Interview With... Liz Greenfield

Liz Greenfield is known throughout every land, UK and US. She's often on the convention trail, she dazzles us with her fantastic Stuff Sucks and she even has time to make awesome merchandise. So we caught up with her a few days before her new Issue #4 and #5 books come on pre-order, here's what she had to say.

You're fantastic at creating new types of merchandise and going for unique ways to publish Stuff Sucks into the world, what made you consider doing smaller comic books rather than the larger variety you get with other webcomics?

It wasn't a conscious choice at first. I was put in touch with Sony Music, and obviously CD-booklets have a limited volume capacity. But publishing one page a week, it would have taken me years to draw enough pages for a standard-size trade paperback! There is also something charming and appropriate about small books, they are more popular now than ever. It surprises me how fast I'm having them reprinted!

What exclusive stuff do you like to give the reader? With your other stuff its mainly been just the comics, so will we see something new in these?

If you're selling readers something they can access online for free, presentation is important. I like to include bonus material, and for the newest edition of the books, I asked a dozen of my favorite comic artists to each contribute a Stuff Sucks strip! Featured guest artists include Josh Lesnick, Brandon Graham, Jeph Jacques, Corey Lewis, and Dean Trippe! The results of that are amazing, and I can't wait for the books to be released.

Will Binky ever get his own series? For some reason everyone likes him so...?

I did draw a sixteen pages Binky the Fish adventure at one point (in 2005), but I haven't had time to pursue it any further, my time is ridiculous. I have a feeling people like Binky because he's the token animal of the Stuff Sucks story, but not cute in the slightest.

Do you think its a good thing that webcomics now publish their own works or do you think they should stay online?

I think webcomic authors deserve to cash in for their work sometimes, and books are a most honest way of doing that. Given the choice, plenty of readers would still prefer to read comics in print after a quick browse online. I think it's wise of creators to offer people options.

So you're a huge convention goer, what other conventions are you off to this year?

In May I might be doing a nightclub comic expo up in Groningen, Netherlands, but only conventions I have really committed to this spring are Toronto Paradise in Canada; Heroes Con in Charlotte, North Carolina; and Mocca in New York.

You came #1 in our top unique merchandise of webcomics with your awesome iPod skins. How did you come across finding them?

The guy who produces them found my profile on Myspace and sent me a friend request. True story.

So we all know you go for really awesome stuff, what future merchandise are we looking to see appear in Stuff Sucks?

After the unpredicted success of my Stuff Sucks iPod skin, I'm tinkering with some other music-related items. Maybe in the near future! Everything is still up in the air right now.

What is the future of Stuff Sucks on the web?

Stuff Sucks was born with a 2-year life span, in case I would grow tired of it. But man, I'm still having so much fun here, I've grown to love the characters, expanded the plot, and pushed the deadline a thousand times. I will have to wrap things up eventually, but right now I'm pleased to say that the end is nowhere in sight!

This Sunday both Issue #4 and Issue #5 will be available to pre-order, so pre-order them then!