3 Questions

with Amanda Kirk

Coady and the Creepies is a new comic for young adults that tells the tale of three sisters in a punk band whose drummer, the titular Coady, just happens to be dead. Say what?! Yeah. It's rad as hell and the first issue takes place right here in Santa Fe, touching on anything from punk politics and young love to Allsup's chimichangas. We caught up with Texas-based illustrator Amanda Kirk ahead of the book's March 15 release (it's available at Big Adventure Comics, 418 Montezuma Ave., 992-8783) to get more info, because who doesn't love punk and comics?

Is Coady your first major collaboration?
It's the first one I've drawn. There were a couple full-length comics where I did the inkwash. It started when I was coloring for Mitch Clem—he's my partner—when he wanted to do inkwashes. With Liz [Prince, the writer], it was kind of the same thing. I like to work with people I'm friends with. She gave me the script and obviously it was amazing. the indie comic community is really small, and the indie comic community that's into punk rock is even smaller.

Do you have siblings and did that help with this book?
Oh, totally. I have two brothers. I'm in the middle, but we're really close in age. The sibling dynamic in the book feels really true to me. You love [your siblings], and you want them to do well and succeed, but you also wanna murder them.

When you started doing comics did you ever think you'd have something this big?
The lofty goal is you want to introduce kids who are sort of looking for something to the pop-punk or DIY scenes. We incorporate real places and real bands to sort of Easter egg the series so kids can maybe say, 'OK. I can look up this band,' or 'OK, I can do this.' There are four in the first run, and if it does well, we'll do more places and bands.

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