Interview: John Green

On May 4th through 6th, while attending the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, I ran around to as many of my favorite kids comics creators as I could and asked them all the exact same questions. Keep in mind, exhibit halls are crazy loud and crazy busy (even when they’re held in a library), so there is a lot of background noise. Let me know in the comments if you have trouble hearing anything and I’ll translate for you.

I’m discovering that anyone Dave Roman is friends with is someone I want to get to know. John Green is a case in point. In the twenty minutes or so we spent talking together I discovered that John is kind, funny, quick-witted, and very talented. He’s the kind of guy you want to go have coffee with. And then you want to read his comics. His most recent collaboration with Dave is Teen Boat (which he pitched to me here), a clever parody of as many teen movie cliches as he and Dave could think of. Take a look at the video; it’s nice having a John Green on YouTube who is as charming as that other John Green.

Books mentioned in this video:

• Space Office, by John Green (webcomic)
• Astronaut Academy, by Dave Roman
• Smile, by Raina Telgemeier
• Amulet, by Kazu Kibuishi
• Bone, by Jeff Smith
• Friends With Boys, by Faith Erin Hicks
• Anya’s Ghost, by Vera Brosgol
• Broxo, by Zack Giallongo
• My Side of the Mountain, by Jean Craighead George

Filed under: Interviews