Virtual Memories Show 693:
Karl Christian Krumpholz
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“Whenever an iconic place closes, everyone laments, ‘The neighborhood’s never going to be the same again,’ but whatever replaces it becomes iconic five or ten years later.”
With his amazing IN THE CITY comics (self-published), cartoonist Karl Christian Krumpholz manages to capture the ephemerality and dynamism of urban life, fueled by the stories of bar and club patrons. We talk about how he began In The City and how it unfolded and grew over five parts, how he learned to let his minor characters breathe and have their own stories, why his stand-in plays the Harpo-ish role of mute observer, and why The City isn’t a specific city (but isn’t Chicago). We get into Orwell’s 10 rules for a perfect pub and why his new coda to In The City is (tentatively) named Moon Under Water, why it’s better for his characters to embody flâneur-hood instead of his trying to seem smart by being explicit about it, how he began drawing cityscapes to get over how much he hated drawing backgrounds and then fell in love with that mode, how Evan Dorkin’s Milk & Cheese was his gateway drug into indy comics, how it took him quite a while to find his voice and comics-mode, and why he hopes to keep making comics about The City for a long time. We also discuss his fashion choices and hat fixation, and how led to him getting (visually) mistaken for Seth (or cosplay-/stunt double Seth), the importance of showing up at comics events, getting stories from his adventures in different cities (esp. the bars, of course), how he’s the second guest of mine named Karl who has a comic about his cat, and more. Give it a listen! And go read IN THE CITY!
“The one rule Kelly and I follow for anywhere we go is: find the oldest bar.”
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About our Guest
Originally from a city on the American East Coast, cartoonist Karl Christian Krumpholz’s work has appeared in many different formats, publications and even animated in a documentary. He is the author of several comic series set in The City including It’s Oola!!, In The City, and The Lighthouse in The City. His book Queen City: A Brief History and Illustrated Architecture New and Old of Denver, Colorado was a History Finalist in the Colorado Book Awards, 2022. Karl continues to live in the city, though now a different one, and also owns way too many hats.
Follow Karl on Instagram, Bluesky and Flickr, and check out his Etsy shop.
Credits: This episode’s music is Fella by Hal Mayforth, used with permission from the artist. The conversation was recorded at the Bethesda North Marriott on a pair of Shure Beta 58A 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. Photos of Karl by other people; double-selfie by me. It’s on my instagram.