Space. Aliens. Diverse women. Beautiful art. In The Last Cowboy, I’ve found one of my new favorite webcomics, AND I got to chat about it with the creator, Zoe Coughlin.
So, Zoe, what’s your artistic background?
I’ve been drawing since I was a kid and took lessons on and off all through elementary, middle, and high school. I loved reading newspaper comics as a kid and would always draw my own newspaper comics, usually about cats or some other cute animal. One time, I decided to just directly copy Foxtrot, except I made the characters into literal foxes. At least I thought it was funny, I guess.
In middle school, I got heavy into manga, which may or may not have been a good thing. Some favorites of mine were Astro Boy and Azumanga Daioh. I still love anything by Osamu Tezuka, and he’s probably been one of my biggest influences.
I always knew I wanted to draw for a living, and after making some frustrating attempts at animation, I realized comics were more my thing. I graduated with a degree in sequential art from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in 2013. Now, I draw my comics while working a day job on a food truck.
One, food trucks are my happy places. Two, I want to see these newspaper comics! (Foxtrot with foxes sounds adorable.) When did you first start working on The Last Cowboy?
I started The Last Cowboy in summer of 2012, just before finishing up at SCAD. At the time I was anxious about graduating and wanted some sort of project to keep me working after school had finished. I wanted to make a story with the kinds of characters you don’t normally see in science fiction and play with some of the themes I like the most in the genre.
I think you have definitely created some diverse characters. You really don’t often get to see heavier scientists, or queer women, or women of color in sci-fi, and you’ve given them all a home. Who is your favorite character to draw?
It’s a toss-up between Eve and Gabeross! Eve is kind of like my baby so drawing her always makes me happy. Gabeross is pretty silly looking, being a giant birdalien and all, and it’s fun to design his outfits every time he appears. All of my characters have something fun about them that I like drawing, so pretty much every page I’m like, “Oh boy, I get to draw Adsila’s arms,” or, “Yay, I get to draw Luna’s hair.”
