Thirty-six questions. Six answers. One random number generator. Welcome to Robot Roulette, where creators roll the virtual dice and answer our questions about their lives, careers, interests and more.

Today Ales Kot steps up to the wheel. You know him from such works as Wild Children, Change, Zero and The Surface. Check out his website for more information.

Now let’s get to it ...



4. What's the worst job you've ever had (comic industry or otherwise)?

Veterinary assistant. I didn't like the way the animals were treated. The approach was too clinical, impersonal, very similar to standard human healthcare in the U.S.

7. What is the strangest thing you have in your house?

I'm leaving my old house today and I'm not taking much with me. I don't know, strange how? Anything can be quite strange. Would a head of Ganesh do? Gluten-free pancake flour? Al Columbia's Pim and Francie? Right now I'm in a loft that belongs to my good friends and I'm playing with five cats. Well, three, two are just watching. Not my house, but the watchers are creeping me out right now. Also strange!

16. What's the best part of being a comics creator?

Cats.

Oh, wait, this is a new question. I love everything about the process. Inventing the stories, putting the team together, talking about the story and coming up with the right approach because the approach changes every time, seeing the designs and pages come back, thinking about every step of the process and discussing every step with every member of the team and making sure everything that we put on the is done as well as it can be. All that and changing people's lives. When a reader tells me that they feel like their imagination expanded because of reading something of mine, I'm always incredibly happy.

26. What is your best childhood memory?

The overall calmness of the home we lived in. The garden, all that. My grandfather giving me about five sips of great cold beer in the middle of a very hot Summer when I was...um, four? Playing soccer and ice hockey with my dad and the kids when I was about the same age? Reading my first book and my first comic? First kiss? Thinking I was a ninja? Nah, I can't sort them like that. I have a lot of best childhood memories.

28. Based on where you live right now, what's the farthest you've ever been from home, and why did you go there?

Egypt, it looks like. At least that's it for sure when I consider my current home in Los Angeles. Egypt was...you could say it was a holiday and also a course in growing up fast. Nothing like getting lost in Luxor when you're a ten-year-old. Or accidentally swimming with barracudas and not realizing what they are.

32. Is there a particular song, band or style of music you listen to when you work?

That changes a lot. I make playlists for my projects and I listen to about 4-5 albums per day, usually. Plus maybe 20-30 individual songs. Tonight I'm just answering emails and interviews, and right now I'm listening to Frank Ocean's 'channel ORANGE.' I like the album very much. It's eclectic and empathetic. It reminds me of Kanye West's 'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy' - the quality, the openness, the focus. Here, listen to 'Pyramids'.

Another albums I'm going to listen to tonight: The Best of Talking Heads because I wanted to listen to all the singles without having to make my own playlist. I threw a plate at the kitchen wall in my old now empty house earlier today while listening to 'Once in a Lifetime' - and then I screamed and jumped around for a bit when 'Love / Building on Fire' started. It felt great. And before/while falling asleep, two soundtracks - the always majestic and innately bipolar Twin Peaks OST and Jonny Greenwod's Master OST.

By the way, if you haven't seen The Master yet, please go see it. If the Oscars still meant something, The Master (or Holy Motors, or Amour) would win the best film award this year.

Photo by Zoetica Ebb