Out of the Blue by Ari tells the story of guitar-playing, music-loving Felix and Mack, a fun-loving mermaid trapped in a water reservoir. One day, Mack finally musters up the courage to talk to Felix as he plays by his favorite spot by the reservoir. Felix, while enjoying the company, is understandably cautious around the mysterious boy who refuses to get out of the water, especially because Felix can’t see him. Mack, on the other hand, is relishing finally being able to talk to someone without hiding. After years of loneliness, prickly and guarded Felix and Mack slowly learn that they’re not all that different.
C&Q: Let’s start at the beginning, Ari. What got you into drawing and comics in the first place? What were some of your inspirations that made you say “I also want to do that”?
Ari: I’m gonna start this comics interview off on the right foot by saying before Out of the Blue I was never much of a comic reader. Around the time I started Out of the Blue I was given some comics as gifts and started making regular trips to local comic shops. I wouldn‘t say any one comic in particular inspired me but I remember flipping through comics like Emily Carroll’s Through the Woods or Beasts of Burden a few times. I think I just liked the idea of seeing something I drew up on the shelf too.
At that point I had only been doodling around on a little tablet I picked up one day on a whim. I wouldn’t have called myself an artist then. It was just something to do that kept my hands busy and kept me distracted from other things. Comics seemed like the next logical step though. And nobody tried to stop me.
C&Q: I’m glad no one tried to stop you! We’d be missing out on a great story! I know it’s extremely early to ask, but have you thought of creating any other comics after you finish Out of the Blue?
Ari: I always have several comics on the backburner. A few I was gonna make before OOTB and some I've even thought about making during. More than likely my next comic will be a take on the small town mystery/paranormal genre. Essentially Twin Peaks but southern and gay. Or it could be a road trip style story with more monsterboys. Or it could be something I haven't come up with yet. Comics take such an unbelievable amount of time and energy it's hard to say when I’d ever get to another one. Or even when I’ll actually finish Out of the Blue.
Credit: Ari
C&Q: What was the spark behind Felix and Mack, and Out of the Blue overall? As a patron of yours, I know you have quite the collection of OCs, what was it about them in particular that made them deserve an entire webcomic?
Ari: Out of the Blue started out as a small gift for a friend who loved mermaids. Originally it was only a handful of pages and was only meant to be a small stepping stone towards other comics. But it almost immediately grew beyond that before I even started drawing it.
The idea for the comic just sprung from the urban legends you hear around dams in my area. Divers working at the base of a dam will encounter some sort of monster fish of ever-increasing size that became trapped when it came downriver. It seemed like a cute hook for a mermaid story so Mack was born from that. Felix started life as a sort of subversion of the siren myth, playing his guitar and luring the poor mermaid closer and closer to shore. They were a rare case for me of two characters being made for the story.
Then I dropped them both in a lake and let all the water out because I thought it’d be interesting to see what two characters who need to depend on each other in different ways do to survive.
C&Q: Oh! I didn’t pick up on Felix being a siren! It’s right there! I should just hand my diploma back… That’s a really clever subversion, definitely.
The dam breaking is undoubtedly a turning-point in the story that, at least, I wasn’t expecting. You get to see a lot more of Mack and Felix’s personalities from that point on because of what they’re going through. Have you discovered more about the characters through their interactions and chemistry that wasn’t there in your original idea?
Ari: It’s funny I’ve actually been going back and getting ready to rewrite and redraw the early bits of the comic and I didn’t realize how mean they were. Thankfully they’ve mellowed out a bit as we’ve moved forward. They’ve also gotten a bit more mature and somber as time has gone on. Almost in conjunction with my art style maturing a bit.
But one big change was in the beginning I always imagined Mack would be the more forward of the two and would be the one to push and prod Felix throughout the comic. Of course Felix ended up being the more bold of the two, at least in the last chapter, and I think it surprised me more than Mack. You just gotta go with the flow if it makes sense at the time.
Credit: Ari
C&Q: Talking about storytelling, Out of the Blue very clearly depicts a “beauty and the beast” trope. What attracted you to tell this kind of story? Is there anything you would hope to add to the history of trope as Out of the Blue continues?
Ari: Tale as old as time. It’s funny. Before I would’ve thought Out of the Blue was a subversion of that trope. At least on a surface level. But so far it has played out pretty straight, huh? Which wasn’t really my intention. It’s really hard to pin down the appeal of those kinds of stories. Especially if my comic’s comments are anything to go by. It’s also a trope that’s been so thoroughly deconstructed and subverted by this point that it’s almost expected when it shows up. It’s really hard to say how it’ll shake out by the time I actually reach the end of the story.
C&Q: If I may say so myself, it occurred to me that the appeal of the “beauty and the beast” trope in Out of the Blue might be the ambivalence of which is which. In the classic aesthetic sense, Felix is the beauty and Mack is the beast; personality-wise, Felix is the brooding, callused beast and Mack is the free-spirited beauty. You can also argue it’s the other way around, and it also works.
Does this make sense, or am I just English-majoring too much into it?
Ari: Actually after thinking about it some more I'm not sure this trope wholly represents what's happening in the story. I can see either slipping into that basic character archetype. Though I wouldn't be comfortable with calling Felix a beast in particular. But would that trope still hold up if either character could fit into that role?
I believe a lot of the appeal of that trope comes from the power imbalance inherent in the dynamic while I feel Mack and Felix are on relatively even ground in a lot of ways. Another large part of this trope comes from one character wanting to change how they’re perceived or feeling like they’re not worthy of being loved. Mack and Felix are pretty attractive and I’d say they definitely know it. They have insecurities like the rest of us but I don’t think either would feel the need to dramatically change for someone else’s benefit or feel like they aren’t worthy of love. Neither really needs it and aren’t really looking for it at the moment anyway. They’re just two lonely boys who happen to conveniently cross paths.
Can you subvert a trope into nonexistence? Or am I being pedantic?
And this is semi-related but there's actually a sort of sub-type of this trope specifically for a blind character meeting some sort of “beast.” You see it pop up a bit in media but more specifically in Frankenstein or The Man Who Laughs or even in an episode of Aaahh! Real Monsters. But it’s one that can potentially carry a lot of baggage in its messaging.
Credit: Ari
C&Q: I think it’s safe to say that one of the most appealing aspects of Out of the Blue is its art style. Needless to say, you’re incredibly talented. Could you walk us through the process of how you compose a panel and page?
Ari: Well, to start with, I panic. Several hours later I pull out a sketchbook and stare at a blank page for a while. If after a few more hours nothing comes from that I’ll try lying in bed or the tub and staring at the ceiling. I repeat this until the last minute when I very quickly throw something together and hope for the best.
Honestly, I would say composing pages is the most difficult part of making comics for me. I’m not much of a visual thinker. Which is probably a weird thing to hear coming from a comic artist. I usually keep a small dry erase board around me to block out panels because I try to keep it loose. I can’t plan pages ahead because I’m always changing things as I go. I don’t even write dialogue til I’m drawing the page. So I just sit there at the desk talking to myself to suss it all out while drawing. I have bits and pieces of images and dialogue floating around that I’d like to see and try my best to fill in the gaps as I go. Everyone has their workflows that work for them though. Even if they’re horribly inefficient like mine. But if it works, it works.
C&Q: Being completely honest, that’s pretty much my creative process when it comes to the blog, so I can relate a little all too well. I also change things as I write, which makes me wonder why I even bother with outline in the first place… Creativity is like that…
Besides lying in bed and in the tub, are there any other things that help kick start your inspiration and imagination, like other comics or pieces of media that you like?
Ari: Problem is when I'm consuming some other piece of media that’s usually when I should be working on my comic anyway. And trying to listen to or watch something just creates noise and makes it impossible for me to work on anything. That usually doesn’t stop me though. I mostly just listen to a lot of sappy indie music.
But the really boring answer to this question is that my main source of inspiration and motivation honestly comes from doing some sort of monotonous work. Watching movies and reading books does nothing but when I start working on papercraft or knitting or cooking the background noise in my head starts to settle and I can finally think about the things I need to. But if you really want to know what fires me up it’s dish washing. To the point that I need to keep a notepad nearby so I can try to write with one hand before I run out of dishes. I wish I could point to specific pieces of media that have inspired me but this is the sad truth.
Credit: Ari
C&Q: I wrote in my analysis of Out of the Blue a little bit of how queerness, disability, and monstrosity seem to form a kind of kinship through the shared experience of being Othered. In your opinion and experience, what do you think makes these kinds of stories so appealing to queer audiences?
Ari: Seeing a part of yourself in a piece of media can go a long way. But like you said I think at a basic level what appeals to me in a story like this is the idea of finding “your people.” I never make Mack or Felix’s queerness a thing that needs to be revealed dramatically or something they openly struggle with. But the relief they’d probably feel, well Felix mostly, at being able to start opening up about things they never get to talk about with other people. It’s a simple feeling but it’s something I’ve felt and I’m sure most people can relate to. It’s just nice seeing people like you make an intimate connection.
C&Q: I wholeheartedly agree. Even before their conversation in the flooded house, you can tell that they're both dealing with some pretty deep trauma and, in line with the central theme of the comic, they realize that they can help each other heal.
As of the time of this interview, it seems readers have just been introduced to the boy that left Felix behind. Should we prepare ourselves for anything particularly heartwrenching?
Ari: I had actually never planned on him showing up in the comic but including him in one of Felix’s many dream sequences seemed like a nice little way to include him. I like to keep things loose but given what Felix has said about him and the time period of the comic it already seems to be a pretty heartwrenching situation to him without me having to salt the wound. I don’t know if Felix will talk much about it later in the comic but I didn’t know he’d show up either so who can say.
He’s mainly there as yet another anchor keeping Felix tied to his home and as a way for Felix to have already come to terms with his sexuality before the comic even started. I just liked the idea of Mack and Felix meeting each other at the tail end of their own cliched gay tragedies and bonding over it.