Because of our love for Unnatural, we reached out to creator Mirka Andolfo for an exclusive interview.
Unnatural is a comic series by Mirka Andolfo about Leslie, a pig girl who hates her job and lives in a totalitarian government that forbids romantic relationships with other animal species. Leslie wants more than what she dreams of having the independence to do whatever her heart wants. The series is full of anthropomorphic creatures, fantasy, and sensuality.
From the start, this series reminded me of Animal Farm by George Orwell, and Andolfo confirmed my suspicions. Although the project was born through the protagonist, Leslie and Andolfo had never drawn anthropomorphic characters before, she asked herself, “How would a world be with animal people, totalitarian government, and strong rules about their relations?” I imagine Orwell asked himself a similar question when he wrote about the Russian Revolution.
Andolfo said she was super happy about the largely positive response she’s gotten for the series, especially since the first three issues went to a second printing. This overwhelming positivity was unexpected as it was her first book in the U.S. where she was listed as sole creator.
Andolfo does more than just create; she does it all! Writing, creating, and coloring can be stressful, but one advantage Andolfo explained was that by creating everything, “The thing will come out very similar to how you imagined, and that makes your work really ‘personal’. I really enjoy to work on my own personal projects, especially writing, and creating is fun!” She still loves working on a team, though, and she has a color assistant, Gianluca Papi, who helps relieve some of the workload.
She also receives help with the translations for each issue. Although her English is more than adequate, writing in another language is “…hard because an Italian person doesn’t know how an English American speaker uses slang.” The book is translated by Arancia Studio (together with Panini Comics, the Italian publisher that produced the book), with an external consultancy.
Unnatural‘s art is beautiful, but another thing I’ve loved about it was its ability to explore social issues. This factor also reminded me of Orwell’s novella. Andolfo said she wanted to create something that was fun to read but also made the reader think. She really seems to enjoy creating a contrast in this way.
Like many other artists, Andolfo’s inspiration to draw began young. “First of all, I grew up with comics by Barbara Canepa and Alessandro Barbucci (W.I.T.C.H., Skydoll), and also other artists like Joe Madureira, J. Scott Campbell, Juanjo Guarnido, Arthur De Pins and many more…” She listed the Japanese manga series Death Note written by Tsugumi Ohba as her “favorite ever” but said she liked many American and European works as well.
She’s currently working on a new comic book written by Ben Blacker and colored by Marissa Louise, named Hex Wives for Vertigo and on Harley Quinn.
Huge thanks to Mirka Andolfo for the interview! Be sure to check out our review of Unnatural’s latest issue, which is the end of the first volume of the series.
