We’re Reaching for Something, and That Something is a Mystery: Barrelhousing with Killian Czuba

Barrelhouse (BH): You did the cover art (Mothman) and two comics in the new issue (Loveland Frogman and Sasquatch). When we decided to do a cryptids issue, we immediately wanted you involved. What is it about these mysterious, somewhat menacing, often adorable characters that speak to you?

Killian Czuba (KC): I’ve been into the Weird and Unknown my whole life. I grew up Catholic, and all of the strangeness and magic really stuck with me. In addition to the bonkers stuff like transubstantiation and transverberation and teleportation, there are saint stories that cross over with cryptids! E.g.: Did you know that there was a saint (Columba) who told the Loch Ness Monster to stop fucking with the residents? He was so super effective that all the Picts converted immediately. So the Loch Ness Monster is directly responsible for Scottish Christianity. Absolutely wild. 

Putting religion aside (temporarily—we’ll come back to that), there are so many creatures we don’t know about that we discover constantly. Not just bugs! Megafauna, too! In 2017, scientists discovered the Tapanuli orangutan. That’s insane! A new (to us) species hangin’ out right in front of us. I’m from the Pacific NW which is famously Bigfoot/Sasquatch territory. Who’s to say there aren’t families of Sasquatch chillin’ in the evergreens as we speak? And this is all assuming Bigfoot isn’t an interdimensional being. Can he walk between the worlds?? We don’t know!  

So, ok, we’ve got hagiography, we’ve got Sasquatch Constantine, but we’ve also got prophets (Abrahamic religious elements abound!): Mothman, for example. Imagine how lonely you’d be if all you saw was the bad stuff about to happen. I bet his therapist told him he catastrophizes. His whole deal is the worst nightmare of a person with OCD. Do you think he’s ever wrong? Why doesn’t he show up more often? Maybe he’s regional. Or maybe he’s like a banshee and only ever shows himself to people with certain last names. That would be crazy. Mothman: The American Banshee. ™ ™ do not steal.

Ok, just one more. I want to put it out there that our desire to see aliens and UFOs—absolutely regardless of their true existence—stems from a desire to see God. We’re searching the heavens for beings greater than ourselves. We are afraid of them, we are in awe of them, we want to see them but aren’t sure what that would mean re: our greater existence. There are enough descriptions of different alien species that we essentially have a pantheon: aliens who are violent, aliens who share knowledge, aliens who are simply curious. Humans crave sensory validation. A Grey, a White, even an Atlantean if you’re kinky–they have shapes and textures and sounds and smells (and often telepathy). Even the language we use to describe our pursuit for proof of alien existence is religious: The Truth is out there. I want to believe. We’re reaching for something, and that something is a mystery. That something lives in the heavens.

BH: Who is Loveland Frogman?

KC: My love for LF (or Frogmen, plural) began as a sort of joke. I discovered that there was a cryptid in Ohio (in the Loveland area—so not the most creative name) that was a 3’ tall bipedal frog. Apparently they have sticks that shoot sparks. Why don’t we know more about this giant frog wizard pokemon? There have been a few sightings, but the first, in 1955, is the best (it’s the one where the guy saw actual humanoid frog-like beings with the electric sticks); the others were just “I saw a big frog in the road.” I think they are, as originally described, more alien than undiscovered species, but it’s fun to think that a small county in southern Ohio has their very own undiscovered fauna. That’s cryptozoology’s whole deal, right? 

BH: You were Barrelhouse’s beloved Art Director for many years and really defined the Barrelhouse visual aesthetic. Can you put it into words? Like, what’s our whole deal?

KC: My husband says "it looks like Beachfront Shirtless Roller-Skater Guy somehow got tenure, and now spends his time coming up with increasingly elaborate ways to sneak wine coolers into the speaker's podium."

BH: What’s something that writers don’t understand about visual artists?

KC: As someone who flirts with both, I’m probably both the best and worst person to ask. Collaboration between the two sides can be a real pain, so be kind to your illustrator—redrawing any one image more than three times will make them sad. Be clear and trusting. Try not to micromanage. Weird printing errors can also make an artist scream. When aspect ratios get out of whack because a program or physical printer decides to go rogue (through no fault of a human) and the finished product goes out like that, it is enough to make you cry. I have cried before. 

As a writer or editor working with artists, I tend to let them follow their hearts. I clearly believe in their work if I’ve hired them, and have very rarely been disappointed. There’s something fun about giving the prompt/parameters and then letting a person run wild. It’s like giving a writer a prompt to write a short story vs the copy for an airline manual. 

BH: What art are you working on right now? What art are you enjoying right now?

KC: I’m currently “filling my bucket,” as it were. “In-between projects,” one might say. 

I’m enjoying a re-watch of The X-Files, coincidentally, but if I had to recommend something many people haven’t watched, it’d be Babylon Berlin. I’ve watched each available season (it’s on Netflix!) at least three times. A new season just came out, but it’s not available in the USA yet. Boo. (It’s German, so they really make you wait for it.) (Aside: I’m not sure it’s even an option, but I must emphasize the need to watch it with subs, not dubs.) 

If you want a book recommendation, I’d go for Kate Beaton’s Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands if you want a graphic memoir, and Vernor Vinge’s A Deepness in the Sky for some sci-fi. I just reread Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita, because it’s one of my favorites and 2022 was a year that called for the media equivalents of comfort food.

BH: Finally, Killian, what is your favorite Patrick Swayze movie?

KC: Point Break. A friend did drag me to a stage production of Ghost once, but—as Patrick Swayze was not in the play—I think the target audience for that was moms generally horny for ghosts, rather than horny for Swayze-as-ghost, specifically.