Evan Dorkin is probably best known for his underground hit ‘Milk & Cheese’, but he’s been doing work for Dark Horse Comics since the early 90′s and has even penned a strange ‘Hellboy’ tale. His recent collaboration with famous water-colorist Jill Thompson on ‘Beasts of Burden’ has earned him nothing short of absolute praise, and garnered the creative team several industry awards including an Eisner. The hardcover collection of ‘Beasts of Burden’ is set to be released this August.

How did you get started working in the industry?

Evan: I fell into comics during the black and white independent comic boom during the 80′s, when every idiot with a few dollars put out some comics to try and cash in on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles craze.  Anyone who could hold a pencil or string six words together got some sort of work for a few months, and I could hold a pencil. I was working in a comic shop and one of the guys hanging out there was writing a few things for Marvel and DC, and he asked me to work with him on an indy book, which we eventually found a publisher for. It lasted two issues, but it was a foot in the door and allowed me to meet people in the industry who later gave me work, many of them being folks I met at the San Diego con in 1987.

What are you doing instead of going to Comic-Con this year?

Evan: I’ll be inking and lettering a 15-page story for Bongo Comics’ The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror.

What’s the most important aspect of the industry that you feel goes unnoticed in the mainstream coverage of comics?

Evan: That superhero comics aren’t all there is to comics. I like superhero stuff, but superhero comics are a genre, not the entire industry.

What’d your favorite Dark Horse comic?

Evan: Probable Hellboy.

If you could have one superpower, what would it be?

Evan: It’s a toss-up between healing people or blowing people up with my mind. I guess it would depend on my mood at the time I was blessed with superpowers. Is this some kind of offer?

Interview by Aaron Colter