Welcome to St. Louis: Matt Kindt, Brian Hurtt talk partnership, comics, and ‘Fort Psycho’

Comics is full of A-list creative teams that have forged prosperous partnerships over the years. But many aren’t nearly as close as Matt Kindt and Brian Hurtt. And I do mean close — like, the pair share a studio space (with a “secret” history) and a deep and abiding friendship.

And from that St. Louis-based artistic haven (both Kindt and Hurtt are long-term members of that vibrant comics scene), the pair have done truly extraordinary work. Not just individually — Kindt is known for everything from Mind MGMT to BRZRKR, while Hurtt is behind both The Damned and The Sixth Gun — but as a duo on titles like HEK TREASURY. In some ways, their connection (artistically and in terms of sheer proximity) is both a leftover from comics past and a reminder of the medium’s massively collaborative nature. Now, the pair are taking their partnership up a notch with a new 12-issue series, Fort Psycho.

Due out via Oni Press, Fort Psycho is basically “Mission: Impossible meets Lost,” per a press release. Following a botched mission to take down the terrorist group named Seven Seals, the “world’s most dangerous secret agents” are imprisoned — in their old island HQ that the public now calls “Fort Psycho.” The book is very much a pure synthesis of Kindt and Hurtt, a fusion of the former’s oddball energies and deep character work and the latter’s penchant for big, bold action. The end result is a story more than living up to the name Fort Psycho, a tale of espionage and explosions (and so much more still) that was ultimately born from the friendship and partnership of two creators who love comics with their own energy and intention.

Fort Psycho #1 is due out August 5. (The FOC is Monday, June 29, FYI.) Meanwhile, Kindt recently released Mind MGMT: New & Improved #1. In celebration of both books, and their general partnership, we caught up with Kindt and Hurtt recently via email. There, we discussed how the pair work together, the St. Louis scene (and what makes it so singular), how their collaboration informed Fort Psycho, their interest in this action-heavy series, and even a little “couples counseling.” Are Kindt and Hurtt the comics Lennon and McCartney? Perhaps, but either way, comics is certainly better off for this duo’s commitment to friendship and artistry.

AIPT: What was the genesis of sharing a studio together? Is it more cost effective or just a good excuse for bonding?

Brian Hurtt: Comics can be very isolating. At the same time, it’s a very specific, specialized type of career and it’s hard to find someone to commiserate with – someone who really gets exactly what you’re doing or going through. We both met in the early stages of our careers and, for years, we would get together once a week – at my apartment or a coffee shop – and just work in the company of one another. We finally decided to pull the trigger and get a shared studio space about 10 years ago.

Matt Kindt: Our shared office used to be a Panera Bread. The problem with working on comics in public is that it starts to attract attention and unsolicited pitches for children’s books.

AIPT: Logistically speaking, how does the studio work? Are you both there all the time; are there special rules to be followed; what kind of music gets played (if any); etc.?

BH: There are no hard rules or schedules. We just try to be respectful of this being a shared space. We have a turntable in the middle of the studio that we can play records on at a reasonable volume, and if you don’t like what you hear — that’s what headphones are for!

MK: My wife (Sharlene Kindt) has a candle shop (Webster Wax) that is the storefront. So our studio is disguised. You’d never know what goes on in the back. As for hours. I think Brian keeps more normal steady hours and I’m more of a binge-worker. Days off followed by a few 16 hour days…but I aspire to keep more of a 9-5 work schedule. There is a soccer ball that we kick around and over 2,000 graphic novels on shelves (that act as office walls) everywhere to keep us inspired.

AIPT: What’s the best upside of a shared studio? And the “worst” downside?

BH: The No. 1, best upside to sharing a studio is having someone to bounce ideas off of or to go to for an honest critique of something. It happens all the time that I’ll hit a wall on a piece I’m working on or just lose confidence in it. And in those cases, it’s nice to have someone around whose opinion I respect. It’s a great resource that I don’t take for granted.

The only downside is a shared restroom.

MK: It’s not the smells. It’s really just the sounds that come out of it. The unspoken (until now) rule is that you start the record player before you go do your business.

AIPT: If we’re filtering your relationship through the lens of, say, a TV sitcom, who is Felix Unger and who is Oscar Madison?

BH: I’d say that we’re both just varying degrees of Oscar!

MK: Well. I’m pretty sure we murdered Felix and buried him out back. It’s more like I’m Baby Yoda to Brian’s Mandalorian. Or Jessica Day to Nick Miller. Or Ted Lasso and Roy Kent. With maybe some Jake Peralta to Raymond Holt dynamics thrown in.

AIPT: You two sharing a studio basically means two of St. Louis’ best are in one spot. How would you describe the arts and/or comics scene in your fair city?

BH: It’s pretty great. Definitely an indie-comics hotbed. We’re the proud home to Dan Zettwoch, Ted May, Sacha Mardou, and a bunch of others. Washington University and Webster University (where I graduated from) have great comic book programs, and Betty’s Books is a fantastic graphic novel shop that I can walk to. I highly recommend the city. Cost of living is reasonable as well which really helps.

It’s kind of an unspoken thing in comics – where you live and how you live is going to determine your career in a lot of ways. If you’re pressed for income, you might end up taking jobs for the money rather than jobs that you really believe in. So your environment and where you live can really impact your career in ways you’re not even aware of. It’s really afforded us the ability to just do our own thing how we want.

AIPT: How has your friendship/partnership changed since sharing this space and working together in this specific way?

BH: Our friendship is so ingrained at this point that I don’t think it’s changed much of anything. Whether we’re working on the same thing or not, an element of our relationship has always revolved around the projects we’re working on and using each other as sounding boards for our work. If anything, we’ve been practicing for this kind of collaboration for years!

MK: I was waiting to read Brian’s response before I responded. Yeah, yeah. Nothing’s changed. It’s all good.

BH: Why? What have you heard?

AIPT: How do you think your approach to art and storytelling has influenced one another? Do you feel like your styles were always comparable or maybe even cousin-esque?

BH: I don’t think either of us would deny that we are quite different stylistically, but we have a surprising amount of crossover in our influences and what we consider to be our touchstone comics. Our shared sensibilities are like the anchor that keeps a collaboration solid, but our differences are what makes the final work unlike anything either of us could achieve individually. It’s what I love about collaboration: the surprising amalgamation of styles and sensibilities. The final result always feels like magic or alchemy.

AIPT: Is Fort Psycho the first time you’ve worked together (in a full book at least) since 2019’s HEK TREASURY? If so, what took so long?

MK: Yeah. We did one other graphic novel (Poppy and the Lost Lagoon) before that at Dark Horse (still in stock, you can order it right now!) It was the opposite of this. An all-ages adventure book that’s whimsical and fun. This is definitely the longest, most involved thing we’ve worked on together, and I think it helps that we’ve had some practice figuring out our process.

BH: Collaborating again really just came down to timing! We talked pretty consistently through the years about working together but our individual schedules and commitments never quite lined up right — until now!

AIPT: How did the story of Fort Psycho come together? Reading the solicitation, I can hear you guys brainstorming one lazy afternoon or something.

MK: I was describing this story outline I was working on to Brian and complaining about how it was going to be kind of boring to draw visually. And over his shoulder, I see his (nearly) complete run of G.I. Joe that he had custom-hardcover-bound and I started thinking about how fun and colorful those books were. And I’m telling him how I’m going to do that – make these retired agents fun and colorful. Cool codenames. Fun back stories. Cool gadgets and gear…and he starts getting into it and then I’m realizing I think he’s wanting to draw this and I’m going to get cheated out of drawing another fun book.

BH: I definitely strong-armed Matt into letting me draw this book. As he was talking through it I was getting more excited — and more jealous — because this is the kind of book I’ve dreamed of doing for years!

AIPT: Building off that last question, how do you think sharing a space specifically informed the way Fort Psycho plays out as a whole?

MK: It’s critical to the collaboration. We ended up holing up in a cabin for a week to come up with all the characters and gear and big plot stuff and we even book-mapped the entire thing. We wanted to have a lot of design pages and extra story stuff that all worked together…a collage of story-telling techniques that work holistically. None of that can happen in a vacuum without it being more like a traditional comic, where the writer hands it off to the artist to “execute the vision.”

We’ve both done that before, and it works. But it’s not how we work best, and why not take advantage of the fact that we have this shared studio space. I’m sick of hearing how the Marvel Bullpen wasn’t really how we imagined it being — with everyone hanging out and cranking on comics together. So we’re creating the Marvel Bullpen but for real. A two-man version anyway.

BH: It’s definitely the most organic collaboration I’ve ever had. Neither of us is working in isolation and the back-and-forth between us is pretty fluid and dynamic. I’m constantly showing Matt where I’m at on a page or running a visual storytelling idea past him. For instance, I get tight scripts from Matt, but they’re never really “locked” until the issue is drawn. It’s rare for me to do a page where I haven’t either removed or rearranged panels or added extra panels. Usually, it’s adding panels.

But I don’t do any of it without talking it through with Matt beforehand to make sure we both feel good about the choices and that they work. The book feels like a living piece with both of us fully engaged throughout.

AIPT: If I were an armchair psychologist, I might say that it’s interesting you wrote a book where “disgraced covert operatives who are imprisoned together in an island prison.” Is Dr. Freud here on to something?

MK: Oh no. I’m hoping I didn’t write another metaphor for the comic book industry.

BH: I just hope we both make it out of this alive!

AIPT: What can you tell us about our cast of killers in Fort Psycho? And is there one you more closely admire, resonate with, etc.?

MK: This is maybe the first book I’ve ever written where there isn’t a character that I identify with. Usually there’s somebody in one of these stories that ends up spitting out some thoughts that are thoughts I’ve had…but this time, that’s a tough one. Maybe Winter if I had to choose. She’s Russian-trained and is an Olympic-level skier with amazing sniper-skills. You know, like me. Winter has a line where she’s wondering what they’re doing and why. Doubting the mission and the bigger objective. So that’s probably as close as it gets to any character that resonates with me. I honestly don’t trust any of them. Even Winter. I question why she’s questioning things.

BH: I agree with Matt that there aren’t any characters that I feel a particular kinship with. Part of that may have to do with knowing who they are and where the story is going. Without giving anything away, I can say that there are a few characters that, as a reader, I might initially relate to, but over the course of the series, I would be forced to reevaluate my first impressions. That said, I definitely have a couple favorite characters! I’m partial to our heavy gunner, Zeus, and Keefer, who is ostensibly the leader of this group. But I wouldn’t want to hang out with either of them!

AIPT: To close, I’d like you both to write/share one compliment and one critique of the other’s work. (Or pick one, I’m not breaking up the indie comics Beatles.)

BH: Matt is a creative dynamo and I’ve always referred to him as the “mad scientist of comics.” He never stops trying to figure out how to reimagine the medium, and it’s inspiring.

MK: Brian works too hard and cares too much.

BH: I think Matt meant that as a compliment and a critique!