INTERVIEW The Canadian writer-cartoonist Jeff Lemire stands out in North American genre comics. His most recent book is Black Hammer: Spiral City, created in collaboration with the Danish cartoonist Teddy Kristiansen. We talked to the two of them on stage at this year’s book fair in Copenhagen.

Our conversation centres on Black Hammer, one of Lemire’s signature projects: partly an autofictional examination of the superhero reading of his childhood, partly versatile pastiche, it has developed into a sprawling superhero universe in its own right.

For Kristiansen, best known in comics for his Vertigo work in the nineties and early naughts, the collaboration marks a full-bore return to comics after many years of working primarily in animation and illustrated books.

The conversation is in English, but bear with the Danish intro. It is a crossover with our friends at the Danish superhero podcast Supersnak, conducted by their co-host Morten Søndergård and our Matthias Wivel. It is simultaneously published in both places.

Canadiske Jeff Lemire er blandt de højest profilerede forfattere indenfor nordamerikanske genretegneserier. (Han er også tegner). Han er aktuel med Black Hammer: Spiral City, skabt i samarbejde med danske Teddy Kristiansen. Vi tog en snak med dem på comicsscenen på årets BogForum.

Det handler her primært om netop Black Hammer, som er en af Lemires signaturserier, lige dele autofiktiv bearbejdning af barndommens superheltelæsning, udsøgt pastiche og vidt forgrenet superhelteunivers i egen ret.

For den danske veteran Kristiansen markerer samarbejdet en fuldtonet tilbagevenden til tegneserierne efter en årrækkes arbejde i animation og med billedbøger.

Episoden er et crossover med vores venner i Supersnak al den stund at interviewet foretoges af Marvel-Morten Søndergård og Rackhams Matthias Wivel. Episoden publiceres derfor både som et afsnit af Supersnak og Radio Rackham.