I met Chad Sell almost by accident at April's MoCCA Fest in New York City. I was chatting with a friend who shared a print of one of the contestants from Ru Paul's Drag Race. I knew I had to have one before I left the convention. When I got to Chad's table, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Chad did more than draw famous drag queens. He also writes and draws a faboo strip called Manta-Man, which io9 has described as "an occassionally sexy superhero comedy of errors...with enough zany characters (and striking visuals) to maintain a riotous sense of playfulness even among homophobes and nagging girlfriends." I had the great opportunity to chat with him and here's what he had to say:
Patrick Yacco: What inspired you to start drawing and writing in general?
Chad Sell: I've been drawing and creating crazy characters for as long as I can remember. I was a major comics nerd all the way back in grade school, so I've been playing around with comics for a long, long time.
PY: You have quite a wide range of styles, evidenced from your Manta-Man strips to portraits of queens from Ru Paul’s Drag Race to thesilhouettes of Shadow Play. Could you talk about your background in terms oftraining?
CS: Well, I was lucky to have very supportive parents, so they helped me seek out fine arts training at a very young age. All throughout my youth, I attended the Interlochen Arts Camp, where I really developed a lot of the ambition and focus necessary to be an artist. Then I studied art and film at Yale, though I didn't do many comics. Up until my last year of college, I thought I was going to be an indie filmmaker, but I grew pretty disillusioned with both the film industry and the fine art scene, so I returned to my first love: comic books.
Not to get too pretentious about it, but I think I've developed my various styles to fit my work's form to its content--shaping the aesthetic to serve the story. And since I love working with a variety of different stories, subjects, and tones, it makes sense that I've crafted different visual styles to best suit each one.
PY: Manta-Man features a true cast of characters, which sometimes reminds me of episodes of the Tick cartoon from the 1990s. Also, the voice of Manta-Man in my mind was H. Jon Benjamin, so I was pleasantly surprised when you mentioned similarities between Archer and the strip in one of your commentaries. Where did you come up with the idea and what’s the process behind your strips?
CS: After college, I spent several years working entirely on graphic novels that I considered "literary" and "important" and which would "make me money." None of them panned out. I had devoted four years of my life to these comics, and all I had to show for it were two half-finished books. I needed a change, and so I decided to start a crazy, weekly strip that revelled in its own absurdity. It was a chance to play around with a variety of characters, draw sexy people in their underwear, and make it up as I go along. But, of course, I can't help but scheme and think ahead, so I gradually started developing the larger narrative until it pretty much read like a standard graphic novel.
PY: Going back to your characters, they’re all delightfully queer. Are there any current characters that you’re particularly fond of (and why), and are there any new characters planned for the series?
CS: Oh, well thanks! Honestly, I really love all the characters in MANTA-MAN, and it kills me that some of my favorites get so little time to appear in the strip. I think one of my greatest and most distinctive characters is Ethan, because he's based on one of my best friends. Foolgirl has been showing up in my work ever since middle school, so she has a special place in my heart, too. Sachiko, the part-time ninja, is probably the character with the most in common with me right now, and I'm hoping to delve much deeper into her adventures soon!
PY: What made you choose the contestants from Ru Paul’s Drag Race as the subject for a series? Who are your favorite queens? Have you met any or worked directly with any? Do you have any pictures to share of yourself with one of the queens?
CS: I've been watching the Drag Race since its beginning, and I love seeing these huge personalities and talents competing in the crazy pressure cooker of a reality show. Seriously, it's just the best. I think a lot of the outrageous, colorful, theatrical elements I've always loved about superheroes are inherent in the kind of drag I love, too. After watching the start of the third season, I was totally dazzled by Raja, and I raced home to draw her. She ended up befriending me on Twitter because of the work, and she's been one of the biggest supporters of my Drag Race portraits! Raja is also the only queen I've met in person--she came to Detroit last fall, and we managed to snap these photos [below].
I love a lot of the other queens, too, but Raja will always have a special place in my heart. I've interacted with a lot of the other queens online to varying degrees and would LOVE to meet them in person. So, we'll see!
PY: Your comic novella “Shadow Play” is a gorgeous, poignant story of a boy and his escapist dreams. It’s extremely touching, and told only through black and white illustrations. What was your inspiration for this project and will we see anything like it in the future?
CS: Thanks for such kind words about the book! I made Shadow Play after some other comic projects had stalled out, and I was in need of something totally different. I had agonized over the dialogue and narration of the previous books, and I felt like I relied too much on my delicate linework, so when I got the idea of a silent story told entirely in silhouettes, I ran with it! Initially, it was just going to be a short little mini-comic I wanted to sell at conventions, but I was so entranced by the book's surreal imagery that I just kept adding to it, until it was just about a full-length graphic novel!
In terms of Shadow Play's story, it relates to a lot of the same subjects that keep showing up in my writing--children getting lost in their imagination, using their creativity to escape their troubles. It's something that I started wrestling with myself as a kid, and which continues to this day.
PY: What other comics are you reading and/or who are someartists that you’re following?
CS: Up until a year or so ago, I had been keeping up with a lot of the mainstream superhero comics, but I've fallen off with that. In terms of artsier stuff, Eleanor Davis and Emily Carroll have both really shaken my whole conception of what comics can be, and their outrageously distinctive styles leave me reeling whenever I check out their new work. But I also really love sillier, sleeker comics like my buddy Denver Brubaker's Tales of a Checkered Man, and I was thrilled to pick up Jacob Chabot's new collection of The Mighty Skullboy Army in New York!
And I'm just an enormous sci-fi, fantasy, and videogame nerd. I love it all!
PY: What else do you have in the works?
CS: With the recent season of Drag Race wrapping up, as well as finishing a crazy string of convention appearances and completing a year-long arc for Manta-Man, I finally have a little bit of free time to figure out some new projects. So I'm going to work on some larger book projects, I'm playing around with some artsy comics, and I've posted zany new strips starring my boozy, beautiful character FOOLGIRL on www.mantamancomics.com starting last weekend! Over the summer, I'm going to be posting strips focusing on the various supporting characters of Manta-Man, which should be so, so much fun.
And yes, I'm taking on freelance projects, too!
Be sure to check out Chad's personal site, The Sellout, and its online store. And then, of course, Manta-Man. Finally, you can also wish Chad a 'Happy Birthday' on Twitter, and follow him on tumblr.
