Imagine a giant, adorable seal demolishing a village and a barbarian killing an evil version of Santa Claus. Imagine Steve Bannon and Mitch McConnell having a face-off in which their faces literally slide off. If you can’t imagine such things, veteran comic-book writer and artist Mike Norton can. His Eisner-winning Battlepug will be available in a massive “Compugdium” January 23 from Image Comics, which also published a collection of Norton’s Trump satire Lil’ Donnie last year.
“I’ve always liked animals,” Norton explains, “I babysat when I lived in Memphis. My boss bought a pug puppy for his wife for her birthday, and it was supposed to be a surprise. So I was supposed to keep it for a weekend while he set the whole thing up. I was in love with them after that. I said, I have to have one for myself, just because it is a ridiculous animal. It literally would not exist in nature without us interfering, so the idea of this animal being a fierce, like, warrior-thing just entertained me in my brain.
“The nonsense is so absurd that even making a joke is not as funny as the actual thing that’s happening,” says Norton. “So I have to do really weird things like make strange movie or comic book references that nobody is gonna get anyway. So it’s a lot more difficult now. Plus, it’s been three years now, almost, and I’m just tired of it. I’m tired of this guy.”
By Mike Norton (Image)
