Reykjavík Grapevine - 15.08.2014, Side 26

26
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 12 — 2014
It may be hard to believe, but Hugleikur’s
success came almost by accident. As he
tells it, he was participating in an art
show in Seyðisfjörður during the sum-
mer between his second and third year at
the Iceland Academy of the Arts. At the
time, he thought that the watercolour
paintings of sharks and small drawings
of exploding airplanes he had submit-
ted weren’t enough, so he panicked and
started drawing stick figure jokes as
quickly as he could. His first drawings
proved a huge success at the show, and
it dawned upon him that people appreci-
ated his sense of humour. Soon after, he
went on to photocopy them and compile
them into books to sell them to friends
and family, eventually leaving them at
whatever shops would have them.
Since of one of Hugleikur’s images
graces this issue's cover (albeit in slight-
ly reimagined form), one he drew for a
fun series we collaborated with him on
(“Monsters And Mythical Beings”), we
thought we’d check up on the man, how
he’s been and what he’s up to. What fol-
lows is a slightly edited transcript of our
conversation.
Mr. Milk Carton Arms
What inspires your work?
Just everything around me. These days
Facebook is a big inspiration, just see-
ing what people are talking about and
finding a pattern in what they’re saying.
I started doing this before Facebook,
though, back then it was just observing
people and watching the news... any-
thing, really.
Do you have a favourite of
your own comic strips?
It changes all the time. Today, it’s some
cartoon I made about a guy who had this
disease that made him look like a Moo-
min, so kids start following him around.
Thinking about it, it’s just because today
is the hundredth birthday of Tove Jans-
son, the woman who created the Moom-
ins. So at the moment, that one’s my fa-
vourite, but it changes all the time.
I usually like the ones that aren’t very
popular—I’m always surprised at which
ones make it, and the ones I like rarely do.
For example, I liked this one that made
no sense, about a guy who had milk car-
tons instead of arms. It came from a long-
ing to draw someone with milk cartons
instead of arms. So, I did. In it, he’s just
talking to another guy and says, “Yeah. I
have milk cartons instead of arms.”
It meant nothing, it was just for fun.
Stick-figure dicks
How has your work changed
since you first started making
comic strips, in terms of con-
tent and artistic style?
I guess I tend to think more about it
these days. When I started, I used to do it
without thinking. It was all just stream-
of-consciousness. Now I’m a little more
ambitious and less careless, which is a
shame because a lot of the great stuff
came out of me not caring. But it’s my job
now, so I sort of have to care about it.
One reason why I think more about
my work these days is because I don’t
want to repeat myself. Sometimes, I’ll
start drawing a joke before realising that
I’ve done it before. Also, it’s less about
shocking people these days and more
about being relevant, I guess. I think I
find myself doing more stuff that is sorta
political and kind of addresses political
events and stuff like that.
Have you ever slipped into
self-censorship when taking
your large readership into ac-
count, versus what you did
when you had a smaller, more
grassroots following?
I hope I’m not self-censoring. I guess I
was harsher in my earlier years. When I
make jokes nowadays, I just publish them
instantly on Facebook. But you can’t post
certain things on Facebook. I have been
blocked for 24 hours on Facebook just
for showing stick figure genitalia. Some-
one reported me, and Facebook blocked
me, because you apparently can’t show a
stick-figure dick.
What are you working on at
the moment?
I’m doing a few things. I’ve recently fin-
ished the script for a comic book that I’m
not illustrating. This is, like, the third
book in a series of comics I’m writing
about the end of the world. In each book,
the world ends in a different way, and
each book has a different illustrator. In
this particular book, which will be called
‘Up Down’, the world ends with every hu-
man in the planet falling upwards. Grav-
ity stays the same for everything else—
only people fall up, and only the people
who stay inside don’t fly off into space.
The story revolves about the people who
are left in the world after gravity turns
around. It was a really mind-boggling
script to write, because you have to think
about how everything is upside down
except for the people. The illustrators
have already showed me some pages, and
they’re beautiful.
How did you think of that?
I don’t know. I think I was just staring at
the sky one day and thought: “What if we
fell up?” Actually,
I think I subcon-
sciously stole the
idea from Don Rosa,
who drew Donald
Duck for quite some
time. He was one
of the best Donald
Duck illustrators.
He did a story where everyone fell side-
ways, so they had to climb up floors. I just
turned it 180 degrees. The book will be
out this fall, and I can’t wait to see it.
I’m also doing a play. It’s a musi-
cal that will open this spring, about the
Norse gods, with a focus on Loki, the god
of mischief.
Páll Óskar fighting
alcoholic zombies on Gay
Pride day
What’s the funniest or most
interesting reaction you’ve
gotten about your work?
The funniest reaction was from a book
critic a few years ago. He was so appalled
that he wrote this long article about how
Iceland should be ashamed of me, and
that his dog could draw better pictures
than mine. It was so negative that I still
kind of think he was kidding and that he
was actually being sarcastic throughout.
I use his text all the time when promot-
ing my books, even though it was written
seven years ago. Aside from that, I rarely
get really, really negative reactions. I was
kind of hoping I’d be more controversial,
but I’m not—at least not in this country.
The most special reaction is a sad sto-
ry. It was a long time ago when everybody
had MySpace pages and I posted a lot of
cartoons that were in English. There
was this one joke that depicts a girl talk-
ing with her father in front of a TV. The
girl says to the father, “Daddy, 'Friends'
is about to start. Can you abuse me af-
ter?” It was so long
ago that 'Friends' was
still a thing. There
was this girl—I think
she was from Estonia
or Lithuania—who
sent me a message,
saying: “That was re-
ally funny, because
it’s true. That’s what I used to say to my
father before he abused me. I used televi-
sion shows to postpone the abuse.”
That was a horrible thing, but it’s kind
of justified everything I’ve been doing.
So what’s next? Any big plans
for the future?
I’m just hoping to do more TV. In this
apocalyptic series of mine, the second
book was about Páll Óskar fighting al-
coholic zombies on Gay Pride day and I
wrote this comic book and the whole idea
came because I wanted to do a movie.
My ultimate goal is to one day be able to
make a movie based on that, and to have
Páll Óskar as himself. But until then, I’ll
do more comic books and hopefully more
stand-up comedy.

Hugleikur Dagsson, the controversial cartoonist famous
for his satirical comic strips which often depict stick fig-
ures in violent situations involving murder, rape, religion,
cannibalism, incest and suicide, enjoys huge popularity in
Iceland, as well as an international cult following. Apart
from his comic strips, he has also published multiple books,
written a couple of stage plays, produced his own television
show and done some stand-up comedy.
The Creator Of
Hangman’s
Darker Relatives
A conversation with Iceland’s
most controversial
stick figure cartoonist
Words by Susanna Lam
Illustration by Hugleikur Dagsson
Art | Different
“These days Facebook
is a big inspiration, just
seeing what people are
talking about and find-
ing a pattern in what
they’re saying.”
Support your local Hugleikur! Go buy offensive onesies for kids you
hate at www.dagsson.com!
Hi Hugleikur, what can you
tell us about your illustration
upon which Þrándur's cover
painting is based? Do you re-
member making it? Did you go
through any special thought
or work process?
I barely remember doing it. I only
know that I drew the Hidden People
separately, and then Photoshopped
the pictures together. Photoshop is
the gateway between our world and
the hidden one.
At that time, you were illus-
trating a series of articles for
us, about Iceland's "monsters
and mythical beings." Was
there a creature you enjoyed
drawing in particular?
I liked designing these creatures in stick
figure form. I used the same design
in the comic I did for the phone book.
I quite enjoyed drawing Miklabæjar-
Sólveig, the suicide ghost that haunted
the priest who broke her heart.
What is the ultimate monster,
in your opinion?
The Tilberi. That is one fucked up crea-
ture. The milk thief, with mouths on
both ends. I always envision it like some-
thing from a Cronenberg movie.
As we were making the series,
you remarked that Iceland-
ers had this treasure trove
of myths and monsters that
were just begging to be used
in thrillers and horror mov-
ies, that it was a matter of
time until someone made a
film about, say, the Nykur or a
Skoffín? Now, five years later,
are we any closer?
It doesn't look like it. Not while our
government is 70% vegetable. It's sad,
because the possibilities are endless.
A horror love story about The Deacon
of Dark River [Djákninn á Myrká]. A
Gremlins-type movie about Tilberis. A
Grýla slasher. A Nykur creature feature.
A Miklabæjar-Sólveig frightfest. Sæ-
mundur Fróði is... The Exorcist. Throw
me some money and I'll make them all.
I understand you and Þrán-
dur are cousins, right? Do you
feel like you might have simi-
lar approaches to art, even
though you employ drasti-
cally different methods?
We grew up together and drew comics
together. We like the same stuff and,
yes, our approaches are often similar.
We both did Grýla. We both did the mer-
man. We both did Þorgeirsboli. We both
did the Norse gods. We're both covering
the mythological flora of Iceland.
We should do a show together.
What do you think of his ver-
sion of your piece? Does it tell
a similar story to yours, or is
something lost or added in
translation?
I see literally no difference between the
pieces. It's practically the same picture.
Are you sure it's not mine?
A Sidebar
About That
Painting
And Elves
And Stuff
Haukur S. Magnússon