From Drawn to MoMA: A panel from “What Did That Lion Say?” 2022.
Karl Stevens is an award-winning graphic novelist whose titles include Penny: A Graphic Memoir, The Winner, and Mother Nature which was written by Jamie Lee Curtis and Russell Goldman. He is an Ignatz Award nominee, a Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist, and has contributed comics to The New Yorker, Village Voice, and Boston Phoenix. He lives in Boston with his wife, Alex. His latest book is Pepper, published by Astra Publishing House. You can pre-order now. The book comes out 10/20/26.
A Karl Stevens interview is a wonderful thing. With Karl Stevens, you get the whole package: an affable personality, engaging conversation and insights into the art of making comics. This time around, we focus on Karl’s new book, Pepper. I refer you to my recent review. This is such a delightful book. You see, Penny had the spotlight in a previous book. And now Pepper emerges, to the surprise and consternation of Penny.
Karl Steven explains it all.
Pepper. Who the devil is Pepper? It’s like she appeared out of nowhere. At least that’s how it seems to Penny, who has long been accustomed to being the queen of the house. Well, no need to despair. Pepper will be tolerated. Even more than that, Pepper will lead the way to a whole new world of possibilities: one part adventure; one part confrontation with supernatural forces. Pay close attention to that second part. Exploring other dimensions is one of the grand themes in comics, exemplified by the French pioneers in Sci-Fi and Surreal comics. Stevens has been carefully studying the pages of Métal Hurlant from its glory days in the 1970s, featuring the works by Moebius, Caza and Druillet. And, as you can see from the below excerpt to Pepper, Stevens does indeed evoke that uncanny “touch of strange” found in the work of other great cartoonists and fellow travelers of other realms.
Keep in mind that this work of comics is for any age. Very much in the tradition of the best comics that cast a wide net, genuinely enjoyed by adults and younger people alike. This work is the creature of the alt-weekly world after all and, by extension, the broader world of comic strips. The humor is sly and wry. We’re dealing with a level of humor that is set at a highly refined frequency much appreciated by those of us looking for something offbeat and different; and probably enjoyed by cats, if they were human. All that said to suggest to you that Karl Stevens is uniquely qualified to fly this plane. As he puts it, his aim is to write spot-on funny stuff matched to a meticulous draftsmanship: a perfect mashup of the legendary cartoonist Peter Bagge and the legendary painter Rembrandt. Well, let the results speak for themselves.
During our chat, I brought up something that I found to be disconcerting. At a recent comics convention, I was at my table selling my books and, after I made a quick pitch, the potential customer just casually shook his head and said, “I’m not a reader.” It was sad for me to think that this is part of a trend. Karl considered it and concluded, “Well, people are reading all the time, whether with words, or visually. That’s an important part of what I’m doing with my work. I try to draw the words and write the pictures. Imagery is the narrative. I have the images do the heavy lifting as often as possible.”
The truth is that none of this art stuff is easy. Now, Karl has been at it basically all his life. He loves what he does, that’s not the problem. If there’s any problem it’s just navigating one’s way through the challenges of the business side, the industry rules of the game, all that stuff that seems to have little connection to the artistic process, and yet it has its place and well worth discussion. So, we discuss. You might be surprised to learn that, throughout its history, the capitalist system has been against artists. Or maybe you wholeheartedly agree. Or, who knows, we can meet somewhere in the middle. It all makes for an interesting conversation.
I highly encourage you to seek out PEPPER! As always, I welcome your input and engagement. I hope you enjoy our conversation on the Comics Grinder YouTube channel. Your Views, Likes and Comments, directly to our YouTube channel, helps to give us a leg up on the ongoing courting of algorithms. And it’s just good to connect with folks through your engagement. And you can also find us wherever you get your audio podcasts! This video goes live and set to premiere 10/11/2026 at Noon EST.
