CITY VIEW: IMMERSED IN INSPIRATION
JOE OLLMANN is an award-winning cartoonist whose 2021 book Fictional Father was short-listed for the Governor General's Award. He is a co-editor of Hamilton anthology Bonk'd Comics and his latest graphic novel is The Woodchipper.
Joe Ollmann is a cartoonist who has lived in Hamilton most of his life except for 15 artistically productive years in Montréal. With a professional career spanning 35 years, his work has appeared in a wide range of publications, including The Paris Review and Best American Comics. In 2019, he co-curated This Is Serious at the Art Gallery of Hamilton, a show of 47 indie cartoonists from across Canada. The exhibit won the Ontario Art Gallery Association Award for curation. He is the author of nine graphic novels, one of them, Mid-life, won a Doug Wright Award for best book and several others that lost that same award since then. His 2021 book Fictional Father was short-listed for the Governor General’s Award, the first time a graphic novel was nominated for that award. His most recent graphic novel is The Woodchipper.
Tell us about your childhood on a Christmas tree farm.
It was just outside of Dundas. And it was pretty idyllic, like farm life, but at Christmas. And I'm a big Christmas person, I think, because of that. My whole family kind of go bonkers at Christmas because we grew up in that environment.
How would you describe your cartooning style?
I always think that my work is kind of melancholy, but I try to add a lot of humour so it’s not unbearably melancholic. There are layers of humour for relief, you know? Just because that's life. I mean, you could be in the most depressing moment of your life and then some utterly ridiculous pratfall will happen to you. And it takes away your dignity. And that's humanity. Or it's been my experience, anyway. I would say my work has evolved to be a lot less pretentious and more straightforward. I think I've gotten less pretentious and more focused and maybe more confident, too. I was probably more experimental and artsy in the past. I dabbled in many areas. I wrote poetry and did animation but, at a certain point, I just focused on comics. I'm a cartoonist. And that's what I do. It's what I love. I never get tired of it. But I think as I get older, I’m also more self-critical. I redraw and rewrite things a lot more than when I was younger.
How would you describe Hamilton as a place to live and work and create for an artist?
As a cartoonist, it's a hotbed of weirdos to draw and observe. I love the eccentric people of Hamilton. I used to take the bus a lot, and just overhearing conversations, you would get a whole story from the rich pageantry of life going on before you. And I love that. And it's a pretty vibrant city artistically. I know so many artists, writers and cartoonists. I mean, we just published an anthology of Hamilton cartoonists (Bonk’d Comics), and I was shocked at how many cartoonists that I didn't know of were here doing fabulous work. There’s also the Art Gallery of Hamilton, a really amazing institution with an incredible permanent collection. And the shows they're currently curating have been just amazing. I think we’re lucky to have a place like that. I mean, I'm critical of Hamilton because I grew up here and I moved away for 15 years. And then I came back and I'm like, “God, I'm back here, and I hate it so much.” But I look at the other people who are newcomers and they love it. And I've kind of learned from others to look more favourably on the city because it's a pretty remarkable place. And, honestly, it's an unpretentious city, which I love. And it’s also got this socialist heart from its steel-working days in the union. Despite it being the hate crime capital of Canada (which is not one of our proudest things), I still think Hamilton people are really good folks. And it's also this naturally beautiful place, which is something I didn't appreciate when I was younger. We have these trails and the Mountain and nature everywhere. The bay is a beautiful thing. And we’ve got beaches to walk on, too. It's an inspiring place. We're really lucky.
Many cartoonists live in Hamilton. Tell us about that.
Well, we have Dave Collier living here, and he’s a national treasure, truly. Like, because I'm from Canada, wherever I've gone in the world at comics events, they ask me about Dave Collier or do I know Dave Collier? And I say, sure, he lives down the street. And they're so happy to hear that because he's beloved. And he’s such an important figure in the world of comics. And he loves Hamilton more than anyone. He sketches continually, and has notebooks filled with characters around Hamilton and local landmarks. On the younger side we have Sunny Singh and Raul Palacios, who are two of the guys that are publishing Bonk’d Comics, and there’s Mariel Rutherford who is our new editor. They're all fabulous cartoonists. And we have Sylvia Nickerson here who's just great. Kevin Mutch just moved here from New Jersey a few years ago, and he's another great cartoonist. There’s also a lot of these ’zine makers coming together here and selling their wares. And the creativity and the do-it-yourself punk kind of attitude of it is really inspiring. So, I really feel like Hamilton's become a hotbed of cartooning because cartooning is sort of a working class, lowbrow art form. And, because this is a working class city, we're lucky to have a wealth of cartoonists here.
How did Bonk’d come about and why was this something you wanted to be involved in?
Sunny Singh approached me and said, “I live in Hamilton. I want to pick your brain about comics.” And we went out for coffee, and I probably depressed the hell out of him with my weary old cartoonist's stories. Like, “Oh, don't get your hopes up, kid, because it'll break your heart.” Like Jack Kirby said, “If you're in it, you gotta love it because it's a hard row to hoe. It's a hard way to make a living. So, we met once and then he kept coming over, we'd drink tea and look at comics and talk about comics, and I'd loan him books and everything. Eventually, he introduced me to Raul Palacios (Rulito) and I said to them my dream is to make a comics anthology. And they’re young, and have all this energy, and they said, “We want to do an anthology, so do you want to do it with us?” And so we all just made it happen. We were lucky to get a grant from the City of Hamilton that helped us pay for the first print run and pay the artists, as well. So, we managed to pay everybody which is a rarity, like a miracle, in the arts. We got the first issue together with something like 25 artists, and it was this square bound book, which we've been selling in stores and at comics fairs and such. It's been quite good so we're assembling a second issue as we speak.
How did you come to be a comic book creator?
I’ve always loved comics. I can remember the moment when I fell in love with them. I was with my dad waiting for my mom, and I’d always get stuck in the car, so my dad would give me a buck and send me to this little variety store up on Concession Street. And I bought this Spider-Man comic. And it was like this spiritual awakening moment for me. I’d read Archie and Mad and those sorts of things. But I’d never read comics at all. But I saw this thing and I went back to the car and I put my knees up against the seat and read the whole thing. Then I went back and I bought another one, and that was it. I was hooked forever. I didn't understand what was going on, and it freaked me out. One of the first books I bought was Jack Kirby’s Captain America. His drawings were so unusual and so amazing and I was hooked right from that moment. I did whatever I could to work jobs and get money to buy comics. And then I started drawing and copying everyone else's work and just obsessing and drawing comics all the time. And, I guess, the dream would have been to be like a superhero comics guy, but I grew out of it because, in my teens, I started doing these comics that were superhero comics, but they were so bizarre. Like they were influenced by things I was reading like William .S Burroughs. And there were so many things that were weird and alternative. I thought, “Why am I doing this superhero stuff? I'm not interested in it.” I got away from comics for a while, and didn't buy any. But then in the ’80s, Dan Clowes started publishing Eightball, and I saw that in a comic store. It was an anthology for grown ups, and it was amazing and beautifully drawn and I was like, that's what I want to be doing. Like, I knew he was speaking my language.
Who inspires you?
I watch a lot of movies and I like a lot of directors. So, I listen to interviews with them, and they are so fascinating. There’s Orson Welles, who I love. I mean, I’ll read any biography or interview with him because it’s like he's writing an essay as he speaks. He's so eloquent. There’s also Peter Bogdanovich and William Friedkin. And Werner Herzog's another director I love to listen to because he's such an absolute contrarian. Like, no matter what the interviewer says, he responds in the contrary. And I just find that fascinating to listen to in an interview. In comics, I would say Dan Clowes and Seth, along with Chester Gould, Julie Doucet, and Dave Collier. Jillian Tamaki's brilliant, too. And Michael DeForge. I hate trying to think of all the writers that I love, but, as a kid, I was always a socialist, or a borderline communist. So, a big influence on me was Orwell, or even Jack London, who was a socialist out in the open when it wasn't so popular.
Where do you live in Hamilton now?
When I moved back here with my wife, we lived on Aberdeen for a while just because that's where we happened to buy a house. Now we live just up from there, in the same neighbourhood, on Cottage Avenue. So, kind of in the west end.
What is the most Hamilton thing about you?
I guess I'm easily riled up about injustice. Like that's a very Hamilton thing. Hamilton people will step in if there's something going on which ticks them off.
What is your ideal way to spend a lazy day in Hamilton?
Well, I love breakfast. So, there’s Steve's Open Kitchen and the Big Top diner. One of my favourite places in the world was in Dundas, the Valley Charcoal, and it just closed. Danny, the cook there, said, “Yeah, I'm gone.” If I’d known, I would have gone back and had breakfast there every day for a week before he left. Man, it was the best. There’s also the (Hamilton Farmers’) Market. I walk around the market and get things for dinner. We're so lucky to also have so many new and used bookstores. Like, I work at Epic. But there’s King West Books, and The City and The City Books. And just this year we got Last Supper Books. It's a brilliant, beautiful store they’ve got there. I wrote them a card at Christmas, saying “You're my favourite bookstore in town. And I work at a bookstore!” I just think they're amazing.
What's your favourite meal in the city?
Aside from a good breakfast, I go for the veggie dogs at Easterbrook’s hotdog stand. I'm a vegetarian, but they make a terrific tofu dog. It’s funny because my parents went on dates there in the ’50s, and it's just so amazing. I also like Crystal Dynasty on Bay and Cannon. They do dim sum on the weekend, and it’s a good place for that.
What's Hamilton's best kept secret?
I would say all of these little organizations, like arts organizations in the city, and the small but important things they do. I just love that there's probably cool things that they’re doing that we probably don't know about. Like, those are secrets. But if you know the right people, it’s a hidden world. Like, with Mark Furukawa at Dr. Disc back in the ’90s and the 2000s, he would take me out to these secret clubs all over town. And Chris Briscoe was booking music at these clubs. Sometimes there wasn’t even a sign on the front, it was just a storefront that looked like an abandoned building. But you'd go inside, down in the basement, and it was a music venue with circular couches and just crazy music acts. In every city, I think there's secret stuff going on we don't even know about. You’ve got to get out there and look for it or find the cool people who know what's happening. That said, I’m probably too old and not cool enough to know anymore.
What does Hamilton need more of?
Homes. Like, right now. Just being downtown and seeing so many people on the street in this cold weather. It just breaks my heart to see people out there. And, since the pandemic, it's gotten worse. The rents have gone up, and the property values have gone up because of all the buying and selling. I just think we need to do something. Like, we did that small homes thing, and it was kind of a debacle in how they did it. But it was something. It housed some people, and some of those people went on to find permanent housing. But I just want more stuff happening faster, because it's a crisis.
What does Hamilton need less of?
That’s a tough question. Maybe less people who are down on Hamilton. Because there are a lot of people, a bit like me, who aren’t such cheerleaders for the city. So, yeah, maybe it needs more positivity and less negativity from old guard people who've been here forever.
