“Served” logo by Darren Rawlings with cover art by Mike Laughead.
By Matt Vroom
SERVED: A Missionary Comics Anthology, is a comic book anthology that basically gives itself away in the title. With 28 contributors (possibly more) to this project, it has indeed become the biggest collection of its kind.
Served has gotten a lot of media attention, and seems to have gotten the LDS fan community extremely excited. A notable quote from an article released by the Deseret News states:
The anthology’s stories range from funny to moving to heartbreaking — one artist’s story tells of an old mission companion who was murdered during their mission after they were companions. [Mike Laughead] said the only limit they set was they didn’t want stories about sex scandals. They wanted the majority of the comics to be relatable, to represent what happens to most missionaries
With such a wide range of stories, going from silly to serious, it is hard to ignore the appeal that this book has with not only a Mormon market, but for anyone interested in what those 20-ish year old men and women experience while “serving” their missions on the daily.
What started as an idea among friends Theric Jepson and Mike Laughead, has become no more than a phenomena of what creators can do when they work together to achieve a goal based on their passions. The Kickstarter for SERVED was funded almost as quickly as it began, and it ends in 6 DAYS! So if you would like to back it before it ends I would recommend it, since it does appear to be the only shot you got to pick up this unique anthology as it most likely won’t ever appear in print again.
Now enough with my babbling… onto the interview!
Q: How was the idea of making a comic anthology about Mormon missionaries generated?
Mike: The initial idea came because I had a few crazy mission stories (the most extreme being when I got my glasses stolen and was slapped in the face), and I have a friend from college (BYU-Idaho), Josh Abegglen, who has a mission story where he convinced a guy that he was a ninja master. Both of us make comics so I thought it would be fun to tell those stories in a comic format. I proposed the idea to him and then sent out the idea on twitter to some other return missionary comics artists that I knew or knew about. From there it snowballed until quite a few people were involved, including Theric, who is the editor.
Theric: In my case, I first started thinking about an anthology of Mormon comics about ten years ago. The first time I started thinking about it, the editor of Sunstone asked if I would edit an all-comics issue of the magazine. I said yes, and that scratched the itch. A few years later I collected a couple comics as part of the Monsters & Mormons fiction anthology I co-edited with William Morris. But the desire to do an actual book of actual Mormon comics never went away.
I’ve presented on Mormon comics at the comic cons in San Diego and Salt Lake and so I feel obliged to be on top of what’s happening. I was talking to some people on Twitter about what had come out in 2016 when I met Mike. He slyly pitched his mission idea to all the people in the thread and the response was strong and immediate. Our time had come.
Q: What was your process of gathering the stories and getting artists to draw them?
Mike: Theric gathered the contact info of all the potential creators, we decided on a deadline and contacted everyone through email. We didn’t dictate much, just that it had to be an auto-biographical mission story and that it should be around 7 pages or less (I think we have some that went to 9 pages and a few 1 pagers). We haven’t done much editing for typos or format yet, that’s our first step after the Kickstarter ends.
Theric: People wanting to participate wasn’t a problem. People having the time and the mental space sometimes was. People dropped out now and then, but we’re left with a strong and varied collection. Plus, we have lots of people who either had to pass or didn’t serve a mission who want in on the next collection—the future looks bright!
Q: What are some of the things that you think readers will enjoy from reading SERVED?
Mike: What I loved about reading the stories, and what I think readers will also enjoy, is understanding the day-to-day craziness of being a missionary. In between the lessons given, you end up meeting strange people and having strange interactions. I love reading or hearing stories about those little things. For those of us who have served missions, some of these will be very familiar, but I think for someone who plans to serve a mission or is at all curious about it, these stories will give some good insight into the life of a missionary. On top of that, I love learning about the real life of comics creators. These stories are little windows into their lives.
Theric: One of the things comics is great at—and the vast quantity and variety of autobiographical comics speaks to this—is telling intimate, personal stories. And huge crazy stories. And stories in between! But no matter how small or large the story, the personableness of the medium means we get both characters’ interiors (like a novel) and visual specificity (as in film). Comics are amazing.
Q: Who are some of the notable creators on this project, and where would our readers look to find more of their work?
Mike: Some of the most notable creators are Annie Poon, Anthony Holden, Brad Teare, Brittany Long Olsen, and Cam Kendall. You can find links to their websites (and to the websites of the other contributors) on the Kickstarter page.
Theric: I have a feeling some of the people in this book will be more notable in five years than they are now. Catch ’em while they’re young!
Q: What are your long term goals for this project after your Kickstarter run?
Mike: Right now, the primary goal is to get the books printed and shipped to Kickstarter supporters by October. Assuming that goes well, Theric and I, along with the contributors will talk about any potential future reprinting of the book or if we should do a second book.
Theric: We’re feeling good right now, but Mike’s 100% right. Our first responsibility is to our backers. You still have a few days, folks! Come join the party!
Q: Why should our readers back this Kickstarter?
Mike: We have made our funding goal, so the books will be created and shipped. Right now we don’t have any plans to sell the book outside of the Kickstarter, so now is the time to order your copy. There are only a few days left, if you don’t back it now, you will have to hope to meet one of the comics creators at a convention a buy one of their copies. 🙂
Theric: Ditto.
Q: Comics are already a niche market, but comics about Mormons seems like a even more direct audience. You have even had a piece in Deseret News written about SERVED. How have you been able to garner all the attention you have already seen from this crowdfunding campaign?
Mike: By getting so many people involved in creating comics for the anthology, we have pooled our resources in promoting the book as well. Mike Grover works in motion graphics, so he volunteered to make the video, some other people have had connections with reporters and podcasters. And some connections have come from backers (which is how we found out about your podcast as well.)
I also think that a huge part of attention and reaction we have received has been from returned missionaries. We all have some strange stories from the mission, and I think it’s interesting to hear stories that we can identify with. Silly or depressing or odd mission stories aren’t the ones focused on very often in church publications or in Sunday School lessons, in some way it’s just nice to “have your story told” so to speak.
Theric: I also think that comics are friendly and accessible in a way other arts are not. I do a lot in Mormon lit—and this is a golden age, let me tell you—but people are intimidated or dismissive of prose books. Popular excuses not to try a novel are the what-ifs: What if it’s difficult? What if it’s inappropriate? What if it’s embarrassing? What if it’s too true? What if it’s totally wrong? What if it’s lousy? What if what if what if. So many what-ifs. But comics somehow sidestep all that. People aren’t afraid of comics. They welcome them. Something like Scott Hales’s Garden of Enid wouldn’t have been half as popular in novel form.
I can also guarantee more kids will get Served for Christmas this year than have ever gotten The Backslider.
Q: What is your definition of success?
Mike: As long as we get the books printed and shipped, this has been a great success. I had a few personal goals with the book and they were all about running a kickstarter and making the book.
But as far as the bigger picture goes, I think this project will be a success if we positively affect the 3 types of readers of the book:
1: Returned Missionaries. Like I mentioned before, I would like returned missionaries to read these stories and be reminded of similar times on the mission. To laugh or nod their heads and say to themselves, “Oh yeah, I remember something like that happening.”
2: Church Members Who Haven’t Served Missions. Before serving a mission, I remember reading some comics about being a missionary and I was enthralled. I think any member who reads the book and hasn’t served a mission will gain a greater understanding of how life is for current missionaries and what returned missionaries have gone through.
3: Non Church Members. When I’ve read stories about the lives of groups of people I was unfamiliar with, I’ve felt a greater understanding and often compassion for people that I didn’t know anything about before. I hope this anthology can help people who aren’t familiar with missionaries to gain a greater understanding of them. I hope this book humanizes missionaries for the general comics reader.
Theric: I agree with everything Mike says, but I would also add this: If we see more explicitly Mormon stories being told—and read —THEN I will see our work as successful. Our success is a success when every Mormon working in comics sees Served not as a one-time fluke but as a real possibility.
In other words, I want Served to build an audience. I want our readers to go get the Mormon comics already published by Scott Hales and Brittany Long Olsen and Anthony Holden, and then buy whatever’s next. I want to meet someone who’s just moved into our ward and see their kid carrying Served or Dendo or Precious Rascals. And then I want to tell them about a book I just heard about that’s coming out next month.
So come on, you guys. Publish.
I just wanted to give a quick shout out to Mike and Theric for their willingness to do an interview. They are a couple of inspiring guys, and I can’t wait to see what comes from them in the future.
