Interview with Webcomic Artist Kez: A Love Letter to the Self
A few months back I was lucky enough to get on Kez’s schedule for an interview about being an Asian American webcomic artist.
Quick Bio: For those who don’t know Kez, he’s a gay comic artist who goes by the moniker Mister Loki. This Asian American UCLA graduate, originally hailing from the hella far realms of the Bay Area, currently lives in Corona as a Pokemon Go gym master. His writing focuses on increasing LGBTQ and racial representation across a variety of genres, including science fiction, fantasy, and a comic about 1920’s dog-fighting that involves werewolves. More about that later.
What started off as a simple interview about comics between two comic geeks (one of us had a Spiderman jacket on, seriously) became a deeper conversation linked to Asian American identity.
A question I have asked several Asian American comic writers/artists is, “how did you learn how to draw?” After 2 hours talking with Kez, I am beginning to think that question asks for a lot more than what I intend it to. Learning to draw comics is not necessarily hard; it is what you have to deal with while learning (such as family expectations, finances) and sometimes what you have to UNLEARN, that makes things difficult, and ultimately why we should give people of color webcomic folks like Kez more credit for what they do.
FAMILY
A common thread I heard in my interview with Kez is sacrifice. His parents sacrificed a lot to give him a better future. As children of Asian immigrants, many of us have similar stories where our parents gave up a lot to make sure that we will have a better life. But it’s not that simple. Do we owe it to our parents to live the lives they missed out on? Is it possible to respectfully disagree with the better life they plan for us, and still be on good terms?
Kez said something that really resonated with me.
People born in American tell me it’s your life, just live it. It’s not. It’s easy to say. I have to think about all the sacrifices my parents made. I have to think about how much of their happiness is my life and how much my life choices determines their happiness. With Asian families it’s super pressuring to want to live up to those expectations. To make their dreams fulfilled.
Kez was one of those Asian kids. Excelled in school. Got exceptional grades. Wanted to go to art school.
As much talent as he had, his parents were strict, questioning him on why he would want to waste his life in a job that could not provide for a family. Kez did not say this during the interview, but it brought up a memory from my past, when I had also told my parents I wanted to pursue art. Selfish. Why are you being so selfish? To this day I remember my mom crying and yelling at me, sharing about her sacrifices coming to America, escaping communism and working 2 full-time jobs to get by all for me to throw away my life.
Kez’s parents made it pretty clear on his decision; if he wanted to go to art school, he would be on his own (financially, personally, and emotionally).
Why would I choose a career that was not financially stable, would continually stress them out for my well being, when they had done everything to provide that life for me?
FINANCES AND PROFESSIONAL LIFE
Nursing was a profession his parents were okay with, and Kez felt alright pursuing a profession that would not only be helping people, but would hopefully have a flexible schedule. This flexible schedule, as well as the more solid income, would be helpful in giving him the time and resources to commit to a future life in comics.
Fast forward a few years and Kez is now a Pediatric Oncology nurse, with a specialty in bone marrow transplant. What? Yeah, I expressed the same. Basically when young children need bone marrow transplants, they come to where Kez works at Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles to receive treatment. These are young children facing cancers, sometimes rare forms, and blood diseases and it is Kez’s job to work with them for weeks to months, ensuring they get treatment and survive. Every other week, over the span of 4, 12-hour shifts, Kez saves lives.
At the same time, there are also losses in this line of work. Especially because Kez spends longer periods of time working with the same patients, the bonds built are deeper, meaning that when someone passes away, it hits Kez that much more.
I try to remember faces. The scary thing for me is that their deaths will become insignificant for me. I don’t want to become jaded from this. I try to remember things I heard from the kids….to keep a part of them around. I try to remember their faces all the time. I doesn’t want their faces to blur together.
Ever since graduating UCLA, Kez has made a dual career for himself. Working roughly 50 hours every 2 weeks in nursing, is enough to pay for him to do his comics in the remainder of the time. Sometimes he takes comics to work, forgoing his breaks in order to finish the latest page of his webcomic. But sometimes there is a weird balance of the nursing work and comic work.
It’s a little weird. I’m in two very different fields. I do comics as my job and I do nursing as my job, and they are on totally on awesome parts of the spectrum. And it’s kind of weird sometimes to be focusing on comics and then getting the sense that wow, someone just died and I’m focusing on something ‘insignificant.’ It makes you feel a little silly. It’s a little weird meshing those two parts of my life together.
COMIC LIFE: A LOVE LETTER TO MYSELF
By the time I got to questions about Asian American identity and comics, I had already heard so much context into what makes Kez… well, Kez. As your read through his comics, you can see where his life has helped play a part in some of the many stories he has written and drawn.
One of the first comics of Kez’s that I read was “A Place Like Home,” a positive and uplifting genderqueer comic that came out earlier last year. It is a great read that I honestly feel should be part of educational materials for young school children at all schools, to better discuss and understand what gender and identity means.
Kez shared that:
I wanted to make comics that make people feel good. Someone is always going to be down on you being queer. If you’re feeling bad about it, here’s this one thing that can make you feel better that day. It’s for me, but it’s also for my friends who are genderqueer. I wanted there to be something out there that are feel-good stories for the genderqueer community. ‘Fuck it, I’m going to have feel-good comics where two dudes are going to love one another.’ Who cares.
Kez is currently working on a webcomic called Until the Last Dog Dies. On the surface, this webcomic set in the 1920’s is about humans and their treatment of dogs (who also happen to shape-shift to humans!). As you read further into this comic, you are presented with deeper concerns about race, identity, and animal cruelty. Reading this webcomic certainly pulls into question our common conceptions of what is okay to do with our furry four-legged friends. Please support by visiting and staying updated on his webcomic! Updates come frequently.
You can also find his other works on his Tumblr site: http://misterloki.com/
FINAL THOUGHTS
I am truly appreciative of the time I had interviewing Kez. The conversation was a good reminder that comic book art is not just about the technique. Sure, drawing, inking, lettering, coloring, and all that is important and we should recognize the talents of those who specialize in all of that. At the same time though, art is about struggle and sacrifice. As a child of Asian immigrants, it is dealing with living your own life, given the sacrifices your parents made for you to do better in another country. It is dealing with not living up to other expectations, in order to live up to your own. Let’s continue to support these POC comic artists who are paving new paths on this road less traveled.
