Robert Bienvenu
by Chad Boudreau

Robert Bienvenu self-portrait

Robert Bienvenu is originally from Lafayette, Louisiana. He grew up watching too much television and reading too many comics. He and his unbelievably intelligent wife (who proves her intelligence daily by laughing at all of Robert's jokes) and their two talented children live in Baton Rouge, where he is the Promotions Director for a broadcast television group and owner of a comic shop called Red City Comics. Robert watches too much television and reads too many comics.

CR: How did you get involved in creating comics and how long have you been doing them?

RB: I had been drawing my entire life, finishing a random comic strip here and there, but had never sat down and completed an actual story. A few years ago, I met up with a group of local cartoonists who were about to publish their first anthology. I figured I'd throw my hat over the fence by telling them that I could get a story together. My intent was solely to force myself to finish a story, but along the way I was joining them on workshops and jams and smaller projects. The process turned out to be more valuable than the original goal of just finishing one comic.

CR: How did you get involved with SPX?

RB: I happened to be with a friend when he bought the 2000 SPX Anthology (we were just amazed by the value of getting a thick book like that for under seven bucks). Later, he forced me to read the opening story by Darko Macan. After getting my own copy and seeing the stuff by Adriane Tomine, Alex Robinson, and Tony Consiglio, I immediately made plans to go to the 2001 Expo. While that didn't happen, I did make it to Bethesda for 2002. My goal from that point was to have a table at the next SPX. Having a story in the anthology didn't seem like an attainable goal, but my friends and I figured that if we submitted stories and didn't get in, we'd end up with a few good mini-comics to sell at the Expo. Actually getting a story accepted and having the SPX stay in Bethesda for one more year is all icing on the cake.

CR: SPX 2003 focused on the topic of travel: Tell us about your comic.

RB: My story takes place on a commuter train and focuses on how difficult it can be to change someone's first impression of you. After an embarrassing introduction, a young man spends the remainder of the commute attempting to convince a woman that he's not a jerk. Working within a travel theme was a big help. The train setting propels it right along, and having a destination for the characters gives you a good set up for a punch line.

CR: The back cover of SPX 2003 asks, "Is it the destination or the getting there?" What's your opinion on that and why?

RB: It's always the trip that's the thing. It's the process of getting the girl, or the comic, or the corndog. It's not just the corndog. It's never the corndog. But I bet you wanna' know how I got that corndog, don't you...

CR: What's the craziest thing that ever happened to you on a trip?

RB: I was driving a TV crew home from a shoot at a university in Virginia, and became lost on the school's badly lit streets. As I was complaining about how the campus had "nothing but left turns", I heard laughter from the back of the van. I then realized that I had driven into the track and field stadium and that I was completing my fourth lap around the track. I still hold the school record at Mary Washington College for the 800 meters in a Ford van.

CR: Where else has your work appeared?

RB: Pipedream Anthology #1 and the men's room wall in Fletcher Hall at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

CR: What are you currently working on?

RB: Penciling someone else's story for Pipedream Anthology #2 and getting mini comics together for SPX. I'm also in the first stages of my own story for Pipedream #2.

CR: What was your earliest exposure to comics?

RB: I'm the youngest of seven kids, with five older brothers. I thought that every kid grew up with a stack of comics on their nightstand. I was shocked to visit other kids' homes only to find that some of them didn't read comics at all. I was also lucky enough to have a grandmother who kept every comic and Big Little Book that she'd ever bought for her kids, so I was exposed to Jack Cole, C.C. Beck, Simon & Kirby, Al Capp, etc.

CR: What inspires you to work in comics?

RB: The competitiveness that surfaces when hanging around other artists, discovering new artists online or at SPX. Watching my son draw is pretty inspirational. If he keeps improving at his current pace, he'll surpass my skill level by the time he hits junior high. That gives me about two years to either get my act together or to just quit comics in shame.

CR: Who are some of the most exciting and talented creators working in comics today?

RB: Bill Fingerman's Beg the Question blew me away, and I'm anxiously waiting for Alex Robinson's next book to be finished. Chip Zdarsky's Collected Prison Funnies was the best surprise of the year. I'm also a sucker for any Alan Moore retro story.