KEIF LLAMA Interview with Matt Howarth
Conducted by Michael Ryan 12.98
To promote the publication of Howarth's new OneShot comic book KEIF LLAMA: GAS
WAR by Oni Press in March 1999.
- Ryan
- Keif has previously appeared in the six issues of your book PARTICLE DREAMS
(1986-87, Fantagraphics Books) and her own six-issue mini-series, KEIF LLAMA:
XENOTECH (1988-89, Fantagraphics Books). Who is Keif Llama and what is a
Xenotech?
- Howarth
- In a galaxy filled with intelligent alien life forms, interaction is a
given, and communication is a necessity. Translation is easy, but
"understanding" can be quite elusive between species. It is the job of a
Xenotech to facilitate understanding such inter-species comunication. Keif
Llama (pronounced "keef yamma") is a young female Xenotech who works for
Confed, the commonly accepted galactic government. She is excellent at her
job...perhaps too excellent, for she adds heart to what is otherwise dry and
conscienceless work. Her solutions to assigned problems are not always what
the government intended.
- Ryan
- We should mention the origin of Keif's name. Care to retell the story?
- Howarth
- Essentially, her name is a reconstruction of SF author Keith Laumer's name.
While creating the Keif character, some friends drew comparisions between her
and Laumer's Retief galactic diplomat character. I'm afraid that the
connection ends there, for Keif is hardly as ballsy and cocksure as Retief
manages--she is young, still learning, and constantly undermined by complaints
from the Head Office concerning her solutions (which usually solve problems to
the benefit of all involved, not just the most powerful party).
- Ryan
- Why the long wait between the last mini-series and this book?
- Howarth
- I've always had a strong desire to do more Keif stories--I really like the
character a lot, not to mention the option of dealing with alien life forms.
Over the years, it's become quite evident that the readers REALLY liked Keif
too. But no publisher showed any interest until recently.
- Ryan
- Why did you choose Oni Press to publish this book?
- Howarth
- The obvious answer is that Oni showed an interest in Keif. Besides that,
though, I've always wanted to work with Bob Shreck, who heads up Oni.
- Ryan
- Extrapolating real science into the realm of science fiction to come up
with an interesting storyline is something you share with authors like Hal
Clement. What comes first in a Keif Llama story, the 'hard-science' concept
or the underlying story?
- Howarth
- Firstoff, the blame for my strong fascination with alien life forms can be
directly placed with my reading the writings of Hal Clement very early on. His
writings and other SF authors were the ones who got me interested in hard
science and the application of such in my own writing.
Oddly enough, it's the setting that usually comes first in creating a Keif
Llama story. I'll pick a particular type of planet or space anomaly, then spin
some hard science tangent on the repercussions of said setting. Then the
storyline drops right into place at that point, often getting mutated halfway
through the story with another storyline that occurs to me while working
deeply with the interacting parts.
- Ryan
- You once stated that the stories in Keif's solo book came before those in
the PARTICLE DREAMS series, but, upon rereading those stories recently, I
distinctly got the impression that the reverse is true (with one exception).
For those die-hard Keif fans out there, what is the correct chronology of her
stories?
- Howarth
- The stories in the KEIF LLAMA: XENOTECH series do come chronologically
before the Keif stories in PARTICLE DREAMS. The stories in the KL series
display her first jaunt into space, setting the tone of the Head Office's
displeasure with her solutions. While in the PD stories, she is a more
confident xenotech, managing to find solutions that seem to please the Head
Office while benefitting the alien locals more directly.
- Ryan
- How do the Keif Llama stories tie into your Mad Empress/Galation stories?
- Howarth
- The connections between my Keif stories and Mad Empress tales have always
been tenuous. The Empire/Galation War happened far back in the dim history of
Keif's universe; data concerning the conflict has become drenched in legend
and myth, resulting in most people not putting much literal belief in the
myths of Empire. We can only assume that the Empire is no longer, since if it
still existed, there would be constant evidence, as the Empire's sole goal was
to speed up the inevitable heat-death of the universe by destroying anything
it came upon. (It should be noted that the Empire that recently appeared in
THOSE ANNOYING POST BROS 62 was not the Empire of Keif's universe. It was
another Empire, in another reality--encountered by the Post Bros as they
shift between alternate realities.)
It is in KEIF LLAMA: GAS WAR that these connections rear their ugly head--as
Keif discovers an ancient Empire artifact, resulting in the devilishly
difficult task of keeping it out of everyone's hands.
- Ryan
- The Mad Empress recently appeared in THE ANNOYING POST BROS. Is there any
chance we'll see Keif crossing over with them? Is there any over-arcing
relationship between characters like the Post Bros., Keif Llama, and Konny &
Czu? Do they exist in the same universe(s)?
- Howarth
- While the Post Bros (by their very definition of bad boys) are wont to go
where they please, I try to keep my different series separated in my head and
on paper. Keif and the Empire co-exist in the same universe, but are separated
by vast aeons of time. Meanwhile, the alien con artists Konny & Czu remain in
their own separate universe, dictated by my rule that you'll never see
anything remotely humanoid or terrestrial in a K&C story.
- Ryan
- Of all the characters you've created, Keif strikes me as being the most
normal and the most real. She's a civil servant working for the galaxy wide
Confed government and has to deal with the banal realities of a real job like
many of us have--a red-tape fouled, bloated bureaucracy that functions more by
inertia and blind luck then competent organization--while having incredible
adventures just trying to do her job. Why does she stay with this job when she
could be making a bazillion dollars by going freelance?
- Howarth
- The other prominent difference between Keif and many of my other characters
is that she "cares" and possesses a conscience and ethics. Her father was a
Confed diplomat who died doing his job (she never knew her mother). Keif was
schooled by Confed and trained to use her ability as a xenotech. She feels a
bond with Confed, despite the Head Office's cold way of viewing the galaxy.
True, she could make more money by going freelance, but in the end, being
freelance would hamper her options of "helping" people. Without the backing
threat of Confed intervention, she would be nothing but a consultant whose
findings might get overruled by greedy industry.
Besides...part of Keif's charm in my mind is seeing her face the double
problem of solving the dilema at hand while dodging the empty-hearted
bureacracy rules.
- Ryan
- You seem to have a real affection for your female characters; Keif, the
Caroline clones of Bugtown, & Jeri Cale (Russell Post's current girlfriend and
Ron Post's ex-wife), just to name a few. They're all bright, self-reliant,
seem to have a good sense of humour, and can generally be trusted to be the
sole source of sanity in whatever insanity is going on about them. Are these
characteristics based on your observation of male/female interactions in the
real world?
- Howarth
- I think this situation with my female characters simply comes from my
affinity with the female mentality. In Bugtown, all the male characters are
into fast action and instant gratification...it follows that somebody's got to
be thinking about what happens afterwards. With Keif, her inate ability as a
xenotech dictates that she be capable of seeing the long effect of any action.
- Ryan
- Music plays a big role in books like SAVAGE HENRY and THOSE ANNOYING POST
BROS., and you're known to create while listening to a wide assortment of
eclectic music. Is there an underlying 'soundtrack' for the new Keif Llama
book?
- Howarth
- Actually, yes, there is: Ashra's "Sauce Hollandaise" live CD release on
Serie Poeme in Germany (see http://www.ashra.com for more data). I felt it
possessed the right balance of spacey trance and dynamic drama to fit the
story.
Music is an overpowering aspect to my work. Besides always working with weird
music playing (loud and into headphones), music often will influence my
creative process in a non-verbal manner. A particular epic passage of music
can spin my brain off into other tangents, conjuring strange visuals in my
mind. Trust me--one needs something long and surging to keep one going while
inking all those tiny lines and dots. And frequently, the names of aliens or
alien worlds come from the names of obscure musicians.
- Ryan
- The American Space program seems to be in the doldrums these days--it takes
a disaster like the Shuttle tragedy to get the publics attention. Yet,
mention the possibilities of life on Mars, like we had two years ago, and the
public and media interest in interplanetary space goes off the map. What does
NASA need to do to revitalize the space program (do we need to?)?
- Howarth
- I am a firm supporter of the Space Program, whether it be NASA or any
nation's endeavours. We may have many problems to solve on our own world, but
ignoring space to concentrate on homebound hassles is akin to bandaging a hand
while your foot still hurts (and having to hobble on that hurt foot to get the
bandage for the hand). The need for more resources (for mankind to blindly
plunder) will inevitably take us out into space just as fast as the desire to
expand our understanding of the universe we live in.
I used to get the NASA channel on my cable hookup (until my narrowminded cable
provider dropped it, replacing NASA with another shopping channel). It was not
uncommon for me to veg out for hours in front of the NASA channel, staring
wistfully at shots of the earth from a shuttle-borne camera. I'll never forget
one sequence, in which an astronaut displayed the physics action of various
toys in a zero gravity environment.
It's this sense of wonder that has gone out of the public's impression of
space travel. Alas, human nature becomes quickly bored with anything that
doesn't constantly produce discoveries full of awe. Discovery of alien life
would be great, not because it'll prove that we're "not alone", but because
it'll give human nature something to be actively curious about.
- Ryan
- If there was one Law of Physics you could change, what would it be?
- Howarth
- Frank Zappa once made the observation that mankind incorrectly believes
that hydrogen is the most common element in the universe--where the common
element in the universe is stupidity. I agree with him, and hope that this
state will one day change.
Murphy's Law (that if anything can go wrong, it will) is another one I'd like
to see change. Another one is Sturgeon's Law (that 99% of everything is crap).
Flippant answers, perhaps...but these "laws" seem to affect our everyday lives
just as concretely as do any of the Laws of Thermodynamics.
- Ryan
- If somebody offered to let you do your Dream Project, what would it be?
- Howarth
- That's not an easily answered question...since I've gotten to do what I
would consider "Dream Projects" several times throughout my career. I've
gotten to do illustrations for four books by Philip K.Dick...I've worked with
several musicians whose music has inspired me (Klaus Schulze, Hawkwind,
Richard Pinhas)...I've even gotten to do a graphic adaptation of British
author Colin Wilson's SF novel "The Mind Parasites" (a book that severely
changed my life when I read it as a teenager).
Alas, that last one has remained unpublished so far. So...I guess my Dream
Project would be to find a publisher for my "Mind Parasites" adaptation. Until
then, it sits on a shelf in my Attic Studio along with the numerous other
projects that are looking for publishers.
I may pause every once in a while, but the work doesn't ever seem to stop. I
prefer it that way.
Michael Ryan is a Canadian dinosaur
palaeontologist, as well as being co-writer (with Mark--Xenozoic Tales--Schultz)
and creator of "SubHuman" for Dark Horse Comics. The Washington Post described
SubHuman as, "Abyss" meets "Sea Hunt" meets "Baywatch", "...sequential art fans
will be very pleased with this four-part, science-fact-and-science fantasy
thriller". "SubHuman" is available now from finer comic shops everywhere.
Michael also believes that everyone should own a copy of Hawkwind's "Space
Ritual".
Interview text copyright © Matt Howarth and Michael Ryan 1999
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