We reached out to Ben and got to ask some questions about his comic series. The artist shared more about his favorite storyline he enjoys creating the most: “Personal fave comic of mine… I like the one I’m posting on Monday. It’s about cats.”
The creator of “Berkeley Mews” also told us: “A character I enjoyed making was Nietzschémon. He’s the only recurring character in all of Berkeley Mews. He’s a small mustachioed seal (?) with a bad attitude. He doesn’t exactly share Nietzsche’s philosophy but I hope he captures his likeness.”
Asked about his favorite works, either in comics or other mediums, Ben answered: “All-time fave dark humor work of any medium ever is The Perry Bible Fellowship. It’s on another level. It’s mind-altering. Also love: There Will Be Blood, Midsommar, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace, Invader Zim, Portal, Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared, Dr. Strangelove, The Shining, The Sopranos, The Far Side…”
We were also wondering if the artist has ever faced criticism or backlash for the content of his comics, and we learned that: “I don’t get much backlash but sometimes I post a comic about phone addiction or modern living and people say ‘OK boomer,’ or ‘we live in a society’… It hurts my feelings…”
Lastly, Zaehringer told us: “As for humor being an effective medium for storytelling, I think of it the other way around: I think storytelling is an effective medium for humor. My goal is to get a laugh, and storytelling is a means to that end. Stories play with expectations, and that’s useful for humor because a really good joke seems to come out of nowhere. Using a story to get a laugh is like putting a reader on a treadmill, letting them get comfortable, and then, when they least expect it, reversing the direction, or pulling the plug, or turning the speed up to 100 mph, leaving them in stitches.”
