What are you working on at the moment?

JK: Well, the big thing I'm working on is my journal. Every day I draw another four-panel autobiographical strip (using my character Magic Boy) about whatever happened that day. Luckily I live my life in a silly, half-imaginary fashion so the strips are really fun. Also I get to document stuff like the slow growth of my hair. Everyone who's seen the sketchbooks that I draw these strips in seems to agree that this stuff is my best work. The hard part is getting one of my publishers to agree to putting out a huge 356+ page book collecting a whole year of the strips. I'm also working on a 24 page comic book called SUNBURN, written in an oddly hyperrealistic style, and drawn realisitically as well, instead of with the goofy cartoon elves I usually draw. It's a poetic essay on the mind/body split with lots of references to the sun and to flowers. It seems, at least on the surface, to be quite humourless and pretentious, and maybe I'm an idiot for making it. But I've got to take chances. There is a weird uneasy humour hidden in it, but I think people might not notice.

Do you feel you have more creative freedom when working on indie music or comics?

JK: My freedom is pretty much complete and ultimate in whatever I choose to do. I can DO whatever I want... but that doesn't necessarily mean it will be easy to find someone to pay to reproduce it. But so far it's all worked out pretty well. When I record music I do have to depend on the musical abilites of my friends since I don't actually know how to play an instrument. I sing the songs to my friends, and they figure out how to play them.

Do you still work as a fine artist? when was your last exhibition?

JK: No, I don't do oil paintings anymore. Occasionally I will have a show of my old paintings though. Someday, I may paint again. Actually I have been doing a lot of tiny little cartoon-style paintings. A few people have commissioned portraits from me.

Are you still working as a waiter at a "local chinese restaurant"?

JK: I quit in December 1998, after working there for six years. My life is amazingly open now. I actually have the time to LIVE in addition to drawing and singing. It used to be I spent all my time either at my job or on my art. Now I have time to play and fool around.

Do you consider comics to be art, or are you happy to consider them as a commercial product?

JK: Well, there's no question that I'm some kind of artist. I guess comics seem a little more like a product since they're mass-produced, but it all really comes down to attitude and content. My goals in making the comics are the same kind of goals that a painter would have. To discover and reveal something interesting about the human condition. That includes even my dirty songs. ( If anybody wants to sample some they can check 'em out at www.mp3.com/jks )

Why did you decide to work on a comic adaptation of the Starr report?

JK: We wanted to put the love back in. Actually a huge array of vital human emotions (including humour) could be explored through this one story. Also, it was a way to bring our vision to a wider audience since this was a story that everyone, not just comics fans, would be interested in. I'm convinced this comic book (Monica's Story) will be remembered(at least by historians) a hundred years from now.

In the wizard interview(#69) you said you thought you should be famous just for being you, has fame always been a main goal for you?

JK: No, fame is not a goal. It's more like an assumption. I am different than other people and I started nuturing my differences as a very small child. This doesn't mean I'm better than other people, but it helps me get noticed. Also, I'm loud.

Do you see yourself working on comics and music for a lot longer or do you think you may concentrate on just one (or expand into even more areas) in the future?

JK: Oh, I'm definately expanding into even more areas. For instance I've been getting really into doing animation lately. You can see my first crude cartoon at www.thepants.com/wte.htm . The cartoon stars an adolescent Magic Boy who gets punched out and pissed on by an alien. Oh, now I've ruined the ending for you! I've been doing some cartoons on TV for kids under a secret pseudonym. But I've been drawing comics since I was in third grade, so I doubt I'l ever stop. I'm sure my interest in one artistic area or another will continue to eb and flow. There certainly could be periods in my future when I'm not doing comics, I guess, I can't predict. I'm sure I'll always be working on something.