Section II: Interview
2022
Interview with Pierre V. Comtois r i c h a r d p. h o w e , j r .
Pierre V. Comtois is one of Lowell’s most prolific authors. He burst on the scene in 2015 with Marvel Comics in the 1960s: An Issue-by-Issue Field Guide to a Pop Culture Phenomenon, fueled by the author’s long interest in comic books. Subsequent works include science fiction, history, and a young adult novel. He has edited and produced twenty-three issues of Fungi: A Magazine of Fantasy and Weird Fiction. Pierre met with me via Zoom to discuss his books and growing up in Lowell. The following transcript was edited for clarity and length.—RPH
Pierre V. Comtois, far right, at launch event for Fungi Magazine #20 with collaborators, from left, David Daniel, Dale Phillips, and Joshua Shapiro. Photograph reprinted with permission of Pierre V. Comtois.
Interviewer (RPH): Where did you grow up and what were your memories? Pierre V. Comtois (PC): I was born in Lowell in 1955 at St Joseph’s Hospital which doesn’t exist anymore. It’s now that white whale that the college built there. They took me home to Beaudry Street in Centralville where we lived for a few years. Then we moved to Salem for a year or two and then we moved back to Lowell to my current home on Desroisers Street where I’ve lived ever since. I’m the last one here. All my brothers and sisters have married or moved out, most gone to Florida. But we all still come together often. We have a big, The Lowell Review
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