Bruce Mutard was born in Melbourne Australia. He holds a degree in Fine Art (painting) which demolished all romantic notions he had possessed about making ART a career or as a mode of expression. He certainly learned nothing about drawing whilst there, (drawing is to art-schools what English is to elementary and secondary schools: skills are irrelevant; self-expression is paramount). He continues with the mad plan to produce more graphic novels and hope that Fama and Fortuna will visit him before he is dead.

Bruce Mutard was born in Melbourne Australia. He holds a degree in Fine Art (painting) which demolished all romantic notions he had possessed about making ART a career or as a mode of expression. He certainly learned nothing about drawing whilst there, (drawing is to art-schools what English is to elementary and secondary schools: skills are irrelevant; self-expression is paramount). He continues with the mad plan to produce more graphic novels and hope that Fama and Fortuna will visit him before he is dead.

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

BM: I began creating comics in 1990, mostly as a lark with a few mates goofing off during studies at Design school. I got kicked out and made some sort of impulsive (cosmic perhaps - but from above or below, which God taunts me so?) decision to do comics. There were two things I had a modicum of talent for and that I liked to do: to write and to draw. Thus comics were a natural. But it still took me many years and many hundreds of pages to get my skills up to a publishable and professional standard.

How did you get involved with SPX?

BM: I first submitted to the anthology back in 1999, before they had restrictions on theme and page count. My story was called "When Hitler Was An Artist", whose title says all. I have never attended one of the expo's themselves, since I live in Australia and it is not so easy or cheap to spirit myself away for a weekend in Bethesda. I do hope to make it one day - so I always say next year.

SPX 2004 focused on the topic of war: Tell us about your comic.

BM: My story is entitled "The Holy Kingdom", set during the time of the third crusade (the one led by Richard the Lionheart and Phillip II of France), 1191. I chose this setting in order to be able to reflect upon the contemporary situation in Iraq and the so-called global war on terrorism through its great many parallels. The setting, the antagonists (Muslim and Christian west) and the issues of why they were in Outremer (as the Crusaders called Palestine then) afforded a perspective that also underscored what I feel to be a modern Christian Crusade by those evangelicals in the White House. The story follows a particular knight as he wrestles with his faith and conscience through the long and bloody siege of Acre (which took two years), surrounded by famine, disease and witnessing atrocities committed by his fellow crusaders. He wonders if the crusade was truly a mission called upon by God, or by men in their hubris, their faith distorted by racism.

What's your opinion on the US / coalition forces' military presence in Iraq?

BM: Being an Australian whose nation was committed to this "Coalition of the Willing" (was there ever a more ludicrous name for a military expedition? - a true Bushism I think) by our Prime Minister without popular support or even parliamentary consent, I can feel rightly peeved and hope - along with what all right thinking Americans will do to Bush - and vote him out of office in the upcoming election.

To my mind there was no justification for this conflict, which after a year and half still goes on. It does no good to call the continuing fighting an insurgency: it is a guerrilla war. Of course, no one can deny getting rid of Saddam Hussein was a bad thing, but it pays to remember who his friends once were and many of them now work in the current US administration. They were still friendly right up to just before Gulf War Mk 1 as Iraq was the enemy of Iran and so Mao once said: my enemy's enemy is my friend. If Saddam Hussein's regime was such a danger to the world with his weapons of mass destruction, then why did they leave him in power in 1991 when it was plain that the invasion then would have resulted in his capitulation just as easily as in 2003? And this was back when his possession of such weapons was incontrovertible. If there was a moral imperative for removing him, then it was certainly lost by the time the coalition partners started beating their war-drums in 2002. Not only did they willingly and knowingly condemn the Iraqi citizens to another 12 years under that despot, but to poverty, disease and the depredations of a criminal state machinery. In geo-politics, no partner is too dirty to get into bed with.

It is plain that the current situation was initiated by the dreadful attack of 9/11. The Bush administration saw it as the opening shot in a Holy War, for their view of the world is exactly that of the Muslim Fundamentalists they fight. Their world is black and white: divided between the righteous good and godless evil. What can one expect from ultra right-wing, evangelical Christians like Bush, Cheney, Daschle and company. They do not hear the gospel of Jesus but the blood curdling Old Testament and the Book Of Revelation. They are besotten by millennialism: the world's end with Christ's second coming, thus to them, their fight is the beginning of the End. It is also why they don't care for the environment, conservation, the poor, bankrupting the economy with an outrageous buy now - pay later budget: they don't expect this world to be around when the problems caused by their depredations become insurmountable. These men bash their Bibles to a pulp. They say they follow Jesus, but they show not one ounce of His compassion. They do not turn the other cheek, but smite fleas with a sledge-hammer. For them it is not do unto other as you would have them do unto you, but do as I say and not as I do.

Having said this, I believe that this millennialism is not overtly considered in their policy but it informs it through their subconscious. One wonders whether there isn't a little bit of faith in the market forces of neo-liberal economic rationalism; the belief that these forces (Holy Spirit) will set all things to right if they are let completely unencumbered. This economic policy has become a hard-line ideology that is incontestably right, entwined in their faith based view of the world, thus they feel righteous in imposing their will on others. This is the same mentality that led to the original crusades, the building of colonial empires and now, one feels the US is bent of creating economic colonies in the Middle East - client states along the same lines as the Cold War, only this time against Islam. That said, I'm sure if it were not for the Middle East being the world's oil bowser, we would probably not be in this situation.

No one can say where this crusade will wind up. I doubt if it will expand beyond Iraq and Afghanistan given the quagmire both have turned out to be. The crusaders actions have certainly given the terrorist organizations hope and strength by taking up the fight and making their cause known throughout the world, to give them legitimacy and the martyrdom they so desire. The Coalition governments say they will not negotiate with terrorists, but they fail to understand that the terrorists only negotiate with fire, not words, thus they now fight on terrorist ground, becoming as unforgiving and criminal as the terrorists themselves. I can only hope that Bush and Howard are voted out and some common-sense administrations begin the retreat from this futile, millennial battleground which has no end but death. There will be no dishonour in the retreat, but a simple recognition of a bad mistake. Most of the people in Iraq and Afghanistan are good, honest citizens who want nothing more than to be left in peace to build their society and raise families. Now that the regimes have been toppled it is incumbent upon the rest of the world to help them rebuild, but I stress this is a global responsibility and not a U.S. military one.

Is there such a thing as a just war? Whether you answer yes or no, please explain.

BM: There is absolutely no such thing as a just war, for how can the murder of men and the destruction of property be just in any form? But on very rare occasions, it can be necessary to fight - such as WW2 - when it was plain that the Nazi regime was bent on conquering and subjugating peoples and recasting them to their murderous racial ideology. The same could be applied to the Pacific War against Japan (which was really a separate war - just fought at the same time). But I struggle to find any other wars that were necessary. The War on Terror is completely unnecessary because as I said above, it is giving the terrorist organizations the fight they want - it justifies their existence. Not only that, it has become polarized into a fight between the hegemon of the wealthy West and the poor and oppressed Rest. How terrible it is for the fundamentalists to gain favour in the third world as fighters for the oppressed - to see Osama Bin Laden t-shirts where Che Guevara was once worn. This unnecessary war is widening its borders, becoming a global fight by stealth as economic disparity caused by western economic Imperialism makes enemies of moderate thinking, ordinary citizens everywhere.

The only necessary fight is one where it is obvious that one is being besieged by some external or internal aggressor that is seriously hampering or repressing the ability of one to make a living and raise a family in peace. Thus, for a lot of the third world, the fight against the West starts to look necessary to them. Certainly a number of civil wars began as honest struggles against colonial oppressors (Vietnam began against Japanese in WW2, then the French for example), but even there, most of them soon became hijacked by external forces fighting wars by proxy as during the cold war by the USA and Soviets. The conflicts dragged on and on, with the fighting ruining the local economy and consigning them to generations in the poorhouse. To live well requires construction; fighting means only destruction - anathema to living. That is all that is needed to understand why there is no such thing as a just war.

Where else has your work appeared?

BM: I have two graphic novels published by Image Comics: The Bunker, published in 2003 and The Silence, to come out in January 2005. I have appeared in the EXPO volumes of 2004, 2002 and 1999. I self-published 4 issues of a comic called Street Smell 1994 - 1998. There have been scattered strips published in Australian magazines throughout the 90's, which I hope to collect in a single volume in the hear future.

What are you currently working on?

BM: I am currently finishing off another graphic novel called Alice In Nomansland, which has no publisher as yet. I hope to secure one for publication in 2005. I have several other graphic novel projects at various stages of development.

What was your earliest exposure to comics?

BM: As a child I used to read Asterix, Tintin and Disney comics almost exclusively. they were readily available at my local library. I did not read any superhero comics - disliking the art, although I now appreciate the art of many of that genre's masters - young and old. I did not begin appreciating comics as a medium of expression until I was about 20, when I discovered Heavy Metal with its luxurious and lascivious European artists like Bilal, Boucq, Liberatore, Serpieri and so on. It was then I discovered comic specialty shops and the universe of comics became mine to explore.

What inspires you to work in comics?

BM: Well, it's not the money! I haven't made a cent out of it which makes my almost full-time work on comics seem ridiculous. I confess I am a much bigger cineaste than I am a comic buff, thus I see my comics as films I would make were I able to. This should be evident in my comic "style". That I have not gone into film-making is because I have not the personality to compel my vision on a large group of people nor would anyone fund the sorts of films I like. The hey day of the "art-house" masters that I love such as Bergman, Antonioni, Ozu, Kurosawa, Visconti and so on is long past. Of course, I love Hollywood classics too, made by Ford, Hawks, Mankiewicz, Wilder, Minnelli and so on. But that sort of cinema is no longer made nor is it possible to make them, thus at least with comics, the only resources I need are pen, paper and time.