How would you describe your work?
Very very short stories of people doing very very
bad things.
Other than making people laugh... what do you hope to achieve through
people being exposed to your work?
It’s always nice when people see something
deeper than just sick jokes in my books. I’d like to think that
some of my drawings are more than just silly or morbid.
How has your upbringing and your parents’ professions
shaped what you do now? Did being the son of a playwright and a journalist
make you more quizzical about the world?
Well, my father is a theologist, as well. He got
me interested in Norse and Greek mythology, which got me interested
in superheroes, which got me interested in comics, which got me where
I am. When I was a kid I used to sit on the floor and draw pictures
of monsters and such, while Mom and her friend wrote a play on the computer.
They read it out loud while they were writing. That’s how I learned
to write plays. I have never been aware of their influence until now.
Where do you find the inspiration for your cartoons?
Everywhere. TV, comics, movies and the real world.
Mostly the real world I would think. So many sick, twisted, interesting,
weird, horrible and funny things happen every second in this world,
so inspiration is everywhere.
Does the modern world scare you?
Yes. Immensely. But I try to stay cool.
What are your thoughts on the fear culture spread by
politics and the media?
My thoughts are that it’s all fucked up,
excuse my french. Once in a while you see something that looks like
an honest piece of journalism, but not nearly often enough. Sadly, like
so many things, media is in most cases controlled by evil bastards.
Have any close friends or family disliked your cartoons?
My grandmother didn’t laugh when she first
saw them. And I think she hasn’t given them a chance since then.
I don’t blame her. My cartoons are not for everybody, nor should
they be. If everyone loves it, there must be something wrong with it.
Everybody Loves Raymond, for example.
What do you say to people who accuse you of merely trading
in shock tactics?
I say: you are correct sir. Or madam. That’s
what I do, but I do it well.
Have you been surprised by some of the responses your
work has received from areas of the media?
Well, no. People complain about all sorts of things.
I deal with some shocking subjects and many people think my way of approaching
them is ‘sick’, like they said in the Sun. But,
c’mon, it’s the Sun. When a real newspaper does
a negative article about me, I will possibly maybe be a tad bit worried.
Is there anything you don’t or wouldn’t
joke about?
No. You can joke about everything as long as you
do it right. An unfunny joke about a crippled nun-rapist is a disaster.
But if you manage to make it work as a joke or a story, you’re
allright.
How do you consider humour to be important for people
in understanding and coping with the world?
I guess humour can be some sort of a survival
mechanism if everything around you is crap. I’m not saying everything
around me is crap, but I’m aware of the whole crappiness of the
world and my cartoons are my way of dealing with it.
What is your opinion on political correctness?
I think that political correctness is the most
misunderstood thing in the world. I can’t find the words to explain
that, but, you know, people can be so hung up on what’s being
said and written, that they don’t notice what is being done. Am
I making sense here?
Erm... Yeah... Have you ever deliberately avoided a
controversial subject for fear of retribution... for example - ever
considered doing some cartoons of the prophet Mohammed?!
I don’t look for a controversial subject
and then do a cartoon about it. I just do a cartoon and the subject
matter just kind of tends to be something ugly. Which means I must have
an ugly mind. I only censor myself when my work is badly written or
unfunny. However, I will never do Mohammed because I don’t want
a jihad on my head. Yup, I’m a chicken that way. But I never thought
of drawing him anyway.
When was the last time you were offended by something
and what was it?
The last time I was offended I was watching Jay
Leno. His jokes are just so horrible and sometimes downright wrong.
Not to mention unfunny. The fact that millions of people laugh at his
jokes is just scary.
As far as you’re concerned... what is the best
and worst of human behaviour?
Sense of humour and creativity are among the best
qualities of us humans. Stupidity is by far the worst. I really don’t
believe in the existance of evil. But I believe in stupidity, and fear
it. Just look at some of the people who are leading this world.
What things in the world do you consider to be sick
or tasteless?
Boy, these are some real questions. I’m
soul-searching my arse off here. I’m regularly surprised by the
cruelty of the world. Oil wars, torture, child abuse, you know the usual
suspects. I just shake my head in bewilderment when I hear about those
kind of things. But then I do cartoons about it. It’s my therapy.
It’s like: I’m against corporal punishment, except when
the Punisher is killing criminals in the Marvel comics.
Do you think the concept of good and bad taste restricts
open thought and expression?
Not from my point of view. I’ve never felt
restricted by outside forces. Not yet anyway. Taste is a matter of taste.
The titles of your work published over here (Should
You Be Laughing At This? and Is This Supposed To Be Funny?)
feel a bit like they might be trying to excuse themselves before people
open them... or perhaps justify their existence as thought provoking
- almost in preparation for an inevitable backlash... compared to the
unashamed titles of your releases in Iceland (Love Us, Kill
Us, Fuck Us, Save Us and Avoid Us) it
seems to be a very different approach... were those UK titles chosen
by you or the publishers? And why the change in direction for the titles?
Penguin and I emailed each other back and forth,
arguing about the title. I actually felt as if they wanted to excuse
the content of the book. But after a while I stopped caring and agreed
to the current title, which I now think is rather good. The marketing
people thought that Avoid Us would probably be an off-putting title
and bad for sales. They were probably right, I’m sorry to admit.
I usually have a Bill Hicks attitude towards marketing. But you know,
I wanted to sell books. The UK title actually came from the back cover
text of Avoid Us, written by my good friend Vidar Thorsteinsson.
How is it transferring the themes of your cartoons onto
the stage? How differently do people react when its actors instead of
stick figures?
People laugh out loud at my books and people laugh
out loud at my plays. So generally, they like it. It’s a totally
differnet thing though. Writing a play is a team effort. So I have loads
of people to thank for the success of my plays.
Tell us about Uterus, how it’s been received
and what sent you off in that direction?
Uterus is a musical, set in the near
future. The main character is a Paris Hilton-esque girl who realises
she is pregnant on her 19th birthday. The same day, her parents announce
their divorce and her brother gets the bird flu. The story is about
global corporations and man versus nature and all kinds of contemporary
things. It was a huge success here in Iceland. I only know of a couple
of people who didn’t like it, and incidentally those people are
pricks. So that says everything. My first play was based on Avoid
Us (Should You Be Laughing At This?). It was almost an
experiment to see if I could write a story with a beginning, middle
and an end, out of the book. I managed to do that and got a playwright-of-the-year
award. Yay! Thanks of course to all the great people who worked on it.
What’s next?
More books, more plays and hopefully some movies.
I just want to create until I die.
