“Noah Van Sciver is an Ignatz award-winning cartoonist who first came to comic readers’ attention with his critically acclaimed comic book series Blammo. His work has appeared in Spongebob comics, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Best American Comics, as well as countless graphic anthologies. Van Sciver is a regular contributor to Mad magazine and has created many graphic novels including The Hypo, Saint Cole, and the three part Fante Bukowski series.”
- Fantagraphics — Publisher of the World’s Greatest Cartoonists
Noah Van Sciver
Of the unending ways in which one can tell a story, comics, cartoons, and graphic novels number among the most fascinating and yet, possibly, the most underappreciated.
This writer’s experience with graphic storytelling began, like most people’s, when I was a kid in the ‘60s and early ‘70s and my allowance was just enough to purchase two issues of Archie Comics from the gift shop at the airport where my father worked. I loved Betty and hated Veronica. By the time I had lost interest in Jughead and the gang I had fallen in love with a nerd-boy who read and collected every single copy of Classics Illustrated he could find. Sadly, the boy’s parents threw away his comics collection when he went away to college, but happily, he and his new family, our family, have replaced all but one issue.
I also remember the naughtiness of Robert Crumb’s Fritz the Cat from when I was too young to understand how Fritz wanted to occupy most of his time, (getting stoned and getting laid), but I didn’t see the film until I was much older.
The next time I think I thought about comics was in 2003 when the strange, but mesmerizing indie film, American Splendor, came out. The film American Splendor was a biopic on the day-to-day life of Harvey Pekar and was taken from the series of comix by the same title. In addition to the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize it won a slew of additional awards.
Since then, actually starting before then I’m sure, comix and graphic novels, even the underground kind, have played a much more mainstream role in literary culture. The little this writer knows about that culture has led me to the conclusion that there is so much more to learn., and I’m working on it.
To that end, I asked Columbia-based cartoonist/illustrator Noah Van Sciver to answer a few questions for the Jasper Project blog as an entree to a more detailed profile of the multiple award-winning author which will be published later this year in Jasper Magazine.
Let’s get started.
Preorder for 12/15/20 see below
JASPER: Hi Noah and thank you for agreeing to talk with the Jasper Project. First, am I using the correct terminology? Do you describe yourself as a cartoon artist or something else?
NOAH: Hello! Yeah, I describe myself as a Cartoonist around most people and an Illustrator around anyone i’m trying to impress.
JASPER: How did you become interested in this work? I know you were influenced by R. Crumb who gave my generation Fritz the Cat and Mr. Natural. Can you speak to that influence and others?
NOAH: Well, I’m from a family that read a lot of comics. My father was a comics reader since he was a child and continues still. So he took myself and my brothers to the comic shops with him and from as far back as I can remember we all had our own collections. I drew my own cartoons in notebooks growing up, mostly to amuse friends of mine, but it was after seeing the documentary “Crumb” that I realized that this was something you could do seriously. And since then I’ve been publishing my stories and luckily have built a small cult-following of readers.
JASPER: You were born in New Jersey, but am I correct that you got your start in Denver? Can you tell us about starting out and how you were able to break into the art form?
NOAH: Yeah, I moved to Denver when I was 22 and immediately began self-publishing small comic books with a xerox machine, which I’d sell or give away on the street or in coffee shops, record stores or boutiques. Doing that brought me to the attention of the Alternative weekly newspaper (Westword) who hired me to draw a weekly comic strip, which I did for the next 7 years, all the while writing graphic novels and submitting to book publishers. It was an obsessive period of time but all of the hard work got me a lot of attention within the world of graphic novels and I soon began making a living from my comics.
Van Sciver’s debut graphic novel, 2012 — Ranked #1 on MTV Geek's "Best Graphic Novels of 2012" — One of Library Journal's "Best Books of 2012: Graphic Novels" — Ranked #3 (tie) on Boing Boing's "Best Damn Comics of the Year" survey
JASPER: Like many of our most successful artists you are self-taught, right? Can you talk about your auto-didacticism and how you accomplished it?
NOAH: Oh yes, I am a self-taught artist and I’m still learning. I learned by carrying composition notebooks with me and drawing at every chance I could. I recommend using cheap notebooks to draw in because the more expensive and beautiful the sketchbook, the more pressure you’ll feel to draw great. But you can’t draw great. You have to draw bad for a long time, and you have to do it often!
JASPER: I’m curious about your process. What is your workday like and how do completed comics come to you? What comes first, the words or the drawings, or do they happen at the same time?
NOAH: I try to work from 9-5 like most jobs. I wake up in the morning, answer emails and sit at my desk to write or work on a drawing that’s in progress. I write visually with loose drawings. When it comes to my comics I need to think on paper.With comics you need to think visually, because so much of it depends on what the art is doing. But if I’m working on a true story I’ll spend most days taking notes and drawing doodles in a notebook before I feel confident enough to jump into the drawing part.
JASPER: How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected your work in terms of creation, content and marketing?
NOAH: I think the affects will mostly reveal themselves over the year— I did have a new graphic novel released on the day the bookstores closed down so that was a big dent, and I had another book held up until autumn because of the closures. So much of the book events planned for 2020 have been canceled. Instead I’ve spent my time at home in front of my desk or in my office drawing a new story about my first apartment and first roommate, which was a helpful distraction. Another thing I’ve done is to start a Youtube channel to record casual conversations with cartoonists that I admire and that’s been helpful as a way to check in with each other during this isolation.
2929 — "At its deepest, Fante Bukowski stands as a commentary on hordes of recognition-hungry artists with nothing to say, but as a straight parody, Fante Bukowski is hilarious enough to summon tears." — Paste Magazine
JASPER: You are a busy artist. Can you tell us about the projects you are working on now and how we can see more of your work?
NOAH: I’m currently working on a graphic novel called Joseph Smith and his Mormons all about the origins and foundations of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It’s a history that I’m personally invested in learning, after being partly raised in the church (and later leaving). Besides that mostly just illustration work that comes my way!
JASPER: I also know that you have quite a few accolades to your name. R. Crumb said of your 2016 graphic novel, “I thought [My Hot Date] was one of the best autobiographical comics ever.” Take this opportunity to brag a bit about your accomplishments.
NOAH: (Ha ha ha) Well, it’s been an uphill battle for most of my time drawing comics, but there have been some successes. I’ve won a few awards, I’ve done some artist’s residencies, and I’ve traveled all over the world because of what I draw, but it’s true there is nothing quite like getting praise from people whose work you’ve admired for so long.
JASPER: There’s a lot to know about the world of cartooning, comics, and graphic novels – will you talk with me again for a more in-depth interview to be published in Jasper Magazine?
NOAH: Of course! Anytime you want!
To order books by Noah Van Sciver please visit
Fantagraphics.com
To follow Noah’s blog please visit
Noah's Blog
By Cindi Boiter
Cindi Boiter is the editor of Jasper and the founder and ED of the The Jasper Project. To support the work of Jasper, including articles like the one above, please consider becoming a member of the Jasper Guild at www.JasperProject.org