Tunde Adebimpe is an artist, musician, and actor living in Brooklyn, New York. He is a founding member of the band TV On The Radio, whose last album, Dear Science, was voted "album of the year" by both Spin and Rolling Stone. He recently co-starred in Jonathan Demme's critically acclaimed film Rachel Getting Married and created the soundtrack (along with band-mate Gerard Smith) for Madeleine Sackler's documentary The Lottery.
What initially drew you to the language of comics? How would you characterize your particular approach to the form?
TA: I think that as soon as I found out that "Cartoonist" could be a job, it was the thing I wanted to do with my life. The touchstones of that realization were Peanuts, Harvey Comics, Marvel Comics, RAW
In your comic for this series, you took on the seemingly endless oil spill in the Gulf. Did you know right away that this was the issue you wanted to address? TA: No, but it was hard to think about anything else. From the time I read about the explosion and the deaths of the rig workers, I'd been checking in—like everyone, I guess—to see what was going on. Between the live video feed on CNN going up and the daily reports from Louisiana, the whole thing just gets sadder and dumber and more infuriating to watch the longer it goes on. The oil spill is such an unprecedented event with long-term consequences that have yet to unfold and can't be entirely predicted. Thus, I think it's difficult to know exactly how to discuss the disaster, or place it within a historical context. How did you decide on the strategy for addressing it in your comic? What did you want people to come away with? TA: I don't know particularly; it just made me sad and still does. It's one of the most mesmerizing and disgusting things I've ever seen. Just watching it, it looks like the definition of "revolting development" making out with the definition of "worst case scenario." I started the comic around May 20th, and at that point there was some talk about a possible well-blocking solution being reached by August, and I just thought... It's visible from space after less than a month--from outer space—how much really gets "solved" even if the flow is stopped? How do you explain that to a kid? Possibly: "Someone stabbed the world and broke the ocean, and poisoned the life in that ocean, and the life around the ocean, and the oceans connected that ocean, and the life and the people in and around those oceans are probably, in some way or another, going to get very, very sick. Also, these accidents have been happening all over the world in various places since the beginning of the previous century, but no one very rich or important was hurt, not in any real countries anyway, so it's understandable that the 'precautions/damage-control' playbook is a little light. Oh, and if any of this sounds stupid or unfair to you, it's only because this is possibly one of the most stupid and heartbreakingly unfair things you will ever have explained to you in your life." How does your music career overlap with your interest in comics? Is there a relationship between how you construct songs and how you construct comics? TA: When I can't make comics or visual art, I make music; and when I can't make music, I make visual art. They don't overlap so much. I've had more opportunities to make music recently, so that's what I've been doing. I'd love to balance it out. I've had comics influence songs. Songs on two records we've done are partly inspired by Al Columbia's book The Biologic Show. Also, there are a lot of comics that, for me, read and feel like great pieces of music, like Yuichi Yokoyama's Travel, or comics by Ron Regé Jr. or John Porcellino. I like that you can pack a lot of bombast or beauty or vulgarity or cuteness or seriousness or sensitivity into certain comics, and the reader gets invited in at their own pace and it all works somehow. The only other overlap I can think of is that being able to get comics in different bookshops around the world really helps ease the sometimes intense boredom of touring. How and when do you find time to draw? TA: I usually draw everyday. Sometimes it's a discipline; sometimes it's a nervous habit. Who are your favorite comic artists or illustrators? TA: Too many to list, but Rutu Modan, Gary Panter, Stephen Kroninger, Al Columbia, and Maira Kalman are heroes of mine. There are literally hundreds more. What are you working on next? TA: I'm working on a recording and art project with Adam Drucker, Mike Patton, and Keith Tyson, which should be finished next year. And a book of my paintings and drawings that should be finished by the end of this year. What are the issues facing us today that you're most interested in, concerned about, or motivated by as an artist? What should we be paying attention to? TA: I just spent about 45-minutes online reading articles about possible Taliban-trained monkey soldiers, so I may be exactly the wrong person to ask...But we should be paying attention to everything—it's only gonna happen once and it's gonna look pretty strange.