Interview with Hass Otsmane-Elhaou

Oh joyus occasion, I got a response from one of my professionals, and received some cracking information! My questions intentionally covered a broader sense of the industry, in the hopes that he could include as much information as possible, something I feel payed off. As a keepsake, the image below is a portrait of him that I sent attached to the first email.

What are some creators and publishers that you feel are currently switching things up in the medium of comics?

I think with comics in the market as we mostly understand them, it will always be the bigger publishers that will get the work noticed, and therefore start to shift markets and the medium. At the same time though, they’re going to be bound by a certain format. But I do think DC Comics have done some interesting choices with things like Batman: Creature of the Night as a longer length perfect bound comic, or Batman: The Dark Prince Charming, a more bande-dessine approach. otherwise you’d need to look at creators changing the approach.

What are your views on comics that include extra elements, such as Augmented reality, animation, sounds etc.?

I, personally, see that as being something beyond comics. In each of those instances you’re playing with a different art form, or your adding to the experience of engaging with the piece of media. QR codes to read extra features or adding soundtracks to comics, you’re not dealing with the medium of comics anymore, but rather something else. Animation or film or something in between all three of them.

What direction do you see comics taking in the future? Can they survive as primarily a print medium?

Well the graphic novel book market is rising and rising, so I think as long as people continue to buy books, they’re going to be buying comic books. Things like Ghosts, which outsold basically everything, prove that. As for the US comics market and specific comic book shops, that’s harder to predict. But I see what we’d call ‘indie’ titles getting bigger and bigger, and comics being less confined to the specialist shops.

What comic do you feel everybody should read, and why?

This is tough! I ask this questions to other creators a lot and it’s always a difficult one to answer. I think, for mass market appeal, things like Bitch Planet and Saga have done very well. To understand what comics can do, maybe Asterios Polyp. For pure, gut-wrenching emotion, maybe Blankets. But it depends what someone is looking for!