{"id":16021,"date":"2023-04-25T05:46:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-25T09:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=16021"},"modified":"2023-05-06T11:23:22","modified_gmt":"2023-05-06T15:23:22","slug":"episode-536-ho-che-anderson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-536-ho-che-anderson","title":{"rendered":"Episode 536 &#8211; Ho Che Anderson"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/virtualmemories\/Episode_536_-_Ho_Che_Anderson.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Virtual Memories Show 536:<br \/>\nHo Che Anderson<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_7422\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-16021-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/virtualmemories\/Episode_536_-_Ho_Che_Anderson.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/virtualmemories\/Episode_536_-_Ho_Che_Anderson.mp3\">https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/virtualmemories\/Episode_536_-_Ho_Che_Anderson.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/virtualmemories\/Episode_536_-_Ho_Che_Anderson.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?powerpress_pinw=16021-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/virtualmemories\/Episode_536_-_Ho_Che_Anderson.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"Episode_536_-_Ho_Che_Anderson.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_subscribe_links\">Subscribe: <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/4itPQhel9GzH3WK2iXr4Zw\" class=\"powerpress_link_subscribe powerpress_link_subscribe_spotify\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Subscribe on Spotify\" rel=\"nofollow\">Spotify<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/tunein.com\/podcasts\/Interviews\/The-Virtual-Memories-Show-p1091071\/\" class=\"powerpress_link_subscribe powerpress_link_subscribe_tunein\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Subscribe on TuneIn\" rel=\"nofollow\">TuneIn<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/feed\/podcast\" class=\"powerpress_link_subscribe powerpress_link_subscribe_rss\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Subscribe via RSS\" rel=\"nofollow\">RSS<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/subscribe-to-podcast\" class=\"powerpress_link_subscribe powerpress_link_subscribe_more\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"More\" rel=\"nofollow\">More<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;I think when most people go to a big sci-fi spectacle, they&#8217;re not expecting to have to wade through tons of dialogue about philosophy and theology. But that&#8217;s the stuff that I&#8217;ve always gravitated toward. It&#8217;s the minutia of conversation that I&#8217;m most fascinated by.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/a\/4669\/9781683966715\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"16022\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-536-ho-che-anderson\/b0b3zp1t3y-01-_sclzzzzzzz_sx500_\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/B0B3ZP1T3Y.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_SX500_.jpg?fit=399%2C500&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"399,500\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"B0B3ZP1T3Y.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_SX500_\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/B0B3ZP1T3Y.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_SX500_.jpg?fit=399%2C500&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignright wp-image-16022\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/B0B3ZP1T3Y.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_SX500_.jpg?resize=280%2C351\" alt=\"\" width=\"280\" height=\"351\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/B0B3ZP1T3Y.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_SX500_.jpg?resize=351%2C440&amp;ssl=1 351w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/B0B3ZP1T3Y.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_SX500_.jpg?w=399&amp;ssl=1 399w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 280px) 100vw, 280px\" \/><\/a>With <a href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/a\/4669\/9781683966715\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">GODHEAD Vol. 2<\/a> (Fantagraphics), Ho Che Anderson has fulfilled a graphic novel science fiction adventure 20 years in the making. He rejoins the show so we can talk about how GODHEAD changed over the years, where the idea of a device that lets users commune with God came from (and how it kinda sorta mirrored his grandmothers&#8217; war for his soul), and what the process of making this book taught him about writing and comics storytelling. We get into why he loves science fiction on the screen, his experiences writing for film, prose &amp; comics, the experience he had at Marvel with a controversial <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marvel.com\/comics\/issue\/96226\/luke_cage_city_of_fire_2021_1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Luke Cage<\/a> miniseries that got cancelled at the last minute, and our Frank Miller experiences &amp; some of the visual cues of <a href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/a\/4669\/9781401290979\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">RONIN<\/a> in GODHEAD. We also discuss the need for religion, his fascination with the ocean, finding himself as a screenwriter (even with overlong drafts), why he donated his pages &amp; materials from his <a href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/a\/4669\/9788416763788\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MLK biography<\/a> to the Billy Ireland library, his notion of legacy, and a lot more. <a href=\"https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/virtualmemories\/Episode_536_-_Ho_Che_Anderson.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Give it a listen!<\/a> And go read GODHEAD Vols. <a href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/a\/4669\/9781683960805\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">1<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/a\/4669\/9781683966715\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p><em>(And go listen to <a href=\"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-346-ho-che-anderson\">our 2019 conversation<\/a>!)<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;I see the need for religion, to some extent, and I think it does some good. It allows people to become part of something greater than themselves. But I feel very strongly that we created God because we needed to.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/K2trurILDsM\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Every creative, once they&#8217;ve put something out in the world, mostly what they see are the mistakes. But of all the work I&#8217;ve published over the years, this is the one where I can look at it and cringe the least.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe style=\"width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;\" src=\"https:\/\/embed.podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/episode-536-ho-che-anderson\/id531173075?i=1000610478077\" height=\"175\" frameborder=\"0\" sandbox=\"allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;I feel like our society has really suffered as a result of the pandemic. I feel levels of aggression that I didn&#8217;t feel before. I didn&#8217;t feel this disquiet in the world like I do now.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border-radius: 12px;\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/episode\/7tgfB46mljnss1e46uJcWD?utm_source=generator\" width=\"100%\" height=\"352\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/virtualmemories\/Episode_536_-_Ho_Che_Anderson.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Enjoy the conversation!<\/a>&nbsp;Then check out&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/podcast-archive\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the archives<\/a>&nbsp;for more great episodes!<\/p>\n<p>Lots of ways to follow <em>The Virtual Memories Show<\/em>! <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/the-virtual-memories-show\/id531173075\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">iTunes<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/4itPQhel9GzH3WK2iXr4Zw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Spotify<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/vmspod\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/vmspod\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCXoLbP-9GbhHJZpCQP5TR5A\/videos?view_as=subscriber\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">YouTube<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/tunein.com\/radio\/The-Virtual-Memories-Show-p1091071\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">TuneIn<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/virtualmemoriespodcast.tumblr.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tumblr<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/virtualmemories.libsyn.com\/rss\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">RSS<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>About our Guest<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/hocheanderson69\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ho Che Anderson<\/a> is a Canadian cartoonist living in Toronto. Anderson was launched into the comics scene with the publication of his erotic story <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Want-Your-Eros-Graphic-Album\/dp\/1560972289\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">I Want To Be Your Dog<\/a> in 1990. He next embarked on the project he is best known for, <a href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/a\/4669\/9788416763788\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">KING<\/a>, his 3-part comic series on the life of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. His other works include the graphic novels <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/58721346-black-dogs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Black Dogs<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/39293650-miles-from-home\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Miles from Home<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/a\/4669\/9781560976516\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Scream Queen<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/7485402-sand-fury\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sand &amp; Fury<\/a>. His new book is <a href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/a\/4669\/9781683966715\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Godhead Vol. 2<\/a>, from Fantagraphics.<\/p>\n<p>Follow Ho Che on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/hocheanderson69\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a> &amp; go listen to <a href=\"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-346-ho-che-anderson\">our 2019 conversation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/HCA-Selfie-scaled.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"16023\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-536-ho-che-anderson\/hca-selfie\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/HCA-Selfie-scaled.jpg?fit=1863%2C2560&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1863,2560\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1554131413&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"HCA Selfie\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/HCA-Selfie-scaled.jpg?fit=451%2C620&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-16023\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/HCA-Selfie.jpg?resize=451%2C620\" alt=\"\" width=\"451\" height=\"620\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/HCA-Selfie-scaled.jpg?resize=451%2C620&amp;ssl=1 451w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/HCA-Selfie-scaled.jpg?resize=320%2C440&amp;ssl=1 320w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/HCA-Selfie-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C1056&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/HCA-Selfie-scaled.jpg?resize=1118%2C1536&amp;ssl=1 1118w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/HCA-Selfie-scaled.jpg?resize=1490%2C2048&amp;ssl=1 1490w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/HCA-Selfie-scaled.jpg?w=1863&amp;ssl=1 1863w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/HCA-Selfie-scaled.jpg?w=1050 1050w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/HCA-Selfie-scaled.jpg?w=1575 1575w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 451px) 100vw, 451px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Credits: This episode\u2019s music is <\/em>Fella<em>&nbsp;by <a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/may4th\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hal Mayforth<\/a>, used with permission from&nbsp;the artist. The conversation was recorded remotely via <a href=\"https:\/\/zencastr.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Zencastr<\/a>. I used a <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3cGZ1Em\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Heil PR-40 Dynamic Studio Recording Microphone<\/a> feeding into a <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Q9Br0z\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Zoom PodTrak P4<\/a>. All processing and editing done in <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3RwlQsW\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Adobe Audition CC<\/a>. Drawing of Ho Che Anderson by The Man Himself. It&#8217;s on my <a href=\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/vmspod\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">instagram<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Virtual Memories Show 536: Ho Che Anderson &#8220;I think when most people go to a big sci-fi spectacle, they&#8217;re not expecting to have to wade through tons of dialogue about philosophy and theology. But that&#8217;s the stuff that I&#8217;ve always gravitated toward. It&#8217;s the minutia of conversation that I&#8217;m most fascinated by.&#8221; With GODHEAD Vol. &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-536-ho-che-anderson\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Episode 536 &#8211; Ho Che Anderson&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16025,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"audio","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[22,27,26,4,1083,1183,18,20],"tags":[7049,7050,2546,7046,402,2042,551,1138,5543,7047,7048,2900,7045],"class_list":["post-16021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-audio","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art","category-big-business","category-comics","category-literature","category-movies","category-podcasts","category-politics-implicit","category-religion","tag-arthur-c-clarke-2","tag-barbara-brandon-croft","tag-caitlin-mcgurk","tag-ed-piskor","tag-frank-miller","tag-ho-che-anderson","tag-jack-kirby","tag-luke-cage","tag-martin-luther-king","tag-michael-mann","tag-nick-cave","tag-nina-bunjevac","tag-walter-simonson","post_format-post-format-audio"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-4ap","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/hocheanderson2023comp-1.jpg?fit=1870%2C800&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16021"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16049,"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16021\/revisions\/16049"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}