This evening we’re interviewing Rhode Montijo, our first-ever Keen Halloween Guest!
Rhode was a co-creator of the Happy Tree Friends show, a Xeric grant winner for his comic Pablo’s Inferno, and has illustrated the books Super Grammar and Lucky Luis.
On top of that, he wrote AND illustrated Cloud Boy and The Halloween Kid, published by Simon & Schuster Books. Another great personal project for Rhode is SKELETOWN, which you’ll hopefully be seeing at Keen Halloween!
So Rhode, we wanted you to be our first guest for Keen Halloween because you have an undeniable passion for Halloween, and it shows in your fantastic art.
Thanks Daniel and thanks for inviting me, I am honored. I think it’s great what you are doing here.
What do you like about Halloween?
Halloween means so much to me. It’s a holiday that celebrates creativity and being anything that you want to be. It’s the one time of year where neighbors open their doors to strangers and generously hand out candy. I love the trust involved. I have a lot of fond memories of my brother and I trick-or-treating and experiencing magical moments at Halloween. I try to recreate moments like these for others when I decorate my parents’ front yard at Halloween, a tradition that I’ve done since the 5th grade. It’s gotten to the point where a lot of my family gets together more on Halloween than at Christmas. On top of that, the colors, the scents, and the jolly-spooky imagery speak to me. It is so inspiring. I look forward to it every year! I always feel extra-creative around that time. My friend, Jamie Baker, once said that Halloween was to me like the Earth’s sun to Superman, that gives him his strength! Ha!
You’ve had some amazing Halloween costumes over the years… what are some of your favorite ones?
Thanks Daniel! When I think back, I think the home-made ones stand out for me. Home-made costumes are the best! At Halloween, I love seeing kids who make their own costume, over store-bought ones, I always give them extra candy. For me, a most recent one that I made was an Edward Scissorhands costume made from scratch, I went a little overboard with that one.
What is Skeletown?
Skeletown is a world that I’ve been constructing in my head for many years. It is a town where every day it is like Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) and where the whole town is skeletal. It shares the adventures of friends, Skully and Skelly, two skeleton kids who are neighbors, and Wilfredo, a worry doll who worries about all the stuff they get into. I wanted to create a fun world like The Simpsons that, like in that show, is centered around family, but also has a revolving cast of characters. But in Skeletown the town is inhabited by skeletons. I also wanted Skeletown to mirror my culture, so there is a lot of Mexican imagery and traditions that I hope to introduce to some that may not be familiar with it.
Do you want to live there?
I feel like I do! Like every creator, sometimes you get lost in the world that you create.
Clearly, you enjoy drawing from your heritage.
Very much so. It’s something that when I can, I try to put in my stories and work.
I love these Mesoamerican images that you produce, that are full of wonder and magic. Is this some sort of internalized mythology? Does it have a name? Who are these characters?
Thank you. These are characters that I came up with after taking an inspiring trip deep down into Mexico around the time when I was working on my comic book, Pablo’s Inferno. When I was there I witnessed all sorts of stone carvings that seemed so mysterious to me and I wanted to know what the exact story was behind every statue. Since most did not have descriptions, I made my own stories of what these carved figures might be. I then just started making up my own with their own visual language, but still rooted to Aztec culture.
Tell us a little about creating children’s books. It sounds like you’ve wanted to create your own books for a long time.
Whether I knew about it or not at the time, I easily remember one book that was read to me in Preschool that left a lasting impression on me and that was a little book called, Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson. It is about a little boy who uses a magical purple crayon to draw his own adventures. For example, if Harold wanted to climb some steps, he’d just draw them with his magic purple crayon and up he went. That story, those drawings, the message of drawing your own adventures…I never forgot them and that book. That story was so inspiring on so many levels.
I then get older and locked away in me was this urge to do kids’ books, but there was lots of doubt that went with this wish because I had never done one. I thought THEY wouldn’t like my drawings or THEY wouldn’t like my stories, but then I had this bad car accident. I quickly learned that tomorrow was not promised. That’s when I made a promise to myself, that if I were to heal up and get out of that hospital, I would pursue my biggest dream. So as soon as I healed, I worked almost possessed and non-stop trying to get these stories out of me. As soon as I did, I went knocking on a few doors in New York. Lots of places said, “No thank you”, but I just kept going. I then walked into Simon and Schuster and an editor there gave me a shot. I later learned that it just takes one person that believes in you to get that first chance. I also learned that it was never THEY, but myself who was keeping me from my biggest dream.
Does it take a lot of pitching and patience and time to get one done?
Yes! Some people think that it’s easy because they’re children’s books, but there is a chemistry that needs to happen between the images and the text that takes a lot of experimenting and all within a certain page count. It is a lot of tinkering and a lot of pitching, so yes, patience is required. But if you love doing it, it is a fun job. I feel really grateful to be doing it for a living.
CloudBoy was your first children’s book… what’s it about?
It is a story that I’ve had for years that asked, what if there was someone that MADE the shapes in the clouds that we see? Deep down, it is a story about connecting with others with art.
The Halloween Kid is another great book… Who’s is he? Will you have time to do a live reading at the show?
I would love to! The Halloween Kid was my second book that I wrote and illustrated. After 9/11, I felt there was a lot of fear and some of that fear transferred over into Halloween. Kids, at least in my hometown, were no longer allowed to dress-up at schools. Scarecrow parades were cancelled. Trick-or-treating was now encouraged to happen in the daytime and in Malls. I felt that Halloween was in trouble, so I created The Halloween Kid, a children’s book about a masked defender that comes to save Halloween.
What’s your favorite Halloween themed movie?
I love Ray Bradbury’s animated The Halloween Tree, which I saw when I was younger and later read the book. That one holds a special place.
Universal Monster movies or Hammer Films; which is best!?
Ooh, that’s tough! I grew up with Universal Monsters, so maybe those, but I just got into the Hammer films recently and am enjoying them. This one is neither Universal or Hammer, but the original Nosferatu is my favorite monster movie!
A huge thank you to Rhode for supporting our inaugural Keen Halloween! Come down and meet him in person!
Thank you!
