Mega-City Max Interviews: Lucie Ebrey unleashes Cranium Chaos in MC-1!
23rd July 2023
Mega-City Max is a brand-new comic special set deep in the world of Dredd, but coming at you with a distinctly different look at the world with the stories featuring teen- and post-teen versions of classic 2000 AD characters.
Aimed at teenagers, this stand-alone special is fast-paced and action-packed, and features the hottest breaking talent in comics. It’s Mega-City to the Max – it’s Mega-City Max!
Inside Mega City Max you’ll find strips that rejuvenate and reinvent familiar characters from the world of Dredd, with stunning creative teams bringing you all the thrill-power. Inside, there’s Hannah Templer’s take on a young Galen DeMarco taking her first steps as a P.I., Oliver Gerlach & VV Glass give you a frankly fabulous young Devlin Waugh at a devilishly different wedding, Ramzee & Korinna Mei Veropoulou have tickets for the Mega-Cities Aeroball Cup in Harlem Heroes vs the Venetian Vipers, and Roger Langridge brings all the laughs as Walter the Wobot tries his hand at stand-up.
But today, we’re talking to the incredibly talented Lucie Ebrey, who brings us a tale of Mega-City Fads called Cranium Chaos – looking in on two young Mega-City One cits and the lengths they’ll go to to stand out in the big Meg! It’s ridiculous and clever, one of Britain’s brightest comic makers bringing the laughs to Mega-City Max!
Lucie, hi there! We’ll get to Cranium Chaos shortly, but first of all I wanted to ask what it feels like to be in on the ground floor of a new 2000 AD comic?
LUCIE EBREY: I’m really excited to be a part of it! As someone who was new to 2000 AD and the whole universe/characters upon being asked to submit a comic, I was excited to see something I was familiar with be presented as a jumping off point with a new approach and vibe.
MCM is designed for teen readers, a change from the weekly Prog and a step-up in age from Regened – and presumably you’re on board with the idea of comics changing to reflect the time and gather new readers, all to keep the medium we all love alive and healthy?
LE: Hell yeah. Comics should change. They’re already such a flexible and expressive medium.
MCM is something that’s both very different for 2000 AD whilst also grounded in the familiar. But what would you say to those wary of change in something they love so much?
LE: I mean, I super get it. I’m really wary of changes to things I love. In the past I’ve definitely written things off loudly and enthusiastically. Even now, with properties near and dear to my heart, it’s hard to not feel myself resenting anything that I worry might tarnish their image even slightly. But I’m realising sooner and sooner these days that new stuff doesn’t mean that the old stuff I love is taken away from me.
Have you seen the finished comic yet and what do you think of the line-up that’s involved?
LE: Not yet! I like to wait until it’s in my hands like everyone else until I read things I’m part of. Guess I like the surprise and to encounter it like anyone else would in the wild. But I have seen the list of folks contributing and I’m excited by the lineup! I know there’s gonna be stuff in there that I’m gonna love! (And that I’m gonna think makes my entry look second-rate haha!)
Here we go again, imposter syndrome and insecurity always creeps in with the art droids! But trust us Lucie, Cranium Chaos is a great strip, perfect for MCM!
What are your hopes for Mega-City Max and would you return for more?
LE: It would be absolutely wonderful to see more! More comics! More artists! More! And I’d return for sure!
Now, let’s talk Cranium Chaos, a different strip to the other four in MCM as it’s a brand-new idea with brand-new characters – two of MC-1’s younger citizens getting caught up in another daft craze to sweep the City.
What’s Cranium Chaos all about and how did it all come about?
LE: When I was first approached to submit, I was told the vibe of the book would be more light-hearted and silly than the usual 2000AD fair, so I went back to my more comedic Beano roots.
From the taster strips I was provided to get into the swing of things and get a feel for the series, I was noticing a lot of satire on trends and fads and with the sci-fi backdrop and potential for bonkers body modification, I kind of just started from there.
I love stuff like The Twilight Zone and seeing characters being punished for simple human foibles. It always seems so mean-spirited but there’s a lot of comedy in it.
I wasn’t sure if we were allowed to take the reins with any pre-existing characters and so built my strip around two newbies.
Talking to Ollie Hicks [along with Oliver Pickles, one of the editors of MCM], they had this to say about you –
‘I wanted Lucie Ebrey in the comic from the beginning because she’s a star. She’s an absolutely brilliant cartoonist and a jewel of the British comics scene. I’ve been a fan of hers for years. Her chaotic humour seemed like a perfect fit for a teen 2000 AD project. We brought her the initial idea, I wanted like a Bill and Ted style duo and Oliver I think suggested the set-up of a different fad each episode. And then she fleshed out the specifics of the characters and came back with the utterly brilliant and unhinged story idea.’
Now, I’ll echo that ‘jewel of the Brit comics scene’ comment – I can remember being so impressed with your work on your diary strip Muggy Ebes and in Jules Scheele’s Double Dare Ya! Riot Grrrl Zine back in 2015. I think I checked it out because Clark Burscough, now at The Comics Journal, included Muggy Ebes in a best of 2014 list. Since then, of course, it’s been a great pleasure to see you develop and grow, yet still have that same great relaxed style.
LE: Aw! Thanks for the kind words. I feel…very old haha!
But anyway, back to Cranium Chaos – Ollie and Oliver went to you with the concept for the strip, the Bill & Ted style leads and a different fad for each strip and you developed it from there?
LE: Yeah! I gave Ollie & Oliver a few fun concepts of fads that the characters could get suckered into and then the inevitable ways said fad could blow up in their faces. It was fun cooking up such ridiculous crazes and such embarrassing end results.
Your style here in MCM is wonderfully still very much you, immediately recognisable for all who’ve followed your work and hopefully something that will garner you a legion of new fans!
LE: Shucks!
Of course, the way both you and Ollie & Oliver are talking, you’re in this not for just this one strip but for future MCM issues with more Mega-City Fads?
LE: Of course!
We can but hope there’s going to be more. But have you already started thinking about what you’re going to be showing us with the next Mega-City Fads?
LE: Definitely haha. I’m a pessimist by nature and catch myself thinking of ways things can go wrong, which works great for a series where things are blowing up in people’s faces. Maybe even literally.
Now, a little more general stuff about you – can you tell us a little about yourself and your work?
LE: I’m a cartoonist and illustrator living in Bristol. I primarily make a living drawing comics, both for publication or just for myself to sell at comics shows. With the cost of living being what it is, I also have to work two part-time jobs now, which has slowed me down a bit. But I’m still charging ahead as best as I can! I love comics too much!
And I’ve just realised, seeing your website, that you’re a fellow Brummie! (Well, I was born in Dudley, but definitely raised in Birmingham.)
LE: HECK YEAH! BIRMINGHAM! I really miss that lovely city.
Did we ever cross paths in Nostalgia & Comics there at all? [Nostalgia & Comics was one of the earliest comic shops in the country and I had the pleasure of working there for many years at various points from 1986 to 2006]
LE: Oh man, we may very well have! That was my favourite place to get my Ultimate Spider-Man comics when I was a kid and I still remember the sheer awe and excitement of going in for the first time and seeing that huge wall-sized Batman Returns poster. Used to make a bee-line for it the second I pulled in at New St.
Yep, although Nostalgia & Comics is now Worlds Apart Birmingham, there’s so many who remember what it was – and so many who remember the HUGE posters on the walls!
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Okay, enough Brummie chat, what was the thinking way back when with starting Muggy Ebes?
LE: I was 19 years old and just really desperate to make something. I could never finish a strip and frankly didn’t really have the skills, tools or confidence yet to get much done. But my daily diary comics were a concentrated and regular way to stretch that muscle. I look back on the strip with a bit of embarrassment now to be honest haha. I’m just a different person. But I’m forever grateful that I stuck with it. It got my name out there and I started to feel more confident about my work.
And since then, how’s life in comics treating you?
LE: It’s been pretty good! Working on my first graphic novel has been a very, very long process and I’ve learned so much about the industry and my own limitations through it. It’s been invaluable and I for sure feel like I’ve “levelled up” as an artist. In between that simmering in the background for so long, I also have done a few strips with Boom! and made a few zines.
After wrapping the aforementioned webcomic up in 2017, you’ve been doing short comics for yourself and publishers. But, as you say, your first graphic novel, Cowgirls & Dinosaurs: Big Trouble In Little Spittle is out from Razorbill in Sept 2023. What’s this one all about and how big a deal is it for you?
LE: It’s an adventure book set in a world where dinosaurs, cowboys and magik coexist and follows child-vigilante Abigail and her rival, the deputy Clementine, as they try to stop the nefarious Bandit Queen after she kidnaps the town of Little Spittle.
It’s a huge deal to me! It still doesn’t feel real that I have a book coming out – something that I’ve been dreaming of since I was a kid! I put a lot of heart into it. And that’s not just because a giant calcified heart is one of the main focuses of the story haha.
Finally, what sort of things have we got to look forward to from you in the future? Whether that’s for 2000 AD or elsewhere?
LE: At the moment I’m ramping up promotion for Cowgirls & Dinosaurs: Big Trouble in Little Spittle, as well as balancing the start of production for the sequel book and a few other smaller comics projects.
I have some zines I need to get started on for Thought Bubble and there’s also my entry for this year’s ShortBox online art fair that I’m (hopefully) going to be wrapping up by the time this interview is done!
Thank you to Lucie for talking to us – you can find Cranium Chaos in the Mega-City Max special, out now from comic shops and 2000 AD’s web shop.
Be sure to have a good look at Lucie Ebrey’s website, follow her on Twitter, and buy all the things from her shop! She really is one of the great young British comic makers with such a wonderful style to her work!
As for her debut graphic novel, Cowgirls & Dinosaurs: Big Trouble in Little Spittle, that’s out on 6 September 2023 (more information here & here). It’s part of a two-book deal with the Razorbill imprint at Penguin Young Readers Group and it should be a huge success!
And do check out the Shortbox Comics Fair running through October, for more from Lucie and so many more fabulous artists. It’s an all-digital comics fair arranged by Shortbox’s Zainab Akhtar with more than 100 artists debuting new comics.
Now, to end with, a little more of Lucie Ebrey’s wonderful work… starting with more from Cowgirls & Dinosaurs: Big Trouble in Little Spittle…
May 2023 – Hit On, ‘A comic about being a modern lesbian.’
2023 – Haircut
2020 – Sniffy – ‘A short comic about my relationship to my oldest friend. Drawn at the start of the Coronavirus quarantine.’
2019 – Blobby Zine – ‘organised by artist Honey Parast. The zine was a celebration of every UK child of the 90’s favourite nightmare creature: Mr Blobby!’
From 2016 – Guilt, Ebrey’s contribution to Sweaty Palms, an anthology collecting autobiographical stories focusing on anxiety and depression.
And finally, from Ebrey’s brilliant Muggy Ebes – her daily diary comic from May 2012 to May 2017…
