Heavy Metal
Dotty’s Inferno is a MATURE comic
Jean - Paul Sartre once said that Hell is other people , and while one could cynically say this was accurate , being in an actual Hell filled with everlastingly burning firepits and damned soul might be considered moreso . mayhap that ’s why inDotty ’s Inferno , a novel collection of humor stories by grownup cartoonist Bob Fingerman ( Minimum Wage , From The Ashes ) , Hell seems to be a lot like the earthly concern we might observe here on ground . Published by the new God Almighty ’s imprint Virus Comics underHeavy Metal , Dotty ’s Infernofollows the nominal Dotty , a asleep call girl working an office line of work , and her adventure in the 2d circle of Hell .
A somewhat capricious experiment to be sureDotty ’s Inferno(previously previewed in the varlet ofHeavy Metal Magazine ) is a raunchy , nudeness - occupy story of the social comment - laden afterlife of passee - call lady friend Dotty Dasche as she encounters demons , unredeemed souls and a Cerberus in her casual trials and tribulations of neverending torment , all of which seem suspiciously familiar . Satirical , whimsical , routine and blasphemous , Hell is a fertile ground for the variety of neo - classical toon humor provided by Mr. Fingerman and his funnily wholesome slip . We really are all in this together , even if we happen to be in Hell . Screen Rant trip up up with Bob to talk about Hell , and how to get through it . Read our conversation below with exclusive preview fine art from the approaching comedian .
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Screen Rant : So , I ’ve been reading Dotty ’s Inferno and I happened to note that Hell seems a destiny like where we are right now .
Bob Fingerman : ( Chuckles ) Only more play , I think .
SR : So can you tell me a niggling snatch more about why you decided to draw those similarity ?
bobfloat : I mean , that might just be happenstance because I did embark on Dotty a few years ago and I ’d hate to think that the worldly concern is conforming to my sight , ‘ get if that ’s my power , I ’m using it very ill ( chuckles ) . I think I should ’ve done something more utopian .
SR : Why are you saying that now ? ‘ Oh boy , why did I make it like that ? ’
Bob : Like the classic supervillain , ‘ if only I’ya used my ability for trade good instead of evil?’(Sighs ) Sorry . It ’s all my fracture .
SR : The sentiency of palpable sorrow you have for predicting the future so well , can you say me a slight bit about that ?
bobber : God , yeah , lease ’s put all the responsibility on my shoulder ( chortle ) . I ’ve always wanted to be the whipping boy for the entire reality ’s problem . That ’s a prognostication fulfilled .
For me , Hell ’s always just been sort of a fun playground , but , yeah , I did n’t counter it becoming everybody ’s problem . Y’know the antic was , and I kind of turned it into the tagline , but Hell is my well-chosen shoes , and that did say more about the state of the worldly concern . I entail , I do n’t think it ’s a coincidence that I set forth doing these stories decent around when Trump get in . I think I crawfish out into a safer version of Hell than the one that was stretch in real clock time .
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SR : Going on to your character , Dotty . You make her so relatable and understandable , as someone who was a sex prole who is now work at an office in Hell . How ’d you come in up with this character and why do you think she ’s so exemplary of the times ?
Bob : I had started a novel , just a prose novel pose in Hell , and she was in that . The refreshing kind of stalled , just that kind of thing happens , but I liked her so much that I thought ‘ ok , I want to do something with that character , even if it ’s not in the context of this bigger , kind of slightly more serious novel . So I just started doing some sketches ( ‘ have that ’s what I do ! ) and when I was jot down several of the characters from the novel , she was the one I maintain drawing , maybe because she ’s so fun to draw , but there was something about her .
I like the idea of somebody who ’s sort of unrelentingly optimistic but not necessarily in a Pollyanna path . She ’s in spades make the best of a risky situation , and I had n’t seen that done in story about Hell very often . Y’know : ‘ let ’s just get on with things ’ . She ’s got a horrifying boss . She gets a humble job , it ’s not a bad job . She makes the best of it . I wanted also to be doing a Holy Writ of stories about somebody you ’d actually want to spend metre with . If you ’re doing something like this , there ’s in spades the sort of story where you create the antihero or a Larry David - type character who you ’d never want to spend five minutes with him fromCurb Your Enthusiasm , but he ’s compelling . I wanted to do someone you would in reality want to pay heed out with .
SR : This idea is that she is a damned soul , you would n’t consider what she did in liveliness to be too severe , but terrible enough that she ’s sadly in Hell . That ’s a base unfairness in her world already .
Bob : Yeah , well , two things leap to mind right away . Number one , life is n’t honest so I feign the hereafter is even less so . And it ’s one of those thing where just- if you were to think in constructs like Hell and Heaven , and [ that ] there are these very specific rule , a lot of people are going to end up Hell who should n’t be there because- y’know it ’s the whole “ impure sentiment ” . There ’s one theatrical role that you forgather in there that ’s in Hell just because he masturbated too often . I imply , if that ’s the pillowcase , I think a lot of people are in fuss ( chuckles ) .
We do n’t exist in a meritocracy , so , inversely , I do n’t think you would get the punishment that fits the crime if there was a Hell . One of the caper that I had in the novel- and I ’m hoping I get to do moreDotty ’s Inferno , I ’m hoping this is just a Book 1 so that I can keep explore and basically do my version of the Heaven & Hell thing- but my tone is that Heaven would besoospecific in the behaviour that get you in there . In my novel , Heaven was really closed because nobody condition . ( Chuckles ) It ’s just a grown , empty space . You know , it ’s like one of those abandoned amusement park where you just look and say ‘ this would ’ve been fun ’ .
SR : Were you conjure Catholic , just out of curiosity ?
Bob : I was raised with no religion at all , a lifelong atheist , but the tapestries of religion are fascinating , so I ’ve always been concerned in various fates . Like , one of my favorite show is the showSupernatural , I imagine it’sa great show , really fun . It kind of go from being a ‘ monster of the workweek ’ show , to , having this very deep and involved mythos which was all about Heaven & Hell and this war between Heaven & Hell . I like the way they have fiddle with it over the years and I ’ve had some friends say to me , ‘ it ’s like , you ’re an atheist , why do you like that show ? ’ Because it ’s compelling . It ’s compelling . dear storytelling is good storytelling . It does n’t have to be- there ’s quite a little of things I revel that I do n’t believe in . To me , Heaven & Hell is just one the richest 1 you could possibly mine for material .
SR : Because it ’s so stark and so cartoonish in a way ?
Bob : Especially … I go back to the classical model ofDante ’s Inferno , of the nine circles of Hell , which is great ! Onceyou really embrace thatas a structure , you could go anywhere with that ‘ cause it ’s just got so much good poppycock in it .
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SR : One of the qualities of the humor in this book is the in - your - fount perversion and humiliation , like the rearing sex and cannibalism everywhere in Hell . Obviously it ’s all spit - in - cheek , but what do you make of this character Dotty in this predicament in Hell ?
There ’s one story which takes place in the second band when she ’s just coming home from oeuvre , you lie with and just want to stop and get groceries . And there ’s this , not the SS , but the SSS ( “ The Sexual Supression Squad ” ) , that just come in every single day and just beat up all the mass in the second circle , which is where the lustful are doomed to infinity . And you ascertain out that she had had a brief fling with one of the demons in that squad , and y’know , she wants nothing to do with his advances . There ’s this thing where he does come home with her , and she makes him a dinner party , but she stay fresh saying to him , basically ‘ I hope you do n’t opine you ’re getting lay , you ’re not ’ . I wanted her to have kind of an autonomy that she probably did n’t have in life . In a way , this is a very pretentious way of putting it , but she ’s more self - actualized in the hereafter than she was in life .
SR : That ’s interesting . Do you mean that as a serious storytelling tool that you want to search ?
Bob : Well it ’s something that- yeah , I mean I conceive it ’s in her . The affair that I mean comes across with her , which is the irony of her being in Hell , she has a moral center . There ’s a story where she ends up going to the andiron pound in Hell and does the right thing , I ’ll leave it at that … I cerebrate there ’s a lot more to explore with her . I mean , I sense ostentatious in a elbow room answer this means because it is a goofy book , no denying that it ’s a very goofy al-Qur’an , but there ’s no reason you do n’t do more serious or tackle more serious thing in the setting of goofiness . I intend , I think that ’s one of the things you could do with this kind of humor .
SR : Yeah , you have this , even though there ’s all this horrible , NC-17 style stuff that you would n’t show your grandmother , there ’s sort of a wholesome essence to these report , even with the Borax and Ralf stuff . There ’s a sure understanding that you have for all these damned souls and demons .
Bob : I have great empathy for all of them , and I conceive maybe this is what makes itmytake on the thing , .. I think there is a pleasantness to this record book that might be a surprisal to people , given where it take place , who the persona are , I think inherently , it ’s a fairly gentle book . That might dissuade some people , and hopefully it ’ll boost other people to give it a aspect , but I think there ’s more than meets the eye , or at least I hope there is .
SR : Well , all the rampant ferocity and nudity might tide over the other summer camp .
Bob : Yeah , its origins are definitely- probably the three great influences on my comics vocation were Heavy Metal , National Lampoon and Underground comix . That ’s its DNA , so that also lets masses know what they ’re fail to get . If any of those things were things they revel , then I suppose believably this book will be pleasing to them .
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SR : When you ’re talk about the humankind as it be inDotty ’s Inferno , where you have these two demonic- are they sewerage workers ?
dock : The gag , you see , they ’re not sewage worker , they actually function in a factory thatmakesshit .
SR : Ah .
Bob : So it ’s even worse , yeah .
SR : So there ’s this worldly concern where everything is just awful and everything is just going to Hell . You have the boss ’s kids get at the heck out of you . The girl ca n’t even leave her office without getting groped by a thousand dead soul . Even with all that going on , there ’s still a small fleck of hope there , in your tone . I feel like that ’s really important to the core of what your artistic message here is .
Bob : I cerebrate , and this theme ties in full circle with your first inquiry about the world we ’re in reality living in now and the one that I depicted , I think one of the things as somebody who has done multiple books that were apocalyptic and post - apocalyptic , a uncouth misconception is ‘ why so minus ? Why always thinking about the remainder of the world ? ’ . And the same would ferment with Hell ; I think there ’s an built-in optimism in all those affair , because it ’s about getting on with your lifespan no matter what the luck are , or in this case getting on with your afterlife no matter what the destiny are .
So in the face ofDotty ’s Infernoand the back - up strips , “ Ralf and Borax ” , it is about friendship . I mean Ralf and Borax are your classic drollery brace : the tall one , the short , fatty one , it ’s an Abbott and Costello , it ’s a Burt and Ernie , it ’s your classic drollery duo . But they like each other , they ’re chum , that ’s what gets them through it . There are things that will make , no matter what your circumstance are , bearable .
Dotty make little alliance as she goes through her adventures ; she finds little other the great unwashed or demons in Hell that she ’s got her picayune relationships with . you could tell just from the one where she drop dead market shopping that she has a favorable relationship with the grocer , y’know ? The butcher , they have a little rapport when she comes in . And I think , and this situation that we ’re all in now , it ’s very promiscuous , if you ’re so prepared , to just despair and just say ‘ we ’re fucked . Game over , human beings ’ . But I think this is decease to vocalise … this is a California Bob result , when I was in New York I might not have had this response , but there ’s something about having gratitude for the adept things and acknowledging the good thing that is what get you through the high-risk times , you know ? You find those thing that in reality do give you pleasance , your friendly relationship , people you roll in the hay , pets , amusement , whatever , there are things that buoy up you above however the speculative position is , and I remember that ’s really what Dotty ’s Inferno is in a nutshell , is that .
SR : Can you assure me a few of your influence on this book ? There seems to be a passel of that old - schoolhouse Golden Age , forties and ‘ fifty style sense in there .
Well , of courseMad Magazinewas a major one . When I amaze to work for them during my too brief tenure work out for Mad that was a dreaming come true . A mickle of the European comics artists , some of my all - metre heroes were guys like Gahan Wilson and Kliban . He ’s most acknowledge for doing this book calledCat , which was just a lot of gag cartoon about cats , but he did all these other books that are all out of print unfortunately . He was a genius , just incredibly funny . He was a major influence onGary Larson ( The Far Side ) . A lot of humor artists … some of the cartoonists on National Lampoon , in the funnies section of the Lampoon had a huge influence on me . Like , Wally Wood and Jack Davis and all the originalMadartists , Mort Drucker , all of those guys are all in there somewhere .
SR : Clearly you ’re all unlike and you all have different thing that you ’re go for , but this creative spark that you share with these other humor cartoonist in that tradition , it feels like it ’s universally steady down in wholesomeness , but that it ’s also draw towards this variety of madness , this raging craziness . There ’s a balance there .
Bob : I conceive , at least in terms of my own art … I used to doa series calledMinimum Wageand , while I very much disagree , some people would say to me ‘ why is everyone you take up so ugly ? ’ And I thought , ‘ I do n’t think theyareugly , I just think they ’re not idealize ’ . People , peculiarly citizenry who grew up translate mainstream funnies , are so used to everyone being really good - looking , that when you kind of draw slightly caricature pic of how people really look , they look ugly .
But I think the needle on my creative thinking goes both ways and the other one is to skew towards “ precious ” . One of my all - sentence hero is Walt Kelly , who did the laughable stripPogo . He might be the near example of what you ’re talking about of someone who , on the surface , it was a cute petty comic strip about little animals in the swamp . And it was one of the most subversive and satiric strips ever done . It addressed so many cryptic , drab issues in a very winsome , super - approachable way . I think probably my own workfalls somewhere in betweenthe two , ‘ lawsuit of course , [ Underground comix Robert ] Crumb was also an influence , and Crumb obviously did n’t shy away from anyway .
Dotty ’s Infernogoes on sale soon from Virus Comics atHeavy Metal Publishing .
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