Hear, hear! When I read a comic I really like, I’m giving it Sekhmet’s Seal of Approval. And then, I’m helping promote the author further by giving him/her a nice interview! The questions will always be the same for each author, but the interview may be…

Drunk

… like in this case! I downed three bottles of Gold Star Labris and threw a bunch of questions at Hot coffee, who’s a real good sport! I had a lot of fun with her replies. So, here we go!

Sekhmet: “Who’s this again? I need your complete CV.”

Hot Coffee: “Hello, I…”

Sekhmet: “That’s too much information. Get outta here. Ha! just kidding. Who are you again?”

Hot Coffee: I’m Hot Coffee, or Coffee Hot depending on where you’re coming from. Am I right?

Sekhmet: “Cool. Huh. Name… huh… three boring qualities and three awesome defects of yours.”

Hot Coffee: Let’s see…Three boring qualities? I’m a fantastic listener, I can retain tons of useless information, and I can sleep anywhere in any uncomfortable position. Three defects? I’m a procrastinator, I was told that i’m “TOO chill” once on a date, and I’m left-handed. That’s technically a defect isn’t it?

Sekhmet: “Right. How did you come up with the idea/s for Hot Metal Miami?”

Hot Coffee: Well i’ve always loved the 80s. Music, movies, fashion, aesthetics all of it. Then a few years ago, I watched that documentary Cocaine Cowboys on Netflix and another documentary about the whole Iran/Contra scandal and I just found that whole wild west drug world of Miami in the early 80s fascinating. I started watching Miami Vice and played Vice City again (over and over admittedly) and rewatched Scarface. I just had to make a comic about it all and once I decided that, I went out and bought a ton of books for research. It also seemed nifty to kind of adapt some of the game series Metal Gear Solid to the 80s Miami setting because I also really love Metal Gear Solid. At the end of the day, I decided against that but there’s still some parallels there, though most havent shown up yet. I’m basically trying to cram everything I love about the 80s into the dangerous Miami of the time and marry it with a dash of Metal Gear with anti-heroines inspired by the badass ladies of 80s music like Joan Jett, Siouxsie Sioux, Kim Wilde, even the homegirl Cyndi Lauper…but don’t tell anyone about the Metal Gear bit.

Sekhmet: “Are you going to pollute, I mean, grace the webcomic world with more projects?”

Hot Coffee: Oh I’ve got ‘jects. That’s short for projects for you laypeople out there. I’m working on a wonderfully absurd little story ambiguously set in the 60s about Girl Scouts of all things…and another that’s kind of a strange black humor detective odyssey. Pretty excited to get around to them.

Sekhmet: “What would you say to a young author struggling to put two decent pages together other than get your head out of your ass and get to work?”

Hot Coffee: I would say outlining and planning are definitely essential, but it gets to a point when ya just gotta put the comic out there.

What are you looking at? Go subscribe to Hot Metal Miami!