by Ed Fortune
BOO COOK is a British comic book artist, best known for his work on ABC Warriors, Judge Dredd, and Elephantman. His latest work is VOID RUNNERS for 2000 AD, in collaboration with David Hine. We caught up with Boo to find out more…
STARBURST: What’s the pitch for Void Runners?
Boo Cook: Something along the lines of Moby Dick meets Dune in space on a bus driven By Ken Kesey and Tim Leary. On acid!
Why psychedelic sci-fi?
Sci-fi has been hardwired into my brain since my very earliest memories plus i guess you could say that a period of self shamanism in my youth had a profound and prolonged effect on the way i think and approach life. All this coupled with a schooling in comics over the years from the likes of Brendan Mccarthy, Moebius, Shaky Kane, Druillet, and Frank Quitely etc has meant that I have a deep yearning to create comics that encapsulate all that stuff. And who better to do that with than the uk’s most psychedelic man, Dave Hine.
How much does void runners owe to the 1960s?
Dave would probably answer this better than me as I wasn’t around… But certainly, the exploits of the heavy hitters of the lsd explosion in america around the summer of love have a strong bearing on events in void runners. There’s strict control from despotic overlords, there’s widespread distribution of mind-expanding drugs, there’s the promise of new freedoms. But as with the ’60s void runners towards the end of series one starts to question those freedoms in deeper detail and how they affect the bigger picture – it may not all end up sweetness and light…
What’s your favourite moment of chaos in the story?
I think my favourite moment of chaos in the story so far is the big bang sequence in part 6. The protagonist captain shikari has ingested a heroic dose of Kali’s dust – the mind expanding drug grown inside the body-minds of planet sized space jellyfish called pleroma. The sequence starts with the void before time then expands outward from the big bang spawning an infinite myriad of consciousness and creatures which populate the universe and through enlightenment and despair the cycle continues again… Great fun to draw.
What’s the ‘most’ fun to write?
Well Dave’s the writer but there’s a fair bit of strange alien cuneiform writing cropping up amongst the art which was indeed fun to write.
Is it for the squeamish?
I think the squeamish will have no problem with this strip for the most part. Quite often any moments of violence are quickly subverted by shikari’s ‘cosmic take’ on life which tends to put things such as horror and death into a profound reverse spin.
Which bit is going to make the readers grin the most?
When David asked me to draw a massive space anus inside the brain of the Pleroma and have the crew climb inside the glutinous rectum to recover hoards of Kali’s dust I knew we’d be onto a winner, or at least a grinner. The page got quite a lot of interest online, more than any other things i posted lately and the original page sold in a flash. It has since become known as the ‘Spanus’.
How does it compare to other 2000AD strips? Is it closer to Dredd, Ace Trucking co, Shakara, or something else?
I’d say it’s definitely less Dredd and more Ace/Shakara. There’s even some of the irrelevance of DR and qQinch and a smidge of an early Nemesis vibe to it – lots of aliens, lots of oppression!
What would you say the biggest influence on this book is?
I’ll go out on a limb here and say possibly LSD?
Which creators inspire you?
I mentioned above some of the creators which really formed my early art brain. I also should definitely mention artists such as Roger Dean, Chris Foss, Tim White – all artists who were really kicking it in the 80’s when my art brain was forming… Other creators of note would have to include David Lynch, Panos Cosmatos, Jodowrosky, Gaspar Noe, Philip K Dick, Iain M Banks, Robert E Howard, Killing Joke, Can, Pere Ubu, Beak>, yes… I could go on.
What tropes do you personally avoid the most?
Personally I try to avoid the trope of cold hard reality if I can – with my creativity and probably in general. It’s much more difficult than psychedelic space fantasy and much less fun.
If you could preserve one work of art, and have that last forever, what would it be?
Good question! Possibly ‘The Great Day Of His Wrath’ Painted By John Martin in 1851-3…. Or maybe Episode 8 of Twin Peaks: The Return… Vitamin C by Can…. Again I could go on for hours here!
If we like this book, what other books do you recommend?
I would definitely recommend Kosmik Musik by Ben Wheatley and Joe Currie – it’s sci-fi, it’s psychedleic, it’s hilarious and ingenious. On top of that it has a soundtrack by BEAK>. Only a fool would ignore this…
VOID RUNNERS can be found in current issues of 2000 AD. You can find out more about the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic here.
