Interview: Satirical Comics Taken Off Life Support with 'Spaced Out'

Interview by Troy-Jeffrey Allen

There's a gap in the comics world...and Source Point Press is here to change that! SPACED OUT (JAN211542) is here to bring the abandoned genre of satirical comics back to the forefront. If you grew up reading WHAT THE...? NOT BRAND ECCH, or (of course) MAD MAGAZINE, then creators Lou Mougin and Brian Dunphy are here for you. Let's find out why comics are definitely a laughing matter.

PREVIEWSworld: Why is now the time for a satire comic, again?

Lou: Because we FEEL like it!  Next question?

Brian: I feel like the world has forgotten how to have a laugh and many times it seems the humor available to us relies on mean spirited jokes and insults. Light-hearted, “Saturday morning cartoon” satire that everyone can identify with is something that can also remind readers how to laugh at themselves and right now I think we could all stand a little introspection, and a good chuckle to go along with it.

PREVIEWSworld: What is SPACED OUT? 

Lou: 1) A condition suffered after application of too many beers.  2)  A satire comic Brian and I cooked up after doing the initial “Enemy Ass” story and finding out Source Point Press might be interested in publishing if we could do enough stories to fill an issue.  Which we did!

Brian: Spaced Out is a comic one-shot (and depending on how it’s received maybe even a two-shot or a three-shot) featuring three satirical short stories written by Lou Mougin, drawn by me, and colored by James Couts. The three featured stories are send-ups of the 1960s pop culture mainstays Enemy Ace (published by DC Comics,) The Prisoner (a cult classic BBC show), and Sgt. Rock (also published by DC Comics.) We were lucky enough to not only have Source Point Press pick up the book for publishing but then further flattered to have Josh Werner and Martha Webby from the SPP team produce a killer cover.

PREVIEWSworld: Is this very much in the style of MAD or something different for 2020?

Lou: We may be trying for the style of the original MAD comic before it became a magazine, also the much-loved NOT BRAND ECHH.  (Maybe WHAT THE--? too, but I haven’t read that many of them.)  Like I’ve said, we have no interest in political proselytization, just doing fun stories.

Brian: I’d say more “inspired by” than “in the style of.” I spent most of my childhood captivated by Mort Drucker and Jack Davis pages; marveling at their effortless lines and trying to emulate their work. Plus, I was raised in a house full of smart humor, musical diversity, storytelling and dad jokes so understandably MAD Magazine felt like it was published specifically for me. Devastated by the disappearance of MAD and wanting to fill that void, I was delighted when Lou came along with a batch of funny little stories that felt very much like what I read growing up.

PREVIEWSworld: How did you guys come together on the project? 

Lou: Dan Gorman got us together and I’m glad he did.

Brian: We met through a mutual friend, Dan Gorman who is also a prolific comic book artist. I call Dan “the hardest working man in comics” and he has been very much like a mentor to me as I’ve tried to get work in this industry. Dan was encouraging me to pursue my more “cartoony” style and he put me in touch with Lou who he thought had some scripts that suited that style.

PREVIEWSworld: What's the creative process like between you two? 

Lou: Him drawing and lettering, and James coloring.  Me writing and nagging.

Brian: In a word? Virtual. We’ve never met. We’ve only communicated by phone, email or through social media. I probably caused Lou more stress than he cares to admit on this project because I had to keep pushing back the completion date, but he was always delighted to get new pages and once James Couts started coloring over the inks we knew we were producing something to be proud of.

PREVIEWSworld: Are you going for different styles in each comic?  

Brian: Sort of, but I was only trying to draw them in a way I thought fit the story. So when I first read the script for Enemy Ass, I saw a Bugs Bunny cartoon in my head. When I read Prisonerd I saw a MAD Magazine t.v. spoof and when I read Sgt. Crock, I saw an absolute bonkers, almost trippy storyline based in a hallucination. So that’s what I went for and hopefully achieved.

PREVIEWSworld: For those not familiar with the satirical comic genre, what do you both consider the gold standard for humor comics? Is there a favorite strip or artist? 

Lou:- Probably Kurtzman’s MAD and Marvel’s NOT BRAND ECHH.  Loved Don Martin’s CAPTAIN KLUTZ, too, for whatever that’s worth.  Also GROO by some guy whose name I can’t remember.

Brian: I’ll tackle the artist question. Mort Drucker is my idol. I take inspiration from lots of artists with varying styles like Jack Davis, Greg Capullo, Dan Gorman, Bilquis Evely, Bill Watterson, Jean Giraud, P. Craig Russell and Albert Uderzo. But for humor comics in particular Mort Drucker is the gold standard, hands down.

PREVIEWSworld: In terms of audience, who is SPACED OUT for?

Lou: Everybody who’ll BUY A FREAKIN’ COPY!!  Thank you.

Brian: It’s for everyone and it’s for us. When I say “everyone” what I mean is, I think we put together a little book that can be appreciated by casual comic book fans of all ages; fans of satire, pop culture, people of different backgrounds, and political leanings can all hopefully find something to laugh about in these stories. And when I say “us” what I mean is, Lou's writing truly made me laugh out loud while James's and my artwork helped bring the zingers and corny one-liners to life. So even if we were going to be the only three people to ever lay eyes on this thing I'd do it again in a heartbeat... for us.