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SERIEN PERSPEKTIVWECHSEL • CHANGE OF PERSPECTIVE

Arbeitsmotto •work motto M rs Greve, when did you discover your comic talent and your gift for drawing and
when did you decide to turn your back on the future in architecture for good?
Already while studying I became aware that architecture is too realistic for me. After all,
„Auch Humor kann man tapezieren“ architects have to obey not only the laws of nature but also to design rooms for people
"You can paper even humour" where these actually live – not even taking into account the crude ideas of many build-
ing clients and investors. Right after graduating, I thus set out searching for something
else, looked around the art world and tried to write scripts. In 2004 I noticed that I have
funny ideas and am able to think up stories and to draw rather well. So it was only a
small step to cartoons and comic strips. The major advantage of storytelling with draw-
ings is: I am everything – script writer, stage director, scenographer, make-up artist and
costume designer. This comes very close to my secret claim to omnipotence.

r The topic of architecture appears to still have a hold on you. In your web comic
“Das Hochhaus”, which has run for a year now (see AIT 7/8, page 153 and www.das-
hochhaus.de), week after week and floor after floor you poke fun the residents’
everyday routine. Is it more the social aspect of architecture which appeals to you?
Yes, I find architecture as a habitat really thrilling but the life inside it definitely interests
me more than the building. That is why, in the case of my high-rise web comic, the
architecture is also extremely dismal, boring and grey – due to this, the colourful action
inside shines even brighter.

r At the 17th Internationaler Comic-Salon Erlangen, “The Hochhaus” received the Max
und Moritz Preis for the best German comic strip. What does this award mean to you?
It was a huge surprise and I was really very, very pleased! Some people like to consider
the Max und Moritz Preis the “German Oscar for comics”.

r You are a freelancer and work for Titanic, taz, Das Magazin, Psychologie heute
compact and the portal electrocomics.com. What are these cooperations like?
Are you getting quite specific requests on a topic from the publishers or do you
suggest topics?
It varies very much. For Das Magazin, I draw the monthly series “Die dicke Prinzessin
Bekanntes Vexierbild – humoristisch modifiziert • Well-known picture puzzle – modified with humour Petronia” and am allowed to do what I want. Psychologie heute compact supplies a key
subject and I submit my suggestions regarding it. In the case of Titanic, I send themn
Hotel Hades: Totenreich-Comic in trister Mega-City • Kingdom of the dead comic in a dismal mega-city
my weirdest ideas and the editorial board then picks whatever fits.
r How well can one live on these commissions?
I couldn’t buy designer hats with my fees but then again, this was never really my ambi-
tion. In parallel, I also do contract work; I draw illustrations for books and magazines.
Right now I am working on an animated-film project for Stiftung Oper in Berlin. In addi-
tion, I also do cartoon- and comic readings. Reading in front of an audience is a nice
change from quietly working at the desk.

r Since 2009, you published three comic novels and a cartoon book. Real life
appears to be your best source of inspiration. Are you an observer who finds her
ideas in the everyday life of fellow human beings?
Real life is of course a source but I also have large inner worlds where I often take a
walk. For my comic novels, I like to start with an everyday or at least a familiar situation
which then grows into something absurd and fantastic. In my first book “Ein Mann geht
an die Decke”, for instance, a lift attendant discovers inside the Berlin television tower
a group of people who have broken free of gravity and are walking on walls and ceilings.
In my comic novel “Hotel Hades”, three people die at the same time and then arrive in
a kingdom of the dead which has grown into a dismal mega-city. For this book, by the
way, my studies were a big help: I designed the whole urban development of the other
world for the story. The 14 semesters have thus not been completely in vain.

r Where do you prefer to draw? At home, in the office or in a café?
I draw at home, but the ideas are everywhere. And if I should happen to lack ideas, I
lie down on my wonder sofa and close my eyes. This always helps.

r What would be a dream contract for you?
Somebody pays me a reasonable monthly sum for life and I do whatever I feel like:
drawing, writing, building installations, producing a void with the vacuumizer. Once a
year, this man or woman would drop in and, with a cup of tea in hand, look at my work.
If this is too unrealistic for a dream: Like every cartoonist, I would also be thrilled if the
New Yorker should were to call me and wanted three cartoons every week.

054 • AIT 09.2016