Another inter-state edition of Stunt Casting, with David Fink, a Child Protective Services officer in Arizona. Unlike all our other interviews, and our interviewer, this time around the Factual spoke with someone who's job is one of those thankless ones--a low paying drive through the most horrific parts of America. Mr. Fink is an old friend of the website, but not someone who finds the time, ever, to check into comic books. He thankfully took some of his time on a visit to Brooklyn to sit down for a quick interview. Near the end of this interview, he mentioned being in school--on top of his full time job dealing with what drug addicts and pedophiles do to children, he is also soon to receive a masters degree at the University of Arizona.
And yes, if it sounds like we are laying the praise on a little thick, it's only because there aren't many times that a mostly comics internet website gets to talk to somebody who is actually doing something on an active basis that hopefully makes this country, and this world, a better place for the children who suffer forms of abuse more disgusting and horrific than even our blackest humor allows.
TFO: What made you pick Wormwood Gentleman Corpse, Calamari Rising, Number Four of Four?
Fink: I liked the cover art. A lot. The stars carved into his head, the squid around him. The suit. Found it very interesting. Good art. I liked it a lot.
TFO: How was the experience of reading Wormwood Gentleman Corpse?
Fink: Weird. I didn't really get it. At all. I don't know, I don't read comic books that much but I didn't really...get...the interdimensional squid killing thing. And the sheep/goat fucking was...[claps hands] I didn't understand it.
TFO: Did it put a smile on your face, to read a comic about sheep/goat fucking?
Fink: It kind of got me aroused a little bit, that was good. I started thinking of cheating on my wife, with animals.
TFO: Besides not understanding it, would you say you enjoyed the process of reading it?
Fink: It felt like a took a lot of acid. It didn't make much sense, jumped back from one scene to the other. Wormwood looked like someone who, if I looked into a mirror, I would turn into him. You know how when they tell you to take acid, "Don't look in the mirror?" You'd turn into Wormwood. That's why.
TFO: Well, did it make sense? The reading itself--meaning, the basic idea of the story?
Fink: Yeah. He was fighting the intergalactic thing, and then he found the dumb goat fucker to kill off the squid, he thought that was a good idea. Am I right, or...OK. So he got the goat fucker, and he asked him if he liked squid. "Oh I like squid, you interrupted my fucking but...ohhh." Then they got the squid, and [the goat fucker] killed the squid, and [Wormwood] thought that was pretty creative. Then some people got mad because he destroyed the place, but..."I thought you could use the help." But [Wormwood] doesn't look like a "helpful" person. He looks demonic. He doesn't look like a humanitarian, or someone who's going to assist other people.
TFO: Not someone who you would think would reach out.
Fink: Not really. He doesn't look like Mother Theresa. He looks like a priest though.
TFO: What would you say about the art?
Fink: I loved the art. I think the art is great. That's why I picked it. It's weird as shit, but it's really interesting. You can't stop looking at it. Fucking weird, but I can't stop. Good art. I've never seen anything really like this. It's definitely unique.
TFO: What kind of experience do you have with comic books?
Fink: None. I don't read them. I don't think I've read a comic book since I was a little kid. I was never one to go buy them or anything like that. I don't have much experience reading them.
TFO: You don't have any interest in the form either?
Fink: No.
TFO: Can you expand upon that? Because the majority of people don't have any interest in the form...
Fink: I'm just not interested. I don't find it entertaining, and i'm not interested in it all. I'm not into fantasy, or pretending to be something...I don't know. I'm just not into it at all.
TFO: Is that dislike, or disinterest, in fantasy something that also translates into your feelings towards books, movies, those sorts of things? Do you avoid those stock wish-fulfillment style fantasies in movies and books as well?
Fink: To a degree--in this genre. I still enjoy the wish-fulfillment, like with a good action movie or something like that. Maybe a comedy--but something like a horror, or a space movie, those aren't my thing at all.
TFO: What about comic book movies?
Fink: Some of them I like. But I'm not chomping at the bit to see a lot of them.
TFO: You don't have much interest in horror books, either? More of a non-fiction kind of guy.
Fink: Si.
TFO: Would you say that you don't even have an opinion on comics? Since it doesn't interest you?
Fink: I'm pretty indifferent to it. I don't really care, either way.
TFO: So it's not a negative feeling. Just a...
Fink: A lack of feeling. I don't care. At all. At all. It's like, "You like comics? That's great." Either way, I don't care. I can appreciate the art, the work that's put into it. Because I know that these guys don't make piss for money. They have to definitely love what they're doing. But it doesn't interest me. I can respect what they do.
TFO: But the respect doesn't translate into interest.
Fink: I don't have any interest at all. In Wormwood.
TFO: As a consumer, would you say even come across comics as being available for purchase?
Fink: No, I think they're kind of hard to find. There is actually a comic book store not to far from my house, but those places are pretty scant. I think people who don't even buy comic books will notice a comic book store, just because they're so rare.
TFO: You don't even have a collecting bent to you, right? Do you have any interest in consumer products that have that whole "buy one through ten" kind of thing?
Fink: I do with movies, a little bit. I'm not passionate about it or anything, but 
if I'm going to buy a DVD, or a TV show, than I'm going to start with season one, and I'm going to have to watch that first before season two, so on. But i'm not trying to build a collection of any kind, no.
TFO: That's the kind of fetish that you've never really had.
Fink: No. I've got a lot of DVD's, I've got a lot of CD's, because I like movies, music. But I wouldn't say that I'm a collector. It's what I enjoy, it's how I relieve stress. I deal with a lot of shit, and that's how I go out of it. Watching movies, listening to a lot of music. I love both of those. But I don't love them to the point where I'm collecting them. Like the guys who collect vinyl. The guys who are looking for a particular record, and it's got to be in this particular edition, and the cover art has to look this way...that's not me at all.
TFO: As someone who has a lot more experience than anyone we've interviewed with children, and with a much wider swath of humanity than anyone else I know, what would you say these sorts of things serve as a purpose? If they serve a purpose at all? Things like comics, things like fantasy, things like wish fulfillment...
Fink: They serve an excellent purpose. I definitely see the need...I think they're awesome. Especially for a lot of kids, who might not have anything else. [Comics] are a form of entertainment that are a great method of escape. It's a much better way to escape to read a comic book than it is to go out and cause havoc in their neighborhood, drugs. Look, if you have a fuckshit life at home, you rely on stuff like that. That's what you have. That's what you hold onto, just like a kid who has sports, and that's their way out. Or school, there's always...I see kids like that all the time. That's what they have, that's what they hold onto, because they don't have anything else. I think comic books are great, especially for kids, because it's another outlet. And it's a positive outlet. Fuck, it's reading. No, it's not Dostoevsky or shit like that, but it's a start. Hell, it's better than jerking off and watching Spongebob Square Pants. I see the purpose.
TFO: Have you run into kids using [comics] as an outlet?
Fink: Yes. These sorts of things--that's all they have. A lot of them--that's what I see. Not all of them, obviously. Some [kids] have nothing, no interest at all. They're so gone that they don't have anything. But you find those kids who have that one thing, and it's that thing that keeps them going. I've seen kids that have skating, or they have art, reading, and it keeps them going. It's a real strength. If they have anything, then I see it as very positive.
TFO: In this case, this is somewhat cheap. And if a kid has no athletic ability...
Fink: Fuck, if you can read. And [fantasy] is what you're into, then [comics] are a good route to go. Comics, for the most part, from what I know--it appears that there's something out there for anyone. You can find out, just like books---if you've got a certain interest, than you can find a comic that will cater to that.
TFO: If you're able to access it.
Fink: Well, if you can find a fucking comic book store, that's not 45 minutes away. "Hey I've got a great place, it's in Yuma, Arizona. Three hours south of you, but..."
TFO: On the flipside of that, the negative aspect of it is that these days, with [super-hero] comics, the main people they sell to aren't children. They're stunted...manboys. Early 30's, mid 30's, hell 40's. Obsessive fans who have been keeping up with whatever Superman's been doing since 19-something something. That doesn't have any of the things you've talked about.
Fink: No, it doesn't.
TFO: Nostalgia fetish. Not much else to say about that. How do you want to close this out? What do you want to say about comics, Wormwood, kids--in general?
Fink: I don't know. I think the comic culture is a unique one. Somewhat interesting. But I don't get it. I don't understand. I guess you have to have that collector thing, that escapism aspect to really be into comic books. I don't see anything wrong with it. I just don't get it. I was watching Chasing Amy, and they're at the comic book show, that signing and shit, and you can tell that Kevin Smith is all jacked up about that stuff, that he grew up with it. I'm watching these guys get in this big argument about being a tracer and...I just don't get how you can be this jacked up about it. I'm fascinated with the culture, but not interested in the actual object.
Wormwood Gentleman Corpse: Calamari Rising # 4
By Ben Templesmith
Published by IDW
Can we next get a taxi driver's opinion on thermodynamics? That may make as much sense as this.
Posted by: Rob | 2008.05.11 at 16:36