I spoke with Elizabeth Pich and Jonathan Kunz, creators of War and Peas the comic strip. Pich and Kunz, sounds like a comedy act. War and Peas is 13 years old this year.
TOM: You were one of the first cartoons/comic strips on the web - what gave you the idea to start posting on line rather than trying to get syndicated or
printing a comic book?
E&J: We’re millennials. We grew up with the AOL starter CD, when the internet was still something new, shiny, and wonderful. For us, it was a natural way of connecting with friends and readers. Also, we were apprehensive about gatekeepers of the industry rejecting us at such an early stage. So we decided to have some fun the first couple of years.
TOM: How did you come up with the idea and the concept? Were there other concepts you started first and this one just clicked? Where did the name War and Peas come from?
E&J: Starting out, we just published funny doodles without any direction. Then our doodles transitioned naturally towards comics and then 4-panel-comics. We didn’t have any particular role models but we saw other artists like Sarah Andersen, The Oatmeal and Poorly Drawn Lines going in the same direction and that gave us a sense of connection. We picked the name because Jonathan is the great-great-great-great-nephew of Tolstoy (born out of wedlock, so he has brought shame to his bloodline).
TOM: What is Slutty Witch’s name?
E&J: Her name is really cool, but we’re not at liberty to tell it to anyone. Sorry.
TOM: Do you work digitally or with pen and paper?
E&J: Both! We have physical sketchbooks but work digitally on the webcomics. Pen and Paper is our most beloved medium. Every pen shop knows owner in Europe knows us by name. From time to time, we offer originals, but rarely.
TOM: Does one of you come up with the ideas and the other one draw them up them?
E&J: Sometimes, one of us will have a jolt of insight and cough up a strip by themselves. But mostly its a collaboration. Usually, we alternate on drawing but sometimes we even split that up with one of us making the drawings and the other does colors.
TOM: Where do you get the most readers - Substack, your own website, Instagram, Facebook, etc.?
E&J: We definitely have the most readers on Instagram but we have a pretty big mailing list on Substack – and it’s growing fast.
TOM: You sort of have your own style, but you must have had cartooning influences, who were they?
E&J: Elizabeth loved the Calvin & Hobbes strips when she was a kid and still reads them often. Jonathan says he’s the reincarnation of Charles Addams as he died on the same day Jonathan was born.
TOM: If you could crawl into any comic strip or panel for the day (other than your own), which one would it be and why?
E&J: Jonathan would go into Cow Tools by Gary Larson to see what mystery lies here. Elizabeth would probably be Peppermint Patty for a day and hang with Snoopy and the gang.
TOM: If you could go back in time and change one thing, what would it be?
E&J: We’d tell our younger selves to go all-in on cartooning earlier. War and Peas has been running for 13 years now but we only started to go full-time about four years ago.
TOM: Superpower if you had one?
E&J: Draw thrice as fast. We have so many ideas and so little time.
TOM: Thanks, Guys!
War & Peas can be found at all of these places:
Website: warandpeas.com
Instagram: instagram.com/war.and.peas
Facebook: facebook.com/warnpeas
Substack: warandpeas.substack.com
Patreon: patreon.com/warandpeas