Alex Robinson avoids "Sophomore Slump"

The Arkansas Democrat Gazette recently profiled Alex Robinson of Box Office Poison and Tricked fame:

Alex Robinson considered calling his second graphic novel Sophomore Slump.

The story follows Ray Beam, a former member of super rock group The Tricks, who is now nearly despondent yet still filthy rich. Five other main characters’ lives wind together over the course of the story into the book’s violent conclusion.

Robinson chose to title it Tricked instead, which was a good choice, because it’s pretty much on a level with Robinson’s first graphic novel, the Eisner Award-winning Box Office Poison.

In the article, Robinson talks about the Beatles references in Tricked:

Robinson’s first graphic novel had Beatles references as well, and in a recent e-mail interview, that was one of the topics he addressed.

“I never intended [Tricked ] to be about John Lennon, but originally it was going to be even more Lennon-inspired,” Robinson wrote. “I’ve always loved his work and found his life interesting but I don’t really like the whitewashing Yoko Ono does.

“ In one early version of the story, the assassin was played by me — that is, he looked like me. It was my way of sort of confessing that I was engaged in character assassination. Yes, very clever.”

Read the whole article