An Interview With Val Hochberg of Mystery Babylon (Denver Comic Con 2015)
/Written by Neil Greenaway
At Denver Comic Con 2015 I had the chance to sit down and talk with Val Hochberg of Mystery Babylon about her take on publishing indie comics. This interview originally ran on Bleeding Cool on 05/29/2015, and you can read their version of it here.
Val Hochberg with her husband, Scott.
Neil Greenaway: What are you here promoting today?
Val Hochberg: My name is Val Hochberg and I make Mystery Babylon!
NG: How many years have you attended Denver Comic Con?
VH: This is my second year. We love coming up to Denver!
Mystery Babylon books by Val Hochberg.
NG: What are your impressions of Denver?
VH: We love it here! Plus, my husband grew up here in Colorado (in Colorado Springs), and so we’re always daydreaming about moving out here so we can become locals to Denver Comic Con. So that’s the fantasy.
NG: What is your favorite part of coming up to Denver?
VH: Once you enter Colorado, on the drive (I mean New Mexico is ok), but as soon as you enter Colorado, it is just beautiful magnificence. Like instantly. It’s kind of weird. It’s like “Welcome to the colorful Colorado!” and you just see mountains of beauty. So, I love it.
NG: As a chibi artist, where do you draw your inspiration from?
VH: Gosh, I don’t know. Sugar, candy, cookies? (laughs) I just love cute things, and so any time that I can take something (even if it’s not cute) and make it cute, that just makes me happy inside.
Prints by Val Hochberg.
NG: You were part of Test Subjects. Is that still a thing?
VH: I guess that it is officially not a thing. It’s kind of not what it was, because Ben (Glendenning) has kind of stopped doing the convention scene. And it was a thing we had started so we could all do conventions together. As of right now, me and Jeff are the only ones really doing conventions. We actually drove up here together. So we are still a team. Ben is still on the team, but he’s doing it more at small comic stores and signings. So we’re still a thing, I guess.
NG: And what are currently working on?
VH: Ok, so, we did a Kickstarter for Mystery Babylon Chapter 3, which I was really nervous about, and the night before I was questioning if this was even going to work. But then, within eight hours, we had hit our goal, so that was amazing. We raised enough to also print chapter 4. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get the books in time to have here at Denver, but we will have them for Phoenix Comic Con. The books are done, they are printed. They are beautiful, hopefully. I have only seen pictures, but they do look good. And so now I hope to start working on chapter 5. It’s a never-ending comic adventure around here. We also have coming up a side issue that will not be online (because everything else is online). This will be Delilah and Kick Girl’s back story. It will be a single issue that you hopefully will be able to get on Kickstarter and then through conventions after that.
Original art from Val Hochberg.
NG: Do you get a lot of support from your family, having chosen this as a career?
VH: My family knows that I love to draw. I have always drawn, and they have always supported me. They used to let me draw in restaurants or wherever growing up. I don’t think they quite understand what I do now, as much. I have started having my mom proofread my comics, because I think that’s the only way she reads them. But she is very supportive. She has three girls, and we all draw.
Mystery Babylon can be found at www.kick-girl.com.
Val Hochberg at Denver Comic Con 2015.