You have to get used to the Internet. It’s not the best place to play ball a lot of the time.

October 16, 2011 7:34 PM

The AV Club interviews Kate Beaton, writer and artist of the webcomic Hark! A Vagrant.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn (48 comments total)

I love Kate Beaton so much. My sister heard of my affinity, and drew a birthday card with my husband and I ala her drawing style. I spent the last 10 minutes rummaging through my file cabinet trying to find it, but alas, it is unfindable.
posted by lizjohn at 7:59 PM on October 16, 2011

Kate has done more for History Appreciation than anyone since Mr. Peabody.
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:12 PM on October 16, 2011 [7 favorites]

Best history ever. I love her scribbles and attention to foible.
posted by vicx at 8:21 PM on October 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

I am quite fond of this woman and have a print of her Tesla comic. She's a must-read.

That is all, I guess.
posted by Palindromedary at 8:23 PM on October 16, 2011

I only recently discovered Kate Beaton and Hark!, and seconding oneswellfoop's assessment: no one person or comic has gotten me wikipedia'ing more history-related articles than she.
posted by not_on_display at 8:46 PM on October 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

I love Kate Beaton. She's got a great eye for telling history in a fun and quirky way that I try to mimic in my teaching. It's such a great entry point into everything else. I've got a sculpture of the pony on my desk that I play with when I get bored.
posted by lilac girl at 8:47 PM on October 16, 2011

"Well you didn't defeat the wizard but you made him sort of depressed."

THAT'S GOOD ENOUGH
posted by JHarris at 8:48 PM on October 16, 2011 [7 favorites]

I know she comments on this kind of thing a lot, and dislikes it in general, but I have the biggest anonymous internet crush possible on Kate Beaton and I will pine as I read the rest of this.
posted by cmoj at 8:50 PM on October 16, 2011

I've just discovered Adventure Time and apparently there's a whole episode about that Pony.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 8:50 PM on October 16, 2011

I love the pony so much. Unlike a lot of other webcomics I've come across, the way she draws people and things is just so delightful and fun.
posted by palidor at 8:52 PM on October 16, 2011

wow a comic about the Aussie guy who got kicked out by the Queen and ended up with a band named after him
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 8:54 PM on October 16, 2011

I love Kate Beaton. I'd still like to hear more about her days in the oil fields of Alberta.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:09 PM on October 16, 2011 [2 favorites]

On some recent gift giving occasion, my girlfriend and I, without each others knowledge, bought each other fat pony t-shirts.

We are a good match.
posted by St. Sorryass at 9:10 PM on October 16, 2011 [9 favorites]

I just got her book! It is great.
posted by ocherdraco at 10:08 PM on October 16, 2011

i like kate beaton but i am just in mortal dread of the day she voices an opinion that makes it impossible for me to like her work
posted by This, of course, alludes to you at 10:14 PM on October 16, 2011

Just started hitting random on her website, and look! I have already learned about a fascinating historical figure of whom I'd never heard before: Chiune Sugihara.
posted by ocherdraco at 10:14 PM on October 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

What's up with the interviewer writing '[Laughs]' multiple times per paragraph (up to four or five times in some responses)? Even if Beaton was laughing a lot, that's a really intrusive and unusual editorial decision. People laugh all the time during conversation, but we mentally parse out laughter like we parse out ums and uhs; good interviewers shouldn't include any of that in their transcriptions. Part of me thinks that a male cartoonist laughing a lot during an interview wouldn't have their laughter so thoroughly transcribed.
posted by painquale at 10:21 PM on October 16, 2011

i like kate beaton but i am just in mortal dread of the day she voices an opinion that makes it impossible for me to like her work

So who is ideologically pure enough for you?
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 10:22 PM on October 16, 2011 [3 favorites]

So he could prove how funny he is.
posted by delmoi at 10:23 PM on October 16, 2011

Er, that last comment relates to painquale's.
posted by delmoi at 10:23 PM on October 16, 2011

Some Self parody found via the 'random' button.
posted by delmoi at 10:27 PM on October 16, 2011

@LiB

i got some intricacies
posted by This, of course, alludes to you at 11:08 PM on October 16, 2011

I'm so glad the book is doing well. H!AV is a treasure.
posted by mintcake! at 11:14 PM on October 16, 2011

i like kate beaton but i am just in mortal dread of the day she voices an opinion that makes it impossible for me to like her work

TenNapel's Affliction. Dave Sim Syndrome. Orson Scott Cardiac Disease.
posted by JHarris at 12:33 AM on October 17, 2011 [11 favorites]

What's up with the interviewer writing '[Laughs]' multiple times per paragraph (up to four or five times in some responses)? Part of me thinks that a male cartoonist laughing a lot during an interview wouldn't have their laughter so thoroughly transcribed.

The interviewer is Tasha Robinson, and she does this with everybody. You can think of it as the literary equivalent of the emoticon. I like it, and I think it works well with artists and other creative people whose verbal expression doesn't come in perfectly-formed paragraphs like Ira Glass.
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 2:44 AM on October 17, 2011

I love Kate Beaton's work. I am afraid not to. If, for some reason, I did not and said so on the internet, someone, somewhere would make a call. A call to a pony.
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:51 AM on October 17, 2011 [6 favorites]

SQUEE

Right after I watched the Jim Steinman interview where he was going on about his love of Wuthering Heights, a friend posted this on her Facebook wall.

"And a large angry squirrel."

"OH SHOOT IT"

DIVINE!
posted by louche mustachio at 4:26 AM on October 17, 2011

I sent an email to her once about some weird art-historical gag that had been kicking around in my head for about a month at that point. I was so floored that she actually responded, since I assume she receives many such an email. She made it pretty clear that she wasn't going to use my idea, but she was so nice and funny about the whole thing, even offering me "very nerdy high fives" through the internet for it. I will treasure that response forever.
posted by piratebowling at 4:54 AM on October 17, 2011

Beaton's really great; I actually think she's picked up the Onstad baton and is the reigning Person Doing the Best Work in Webcomics. Looking at her work and her success has really made me rethink what it takes to make a good, accessible strip-- I don't think it's an accident that she's getting so far with a strip that anybody can just glance at and get, without needing to know hundreds of strips' worth of backstory and continuity and character nuance.

I did think it's weird that the interviewer went out of his way to talk about her not putting periods in her word balloons. A lot of people don't... it's like asking her about her unusual decision to use the color black, or to draw eyes on people.
posted by COBRA! at 5:31 AM on October 17, 2011

and looking back, I remember the interviewer was Tasha Robinson, so I guess it's "out of her way," etc.
posted by COBRA! at 5:39 AM on October 17, 2011

Thanks to Hark! A Vagrant, I'm unable to forget Lester "Mike" Pearson and how he got his nickname.
posted by drezdn at 5:40 AM on October 17, 2011

Kate Beaton is such a delight, in everything she does. I can't quite believe she's real.
posted by Capt. Renault at 6:13 AM on October 17, 2011

So much love for Kate Beaton, I can't even tell you! She's brilliant and if you get a chance to hear her read in person, definitely go!
posted by silverstatue at 6:28 AM on October 17, 2011

I heart this bigtime. I was just reading that Heathcliff one and I'd forgotten that the father brought Heathcliff back from one of his travels as a gift for his children.

I have a copy of the "Guywatching with the Brontes" on the wall next to my computer at home.
posted by Kitty Stardust at 6:49 AM on October 17, 2011

@Chrysostom In her LJ back in the day she wrote a bit about her time on Alberta. The impression I got was that she didn't enjoy it. I don't think she got to see the whole province unfortunately because she once mentioned not even getting to see the Tyrell museum in Drumheller.
posted by Calzephyr at 7:20 AM on October 17, 2011

The AV Club comments tipped me off to this duel between Beaton and John "Pictures for Sad Children" Campbell.
posted by Iridic at 7:41 AM on October 17, 2011

I can not get enough Fat Pony. That is all.
posted by tommasz at 7:48 AM on October 17, 2011

Never quite got that comic, so this interview was helpful. I don't want to feel dumb at my next webcomic critics' meetup.
posted by DoubledayBooks at 7:54 AM on October 17, 2011

I've got Billy Bishop's Flying School stuck on the wall next to my desk. Before that, it was one with Gabriel Dumont and Louis Riel. I'm Canadian.

I think asking about the no periods thing is legit. You don't have to be the only person to ever to do something for it to be a thing that you do.
posted by RobotHero at 8:31 AM on October 17, 2011

The AV Club comments tipped me off to this duel between Beaton and John "Pictures for Sad Children" Campbell.

I believe that coincides with the time when they were dating.
posted by shakespeherian at 9:51 AM on October 17, 2011

I believe that coincides with the time when they were dating.

I can't really imagine John "Pictures for Sad Children" Campbell dating anyone, or, for that matter, interacting with anyone, without that person instantly being drained of life.
posted by kenko at 10:15 AM on October 17, 2011

Eh. I used to live with him. He's pretty normal.
posted by shakespeherian at 10:21 AM on October 17, 2011 [2 favorites]

The interviewer is Tasha Robinson, and she does this with everybody.

I don't see it in her other interviews. She might normally write '[Laughs]' three or four times. In the Beaton interview, she uses it thirty-five times.
posted by painquale at 10:35 AM on October 17, 2011

"dating josh campbell" should be a euphemism for something like needing palliative care

my great aunt is dating josh campbell, we're all very sorry
posted by This, of course, alludes to you at 10:38 AM on October 17, 2011 [2 favorites]

josh/john
posted by This, of course, alludes to you at 2:38 PM on October 17, 2011

Here is an interview with John where he seems like the normal person that he is, normally.
posted by shakespeherian at 2:48 PM on October 17, 2011

Eh. I used to live with him. He's pretty normal.

I hope you realize that you now owe us STORIES.

(Not really, but I feel like he's completely different from his internet persona, which has always fascinated me because his internet persona has such a wonderful and absurd voice and his ability to access that voice makes me intensely jealous.)
posted by shadytrees at 4:54 PM on October 19, 2011

Kate Beaton also on CBC's Studio Q.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 8:49 PM on October 28, 2011