Bored Panda once again reached out to Torbjørn, who told us what changed since the last post.
“In the comic, several things have happened. Among them: Ronny has come out as bisexual and dated a man for the first time. Emma, the lesbian who was going to marry Greta, left both Greta and the comic last year, but she is actually returning today in a new story I'm starting to publish now!
I published my first NSFW comic book earlier this year, featuring the characters from Chez Cuckoo! And I'm currently working on a 32-page Christmas story, which will be available in October-November.”
We were wondering how long it took for Torbjørn to find his unique art style. The artist shared: “My style has developed over the years. I find it a bit embarrassing to look at some of my early work, as both my style and skills have improved a lot. But that's how it goes. An artist is always evolving, and I guess my style is still changing. Hopefully, always for the better!”
Torbjørn also shared what artists had the biggest influence on his drawing style.
“Honestly, I don’t know. But it was classic American newspaper comics that inspired me to create comic strips myself: Beetle Bailey by Mort Walker, Redeye by Gordon Bess, and Hagar the Horrible by Dik Browne. Later, Bill Watterson and his work had a huge influence on how I make comic strips. Besides that, I guess I'm mostly inspired by and admire the works of classic European comic artists, like Moebius, Franquin, and Mezieres.”
Torbjørn has been creating comics for a while now. We asked him to share the most surprising or memorable response he has received from the followers.
“Oh, so many things. I guess I was most surprised by someone who once criticized me for making a comic with lesbians in it since I'm a heterosexual male myself. Another thing is that many young readers today don’t seem to understand satire and irony. I use those a lot in my comic, but I’ve gotten a lot of feedback from people who don’t get it. So for my newer comics, I have to be aware of this.
Another thing is that some people don’t seem to understand that this is a comic and pure fiction. I can make my characters be terrible or do horrible things just for the fun of it, but some readers then think I agree with it or that the comic always reflects my personal views. Not true at all. I can put my personal views in a comic, but very often I don’t. It's like accusing crime authors of enjoying killing people because they describe murders in their fiction.”
And lastly, Torbjørn added: “I’m very happy for everyone who read my comic and find it amusing, and appreciate every single one of them!”
