Talking With Garth Ennis About His New Fantasy Parody Series ‘Babs’ From AHOY Comics

Garth Ennis (you know who he is!) has a new comic coming out this week from AHOY Comics. A parody on the evergreen sword and sorcery fantasy genre, Babs is the story of a wandering barbarian thief in possession of the worst enchanted sword in the kingdom called Barry. And ahead of its release this Wednesday 14th August I was able to catch up with Ennis to discuss this new series:

Olly MacNamee: First we get Hawk the Slayer and now a second, albeit parody, sword and sorcery series, Babs, from AHOY Comics. I take it you’re having fun with a genre one wouldn’t immediately associate with you?

Garth Ennis: Spot on. I’ve said elsewhere that I normally find sword & sorcery a bit lazy, just because you can invent anything whenever you need to—but that also makes it a lot of fun, if you get the tone just right. And I do like a number of entries in the genre, like The Hobbit, Hawk, Stormbringer and Slaine in 2000AD.

MacNamee: In Babs #1 you make great use of the fantasy genre and archetypal characters to target a very specific kind of fan. And not all too subtle either? What can you tell us about these grumpy goblins and ‘orrible orcs?

Ennis: People like that do sort of bring out the worst in me, that natural tendency they have towards division and conspiracy theory—much of it orchestrated by people who see incels and so on as very easy meat. The current anti-immigration nonsense in the UK seems to me to fall into similar territory; as I’ve said elsewhere you’re talking about the same breed of turd. That said, readers may find that the plot involving Mork the Orc and his idiots doesn’t quite go where they’re expecting.

MacNamee: As for Babs herself… well, she’s certainly someone playing against type when we learn she dropped out of Princess Academy at the age of 12 as well as her speech. How did you go about finding the voice for your central character? Or is this something that comes easy after so many successful years as a writer?

Ennis: Babs is one of my favourite kinds of character: good at the job but crap at life. In other words, an extremely dangerous loser. You mess with her at your peril, but right after she’s filleted you she’ll probably end up dropping herself in the shit. Fate is not kind to Babs. Fate being me, I suppose.

MacNamee: As for how the series will progress… are the targets you aim for in this issue something you will be delving into further in subsequent issues? It would seem so given how this first issue ends. 

Ennis: There is a particular vein running through the story, but you’ll see there’s a lot more going on too—an undead army, a particularly crap knight, and a ship full of saucy elves. And a bit with a wizard I’m quite pleased with.

MacNamee: Of course, I can’t let you go until we speak about Jacen Burrows. An artist you have built up a great working relationship with. How does that translate to the creative process and the end result on the printed page?

Ennis: He’s just brilliant. We’ve been working together for 20+ years (303, Wormwood, Crossed, Punisher, Ribbon Queen) and I’ve often had cause to be grateful for his razor-sharp storytelling and excellent sense of character. In a story like Babs Jacen’s clarity and precision makes the humour a lot easier to get across: there are some more vague, impressionistic artists I’ve worked with from time to time, where I find myself thinking—draw the thing. The thing. There, where it says in the script. Why can’t you just draw the bloody thing?

MacNamee: Garth, thanks for your time and all the best with Babs.

Ennis: Cheers!