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About Lise Myhre
This interview was put together with the help of the visitors of this site, and editing on my part to make the interview flow a little bit better. Please don't copy the interview to your site, it took quite a bit of work to put together and that wouldn't be nice. Thanks, and enjoy the interview! :) The Future of Nemi Yheti: How has the success of Nemi changed your life, and did you ever imagine that Nemi would become so successful on an international scale? Lise: No, never. Actually, when I first started with Nemi, it was as a guest series in the The Far Side comic (we have a tradition for making monthly anthologies in Norway) -my editor told me Nemi would probably be liked by about 20 people, but he was willing to print it for those 20. (heīs a cool guy) lucky for me, he was wrong... Yheti: Have you received any negative feedback (specifically concerning Nemi's character and the explicit content), and have you seriously taken any of it into consideration? Lise: All the time, and I always take any kind of feedback seriously -I listen to what people have to say, but then I keep on doing my thing. If you try to please everybody, you end up with a bad health and a really lame comic. Yheti: Will there ever be official English translations of Nemi? Have any countries requested that your comics be translated? Lise: As of now itīs only out in british english, Metro and Terrorizer in England runs my strip. Itīs also translated to swedish and finnish... Yheti: Where do you see Nemi in 5 years? Lise: No clue. I donīt even know if Iīll keep it up that long... Yheti: Do you find it more difficult to write Nemi strips now than a couple of years ago? Or do you still have many ideas in mind? Lise: Actually, I feel itīs the other way around, and that doesnīt make any sense. But I really find it easy to write these days. Luckely 8) Yheti: With all the copyright infringement problems in the music industry, do you think the comic industry suffers from a similar situation, and if so, where do you think the future of comics will be heading? Lise: Not so worried. Nemi is extremely well protected over here, people try to do unofficial, illegal stuff every now and then, but what would really suck was if some big corporation tried to screw us, and make Nemi into something sheīs not... fortunatly, Iīve always been paranoid -and havenīt signed her away to anyone else. About Nemi Yheti: How well do you think Nemi represents Goths overall - or is it even possible to generalize them in your opinion? Lise: No. And it pisses me off every time media tries to do so. Yheti: Would you consider yourself a Goth? Lise: Not really. Other people like to consider me a goth, but then they get confused if I say I like a metal band or some green scarf or little things they didnīt find on the list "This is goth" in some magazine. I like the style, a LOT of goth music, and litterature. But then I like a lot of other things too, and find it really strange how SOME goths have this deadly fear of anything thatīs outside of that genre. Thatīs one of the things that attracted me to the goth scene in the first place; it being open to people who didnīt fit in elsewhere -and limiting others or one selves to "these things and nothing else" is just evil. Did that make sense? Iīm getting tired over here...itīs five in the morning my time. Yheti: Why the name "Nemi Montoya"? Lise: Did I mention Iīm a movie geek? The princess bride: "My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die" Great film, wonderful name. NEMI is an enchanted lake just outside of Rome, Italy. Yheti: Is Nemi naturally pale, or is it makeup? Lise: A vampire never tells. About Lise Yheti: How did you become such a great artist? And have you any tips for those aspiring to be comic book artists? Lise: Thank you! I guess the only real advise one can give is to keep drawing (and/or writing), and keep sending copies of your work to different publishers. Yheti: Are you working on other projects, or do you plan to work on any other projects that do not involve Nemi? Lise: I had to put all other projects on ice, which was hard, īcause years as a starving artist gave me this instinct to want to say yes to every job offered. But now thereīs no time left over... Yheti: What is your favorite genre of music, and some of your favorite bands? Lise: Red Harvest, Lamented souls... Tori Amos. Warrior soul. my dying bride. korn. Zection 8, Yheti: Whose work do you admire most and why? Lise: My greatest inspiration has been Charlie Christensen, a swedish comic book artist, who is still to this day the best artist I know of. I love Allan Moore as well -V for vendetta is AMAZING, and Lenore is great, I think -by Roman Dirge. Yheti: Have you ever thought about producing artwork that could be exhibited? Lise: Well, I sort of have allready...and Iīm not sure I liked it. Yheti: Will you be making any public appearances in Norway, or abroad? Lise: I do signings every now and then, the only thing I know of as of now is Stockholm some time in April... new book is coming out over there. Well..a book-book, not a magazine-kind of book...you know?) Other Information Text translated from Here. Nemi is created by Lise Myhre. This is her Nemi-version - Nemi appeared for the first time on a goth-page I made for The Far Side [Larsons Gale Verden] (#7) in '97. I had no plans of adding a main character to my stories, but I liked her so much that I really couldn't drop her. - People always take for granted that Nemi and I are very much alike... Honestly I'm sick of people thinking that the series is so damned autobiographical. I mean sure, we have certain common characteristics. It would be almost impossible to develop a truthful person based on an entirely fictional basis of reference. Ok, so we're both incurable night owls and from time to time I let her borrow some stuff from my wardrobe. I see Nemi as an "imaginary friend" rather than a reflection of myself or my life. Nemi acts, speaks and thinks things that I wouldn't have. - I often meet people that have a very clear idea as to how Nemi is or ought to be. "She can't have a shirt THAT low cut!", they say, "Nemi would NEVER have done that in reality"... reality? And then I get complaints for making her too nice or too bad in relation to their impressions of her. When you think about it, it's actually really cool, because it means that over time Nemi has become a "whole" person that people feel they can relate to. She decides most things for herself now... because even though in a way I'm her "God", I can't send her to an A1 concert or cut her hair... Nemi won't allow it. - I've always looked up to and identified myself with the misfits in society, and even though I don't think that Nemi is a series for goths only, I like the fact that the main character belongs to an underground culture. I meant what she said once: "It's entitled to us, us that are the most pissed off..." And in spite of the fact that I naturally want as many people to like what I do as possible, it's never the CS student from the good and regular home I think of when working. - Being different means more than just a passing youth rebellion I think. I used to have purple hair and piercings and got provoked by everyone, who saw it as a phase I had to go through. It's annoying when people don't understand that what's different isn't necessarily about anything, other than people being different and liking different things - there's not always a STATEMENT behind it. I have seen nervous people walking in circles around some of the nicest people I know - just because on that day they were wearing leather and spikes. People in general are still very opinionated ... I still get some of my stories from that. |
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An Unofficial Fansite; Comics Đ Lise Myhre
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