‘No Time To Be Bored’: Interviewing Unnatural’s Mirka Andolfo

After my advance review of the first issue of Unnatural, I interviewed the writer/artist Mirka Andolfo, to dive further into this anthropomorphic dystopian world arriving from Image Comics on Wednesday, July 4th, 2019.
Tito W. James: What inspired you to write Unnatural?
Mirka Andolfo: It’s hard to say: I’m a voracious consumer of entertainment products: comics, video games, books, movies, TV series… And for every thing I like, a little piece stays inside of me. In that case, I started drawing Leslie, the main character. She is blue-haired because of a video game (Life is Strange) I was enjoying a lot at the time… I started drawing her with a wolf, and the rest arrived, little by little…
TWJ: Why did you choose to set the story in an anthropomorphic world?
MA: When I work on my own stuff, I don’t enjoy so much working with «simple» human beings, probably because I draw them when I draw stories written by other people. If you see my first book (unpublished in the USA), the main characters were an angel girl and a devil guy…
I enjoy it more if the world and the character are not exactly ours.
TWJ: Leslie is shown having a pet dinosaur and eating sushi. Do you have a set of rules for what types of animals are anthropomorphized in this world, or do you just match each animal to the character’s personality?
MA: I try not to generalize: I don’t like the idea of having a smart fox, a greedy pig and a faithful dog. I tried to give to each character their own personality, regardless of the animal they are.
Then, I adore dinosaurs, so I wanted them to be present in the Unnatural world: they are like “our” animals: some of them are pets, some others are (also) food.
TWJ: The book is all about forbidden love. If anthropomorphic animals suddenly existed, would you date one? What type of animal?
MA: First of all, in an anthropomorphic world, I’m quite sure I would be a cat. I’m not sure about which kind of animal I would like to date. Probably another cat (a feline, in general), or a wolf… I never thought about that!
TWJ: In Leslie’s world what type of animal would you be and why?
MA: OK, I did spoil my answer, sorry. I’m 99% sure I would be a cat, because… Well, because I adore cats. I think they’re the most beautiful creatures in the world. Unfortunately, I don’t have one, right now, but I’d love TO. Or, better: I’d love to be one of them!
TWJ: What can you tease about the series to readers?
MA: Trying not to be too “spoilery”, I’d like to say that the story in Unnatural is quite complex and multifaceted: this is Leslie’s story, but it becomes more and more a story of her world. Thriller, mystery, romance… Well, this is the sum of the genres I like, and which I hope that I have mixed well. To conclude, I would say that not everything is as it seems at the beginning. But, for sure, Leslie will not have time to be bored…
I’d like to thank Mirka Andolfo for this interview. Look for Unnatural #1 this Wednesday, July 4th, 2018 at your local comic shop!