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Hiking with Ariel Schrag

Graphic novelist Ariel Schrag has a new web comic, Ariel and Kevin Invade Everything, which she works on with Kevin Seccia. In one recent panel, she and Kevin “Invade the Hike,” so we invited Ariel to join us on our own hike to talk about her new project, working on The L Word and why she is so inspired by Beverly Hills, 90210.

AfterEllen.com: Have you ever made out with a celebrity?

Ariel Schrag: Ha! Well, I did make out with the very famous celebrity my friend, Kevin Seccia, and the slightly-less famous celebrity Aimee Mann. It was a three-way make out. No parts of our bodies were actually touching. It was more of a lunging at each other with mouths gaping wide open and hovering.

AE: That would make a good comic! You think?

AS:The first three panels would be three separate, closed-eyes-open-mouthed-tongue-lolling faces coming at you saying “Muuaaaaaghghghghg.”

AE: How did you meet Kevin? How did the idea for Invade Everything come about?

AS: We met through Aimee. Kevin is a comedy writer and we really wanted to do a comic together. The idea for Invade Everything came about because we were talking about that book Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, where someone took Pride and Prejudice, which is in the public domain, and basically embedded a zombie story into the text.

We thought it would be cool to insert cartoons of ourselves into various movies and TV shows and then that idea expanded into these little episodes of us invading all the various experiences of life. “Ariel and Kevin Invade Comic Con.” “Ariel and Kevin Invade Heartbreak.” “Ariel and Kevin Invade a Lavish Breakfast.” And coming soon: “Ariel and Kevin Invade an L.A. Dyke Club,” the night I made Kevin go to the lesbian hellhole that is Booby Trap with me.

AE: Do you think that movie Cocoon is in the public domain? That movie is hella old?

AS: Yeah, I don’t think so.

AE: Well ‘cuz I just had an idea – how about “Kevin and Ariel Invade Cocoon,” and you could address your three-way energy transference make-out like the pool scene?

AS: Sounds like you want to be part of a three-way energy transference make-out.

AE: OK, I am serious now. You had a reading at Skylight Books. Can you tell me more about that?

AS: It was part of the LAMBDA Literary Awards Finalists Reading Series. My graphic novel, Likewise, is a finalist in the memoir/biography category. Me and some other finalists read from our books.

It used to be really awkward to try and read from a comic, but now, with new computer programs, it’s great. I create a sort of mini-movie of the comic, where the panels go by one-by-one on a large screen while I read the voices. I also include a musical soundtrack. My sister was in town and reading the voices with me. It was really fun.

AE:I had a great time for sure! So, I wanna talk about all the old school 90210 Tweeting –

AS: Which has come to an end, I’m sorry to say, because I refuse to watch the college years because it’s totally depressing. It’s like watching your pet get really sick, old and decrepit and pee on itself and throw up and not be able to eat and then you just find it dead one day.

AE: So what is it about Beverly Hills, 90210, the high school years, that you found so inspiring that you were Tweeting about it for weeks?

AS: Well, I was in middle school when the show originally came out and they were in high school, so it was like this fantasy to look forward to. 90210 was also the first show I’d ever seen that took on “issues.” The first season is amazing – there’s the Date Rape episode, the Drunk Driving episode, the Eating Disorder episode. And, my absolute favorite, the Breast Cancer episode.

I just loved it. It was basically everything I could have ever wanted, all these “issues,” plus hot sexy teens having sex. The timing was just perfect – since I was 13, I projected the idea of my future self onto the show.

A lot of the obsessions in my graphic novel Potential are based on 90210; like having sex for the first time on prom night with the love of my life like Brenda and Dylan. Except that in high school, I was this gay punk person who thought homeless crusty punks were the coolest people ever.

So it was a weird combination of the most traditional, generic fantasy of what high school should be – hangin’ with the gang at the classic ’50s diner and “parking” with my boyfriend in a Corvette under L.A. palm trees – plus the reality of my gay-punkness. Somehow I thought I could make these two things work, but they don’t mix – it’s like the Gulf Spill.

But anyway, the show had a huge effect on me, and once it started coming out on DVD, I hadn’t seen it in 15 years and I couldn’t wait to re-watch it.

When I started, I’d get so excited that I’d text Kevin as I was watching and I’d be like, “Oh my God! Brandon just accused his girlfriend of being anti-Semitic” and Kevin would write back “I presume Andrea Zuckerman is involved?” And I’d text back, “Andrea is not rich. She happens to live in a one-bedroom with her grandmother.”

Kevin told me I should start Tweeting these and I ignored him and just kept texting him. But then I was like “OK, fine. I will.” I also thought it was kind of funny because people will “live Tweet” shows that are airing now, and I liked the idea of live Tweeting a show from 20 years ago.

AE: Did you remember them as you were watching them or remember them differently?

AS: I had actually conflated some of the episodes. Like the Spring Fling and Senior Prom, in my mind, were the same night. In the Spring Fling episode, Brenda and Dylan have sex for the first time, and in the Senior Prom episode, Donna gets wasted – “Donna Martin Graduates.” In my memory these were same night, so I had to regroup and realize that they were actually years apart.

What was so fun about it is that 15 years is a really long time to not experience something, so it was like sort of not knowing what was going to happen and then, “Wait! I do know!” and get really excited. I already had an affection and empathy for the characters. As well as a hatred, especially for David, who I despise and think is the worst character ever.

AE: So you met Jamie Blake, of Vixtrola and The Rentals, not too long ago who, was actually on 90210 as herself. Was that weird meeting her?

AS: Well, she came on in the College Years, after I had stopped watching. I would only watch an episode every now and then, and it would be horrible things like Kelly befriends a lesbian who jumps in front of a fire for her so that Kelly can continue her modeling career. Which, by the way, is the most disturbing plot ever.

Literally, Kelly befriends a lesbian who is obsessed with her, there’s a fire, and the lesbian jumps in front of Kelly and gets horribly disfigured so that Kelly can stay beautiful and continue being a model, and then Kelly goes and visits this disfigured lesbian in the hospital and says she’s sorry and then you never see the lesbian again. She just goes on with her sad, sad life that no one wants to have to watch. I was like, I’m not sure how I feel about this.

AE: Well you worked in TV – you worked on The L Word. When you are watching television, is it really different for you after writing for TV?

AS: I loved The L Word before I started writing for it – I came on in Season 3 – so there was a bit of reality crashing down when I realized Bette and Tina don’t actually live in a gorgeous house in sunny West Hollywood; they live in a fake, half cut-off house facade prop inside a dark warehouse in Vancouver.

Writing for The L Word was awesome, though. It was some of the most fun I’ve ever had, and I loved everyone I worked with. I will also say that the drama behind the scenes was even more scandalous than on-screen. In what way, I’m afraid I can’t tell.

Follow Ariel on Twitter @arielschrag and check out Ariel and Kevin Invade Everything.

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