The Film Palace Interview:
Rodney Schroeter
By Edward Larsen Terkelsen

Select Rodney Schroeter Bibliography

Bat Comix #1 (1974)
The Weirdo #1 (1978)
The Weirdo #2 (1979)
The Weirdo #3 (1980)
Bat Comix #2 (1982)

Death Panel: A scene from Rodney Schroeter’s “Death Shoots the Works,” which appeared in Bat Comix #2. 

I admit it: I’m mad about comic books. (Not so much about what actually gets published, mind you, but rather the idea of comic books—the medium’s often-untapped potential.) As a kid, I made mine Marvel (those who favored DC were looked upon as being a little fruity), and I squandered many an afternoon immersed in the thrilling exploits of Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, and (my favorite) the Hulk. But as I entered my teenage years, all that “crash boom bang” stuff began to lose its appeal. I yearned for something deeper. An alternative publication, Bat Comix #2 (which I discovered in the quarter box at a local comic shop called The Dragon’s Lair) filled the bill and then some. Never before had I gazed upon a graphic novel so in step with my own idiosyncratic worldview, and it inspired me to seek out other underground offerings, like R. Crumb’s Zap Comix. The creator of the weird and wonderful Bat Comix #2, Rodney Schroeter, has long since retired from drawing (he’s turned his attention to writing), but I was able to track him down recently (thank Heaven for the Internet) and at long last procure some of the stuff that I missed out on back in his heyday: Bat Comix #1 (which he now seems to all but disown) and The Weirdo #s 1-3. In this interview, we discuss not only his past work, but movies and Objectivism as well.

Edward Larsen Terkelsen: Bat Comix #2 opens with a hysterical bit in which we see you as a schoolboy vowing revenge on the classmates who mock you for wanting to become a comic book artist. Well, some say that success is the greatest revenge. How old were you when you put out Bat Comix #1?

Rodney Schroeter: I was 19 years old in 1974, when I self-published Bat Comix #1. The reason I thought I was ready to self-publish was an error which others can learn from, and avoid, if they are able to analyze their own work with a strong sense of honesty. I discovered underground comix, found some work being published that was of a very low quality, and thought, “My artistic abilities aren’t any worse than some of this stuff.” The error being the belief that, since bad work was being published, then my own bad work was publishable. I don’t recall approaching any comix publishers with my work. Considering my personality at that point, it’s not something I would have done. So, I self-published.

ELT: What was your method of distribution?

RS: I advertised here and there, with minimal results.

ELT: How was Bat Comix #1 received, commercially and critically?

RS: Poorly to both. RBCC did reviews, so I sent in Bat #1. Someone named Clifford (can’t remember the last name) gave it 4 out of 10, saying the quality of the artwork was somewhere between Aline Kominsky and a blank page. He did admit that he enjoyed the writing.

ELT: Your drawing skills grew appreciably from Bat Comix #1 to Bat Comix #2. Did you receive any formal training, or did you teach yourself?

RS: I wish I’d had formal training. I made another mistake: Teaching myself to draw, not from life, but from comics. Yes, that really is a mistake.

ELT: Can you name one or two comic book artists who may have inspired you?

RS: Basil Wolverton and Steve Ditko.

ELT: I often find myself picking up Bat Comix #2 when I’m down on the current comic book scene. Most of the titles out there are just so obvious, so formulaic. I think that’s why I prefer the underground stuff. It tends to be more personal and less compromising.

RS: As a kid, I liked Mad-style parodies. But later on, I would (generally) cringe when I saw something derivative. It could be a scene in a comedy mimicking something from another movie. Even the simple lines, “Damn them! Damn them all to hell!” shouted by Charlton Heston in the remake of Planet of the Apes—I understand that sort of thing is sometimes meant as a tribute to a previous version, but it just spoiled what should have been a dramatic scene.

I prefer and highly value something original. I want to see something new, be taken somewhere I’ve never been before, hear dialogue that I feel I haven’t heard 100 times before. I’m not too familiar with the current comic book scene, other than going through Previews each month, so I can’t comment. 

There is a lot of  “personal” and “uncompromising” work in the underground or “alternative” or “independent” comics that I don’t find of any interest, as well. There is what I call the “Raw” school of comic art, made popular by the ‘80s publication of the same name. As I recall, mainstream culture commentators took notice with that kind of work, exclaiming, “Now, comics have become fine art!” In other words, like the so-called fine arts, this type of comic threw away artistic standards and intelligibility. I prefer rational, linear storytelling, so I like reading anthologies or original comics that are decades old. I’ll buy a lot of romance comics from the ‘50s, just to enjoy the storytelling techniques and the literate writing, even if it might not be too original.

ELT: Are you a fan of R. Crumb? 

RS: I admit to a mixed response of attraction and repulsion over his work. I was more attracted when I was young, because his work was bold, shocking, different. But despite his obvious technical mastery, the subject of most of his work became less relevant to me as life progressed. I admire most his work related to old-time musicians.

ELT: Have you seen Crumb, Terry Zwigoff’s documentary? 

RS: Yes, once. I doubt I'll ever watch it again.

ELT: In the late ‘70s/early ‘80s, you contributed a weekly strip called “The Weirdo” to your hometown newspaper. The Weirdo was a superhero with nary a super power. Can you tell me a little bit about the origin of this character? 

ELT: His arch-foes were a wacky lot, to say the least: Dr. Psycho, the Pipe, the Sentient Bratwurst. If these guys were to take each other on, who do you think would win? 

ELT: Your comics often evoke the surrealism of the Fleischer Brothers’ pre-Hays code cartoons. Have you studied their work, particularly the Betty Boop ‘toons? 

ELT: You gave up drawing to pursue other endeavors, such as writing. What kind of stuff have you been writing of late? 

RS: Several articles for Ditkomania, a fanzine devoted to Ditko’s work. An article I’m especially happy with, about Wisconsin artist Norman Pettingill, which appeared in a magazine now out of print (and which I might make the subject of my first e-published book). I am finishing up a long story about two IT (Information Technology) guys. Various articles and short stories. More ideas than I’m able to actually put down on paper.

ELT: You write occasionally about film, particularly the silent period. Did you hear about those long-lost American silents that were recently unearthed in Russia? 

ELT: My pleasure, good sir: http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Movies/10/21/us.russia.found.films/index.html?hpt=C2

Of that group, I’m most anxious to see Circus Days, largely because it stars Jackie Coogan. He stole my heart in Chaplin’s The Kid, which is one of the loveliest pictures I’ve ever seen. What are some of your favorite silent movies? 

RS: The work of Buster Keaton, Douglas Fairbanks (especially the pre-swashbucklers), Roscoe Arbuckle, Larry Semon, Harold Lloyd, and many more. Specific films include The Man Who Laughs, The General, The Matrimaniac, A Modern Musketeer. Special mention goes to Sunrise, The General, When the Clouds Roll By (Fairbanks), and Girl Shy (Lloyd) as some of the best filmmaking I’ve ever seen. Ever.

ELT: You’re a champion of Objectivism. What led you to that school of thought? 

ELT: Have you seen The Passion of Ayn Rand? 

RS: Yes, it’s a flawed movie version of a flawed and (to my understanding) inaccurate book.

Anyone interested in the personal side of Ayn Rand is referred to a recent book, 100 Voices, where people who knew Ayn Rand in widely varying contexts are interviewed.

ELT: What do you make of the pickle that our country’s in right now? Too much government intrusion? 

The November 2010 elections were just a beginning. If the Tea Party can focus on rights and fiscal responsibility, and keep reminding those voted in of these priorities, we might see some positive change. I hope we don’t see another Republican wimp-out as we did in the mid-1990s. The socialist/fascist element will come back even stronger and bolder (as it has the past few years), and the country will come even closer to totalitarianism than it is right now. 

The most important book you could read, if you’re concerned about this country’s future, is Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Another book, not getting the attention it deserves, is The Ominous Parallels by Leonard Peikoff. There’s a chapter in that book on the philosophical formation of America that is worth reading itself.

To your original question: There is not enough government intervention in certain areas (seeing that our country is not safe from states that sponsor terrorism), and too much intervention in other areas (any initiation of force).

ELT: In Bat Comix #2, you teased us with an upcoming story entitled “Santa Claus Goes to Hell.” Did you ever get that one started?

RS: No. I don’t mind giving a synopsis here, as I will never get around to it. A painter, frustrated by a lack of ideas, says he’d sell his soul if he could come up with some great paintings. The Devil appears, makes the deal, disappears. The artist then tries to paint, but because he has no “soul” (in the sense of “inspiration”), he has absolutely no ideas and can’t paint anything.

Santa Claus comes down his chimney, wishes him a Merry Christmas, but then sees how depressed the artist is. The artist explains the situation. Santa thinks it over, says it might make him late, but... He takes the artist by the arm, they both get into the fireplace, but go DOWN. Until they get to Hell. The Devil, on his throne, surrounded by many stooges and goons, listens as Santa asks for him to please give the artist’s soul back. The Devil just laughs and tells his goons, “Give this guy the works.” So they open up with machine guns and other weapons. Santa, however, being virtuous, cannot be harmed by their weapons. The Devil orders his thugs to burn Santa, but again, Santa (and the artist under his protection) is unharmed.

Santa says, “Thank you for being so kind as to warm me up.” This “thank you” causes the Devil and sub-devils to writhe and screech in agony. They can’t upset Santa, but Santa inflicts pain on them with his kindness and virtue. So, the Devil gives the artist’s soul back and tells them to get the heck out of there. The two of them return to the artist’s studio, and he’s ready to go to work.

But Santa says, regretfully, that because he was delayed, he’s behind schedule and might not be able to make all his deliveries before morning. So, the artist offers to go along and help.

Santa and the artist deliver presents. As they zip up each chimney after a delivery, they’re able to see some of the children as they discover their presents. The artist is inspired by their childlike glee, and it makes him remember some of the things and attitudes he valued and experienced as a child, that he’s forgotten about.

It’s cold on that sleigh, and the artist is not dressed protectively. By the end of the run, which was finished on time due to his help, he’s in bad shape, so Santa decides to take him to the North Pole instead of back to the artist’s home. There, in the Elf Infirmary, where he has to lie on several elf-sized beds, he is treated. Santa is relaxing with a cup of coffee, telling Mrs. Santa (who looks more like a Wallace Wood sexpot than a granny lady) about this unusual trip, when the elf surgeon comes in.

“We were able to save him, Santa,” the surgeon says. “But... but his hands were badly frostbitten. We... had to amputate them.”

Mr. and Mrs. Santa visit the artist in the hospital. Santa begins to say how sorry he is about the artist’s hands, but the artist sits up with vigor and tells how, while he was lying there, he’s conceived dozens upon dozens of great paintings. “Hands?” he asks. “Why, I’m so inspired, I have such great ideas, that I don’t even need hands to execute them! Just tape a couple of paintbrushes onto my wrists! I’m ready to go!”

Santa looks away from him and says, eyes narrowed, “Well, now, I think we could use an artist around here.” The artist is interested. Santa then takes one elf aside, who is wearing a carpenter’s smock and holds a hammer. Santa says, “Now that he seems to know how to use his hands, would you please make him a new pair?” The elf replies, “The very best, sir.”

There are a few details I’d have to work out, if I ever tackled this. I do use the word “soul,” but I consider it synonymous with “consciousness,” so I’d have to explain how it’s even possible for a living, conscious person to surrender his soul. Or maybe I wouldn’t, this being a fantasy.

ELT: Do you still draw, at least for your own personal pleasure?

RS: Not really, since about the mid-1990s.

ELT: In my opinion, “Death Shoots the Works,” which appeared in Bat Comix #2, is your greatest piece. It’s also your most potentially divisive. (I’m thinking of that panel where the protagonist goes before Saint Peter and flips him the bird.) Did you receive any flack over that one? 

RS: Bat #2 was released while I was teaching, and I was darn careful not to let it fall into the hands of any students. But once I quit teaching, that wasn’t a problem, and I gave some copies out to a few former students. One former student got hold of a copy, and wrote to me that he was so offended that he tore up all of my comics. I saw him on Facebook recently, and did not invite him to “friend” me.

I was working on a sequel to “Death Shoots the Works,” had about 12 pages completed, when I decided, “Drawing is not going to be part of my career.” I even had a third Death story in mind.

ELT: So, what have you been up to recently?

RS: After 22 years working as a computer programmer at one company, I was Obamacized in early 2009, and unemployed for the rest of that year. In 2010, I was hired back part-time. Roughly the same time, I started a part-time journalism career, reporting for the same editor and newspaper that published “The Weirdo,” so I’m able to put my skills as an Engineer of the English Language to work.

I’ve done some fiction. Some articles. I am the manager of the Wisconsin Regional Writers’ Association Press, which has been formed to publish books by Wisconsin authors and/or featuring Wisconsin-related themes. I’ve done proofreading for a small publisher who collects mammoth anthologies of pulp fiction.

For more details: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rodneyschroeter

ELT: Thank you for spending this time with me, Rodney. Do take care.

December 15, 2010

© Copyright 2010 by Edward Larsen Terkelsen. all rights reserved. 

And awaaay we go! (From The Weirdo #3.)