We had the good fortune of connecting with Zack Morrissette and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Zack, let’s start by talking about what inspires you?
Art of all kinds, movies, cartoons, other comic strip creators. I draw a lot of inspiration from the stuff I grew up on. When I was a kid, I’d flip over to channel 56 in Boston after Saturday morning cartoons and watch Creature Double Feature. Two back-to-back monster movies. I watched some real garbage that I absolutely love and thanks to streaming services, I can see all that stuff again. I regularly search for other comic artists on social media to see what other artists are creating. And I read a lot. That’s where my love of noir came from and it’s Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and others that inspired me to write a pulp novel. But of course, I grew up on Mad Magazine, so my detective had to be funny. So he’s a cyclops, a private eye (GET IT?!!) and he solves fairy tale crimes in enchanted 1940s Los Angeles. We’re actually trying to make that into an old timey radio play with the direction of my pal Mike Kallio. Lately my work has taken on single panel, black and white monster themed comic strips. That’s what makes me happy these days so that’s what I spend my time on. I recently struck gold with a series of comics about Dracula and his cat, Mister Mittens. The idea that even Dracula himself must contend with the will of a stubborn cat is funny to me. Especially when you read Dracula’s exasperation in Bela Lugosi’s voice. People seem to enjoy them as much as I enjoy making them, so I sit down a few times a week and write out some ideas.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’ve been drawing as long as I could hold a crayon. It’s something I’ve always defined myself with and I enjoy creating. Doesn’t matter if it’s making billboards for a studio, drawing Mister Mittens comics or writing a noir detective novel. It’s tough sometimes. Being creative means lots of rejection. So I try not to take the those personally. My latest rejection was from the New Yorker. I thought a couple of my comics would fit their brand. I was wrong. Its funny tho, even their rejection letter was pretentious.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I love old L.A. so I’d probably visit some iconic places. Like drinks at Boardners and then dinner at Musso & Frank. I treat famous film locations like celebrity sitings, so maybe a drive out to Vasquez Rocks to see where Kirk fought the Gorn.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Matt Murray. All of my most interesting gigs came from him. I got to do work for Stan Lee, created art for the cast of Nightmare on Elm Street 3 and got some of my first comic book published artwork because of him.

Mike Kallio. Guy gets me in a way that most don’t and has an unwavering belief in the projects we work on. And what a dancer!

Website: www.zacksploitation.com

Instagram: @zacksploitation

Facebook: Zacksploitation Comics

Image Credits
Profile pic by Silas Eyeso

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