Rick Parker’s artwork has been featured in The New York Times, The Village Voice, Time Magazine, U.S. News & World Report, and Life magazine. He has also worked for Marvel on the popular Beavis and Butt-Head title from 1994 to 1996, as well as his own creator-owned title, DeadBoy. More recently, he explored his military service in his graphic novel for Abrams ComicArts, Drafted. It is a humorous and occasionally poignant memoir of his three years in the army, following his draft.
We were able to catch up with the talented cartoonist to talk about his book and how he came to develop it. So, let’s welcome Cartoonist Rick Parker to GVN’s Talking Comics.
Captain Kangaroo
GVN: Thanks for sharing a bit of your time Rick and for your service. So normally, because this is our first opportunity to chat, I would ask about what brought about your interest in art and who inspired you to pursue that. But you covered that very well at the beginning of your book. However, in reading your acknowledgments, I could not help but stop at one name: Bob Keeshan. Of course, you generally had to be of a certain age to know who Bob Keeshan was (which we do). So, what did “Captain Kangaroo” mean to you?
RICK: Our family got a TV set in 1952, and I began watching Captain Kangaroo’s show because it had such an odd assortment of characters. And I was alone a lot.
Deciding on Writing “Drafted”
GVN: When did you decide to write about your experiences in the army and had you previously put any of these memories down on paper before that decision? As a follow-up, as an artist, you mention that this was the largest body of work that you had both written and drawn. Did you ever feel daunted about that challenge?
RICK: In 2014, when I wasn’t getting a lot of paying comics work, I decided to start a blog about my life. I had illustrated autobiographical stories by Harvey Pekar five years earlier. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked writing and how it made me “feel” things that I did not feel when drawing. Writing almost every day for over a year. After over a hundred stories, I kind of ran out of things to write about and then thought, “Crap, now I guess I’m going to have to draw some of these.” A lot of them were about the army, so I decided to do a graphic novel about my experiences. And yes, it was a daunting task, at first, but after I got started, I got some momentum. It took me longer to do the graphic novel about that than the three years I actually served.
Life Leading to the Army
GVN: As you described your life in grade school and high school, I could relate to a number of things. Algebra was always like a foreign language to me. It was something I learned until I passed the course and then completely forgot. If you don’t use it, you lose it. I also related to your difficulty connecting with girls during those formative years. As you prepared to do your book, was it important to include the challenges you had in school and how those events shaped your life?
RICK: Yes, I wanted to let the reader get to “know” the person who was telling a story, so they might better understand my experiences in that context.
Motivation in the Army
GVN: You mentioned a number of times through the first chapters about basic and officer’s training, your guilt over flunking out of college initially was a strong motivation for you. Do you think your attitude and ambitions might have been different without that as motivation?
RICK: I don’t know, from the time I was 7, I never wanted to do anything other than pursue my interest in Art. I wasn’t particularly good at sports and never felt like I fit in with my peers and was uncomfortable around others. So, I withdrew into my own world.
Serving My Time
GVN: You were drafted and while contemplating your time in the military, you eventually decided that life was not for you. Has there been any time since that you have wondered how different your life may have been if you had chosen that path?
RICK: I did not volunteer for military service and reluctantly accepted getting drafted. I discovered that I liked the other guys, but wanted nothing more than to serve my time and go back to school to study art.
Letters from Home
GVN: Your attention to detail and your whimsical way of telling your story in the book and about your training is quite impressive and sometimes very funny. Did you have any memorabilia that you had saved or perhaps letters that you had written that made recalling the details easier? Or was this purely from your recollections?
RICK: I had some photos and my uniforms and things like that. Fortunately, I was so affected by that period of my life that I told and retold the stories to friends and family for years before finally sitting down to put it in writing. I did discover that my parents had saved all the letters I wrote home, which were interesting to read, but I didn’t rely on them especially.
Other Projects
GVN: I want to thank you once again Rick for your time and sharing your book with us. You successfully were able to share your experiences with both humor and pathos wrapped into a very entertaining memoir. Before I let you go, I want to give you an opportunity to share any other projects you might have upcoming.
RICK: When I learned that publication of this graphic novel was going to be delayed for two years, rather than fret about that, I started on another book about my life as an artist in New York City. Although my intention was to be a painter or a sculptor and I did a great deal of fine art, I could never sell anything and went to work in comics as a way to pay my bills, while continuing to do my creative work. Gradually, I fell in love with comics as an artform and decided to focus on that. I feel like I am where I was meant to be and am quite happy doing what I do. Thanks.
Abrams ComicArts’ Drafted by Rick Parker is available now where great books are sold.
Senior Writer at GeekVibesNation – I am a 60 something child of the 70’s who admits to being a Star Trek/Star Wars/Comic Book junkie who once dove headfirst over a cliff (Ok, it was a small hill) to try to rescue his Fantastic Four comic from a watery grave. I am married to a lovely woman who is as crazy as I am and the proud parent of a 21-year-old young man with autism. My wife and son are my real heroes.
