Eric Powell has spent much of his comics career as a vagabond freelancer while nurturing a character of his own. THE GOON was a miniseries from Avatar Press that was later self-published for four issues before joining the Dark Horse horror line last year. The series centres on a hard-as-nails gangster goon called Goon who is surrounded by supernatural mobsters, circus freaks, and hobos with their own language, and from the very first issue, it was clear that this one of the funniest comics on the stands.

Readers seem to agree, and so do the Eisner voters, who gave THE GOON #1 the award for best single issue at the 2004 San Diego Comicon, and shortlised the book and its creator for the awards for best continuing series, best humour publication and best writer/artist in the humour category.

Powell claims that the character of the Goon came from "a wasted childhood" where he avoided trouble by "egging people on while I sat back and watched".

"I was always drawing pictures that had a story to go with them when I was a kid. I guess they just meshed together," he says. As for the Goon himself; "it evolved over a period of time through many incarnations, story wise and visually. In some way or another I had probably been building the Goon since junior high."

The creators who Powell cites as the most influential when he was developing the Goon are perhaps obvious choices; Mike Mignola and Jeff Smith, both creators best known for a single signature creation, HELLBOY and BONE respectively. "[They] were both big influences creatively and inspirationally when I was trying to get the book of the ground. They both showed me you could do your own thing and it could be successful."

As far as the comparisons that have been to Mignola, Powell doesn't see the similarity, although the characters did appear together in this summer's THE GOON #7, written and illustrated by both creators. "I think Mignola and I have similar ideas when it comes to what we want out of comics. We both just came up with concepts that would allow us to draw the things we like.

"I hate drawing hip pretty people and modern things. They are boring and have no style. I do like drawing monsters, dilapidated buildings, ugly people, and old cars. Mike created a world where he incorporate the folklore and Lovecraftian horror he loves. I created one where I could do the Pythonesque B-movie monster stuff that I love. I find it really funny that people compare THE GOON to HELLBOY though. Other than them both being big guys who punch things, it's pretty hard to find any similarity."

One of the most notable aspects of the series is the unnamed town in which it is set. It seems to exist in a parallel 1930s, in an atmosphere of travelling circuses, mobsters and hobos. "The book takes place in a nowhere time, in a nowhere place. I purposefully don't mention the time and place because I felt it would limit me to what I wanted to do. If I say it's 1932 New York, then it has to look like 1932 New York. I couldn't make it look like something out of a Frankenstein movie.

"It's like FRANKENSTEIN and BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN. Those movies never say where they take place. It's in a make believe environment with people in modern clothing and some in lederhosen. They're American and British but they refer to the burgermeister. Never do they set a time and place. I could make up some stupid make-believe city name like Goonburg or Monsterland or some other craptasticly childish thing, but I haven't been hit in the head enough times to be that dumb yet. Besides, I'm a firm believer in not giving the reader any information that isn't absolutely necessary. Let them make their own conclusion."

As far as Powell's process, he makes it sounds simple. "I'll get a basic plot in my head, then I'll just go through the whole thing writing down the dialogue that I see taking place between the characters. The characters have gotten to a point with me that their dialogue practically writes itself. I just drop them into a situation and listen to them talk. I jot all this down and then type it into a script. I send it to my editors Scott Allie and Matt Dryer. They give me input and corrections. I'll do a final working draft. I usually do my thumbnails right on the script page. Then I start drawing."

It's a process that hasn't changed since he started making the book, though Powell admits he takes "a little more time laying out the stories than I used to." He even colours the book himself, with a little help. "I have assistants that do flats. Basically blocking out outlines. I do all the actual colour selections and tones."

THE GOON is one of the few books on the stands where each issue is self-contained, and Powell shrugs off the idea that it's a difficult restriction to impose on himself, saying that he prefers the short story format. "I think you get the best of both worlds. The stories are accessible to those who've never read it before, but for the hardcore fans, they get a little extra by knowing things like Buzzard's history." Powell partly dedicated the trade paperback NOTHING BUT MISERY to the late cartoonist Wally Wood, whom Powell cites as a major influence. "I'm drawn more to the work of the old guys. Wally Wood, Jack Davis, Will Eisner. I love that stuff. Wood and Davis especially. Both those guys could get a good mix of creepy and goofy. That would obviously be an influence to me."

Among his contemporaries, he cites Tom Sniegoski and Kyle Hotz as two of the talents he admires the most. Hotz has drawn a GOON story, which Powell says is simply the result of them wanting to work together, adding, "We are working on some stuff non-GOON related [that] we are trying to shop around. Me writing, him drawing. No luck getting it picked up yet."

Recently Powell has drawn covers for BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM and written and drawn a short story for HELLBOY: WEIRD TALES, but he remains focused on keeping THE GOON on a bi-monthly schedule. "I've been kicking around the idea of doing a painted GOON graphic novel, but that will probably be some time down the road."

As far as whether the series has an end, Powell says simply, "I'll end it when it's not any fun, or I run out of decent ideas."

Alex Dueben is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer.

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