Sloane Leong first crossed my radar with her interior art on the collaborative comic From the Mountains; her bold flat color palette told the fantastic story as effectively as any other single element of that book. (Eight years later, I don’t actually remember what From the Mountains is about, but the violet-and-flame blood sacrifice/demon summoning scene from the first issue is etched into my brain.)
A couple years later, Sloane wore all the creative hats for her phantasmagoric Sci-fi comics series Prism Stalker and then in 2021-22 decided to take Horror anthology editing under her purview as well with Death in the Mouth: An Anthology of Original Horror by People of Color, one of Alex’s and my favorite collections we’ve read in…ever?
Two of Death in the Mouth'‘s stories made the BRAVE NEW WEIRD table of contents—Jolie Toomajan’s, and Sloane’s own, “Paradise”. I chatted with Sloane recently, about a little of this, a little of that.
These responses have been edited for clarity.
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You work in both comics and prose. What does your typical “creating” routine look like?
Depends on the medium! I use an iPad often for illustration and comics which lets me move around alot. I like to sit in various weenie dog-infested couches and chairs so I'm frozen in one particular pose. When I'm writing I have a floor chair and a tiny tray table that lets me hunker down and get in the writing zone. When I'm doing traditional art, I use my office which has a thoroughly ergonomic setup since traditional work usually demands more of me physically, like holding my posture and moving my body in an exacting way.
Your bio describes how you “engage with visceral futurities and fantasies through a radical, kaleidoscopic lens”, and yeah that’s true and all; but like, Prism Stalker is just fucking cool to melt into. There’s a melding of the cerebral and “fuck yeah comics rulz” in your work. Do comics still rule, or are you burned out on the internal politicking and exploitation of creators?
Thank you so much, I'm happy you felt it was meltable! Exactly what I was going for. And yes, comics DO rule; it's a medium that embraces one's creative expression in a uniquely, holistic way, where time, space, language, and art intertwines. I will never get tired of seeing how cartoonists sublimate their thoughts and emotions into comics.
But I'm also absolutely jaded by the comics industry and the entire concept of commercializing my own creative expression, experience, suffering and joy. Which I suppose is not limited to the comics industry, but it's the one I've been the most exposed to. I'm not burned out quite yet, just cautious and a little tired.
What does Weird mean to you, in the context of storytelling? And what creators/experiences helped sculpt this definition?
A Weird story defies easy digestion, embraces transgression and the unexpected, and conveys the hyperspecificity of its author's mind. It's rebellious but in a deeper, less obvious way, reacting both to the external world but also the internal. Some Weirdos that come to mind that shape my idea of Weird are Brian Evenson, Porpentine, K-Ming Chang, Gary J Shipley, Blake Butler, and Samuel R. Delaney.
On the Tenebrous Discord, we ask everyone to introduce themselves as a Film-meets-Music Artist. It doesn’t have to be your favorite, and don’t spend too much time overthinking it; now GO.
eXistenZ x The Mars Volta!
You’re also an editor; both your own and Jolie Toomajan’s BRAVE NEW WEIRD stories came from your anthology, Death in the Mouth. I understand you’ve got another volume of that in the works; anything you can share?
I'm so glad you enjoyed it! The tentative plan right now is to Kickstarter the second volume in Spring next year. You can keep up to date with that here.
What’s the Weirdest thing—capital W—that’s ever happened to you?
When I was a teen living in my hometown of Maui, I remember waking from a dead sleep at about 7am and feeling this tingling in my chest, like a sense of building dread. Then an earthquake started. It was a 6.6 magnitude, an intensity of earthquake I'd never felt before. The timing of my reaction and the start of it I'm sure is coincidence but it felt like my body knew on some animal level it was going to happen!
What else is upcoming for you in 2023?
Besides Kickstarting the second volume of Death in the Mouth, the second volume of my psychedelic indigenous sci-fi series, Prism Stalker, comes out in July!