Ah, the joys of Stumble! It’s like channel surfing yet I can do it with the click of a mouse and unlike channel surfing, I can always find something worthwhile. One of the things I Stumbled Upon was a strip called Batman’s 24-Hours that made me laugh out loud. I followed a few links and it lead to the creator, Eric Feurstein, which lead to a brief chat.

TOM: How did you get started as a cartoonist?

ERIC: All I wanted to do as a kid was draw. My first comics were basically ripped-off Far Side cartoons. I got a little older and started ripping off Garfield. In middle school, my brother and I made a MAD magazine clone called Abnormal that we wrote and drew. We sold it in the school store (after getting it approved by the principal!) and it was pretty awesome. We made a few issues and I don’t think I drew another comic until college.
TOM: Your thesis adviser at the School of Visual Arts was Gary Panter. What was that like and what advice did he give?

ERIC: He’s an awesome guy. It was many years ago that I had him but he was really supportive and honest.
TOM: How did Batman’s 24 hours originate?

ERIC: Hourly Comic Day was coming up and I had never done one before. I thought about doing one and then decided that I’d rather do someone else’s day but who’s? Like most things in life the answer to that question was Batman so that was that.
TOM: What kind of feedback have you gotten about it?

ERIC: A fair amount of positive feedback. I only posted it on my livejournal which I don’t post on much at the moment and people were nice enough to comment and tell me what they thought, so that’s nice. Thank you people!
TOM: What do you do when you’re not making webcomics? What’s your day gig?

I work at a video game company in upstate NY named Vicarious Visions. I work on games like Guitar Hero DS and Transformers for the Nintendo DS and I generally have a blast doing it. I also make games at home for fun and lay around making fun of the TV with my girlfriend (unless Antiques Roadshow is on… That is serious).
TOM: What’s coming up on the site that we can check out?

ERIC: I am currently working on a comic that should be done soon. I haven’t posted anything on my livejournal because I’ve been working on it so much and it’s unlike anything I’ve done before so I want to make sure it’s finished before I start posting it. I also don’t like to talk about things I’m serious about so if I ever tell you a story I really want to do you can just forget about it because I probably won’t end up doing it. I’ve made a few comics but nothing that ever shows off that I actually do know how to draw and tell a story and paint! The whole thing is drawn out and now I’m just coloring it. I wanted it to be ready for MoCCA but that’s not going to happen and I don’t even have a table so I forgive myself. It better be ready for SPX or I’ll give myself SUCH A PINCH!

Good luck, Eric and thanks for making me laugh, which is really why the internets was invented, right?

If you like the webcomics as much as I do, check out my other interviews lurking this site:
ZACH WEINER on SATURDAY MORNING BREAKFAST CEREAL

TAMAS JAKOB and MIKE McGEE on EL GORGO!

NORM FEUTI on GILL and RETAIL

DAN THOMPSON on RIP HAYWIRE

(Artwork: sample panel from Batman’s 24-Hours by Eric Feurstein.)