Talking Papercutz’ ‘The Inventor’ With Lars Henrik Eriksen For Disability Pride Month

Welcome to the table,

 

Disability Pride Month occurs annually in July, coinciding with the anniversary of the Americans with Disability Act being signed into law on July 26, 1990. While it aims to ensure that people with disabilities have the same opportunities and rights as everyone else, I can tell you first hand the landscape in which we live can be far from equal. I have in my life not gotten job opportunities due to my disability, been subjected to all manner of inappropriate and probing questions, and been told I only had to love a magical invisible man who lived in the clouds and I would no longer be disabled. The hardest part for me has always been the people who I share the world we live in with — not the pain or the uncertain future.

These people range from the guys in the red hats holding signs that say “Sacrifice the Weak, Open the State” during a global pandemic and the total strangers who want to, without any indication of me wanting to be touched, start to pet me and speak to their imaginary friend and his winged messengers as they beg for me to be cured in the toy isle of Target when all I’m trying to do is look at the new Usagi figures from NECA.

I think, in large part, the reason people don’t seem to know how to act around those who have visible disabilities is the fact that they do not see disabled people in their day-to-day life, the creators around them, or their entertainment. What is more, the people they do see in media that are disabled are largely cured, used as a joke, or part of “very special episodes” before they disappear from view until someone needs inspiration porn or a guy named Wheels or Scoots types on a keyboard really fast and says something like “I let my fingers do the walking”.

Because of this, it always feels important to me to call out creators who are delivering disabled protagonists who feel honest and a little more authentic than the tropes we often get as representation. One day the dream would be to write disabled characters into comics, but until I catch that break it makes me feel good that the people at Papercutz are out here producing books that showcase disabled protagonists in a positive light and make them more than just a trope.

Below you will find an interview I had the pleasure of doing with Lars Henrik Eriksen about his book The Inventor.

Anton: I am so stoked about this book! But before we jump into the nuts and bolts of it all, Lars can you tell our readers a little bit about yourself?

Lars: Thank you for having me, Anton! I’m a full time cartoonist from Norway, who has a bachelor’s degree in engineering, and loves playing the trumpet and the piano. After I joined a graphic novel contest for my Norwegian publisher (Egmont) I got the opportunity to create The Inventor book series, which I am very proud of!

A: Now, what initially inspired you to create The Inventor?

L: I have always loved drawing and worldbuilding and I’ve wished to be able to do this for real at some point. When the comic book contest was announced some years ago it was a great incentive to just start creating. As a baseline for the story I thought “What if a story like Treasure Island happened on land, and instead of pirates and ships there would be inventors and machines?” And then it very much grew from there.

A: Was the concept fairly nailed down from the beginning? Or did it evolve over time?

L: It mostly evolved over time. In the beginning I wanted to make a story about a boy who traveled the world on a giant turtle’s back, and that’s still fairly intact. However, the rest of the plot was quite different to how it ended up. For instance, the grandfather character was originally two different people; Cobalt’s grandpa who was a farmer and Cobalt’s great uncle who was an eccentric inventor. I felt that it was a bit convoluted, so I decided to merge them into one character.

A: Could you describe your creative process in both writing and illustrating this graphic novel? How do you balance the storytelling aspect with the visual elements? 

L: A lot of writers have the idea that there are generally two different ways to write a story. One is working like an architect, where you plan out all the story beats before starting to write. In this case every little story detail can be carefully curated so that it fits together like a puzzle. The other way is that of the gardener, where you plant figurative seeds and watch them grow more organically. I think my work method lies somewhere in the middle of those two, where I plant seeds and water them, but where I’ve also planned out story beats like the start, climax and ending.

I jump a lot back and forth between sketching and writing, and the script isn’t really set in stone until the illustrations are fully done. It starts with me having an idea for a scene, then sketching it out on paper and transferring it to my computer to set up the page structure and to ink and color digitally.

A: The Inventor features such vibrant characters that live in this fantastical world, and yet it all feels so grounded. Is there a book bible or world book that you had to build first as you were developing everything to keep the story grounded?

L: Not really. I create a lot of sketches of the characters and environments, but it feels more like I’m exploring visual options than actually creating a visual guide. I mostly follow my gut feeling, and the world of The Inventor feels like it is stuck in my brain and just needs to be let out.

A: The protagonist, Cobalt Cogg, dreams of becoming like his grandfather, he’s smart, driven, and wildly creative. Where did you conjure this little lad from?

L: Cobalt is a mix of many things. He’s some parts me, some parts my friends, some parts my own family. A big part of him comes from stories I’ve heard about young people from small communities who are doing well in school, and seemingly have very bright futures. But when leaving their home and traveling to the city to “take over the world” they quickly realize that their own grand self picture doesn’t match with reality. Oftentimes, when they inevitably travel back home, they find a new sense of purpose and find that they can achieve more good things there. These types of stories really resonate with me and I hope I can further incorporate some of this into Cobalt’s character.

A: The use of alpha energy in the story adds an intriguing element of mystery and super-science. Can you talk a little bit about the significance of this energy source and its role in the story?

L: Alpha energy is something that will be increasingly more important as the story unfolds, but I can’t spoil how. What I can say is that it will be an integral part of Cobalt’s story and that it could be closely connected to the infinity machine.

A: As a Norwegian artist, how do you perceive the reception of “The Inventor” among American readers? Are there any cultural nuances or elements in the story that you believe will resonate universally?

L: The reception has been incredibly positive! I’ve read some very nice reviews and the great team at Papercutz are telling me that readers are excited and curious to see what’s to come next. I think there are quite a lot of Scandinavian quirks that shine through with the story, and I hope that these quirks make it more interesting to international readers.
A: You mentioned being heavily inspired by manga and anime. Were there specific shows or titles that influenced you?

L: Absolutely. There are several titles that have been very important to me throughout my life, and I think these have definitely been steering me in specific directions. To name a few there’s One Piece, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, the early parts of Dragon Ball (Here the story is more about the adventure and humor than fighting), and Fullmetal Alchemist.

A: Now, what makes this book so special to me, is that shortly after the first big story turnpoint, our hero Cobalt becomes disabled and uses a manual wheelchair, much like the one I use in my day-to-day life. As a disabled person, this is so huge for me because I get to see someone who is young, smart, and capable as the main character in this larger-than-life story. What drew you to creating a disabled lead character?

L: I wanted to present a lead character who had a great burden in his life, but was still able to compensate for it in other areas. I’ve read and seen many real life stories about people with handicaps who achieve incredible things, and to me it is very inspiring. There’s also the theme of Cobalt being an inventor, and I thought it would be fitting that he creates his own robot legs, almost as if he is creating his own future and opportunities.

A: Cobolat’s chair appears to be a transport chair rather than an everyday-use sports chair, and that makes total sense to me as his need for it is a new development. This is such a smart move from a visual perspective, was it an intentional choice? Do you spend a lot of time around wheelchairs?

L: That’s such an interesting observation! I’m no wheelchair expert, but the design was a conscious choice, yes. I wanted the chair to look a bit bulky and unwieldy, so I took a lot of inspiration from more antique wheelchairs, and mixed it with more modern transport chairs.

A: It seems that Cobalt’s grandfather was part of a larger group of inventors and there are some strange happenings surrounding his past that we are going to get more of in future volumes. Does this group of inventors span countries, the world, and multiple planets?

L: Yes, like the alpha energy, this group will play a much larger role as the story progresses, and we will definitely see more of them in the future. As for the scope of this group, they probably span countries, but I can say with almost full certainty that there won’t be any space travel in The Inventor.

A: Before we wrap up, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for producing a work that gives disabled kids a hero who looks like them. I want to be sure our readers are keeping up with you as new things are coming out, where can our readers continue to follow your work and the developing world of The Inventor?

L: I appreciate that, Anton. The past couple of years I have been a bit off the grid social media wise, but I do have an Instagram account, @Larsmallow, where I have posted plenty of The Inventor related stuff previously.

A: Are there any sneak peeks you can let us in on about what is coming next? 

L: I can reveal that the environments of the second book will be very different from the calm life in Mata-Mata. The next book will be called “The Secret of the Scrap Goblin”, and follows Cobalt as he travels to a trade city merely consisting of market booths and wagons stacked on top of each other. I hope it will be an interesting read!

Until next time, happy Disability Pride Month!