An interview with Konner Knudsen
Comic-book editor for Dark Horse.
Originally published 1 June 2020.
Each newsletter I speak to an artist whose work has inspired me and this week I’ve interviewed Konner Knudsen, a writer and editor of comics, short fiction and poetry who currently works as an Assistant Editor at Dark Horse Comics.
Konner is one of a new generation of professionals who are challenging the status quo in the comic-book industry. My money is on Konner to be the editor behind some of the most exciting new titles in the coming decade, after paying his dues and working on a string of successful licensed comics including Stranger Things, Aliens, Eerie, Creepy and American versions of one of my favourite manga series, Berserk.
1/ What drove you to become an artist and how have your motivations changed over time?
You know, I have written and deleted about five different answers to this question, because it is about deciding which moment was the moment, right? But all those answers boiled down into one truth: I was a lonely kid in rural Oregon with very few friends and a big imagination. So I started creating my own stories. Art (to me) is about sharing stories, emotions, and feelings. My motivation has never changed in that regard, it is a constant reaching out for connection.
However, I think there is a difference between creating art and “becoming an artist”. That moment happened when I was about half finished with a degree in psychology when I came upon the realization that I wanted to be a writer instead of a therapist. I began taking my art seriously, no longer just leaving my poems and short stories in notebooks to rot, but typing them up, seeking out critique. Investing time and sweat into my craft.
Then again, years later re-committing to being an artist when I decided to go back to school for comics after spending my mid-twenties working 40 – 50 hours a week in a very cold butcher shop at a horribly-cheap American grocery chain. It is really easy to lose sight of your creative goals when your day job feels like a pissed off elephant putting its foot on your back and pressing you into the mud... I decided, the risk was worth it and the debt was worth it, if it meant I could have more tools to tell the stories I wanted to tell.
“I look for people who are: flexible, determined, innovative, passionate, honest, and unique. People who get that glint in their eye when you start talking about the comics that inspire you. I don’t think my motivation ever shifted; it’s always been about connection. It has always been me reaching out with my truth, hoping that others would relate or feel better about their own lives, even for a moment.” – Konner Knudsen
2/ How did your creative path lead you to start work as an editor?
Honestly, I initially became an editor because I was seeking out community. Before I was an editor at Dark Horse, I started a small regional lit Journal called Cascadia Rising Review with my writing group. We just wanted to figure out what the “voice” of the Pacific Northwest is, you know? Help other folks in our community share their work. It was great, and my friends have been continuing that dream.
In pursuit of honing my own craft as a writer, I sought out every possible avenue for learning that I could afford, which eventually led me to apply for an internship at Dark Horse Comics. I suppose in the pursuit of improving my craft I discovered I didn’t only want to tell my own stories but wanted to help other people tell their stories too. And of course, comics are wonderfully collaborative as a medium, and the world is full of passionate folks eager to tell stories together.
3/ Who or what has been the greatest source of inspiration across your career?
This is cheesy, your readers might hate it, but it is my father. You see, he is a fantastic oral storyteller (as was his dad), the kind of person you may find at any bar or pub. The noisy bastard in the corner with four or five people gathered around him laughing or on the edge of their seats awaiting the punchline.
As annoying as that person tends to be, you start listening, you lean in, you are hooked by whatever yarn he is spinning, and even though you might not admit it out loud, you were entertained. I grew up with that guy. He would come home at 10pm from a 12-15 hour workday and make up some fantastic tale from scratch just to get me to go to sleep when I was a kid. He has been there at every crisis, and every life-altering catastrophe ready to help, and willing to listen. He taught me how to always get back up after getting knocked down and never once told me to give up on my dreams.
4/ What kind of qualities do you look for in collaborators as part of your role at Dark Horse?
I seek out those with an extreme love for comics. People who are telling their stories in this medium because they can’t imagine telling them any other way. Folks who choose to do things the harder way if it means the final piece will be that much better.
I look for people who are: flexible, determined, innovative, passionate, honest, and unique. People who get that glint in their eye when you start talking about the comics that inspire you. Those who see the alchemy of every page and aren’t afraid to jump in.
5/ What have you learned about making comics that you wish you had known earlier in your career?
That you don’t need anyone’s permission to make comics. You don’t need an agent or a publisher to approve of your pitch. You can literally sit at your kitchen table by yourself or with friends and make a comic by hand from scratch and print it out at a local library.
Also, don’t be shy about seeking collaborators, you never know what one of your peers might think of your work. Just taking that awkward first step of saying to a stranger or acquaintance, “hey, I really love your work on ______, it would be a dream to work with you on something someday.”
There might be other things, but they are small compared to these two. Take that leap, dear reader. Tell your stories, reach out!
6/ If you woke tomorrow and were no longer constrained by time, budgets or even skills that you haven’t learned yet, what would you make?
Oh boy, remember those piles of notebooks I told you about earlier? I have a story in there that has been waiting to find its way onto the printed page for way too long. I would finish making that, probably as a massive graphic novel.