Interview with Murs on the Yumiko: Curse of the Merch Girl Project

The Angry Koala Gear crew are fans of comics, toys, movies, and art. Something we do not touch on a lot may be music, but have had a few recent opportunities to meet and chat with a few of our favorites, especially in the Hip Hop world. Murs is one of those artists and we knew that he loved comic books, but recently learned he was working on a comic of his own. Yumiko: Curse of the Merch Girl is the graphic novel, which includes working with Josh Blaylock and Jose Garcia, and a CD, which includes work with DJ Foundation.  Murs needs our help in launching the Curse of the Merch Girl, found Here. 

We had the opportunity to interview Murs recently on Yumiko: Curse of the Merch Girl and we asked him a few questions about the collaboration.

Question #1:

Angry Koala Gear: I love the idea of creating a cd/graphic novel collaboration. How did this project come together? 

Murs: It came together after Josh Blaylock, the owner of Devils Due Press dropped a stack of comics off for me at my tour bus. I called him to thank him. We wound up meeting at a coffee shop in LA and I pitched him. He liked it and from there he kind of took the lead and found Jose Garcia to illustrate. I found a beat cd from DJ Foundation at Conspire cafe in PHX and it had Jim Mahfood art so I bought it. The beats were amazing and since I found him via my love of comics I asked him to come on board and produce beats for Merchgirl. From there the core four of us have pushed forward to bring it to this stage where the fans will help us bring it to life via kickstarter.com.

Question #2:

Angry Koala Gear: Can you tell us who Yumiko is? 

Murs: Yumiko is a latin-asian american girl who fell in love with a boy in a band. Not wanting to leave one another she's decided to be the ultimate supportive woman and take on merch responsibilities when they tour. Things happen, she smokes some spooky weed(styx) with some spooky guys and winds up being able to see things as "they really are". Thus her quest begins... 

Question #3:

Angry Koala Gear: This is a small world and you being one of my favorite artists, I was in shock when I ran into you at Charlie's Comics here in Tucson, AZ. I am from Los Angeles and love Hip Hop. Found it so crazy to run into you here and learn you are into comics. Is Yumiko going to be your only comic project or do you have any more plans or ideas of doing more projects?

Murs: We would love to do Yumi2. Other than that I would love to work with more writers and artists. If I could do songs for comics for a living that would be great. Guys like Mega Ran do it for Capcom. I would love to do that for Image, IDW, DC, Marvel, Dynamite etc... I've just read Blair Butler's HEART and would love to write some songs for whatever she does next. Or anyone else I love writers Pak, Bendis, Abnett, Lanning, P. David, B. Wood, Winnick I could go on for days and taking their stories and making songs of them would be an honor

Question #4:

Angry Koala Gear: What were some of your favorite comics growing up? What are you reading now? 

Murs: Growing up it would be anything at the 7-11 I thought looked interesting first super hero Booster Gold first series Steeltown Rockers first movement I followed the new universe Spitfire, Kickers Inc., DP7, Psi Force. Oh and the 2099 stuff Ravage, Punisher and Spidey. I was young don't judge. Now (still don't judge) Animal Man, Aquaman, Batman, Batman & Robin, Batwing, Blue Beetle, Catwoman, I Vampire(issue 6 was CRAY), Justice League, Supergirl, Superboy, Swamp Thing, Red Hood, Red Lantern, X Factor, New Avengers, Avengers Academy, X-Club, Incredible Hulk, Wolverine, Bionic Man, Prophet, Scarlett and because of you CHEW!

Chew is one of our favorites, which is why we love to share this. 
We always tell everyone to try something new, in Chew! 

Question #5:

Angry Koala Gear: Who were some of your influences? 

Murs: Rap wise LL, Cube, 40, Q tip, Juvenile, Outkast, PE, EPMD, De La and everything current from 2chainz to Open Mike Eagle. Outside of rap Prince, Elton, Elvis, Darius Rucker, Vampire Weekend, the Beatles, MJ, Luther Vandross.

We thank Murs for taking the time with his busy schedule to talk with us about Yumiko. We ran into him this past weekend at the Random (a.k.a. Mega Ran) show and had to take a picture with him and showing our support for this incredible project.

Murs and I with our Angry Koala face!!

Exclusive look in Yumiko

We just want to thank Murs again and show our love to Murs, Josh Blaylock, Jose Garcia, and DJ Foundation in creating something new! Art is amazing because it allows people to show their own creativity and bring it to life. Let's show our support in bringing something new in this project, Yumiko: Curse of the Merch Girl.