Talking ‘Hell’s Angel’ With Chris Garbutt

Unlike most demons, Helly always has the best of intentions, but that doesn’t mean her plans don’t go awry more times than not in the pages of Monster Fun. In the latest “Hell’s Angel,” it’s Ask Big D Anything Day again. This time, though, instead of looking to the Devil for answers, it seemed high time we checked in with “Hell’s Angel” writer and artist, Chris Garbutt, to find out more about Helly’s fashion and what he would ask Big D, if given the chance:

Rachel Bellwoar: While some of the characters in Monster Fun are from the original magazine from the’ 70s, Hell’s Angel is brand new. How did you come up with the concept?

Chris Garbutt: The concept originated from the folks at Rebellion. The Monster Fun editor, Keith Richardson, first reached out to me back in 2020 and asked me if I’d be interested in working on a strip called “Hell’s Angel.” He told me that the loose concept at the time was ‘about the soppiest demon in hell who gets looked down upon and teased by his meaner colleagues.’

RB: Since the “Ghoulish Gaming Special,” Hell’s Angel has gone from one page to two pages every month. What has it been like having more space to develop each story?

CG: It’s great having that extra space to do more with the strip, and I’m super grateful to Keith and the team for that! It’s given me a chance to do a little more with the stories and also utilize bigger ‘splash’ panels for key moments and gags in the strip. There’s more space for big nasty monsters, and hilariously wretched details!

RB: Speaking of the “Ghoulish Gaming Special,” I loved your approach to the theme for that issue (designing the two pages to create a board game). Was that difficult to lay out?

CG: It was definitely a challenging idea, but once that approach popped into my head, I was determined to crack it! As the narrative weaves all over the 2-page spread, the main challenge was to make sure it was as clear as possible for the reader to follow the story in the right direction. To help with that I used the progression of colour across the board game tiles to help make the path clear, and also added the direction arrows. Hopefully it all made sense!

RB: Helly is such a little cherub of a demon. While she started the series wearing overalls, lately she’s been sporting a black and white striped tee. What prompted the wardrobe change?

CG: I decided to change her outfit for a few different reasons.

Firstly, I felt like the overalls made her look little young, almost like a toddler. I wanted to age her up a bit, so I gave her the stripey top instead.

Secondly, the details of the overalls felt a little busy, so I wanted to simplify it a tad. And lastly, I was a big fan of Dennis the Menace and Minnie the Minx growing up, so it’s a bit of an homage to them too!

RB: The Hell’s Angel logo changes every month as well. Has it been fun to come up with new takes on it?

CG: Again, this is a bit of an homage to the comics I read growing up. Artists like David Sutherland and Leo Baxendale were always very playful with the title banners in their comics, and I loved that as a kid, especially when the banner was related to the story. So, I wanted to have the same kind of approach to the Hell’s Angel titles. And yes, it’s lots of fun to come up with a new one each time!

RB: In the “Twisted Time Travel Special,” Big D (aka the Devil) and Helly solve the mystery of how dinosaurs became extinct. Did you know at the time that the next issue would be the “Dino-scare Special?”

CG: I actually came up with the Twisted Time Travel strip without knowing that there was a Dino-Scare issue around the corner. When Keith (the Editor) told me, he gave me the option to save that strip for the Dino issue instead, but I landed on the ‘Dinosaur Ghost’ story for that one, and decided to keep the Twisted Time Travel story where it was!

RB: If you could ask Big D a question on Ask Big D Anything Day, what would you ask?

CG: Any question that Helly and Big D attempt to answer always ends in utter disaster and chaos, so to be honest I’d be a little scared to ask them anything at all!

But, if I absolutely had to, I’m a big fan of UFO and Alien stories, so maybe Big D can finally answer the age-old question… ‘are we alone in the Universe’?

RB: Thanks for agreeing to this interview, Chris!

The Monster Fun: Dino-scare Special is on sale now in the UK and is set to arrive in comic stores July 12th in the US. Back issues of Monster Fun can be ordered here.