FAITH ERIN HICKS is a writer and artist in
Halifax, Canada. Her first two graphic novels, Zombies
Calling and The War at Ellsmere, were published by
SLG Publishing. Most recently, she illustrated First Second's
Brain Camp. Hicks has three brothers and was homeschooled
until high school. She has never seen a ghost.
A Q&A WITH FRIENDS WITH BOYS AUTHOR FAITH ERIN HICKS
How much of Friends With Boys is inspired by your
life?
I used my own life as a starting point for Friends With
Boys. I have three brothers (although I am the oldest, not the
youngest) and I was homeschooled until high school. However, I have
never seen a ghost. I put a lot of the emotional chaos I felt going
into high school for the first time into Friends With
Boys. The main character''s first day at school freak-out is
very similar to what happened to me on my first day. I remember
running away from the school and going to my local library and
hiding there until my parents came to get me. It''s funny, now that
I think about it, being so scared of my peers. Everyone''s scared
in high school, and everyone thinks they''re the only
one.
You grew up without a TV. Was that weird for you?
It was pretty weird. I don''t think it''s such a big deal now,
because now there is the internet, but when I was a kid, the
internet was just text on a black screen and TV was the
great cultural touchstone. Not having a TV meant no
watching GI JOE or Transformers (I did manage to sneak in some My
Little Pony, but the episodes I saw were few and far between), so I
didn''t have that immediate connection to kids my age. It''s hard
to play GI JOE or My Little Pony when you''re not aware of the
plotlines. I think TV is a pretty amazing storytelling medium, so
I''m not anti-TV by any stretch of the imagination, but I have a
huge cultural gap in my knowledge. I don''t look back on childhood
shows like Transformers and feel nostalgic towards them; I watch
them as an adult and they look terribly animated and written and
they aren''t fun. The original My Little Pony, however, remains
awesome.
Who are your favourite creators and how do they influence your
work?
On this side of the globe, I really enjoy the work of Jeff
Smith (Bone), Raina Telgemeier (Smile), Mike
Mignola/John Arcudi/Guy Davis (BPRD), and Nate Powell
(Swallow Me Whole). Elsewhere, I love the work of Naoki
Urasawa (Pluto), Hiromu Arakawa (Fullmetal
Alchemist) and Claire Wendling.
It seems a disproportionally large number of
cartoonist come from Canada. Is there something in the water up
there?
Yes. At birth, all Canadian children are brought before the
great Wheel of Canadian Destiny, to spin for our future. There are
various specific Canadian careers on the Wheel of Destiny, such as
cartoonist, comedian, animator, hockey player, hockey fan and
Saturday Night Live producer. I don''t actually remember this
happening (I was a baby, after all), but I assume my Wheel of
Canadian Destiny spin landed me on Cartoonist, and here I am. I''m
pretty sure the Wheel of Canadian Destiny only has about six or
seven options on it, which is why 1/6th of the country is
cartoonists. A huge amount, for sure.
Why did you start drawing comics?
I started making comics because it seemed like fun creative
outlet, and putting them online was easy. I''d always been very
attracted to the medium (I grew up reading Asterix and
Tintin, like all good Canadian children), but there
weren''t many comics that I had access to that seemed to be made
with me in mind. So I started making my own comics, the comics I
wanted to read, even though I was absolutely terrible at them! I
didn''t even know how to draw when I first started making comics.
And now here I am 12 years and 1800 comic pages later, making my
living as a cartoonist ... it is something of a
surprise.
After an idyllic childhood of homeschooling with her mother and roughhousing with her older brothers, it's time for Maggie McKay to face the outside world, all on her own. But that means facing high school first. And it also means solving the mystery of the melancholy ghost who has silently followed Maggie throughout her entire life.
