Comics Extravaganza Blog Tour Interview with Nick Abadzis

 Organized by First Second Books @01FirstSecond

GO HERE to see all the stops on the tour

Today I'm excited to be hosting a stop on the Comics Extravaganza Blog Tour!  

Below you'll find an interview between First Second Books and Nick Abadzis

Pigs Might Fly

by Nick Abadzis and Jerel Dye

Published: July 13th 2017 by First Second

Book Description: On the grand sweep of the Pigdom Plains lives a small pig called Lily, the daughter of renowned inventor, Hercules Fatchops.  Hercules’ personal holy grail is to invent powered aircraft, a feat already achieved in secret by Lily. Hercules prizes only science, but Lily's innovations employ science and magic. She will need both, because now the Pigdom faces invasion from terrifying adversaries with more advanced aircraft—from over the mountains come the warthogs, intent on destroying the Pigdom.

Following the success of his smash hit graphic novel Laika, Nick Abadzis returns to First Second with his latest epic: Pigs Might Fly!

Find: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Book Depository | Indiebound

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Interview: 

FIRST SECOND BOOKS: Tell us your first memory of reading a comic or graphic novel.

NICK ABADZIS: It was either a copy of The Dandy, a kids’ weekly published by DC Thomson in the UK or a Tintin book. Both had a profound effect on me before I could even read properly – I can remember doing drawings with speech balloons, but I hadn’t yet learned to write so I filled them in with scribble to indicate speech. Later, I had a character called Marsho, who was a sort of stickman a little like Charlie Brown. Peanuts and the Moomins were other big early loves. 

FIRST SECOND BOOKS: What's your favorite comic or graphic novel, and what do you love about it?

NICK ABADZIS: Honestly, this changes all the time, although there are certain perennials. Tintin in Tibet is one, Moebius and Jodorowsky’s The Incal another. Jack Kirby’s crazy 2001 adaptation from the 70s. In recent years, I loved Jaime Hernandez’ The Love Bunglers, Frederik Peeter’s AAMA series, Sacha Mardou’s The Sky in Stereo, Rachael Ball’s The Inflatable Woman, Manu Larcenet’s Ordinary Victories, Mariko and Jillian Tamaki’s This One Summer. 

What they all have in common is an utter clarity of vision, of the story they want to tell. None of them could be mistaken for other storytellers or artists, their work is utterly, uniquely their own.

FIRST SECOND BOOKS: Tell us a little about your upcoming graphic novel. 

NICK ABADZIS: It’s called Pigs Might Fly, but there’s no “might” about it, really. They do indeed take flight, with the help of both science and magic, which exist comfortably alongside each other in this world. It’s the pigs themselves who are uncomfortable about it, about letting go of old ways to embrace the new, about allowing new ways of thinking and new discoveries to take their places alongside older traditions. Our hero is Lily Leanchops, who invents the first flying machine, so we follow her adventures and see the rapid progress of these Hogfolk. There is a lot of spectacular airplane action and magical battles. It is written by me and drawn by the incredible Jerel Dye.

FIRST SECOND BOOKS: What comic or graphic novel are you reading now? 

NICK ABADZIS: Right now I am reading Jon Allen’s Ohio Is For Sale, which is extremely funny indeed. Probably not for kids, though. Likewise, a copy of Rules For Dating My Daughter by Mike Dawson, which is next up on the reading pile. I think he’s great. I steal my daughter’s issues of Archie sometimes. She likes “the old ones.”

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About the Author 

Nick Abadzis has been creating stories for both adults and children for nearly thirty years. In 2008 he was honored with an Eisner award for his graphic novel Laika. He currently writes the ongoing monthly series Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor. He is British but lives in the New York City area with his wife and daughter. abadzone.tumblr.com