Virtual Memories Show 534:
Noah Van Sciver LIVE
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“I have to put my humility aside, because to me there’s no other book like Joseph Smith And The Mormons. I feel like I did something that nobody else has done.”
Live from MoCCA Fest 2023, it’s an Artist’s Spotlight feat. Noah Van Sciver! I host a live session with Noah (with audience Q&A) to talk about his career in comics, his return to autobiography with his new Maple Terrace comic (Uncivilized Books), what his graphic biography of Joseph Smith taught him about comics, when he realized/accepted he was Alt and not Mainstream, and the great wisdom his father gave him about comics (and how his dad named one of his sisters about a character from a Conan comic). We also get into looking at 40 and how it compares to the comic he did about turning 30, why ex-Mormons appreciate his Joseph Smith bio, the challenges of getting work done as a father, how the American Splendor and Crumb movies set him on his path, the influence of Kerouac and the Beats on his writing and art, the original comic art that made him plotz, his sense of obligation to share the work of older artists, and a lot more. Give it a listen!
(And go listen to our 2022 conversation!)
“The line that came out of my pen was Alternative.”
“You never know how long 30 minutes is until you have a kid.”
“I had such lofty dreams for myself when I started out in comics. And I worked hard and managed to achieve them all.”
Enjoy the conversation! Then check out the archives for more great episodes!
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About our Guest
Noah Van Sciver is widely considered one of the most notable cartoonists of his generation, and first came to national attention in 2006 with his critically acclaimed anthology comic book series Blammo, which earned him three Ignatz Award nominations. His work has appeared in MAD magazine, the Comics Journal, Best American Comics, and The Stranger, as well as numerous anthologies. Van Sciver is the author of multiple critically acclaimed graphic novels, including The Hypo: The Melancholic Young Lincoln, Youth Is Wasted, Saint Cole, One Dirty Tree, Fante Bukowski, As A Cartoonist, and Joseph Smith and The Mormons. He lives in Columbia, South Carolina. His latest comic book is Maple Terrace.
Follow Noah on Instagram and YouTube and support his Patreon, and listen to our 2022 conversation.
Credits: This episode’s music is Fella by Hal Mayforth, used with permission from the artist. The conversation was recorded at MoCCA Festival at the School of Visual Arts on a pair of Blue enCORE 200 microphones feeding into a Zoom PodTrak P4 digital recorder & interface. I recorded the intro and outro on a Heil PR-40 Dynamic Studio Recording Microphone feeding into a Zoom PodTrak P4. All processing and editing done in Adobe Audition CC. Photo of me & Noah by me. It’s on my instagram.