By Jacob Cordas — Maria Llovet has quickly become one of the best artists making comic books today. With a sensual, magical style that is equal parts riveting and horrifying, every comic she makes is an immediate add to my pull list. With the upcoming release of her new book, Luna (out tomorrow, Feb. 3), I immediately jumped at the opportunity to talk with her. What follows is a conversation about the project, her love of fashion, her relationship to the occult, and her deep love of poetry.

Maria Llovet Interview

JACOB CORDAS: Where did the idea for Luna come from?  

MARIA LLOVET: To be honest I can’t remember where it came from in the first place.  This is one of those stories that I've been pondering for a long time, it feels like I've  wanted to do this comic since forever! But at the same time the story has evolved so  much that is nearly unrecognizable from the first versions. 

It still has the same spirit though; it is a story about love, an immortal love through time  and space, and it's reverse; secrets, lies and betrayal. All of it in the context of the late  lysergic 60's and with a deep root in Alchemy themes and aesthetics. 

JACOB: You’ve often talked about how you are inspired by filmmakers, with this being  especially clear in your panel layouts. Were there any filmmakers you felt directly  inspired from for this work? Did you feel yourself pulling from any specific film  movements while working on this?  

MARIA: No, not for this project in particular. I think what inspires me from films and  filmmakers I love, or from artists in any medium, doesn't apply in one project in  particular, but in general. 

Because you can be inspired by something that has nothing to do with the project you're working on at the moment, and in an instant you're being moved by this character, or  this particular way of narrating a scene, or the light and the movement of a curtain in  this other one. All this can have an impact of different proportions and manifestations. 

Also when doing a comic there are so many aspects to consider, that nearly anything  can be a source of inspiration for any of them. 

For me watching films feels like learning all the time, both if I like them and if I don't.  Sometimes I spend more time thinking about and discussing films I don't like, and  trying to find out why, than others that I do enjoy. 

But then of course there's research and particular things to draw from for each particular project. In this case I have two key elements that I researched: ‘60s psychedelia and  alchemy.

JACOB: While your work ties in a lot of erotic elements, I often find the occultist elements  are under-discussed. Luna is no exception to that. This piece takes some of the  theological esoterism that shows up across your work and elaborates on it in really  unique ways incorporating in 60s psychedelia and what I believe is Greek  mythology. What is your relationship to the occult? How do you feel it ties into  your work? How has it evolved as an element in your art and storytelling? 

MARIA: I'm very drawn to it both because of the visual aesthetic and the mystical  approach. I have to say, my grandfather was a very mystical person, he had a lot of love  and respect for this kind of thing, and I think I got it from him. 

I'm not sure how much an impact it has on my work though, I haven’t really considered  it properly. 

It's true I've always loved religious art. And about Greek mythology, I remember asking my parents to buy me a book about it when I was quite young, I thought it was  fascinating. LUNA though, it's more related to Egypt, not in the classic cultural  aesthetic but in the ancient Alchemy texts that come from there and the subsequent texts those inspired in Europe in later centuries. 

There is something fascinating in these old texts, it feels like seeing something out of a  fictional story. But they're real, even if the subjects they were pursuing were... I guess,  not. It's very magical.  

JACOB: As I mentioned your panel layouts are a very clear and meticulous element of  your art style. Luna features a wide variety of images and designs over the borders of those panels, far more than I can think of in any work of your previous, to  excellent effect. What led to you including these? What effect are you looking for  them to achieve?  

MARIA: This is partly because I'm looking for a psychedelic effect, like a lysergic  explosion, and getting off the panel borders helps a lot with this. 

Also, this is something I explored for the first time in my graphic novel Insecto, where I  tried to recreate kaleidoscopic images, very often seen in photography, but into  drawings. I had such a great time working on that and I still want to explore it further. I'm doing something similar here too because I thought it was very fitting with the  lysergic approach. 

JACOB: I’m especially interested in the way you use backdrops in the panels in this series. Instead of doing a backdrop of the environment, you’ll often use a sliding color  spectrum that implies far more - both setting wise and in terms of emotion. This  feels very distinct from your often-meticulously designed settings in previous  works. What led to this evolution in your style? Is this more an experiment for this  work or an overarching trend in your work?  

MARIA: It depends on the scene. The normal ones have regular backgrounds, but  sometimes, to create emotion, it’s better to isolate the character and get rid of the  background, usually doing close-ups. It creates an effect of intimacy, like you're seeing  a private scene, or like you can go deeper into their feelings.  

If you have a medium shot with background is like the volume of reality is turned up  and this intimacy gets lost. 

So in general I go with what I feel the scene asks for in terms of emotionality in the  script. 

Some months ago I saw the film Brief Encounter, and this movie does that  magnificently! The use of the close up and lack of background to create intimacy, and  other effects to explain how the character is feeling without saying, only with the  camera movement. I'd never seen anything like this. And we're talking about a 1945 film! This is so extraordinary, absolutely brilliant, foundational no doubt. 

JACOB: The language you use in the book, especially for the narration, is so refined. Much like in your book Heartbeat, there is a poetic quality that I often find myself  comparing it more to someone like Baudelaire than a comic book writer. Where  does your playfulness with language come from? Do you feel much influence from  poetry? Are there any writers, across mediums, that inspire you? 

MARIA: Yes, I've always loved poetry, and it has always been a big influence in my work.  Heartbeat and Luna being the most noticeable examples, as you say, but I think my first  work Eros/Psyche has a great deal of influence in this regard too. Maybe not so direct  but it's certainly a poetic work. 

My favorite author has always been the poet Juan Ramón Jiménez. I remember exactly  the first time I read one of his poems, I was in Spanish literature class and there it was, a fragment of Jardines Lejanos. I was blown away by it. I was a huge Evangelion fan at  the time, and the poem felt exactly like a text from it! haha

And even though I didn't know who Hideaki Anno was then, with time I became a huge  fan of his work well beyond Evangelion. 

I especially love his film Love and Pop, which is an adaptation of the novel by Ryu Murakami. I've read some of his work and I'd really love to read this one, but I can't find any translations in Spanish or English. I'm considering the French one, but I don't speak  French so I don't know... 

For LUNA in particular there's a big influence from Juan Ramón Jiménez and also from Federico García Lorca, another one of my all-time favorites. His work was so  passionate, I adore it. 

I think literature in general is one big source of inspiration for me too. But I always  mention films, because in a way films are the most similar to comics. They are visual  narrative. But they are influential to me in the writing aspects too. 

I approach my writing as if writing a single story. No matter if it's going to be split into  issues or not (of course it matters, but this comes later, I'm talking about the story as a  whole, before specifying some of the smaller elements in the story). And in terms of plot and story development there are lots of things in common in novels and films that can be useful in comics. 

The difference is that in novels you usually have much more room for details than in  films or comics, even if you're doing a series or something long. 

JACOB: Your love of fashion comes through this work thanks to the '60s setting while  letting you come up with really unique looks that don’t come up often in your art.  Are you a fan of that aesthetic? Did you pull from any specific places to get the  aesthetic you were looking for? 

MARIA: Absolutely yes, I love the aesthetic of these years. I think it is because of the ‘90s-’00s revival of the flare pants and shearling coats that was on when I was a teen,  I've been waiting for flares to come back since forever! Seems like finally I'm in luck!  Ha ha! 

And yes I wanted to create looks that were true to that time, so I compiled as many  photos as I could from the hippie fashion of that period, specially from people on the  street or in concerts like Woodstock etc, but also from magazines or fashion shots. It's  so great to see all this documentation, and be able to appreciate the little details. 

I'd love to do a companion book of some kind to the comic, with all the characters  wearing the fashion from the time. That's a thought.

There's also a part of a more "fantasy" outfits, relating to the more esoteric part of the  script too. 

JACOB: The '60s, especially the end of the '60s, is such an evocative and political era, that  seamlessly ties into a lot of themes you seem to discuss across your work: sex,  power, occultism. What was it that got you interested in the era? Were there topics that stood out to you?  

MARIA: Well, as I was telling you before, the story changed and evolved a lot through  time. At a very early stage it was settled in Europe and in a medieval castle. 

I had a conversation with my partner where I was explaining the dynamics of the  relationship of some of the characters. And he pointed out that it was like a "cult group". And it was so true. That led me to think what would happen if the story was actually  moved to that context and to see if that would suit the story.  

And not only suited it but inspired some more ideas that were fitting with what I had  already. This decision of course triggered many more changes till finally the story  evolved to what is today. So choosing the ‘60s was something that suited the characters  and the story, and as I also love the visual aesthetics it was perfect. 

JACOB: Do you have any other projects coming up that we can anticipate? 

MARIA: Yes. Starting in March Ablaze Publishing is going to bring to the US my first  graphic novel i. It will be split into 5 issues and in colors for the first time. It was  originally in black and white and I've painted it for this release.  

Eros/Psyche is the story of two girls who fall in love in a very strange and surreal  boarding school. I really hope readers will like it, it is a very special work for me. 

It's also the 10th anniversary of its original release, so it's really perfect timing, I'm  really excited about it. It's so weird to see 10 years have passed already, and at the same  time it feels like much much more time! 

Besides from that, already thinking of new stories I'd like to bring to life in 2022. But first Faithless III is in the horizon in a few months! :)

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My name is Jacob Cordas (@jacweasel) and I am starting to think I may in fact be qualified to write this.