Interviews Conducted by Robert J. Beck

What made you want to start a web comic?

My comic strips were being published in newspapers so I
thought I’d put them online also as a bit of a speculator.
Not much plan behind it, this was back in the early 90’s,
very early days. It also gave me a chance to publish some cartoons that were so fringe, I hadn’t even bothered submitting them to the papers. Of course, these were the most popular cartoons on the website.

Are you a big fan of web comics yourself?

I used to read a few but to be honest, things have been so busy lately, I’ve gotten out of the habit. With one exception – I absolutely love Basic Instructions by Scott Meyer and have that subscribed in my blog reader.

When you first started Sev, did you ever think he would become as big as he has done?

Not at all. Sev, meaning my parody of sci-fi cartoons, was more a self-indulgent spoof I drew in my note book out of love of Star Trek. I put it online just because I personally loved the cartoon but thought it too narrow a focus to have any widespread popularity.

Where did the name of the strip come from?

Sev is a short version of the word Sevloid which was a word a friend of mine coined at high school. It had a sciencey sound to it so I adopted it for a sci-fi cartoon The Sevloid Chronicles I doodled during uni. It kind of stuck around from there.

What makes your strip different from others?

Perhaps the unique feature of my cartoon is the interactive element of the website – where I have weekly contests where readers submit punchlines to a cartoon, then rate other readers’ punchlines and eventually choose the winning entry that goes into the cartoon. It was a web 2.0 concept well ahead of its time.

Who do you think has influenced your style of art?

In my early days, I read a lot of Herge so there’s a bit of Tintin in there. The chinless look actually came from reading a lot of Michael Leunig in my uni days but there is probably some Simpsons influence there too.

When was it you realised your comic would be able to support you financially?

Early, I had some success with newspaper sales although that’s always been a struggle. The website started to do well when banner advertising kicked off but again, that has had it’s ups and downs.

What is the process of actually making a strip?

Depends on which cartoon I’m doing, they’re all different. For the sci-fi cartoons, an idea will pop in my head when watching a trailer or readers might suggest...