I won’t go so far to say I begged Ben Passmore to work with me on a comic, but I admit I was pretty persistent. I’ve been a fan of his for years, and he was one of the first artists I solicited when The Believer launched its expanded comics section. Best known for his comic “Your Black Friend,” his work often centers around race and class, offering sharp critiques of whiteness and power within a mindblowing, nearly psychedelic color palette. Here he discusses “Blak Flag,” a comic about his neighbor’s disappearance into the Louisiana prison system.
—Kristen Radtke
THE BELIEVER: How did this comic start?
BEN PASSMORE: In my work I’m getting more into writing slice of life pieces that are decent metaphors for living with race in America. I moved away from New Orleans about a year ago so I’ve been spending a lot of time revisiting significant relationships I had there. One was a brief friendship with a kid that squatted next to an ugly commune I lived in. A lot about his situation was emblematic of what a lot of people are struggling with in the city and the country.
BLVR: What’s your process like?
BP: It changed a lot, I’m the most used to writing very over the top fiction or editorial. With this story I wrote down everything I remembered and then pared everything down until the story felt like it flowed. I’m super lazy about rewriting, but this story looked about ten different ways until it turned into what it is now.
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