoming less and less memorable? See A Clockwork Orange. That dystopian future seems cozy next to how things have actually turned out! I'll take the droogies over some disaffected suburban pisspot whose daddy owns a shotgun collection any day.

SJ: Moving on to "A Peanut Scorned"--first off, let me say that I had to stop and laugh for about 10 minute when I finally caught on to who the main character was. Where did you come up with this stuff?

JY: The original inspiration was a sort of movie poster I sketched one day in high school, "Charlie Brown 2025", and it showed a Heavy Metal-style Charlie Brown with a cyborg arm, saying "No more 'failure face.'" Then a couple of years ago, I dusted off the concept and decided to run with it. I was surprised how easily all the elements of the Peanuts tableau could be converted into a Mad Max style satire. I think this may have been Charles Schulz's original concept for the strip. It just works too well!

SJ: "A Peanut Scorned" seems to be the only ongoing story in the book, with "Beepo & Roadkill" being more episodic. Will the story continue indefinitely, or do you have an ending in mind?

JY: "A Peanut Scorned" will end in issue #4, though I have been thinking of how "Moose Miller" could be juxtaposed with "Kiss of the Spider Woman".

SJ: Along those same lines, is the format of the book going to remain essentially the same, with 2 "Beepo and Roadkill" stories, "A Peanut Scorned," a few shorts, and the (really fun) ad on the back?

JY: I like to have a couple "Beepo and Roadkills" per book, but there is no set format. In issue #3 there will be "Beepo and Roadkill", "A Peanut Scorned", two multi-page "Clarissa" strips, and, I hope, one or two additional items, plus the back cover ad. The third issue is my "Extra Tasteless" extravaganza, featuring the one act of crudity I've never seen ANYONE touch.

SJ: I'm not afraid to ask for more information about that--I really want it to be a surprise. Yeah, that's it. Anyway, Deep Fried is still a fairly new comic. What kind of response have you gotten so far? Anything particularly interesting, amusing, or disturbing?

JY: I got my first piece of fan art recently, a drawing of a stoned-out Roadkill. It made me feel like I had finally arrived! Most people really dig "A Peanut Scorned," though I had thought the big response would be to "Clarissa Ruins Thanksgiving," just based on the reactions I received to it at conventions. But just about everything I've heard about the book has been positive. My big trick now is to get more press!

SJ: Your web site, www.whatisdeepfried.com is pretty slick, with some neat flash animations. Do you do the site yourself?

JY: I surely did! I love Flash, and wish I had time to more. I'm in pre-production on a nasty little animated cartoon that will probably take me three weeks to complete and thirty seconds to watch. If I didn't have to hustle to finish issue #3, I could have it done lickety split. Ah, how I suffer!

SJ: What's planned for the future? Are you working on other projects, or focusing your energies on Deep Fried?

JY: The future? Eviction from my apartment, surely, and probably starvation soon after. Following that, snack time for the worms and voles of Forest Lawn! I assume that that will be the extent of my calendar until God raises me from the dead to cast me into hell. Between all these events, I will keep cranking out the comics!