Inside Lizard World: Immortality, Madness, and the Grotesque
An interview with Terry Richard Bazes and Louis Netter
Few graphic novels feel as unrestrained, as intellectually mischievous, and as visually unhinged as Lizard World. Spanning centuries, blending grotesque satire with literary ambition, and pairing a seasoned novelist with an equally singular illustrator, the book is the result of a rare creative alignment between writer Terry Richard Bazes and artist Louis Netter.
We spoke with both creators about the origins of Lizard World, the ideas behind its strange universe, and the collaboration that brought it to life.
A Story Born from Many Worlds
At its core, Lizard World is difficult to pin down—and that’s by design.
For Bazes, the novel grew out of a convergence of long-standing fascinations: satire, history, medicine, and the darker edges of human nature. “I can’t point to one single inspiration,” he explains. “It came from a number of ideas and influences—Jonathan Swift, the grotesque possibilities of medical science, and even real places like reptile parks in Florida.”
The premise is as absurd as it is pointed: a dentist, Max Nathan Smedlow, finds himself entangled with a depraved family of amateur surgeons and a centuries-old English libertine sustained by a mysterious elixir.
Netter describes the resulting world as “a roller coaster of absurdity and madness that spans 400 years,” where immortality exists—but only imperfectly, and often grotesquely.
Degeneracy, Immortality, and the Modern World
Despite its outlandish premise, Lizard World is grounded in something more familiar—and more unsettling.
Bazes frames the transformation at the heart of the story as a reflection of reality: “Isn’t that what we’re seeing all around us—human beings who don’t evince a shred of decency, and are now little more than snakes?”
Netter extends that idea into the present day, pointing to modern obsessions with youth, beauty, and control over the body. The book’s exploration of immortality echoes contemporary culture: “People are spending millions trying to achieve it—at least superficially—through increasingly elaborate forms of modification.”
Together, their perspectives position Lizard World as both satire and warning—a distorted mirror of excess, privilege, and the desire to escape human limits.
A Literary Foundation, Reimagined Visually
Originally written as a prose novel, Lizard World underwent a transformation of its own in becoming a graphic novel.
“The story and the language are mine,” says Bazes, “but the wildly brilliant illustrations are Louis’s.”
Netter approached the material not as a literal adaptation, but as an opportunity to expand it visually. Drawing on influences like Hogarth and George Grosz, he developed a style that is “over-amped, grotesque, and emotive,” designed to pull the reader fully into the chaos of the narrative.
His process was intensely hands-on: sketching pages in transit, transferring them to large-format sheets, and inking them with a Montblanc fountain pen—a tool he values for its expressive precision.
Characters at the Edge of Sympathy
One of the book’s most striking qualities is its characters—repulsive, decadent, and yet strangely compelling.
Netter emphasizes the intentional duality in their design. Smedlow, though despicable, is rendered with softness and vulnerability, while the aristocratic lord is sharp, rigid, and cutting—“educated at the best schools to be the best bully.”
Bazes draws on a long literary tradition of doubles—echoing works like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde—to create a relationship between characters that is both psychological and symbolic.
The result is a cast that readers may find themselves rooting for, even as they recoil.
A Shared Taste for the Strange
Though coming from different disciplines, Bazes and Netter share a fascination with the bizarre, the historical, and the darkly comic.
Bazes describes his work as “dark comedy” rooted in gallows humor and human contradiction.
Netter, meanwhile, embraces an “immersively weird” approach, shaped by a lifetime of drawing, observation, and exposure to different cultures.
Their influences range widely—from Swift, Dickens, and Nabokov to Vonnegut and Hunter S. Thompson—yet converge in a shared commitment to pushing beyond conventional storytelling.
The Challenge—and Reward—of Building a World
Creating Lizard World was no small undertaking.
“The work of making a graphic novel is immense,” Netter reflects. “But it’s also hugely rewarding. Each project presents new challenges—and this one pushed me to truly fall into the madness.”
For Bazes, the biggest challenge was simpler, but no less telling: “Finding someone smart enough to appreciate it—and brave enough to publish it.”
What Lizard World Leaves Behind
Beyond its spectacle, Lizard World asks readers to sit with discomfort.
Netter hopes readers reflect on the absurdity of power and the moral cost of wealth built on unseen suffering.
Bazes, in contrast, points to something quieter: the lingering presence of the past, and the strange longing that persists even in monstrous figures.
Together, their answers capture the essence of the book—at once outrageous and reflective, grotesque and deeply human.
About the creators
Terry Richard Bazes is a novelist with a PhD in English literature whose work blends satire, history, and gothic influence.
Louis Netter is an illustrator and academic whose work spans satire, comics, and research-based visual storytelling, with pieces held by institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Library of Congress.
Lizard World will be published by Black Panel Press in 2026.