Occupation: Artist/Co-creator of SMALL FAVORS.

Website: colleencoover.com

First professional project: Short stories and pin-ups in ATTITUDE LAD, an anthology published in the mid-nineties by Slave Labor.

Dream project: I’d like to do a fun, exciting mini-series, featuring either Mary Marvel, Supergirl, or Lois Lane, with a lot of cheesy romance.

Favorite personal project to date: SMALL FAVORS

Work outside of comics: I’ve done illustration work for ON OUR BACKS and GIRLFRIENDS magazines, and had comic art appear in OUT and the German sexuality journal MEIN HEIMLICHES AUGE (My Secret Eye).

First introduction to comics: From infancy, my older sister and I had a pile of beat-up comics. Our Grandmother worked in a Five-and Dime store, and gave us all the unsold “stripped” copies.

Most influential comics/creators on your life or career: I’ve learned a great deal from Los Bros Hernandez, Milton Caniff, Stan Sakai, Seth, Wally Wood, Rumiko Takahashi, Hilda Terry and probably dozens of others. But by far t he most influential figure in my work has been my partner in life and in comics, Paul Tobin.

Current favorite comic: PEACH GIRL by Miwa Ueda from TokyoPop.

All time favorite comics: TERRY AND THE PIRATES.

How do you spend time when not working on comics: I have a day job in a comic shop, DAYDREAMS in Iowa City! Come see us sometime! And I like to play RPG videogames and collect Hindi “Bollywood” DVDs.

Favorite LGBT character in any media: Krazy Kat.

One person you'd like to meet: I’m very shy, and I’m afraid of talking to people I admire, for fear of making an ass of myself. I squeak. I think it would be fun to meet Mel Brooks, who’s capable of running a conversation for an entire roomful of people. I could just shut up and enjoy.

What comic book character would you like to be, and why? Wendy, the Good Little Witch. She could fly, and she could do pretty much anything! And she wore footy pajamas all day!

Last good movie you saw: AMELIE.

Last good book you read: PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, by Jane Austen. I’ve read it maybe five times now.

CDs you're listening to now: Anything by Neko Case, Tom Waits, Billy Childish, or any of the COWBOY BEBOP soundtracks.

What aspect of the comics medium draws you to work in it? I think what I like best is the telling of stories visually. I like the control that comics give me to tell a story without words, or in conjunction with words. I like being able to convey irony or sarcasm in characters by having them say one thing while they do another. I like having the ability to tell a primary story with characters in the foreground of a panel, while there is a secondary action going on in the background. It can make for a very complex and layered reading experience, and it excites me when I can make it happen.

What does the phrase "gay sensibility" mean to you? I’m not sure that it means anything to me. I think it’s easier for me to define a point of view that I don’t have, a straight sensibility, by identifying that which would be different.

Does your queerness impact your work? I like to think that if I were a straight girl doing comics about women in love, they would be characters as rich as they are coming from me as a bisexual woman, but I guess we’ll never know!

What advice do you have for aspiring comics creators? Try to get some work done every day. Always look forward, try not to second-guess your past work. Always do the best work you can, and never stop trying to improve. Expose yourself to as much good art as you can; comics, movies, books, music, theatre, whatever; it stimulates the creative spirit!

Comics career highlights: Meeting so many of my fellow comics creators at the San Diego Comics Convention last summer. It really cemented in my head that yes, I am a comics professional now!

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