Richard: How did Image end up picking up "Dogwitch"?

Dan: DOGWITCH had been without a home for a few years and I’d been working for Image comics on and off for about the same amount of time, so it seemed like a logical step to bring the two together. Also, they offered, which always helps.

Richard: Image is releasing the issues 13-18 collected but will there be any new adventures?

Dan: I don’t have any plans to write any new DOGWITCH comics in the foreseeable future. There’s a new comic project in the pipeline called KILLDARLINGS and I need to chuck everything I’ve got at that for a while.

Richard: What is "Lesions in the Brain" all about?

Dan: Psychological distress, self-mutilation, sex, defiance… the usual. It's basically a comic version of a music video. Another "music for the deaf" experiment. I've got this thing about trying to get as close to silent music as I can with comic book art. Katiejane and I did it before on a larger scale with INDIGO VERTIGO, but this time around we actually interpreted one of Katie's established songs. And Katie modeled for the art herself, so we’re a bit closer to a genuine comic-book-music-video. The pictures are a tad risky for mainstream comics, so there are two versions - a censored version and an explicit version. The censored one should be appearing in Image’s POPGUN Vol. 2 anthology in 2008.

Richard: Why would someone undergo the Siamese Burn Therapy treatment?

Dan: The Siamese Burn was designed to help disassociate disorder sufferers by systematically removing multiple personalities while leaving the primary personality intact. But it’s a machine, and it can’t deal with the nuances and subtleties of human psychology, so it doesn’t really work. But it did turn out to be a pretty good id amplifier.

Richard: How did you come up with the idea for "The Scribbler"?

Dan: I think some of it was a reaction to modern workplace conditions. Our room to move and breathe as human beings in any working environment is being restricted more and more by people with boxes to tick. Apparently, it’s for our own good, but the downside is that certain aspects of human behavior eventually become outlawed for “the good of society”. Individuality in a person is now a major problem for some unimaginative hive-mind jobs worth with a clipboard. I guess I wanted to express my outrage at that kind of sideways evolution. There’s also the good-versus-evil thing that I wanted to tackle at the same time. I felt the need to say, Wait! Back up. Who said “good” and “evil” were universally accepted concepts? Isn’t it just a case of positive and negative? And isn’t it all relative depending on where you’re standing? People in power throw around the words “good” and “evil” all the time to get us to agree with them, so I wanted to put forward the suggestion that these words are just cheap shortcuts. That’s why I wrote a book that was all grey areas, something that would make the effort to explore basic human psychology in order to understand why people do the things they do. I guess the idea of The Scribbler came from my frustration at a world still clinging to religious concepts that make people shoot first and talk later.

Richard: What do you think of Katiejane's writing in "Indigo Vertigo"?

Dan: It’s very personal, like a series of confessions. A lot of people find it impenetrable but it all makes perfect sense to me. I think that’s one of the reasons Katie and I clicked so well in the early days. I was talking about her writing and she said something like, “Wait a minute! You understood that?” which was kind of a new thing for her at the time, I think. But, really, it’s not hard to figure out. There’s a pattern there. Some of it may seem like a bunch of random diary entries while other bits come across as beautifully crafted poetry verses, but that’s Katie. Her own duality comes through in her writing. She’s fragile but tough, gentle but feral, broken but still working. She bleeds all those things straight into her work without pulling any punches. The result is always raw and brutally honest.

Richard: How would you describe your art and how do you think it matches Katiejane's stories?

Dan: What I call my “Indigo-style”, the painted abstract stuff I started doing with INDIGO VERTIGO, that was actually developed specifically to illustrate Katie’s writing. It’s part paint, part digital, part photography. There’s more room to express abstract ideas with that than with the traditional line art I was doing before. With paint and digital I’ve got half a chance of capturing the motion and rhythm of that silent music.

Richard: What will people like about "Doghouse" the film?

Dan: I don’t know. It hasn’t been made yet. Fans of quirky British comedy horror ought to enjoy it as it’s along the same lines films like Shaun of the Dead, Dog Soldiers and Severance. My screenplay went down very well with everyone involved if that’s any kind of answer. And Jake West is at the helm with a top quality crew of experienced professionals behind him, so expect snappy directing and editing, and some great special effects.

Richard: Do you still enjoy drawing Dogwitch and the Violet Grimm character in commissions or pin-ups?

Dan: I’m pretty sure I don’t enjoy drawing at all anymore! I just do it ‘cause I have to. I still sell original DOGWITCH art off my website but I don’t do commissions. I don’t really have the time and there’s that whole not enjoying drawing thing.

Richard: What do you have planned for 2008?

Dan: I’ll be helping guide DOGHOUSE into production, trying to sell a few more film scripts, finishing the KILLDARLINGS comic and getting that published, maybe trying to find a way to do something interesting with the naughty uncensored version of LESIONS.

Richard: What would you like to accomplish that you have not?

Dan: I’d like to maybe write a TV series one day.

Richard: What comics besides your own would you recommend?

Dan: Dan Clowes’ GHOST WORLD. Charles Burns’ BLACK HOLE. Warren’s TRANSMETROPOLITAN. Bryan Talbot’s THE TALE OF ONE BAD RAT.

Richard: How can someone contact you?

Dan: By email on dan@danielschaffer.com . Or through LiveJournal or MySpace, both listed on my website at www.danielschaffer.com .