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“Umm… I’m Ken Knudtsen, howdy. I just turned 31, and I’ve been drawing since who knows when. I attended (and graduated from) the School of Visual Arts, which counts Klaus Janson and Walt Simonson among its instructors. Along with drawing, I enjoy drinking and screaming while playing video games with my buddies. My two favorite music groups are Nine Inch Nails and Huey Lewis and the News. And I’m ****ing psyched that Aquaman is finally getting his own show.”

Alright, enough about Ken… wait, damn, this thing is about Ken, isn’t it? Ok, well, lets get on with it then, shall we?

At Wizard World Philly I spied a table full of monkey drawings and Ken Knudtsen.

Several years ago I attended Wizard World Philly and during my rounds I spied a table full of monkey drawings and Ken Knudtsen. I came to learn that the monkey drawings were Ken’s comic My Monkey’s Name Is Jennifer, published by SLG. Then, upon purchasing and reading it, I found that it was damn near the funniest comic I’d come across in quite awhile. My purchase also came with a swig of Vodka to boot, which beats the hell out of a stupid chromium sheet-metal trading card any day!

Well, here in the second installment of “Voices” I present Mr. Knudtsen, who recently landed a gig at Marvel with I (Heart) Marvel: My Mutant Heart #1, but maintains his independent perspective, a cutting edge sensibility, and an obvious love for all things comics, whether from the Big Two or a photocopier.

Read an excerpt from My Monkey's Name is Jennifer!

A photocopier, in fact, may be, according to Knudtsen, the first step at publishing your own comic. “Go to any comic convention and hand out photocopies of your stuff to anyone that makes eye contact with you,” advises Knudtsen. “After FINALLY coming up with something I wanted to work on (crazy monkey), I handed copies of a finished #1 to a ton of people. This included Peter David, who reviewed it in his CBG column. So when I was showing Jennifer to editors at the San Diego con, people all said, ‘Hey, it’s the thing that Peter David liked.’ I showed it to Dan Vado at the Slave Labor booth (he loves monkeys), and 2 months later they sent me a contract.”

So, what is this crazy monkey comic of Ken’s about anyway, you may ask? Knudtsen describes My Monkey’s Name Is Jennifer as “a cute story about a little girl and a monkey, and the monkey is crazy.” Toss in a skeleton man and a mad scientist, and you’ve got yourself a show.

But monkeys aren’t tamed that easily. “Be ready to work your a$$ off with your story and art,” states Knudtsen, “it’s so tough to be noticed in the marketplace right now, especially with the explosion of self-publishing over the last couple of years. You really don’t want to blow your big chance with substandard finished work. That’s the easy part. THEN you’ve got to work your a$$ off to market and sell your book. Be ready to put a lot of time, effort, and money into this, because there is no way around it.” Apparently, however, getting his gig at Marvel was a bit easier than the ground-up method. “Wolverine writer Dan Way was asked to do a short Wolverine story, and he requested me,” states Knudtsen.

Knudtsen claims his biggest influence is “just being around other artists. It pushes me to try new things, to ask questions, to just try to improve myself.”

Knudtsen is no stranger to the receiving end of the comics world, either. “I read everything. I love The Ultimates, The Losers, Plastic Man, and a ton of other stuff from Marvel and DC. From smaller guys, Jerry Ma’s Burn, anything from Terminal Press, Teenagers From Mars, and Image’s Rex Mundi are all great.”

“Doing comics, especially now, is all about persistence and hard effort. It becomes quickly apparent that talent alone is not enough.”

With both a professional and fan perspective, Ken offers his opinion on how the comics industry is holding up: “It seems to be getting better, but just as tough to get work.” However, he offers some advise and encouragement for up-and-comers wary about treading those waters: “Doing comics, especially now, is all about persistence and hard effort. It becomes quickly apparent that talent alone is not enough. But all the hard work is worth it when you see your very own work next to Batman and Spider-Man. I ****ing love doing this.”

As for his future, Ken Knudtsen states that he’d “love to do more superhero stuff,” and is also working on a self-published title with Dan Way (The Incredible Hulk, Wolverine: Origins). And, of course, as all things gravitate towards home, Ken adds, “Oh, and I’m forming up another Jennifer…”

For more information on Ken Knudtsen, visit Epicprops.com and Slave Labor Graphics

That’s it for this installment. Come back next time where I will be featuring creator J. Chris Campbell (Zig Zag).

Now, get the **** outta here.

 

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