A perfect Sunday with...Pye Parr
Crumpets, Star Trek and the Rest is History
Every week, a top writer, artist, actor or creator reveals how they’d fill their perfect Sunday, sharing their favourite comfort reads, movies, food… anything that would make their weekend great.
Today, to celebrate the trade paperback release of Petrol Head, it's co-creator and all-round-awesome artist Pye Parr.
Pye’s perfect Sunday… brunch
Crumpets! And it doesn't have to be a Sunday. God-tier breakfast with a coffee. Always 3. Cooked at least twice in the toaster so they’re crispy, but then left to go a bit cold so not all the butter melts. Toppings: 1 marmite, 1 peanut butter, and 1 sweet one, either chocolate spread or marmalade. Jam is occasionally acceptable on the PB one, and because I’m now old and my taste buds have atrophied I’ve started experimenting with marmalade ON marmite. This is always in addition to the plain marmite one though, as that is a permanent unchanging fixture.
Pye’s perfect Sunday… read
The last absolutely stonking book that I read was Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurty. Hilarious, Hideous, and heartbreaking in equal measure. It's like a slightly more easy-reading, less bleak Cormac McCarthy novel, which sounds like a diss but absolutely isn’t. As always after I’ve finished something really good it causes a bit of a hole in my life afterwards that no other book can fill. I’ve tried loads of other things since and they've not filled the gap. I may have to resort to reading the sequel, but I’m scared cos the first one was so great and I don’t want it to be different/wrong/the same…
Pye’s perfect Sunday… comic
I like weird squidgy looking sci-fi, the kind where it’s so far future the tech looks more like magic than science, so literally anything by Moebius, but also more recently I really like the first book of Prophet by Simon Roy, and Little Bird by Darcy Van PoelGeest & Ian Bertram. The latter I only picked up cos I saw some art for Precious Metal (a prequel to it, the first issue of which is out now!) and HAD to read it. Glad I did. It’s ridiculously great. The kind of thing I would have loved to worked on myself, but with the knowledge that if I had it wouldn’t be anywhere near as good.
Pye’s perfect Sunday… movie
If the kids are around it’ll be something like Totoro, if not then Total Recall is always a winner. (The original obvs). “See you at the party Richter!” Class. Fucking love Arnie.
Pye’s perfect Sunday... TV binge
Not a huge tv watcher tbh, but I am absolutely desperate for more Severance. Me and Charlotte started watching that thinking we were late to the party and there was loads of it, and then were utterly crushed when we got to the end and discovered there wasn't! When is it back!? TELL ME!
The one regular comfort thing I do watch is Star Trek. Particularly TNG/DS9, but any of em will do. Great background telly when you're working.
Pye’s perfect Sunday… podcast
The Rest is History. A good mix of serious and fun subjects, and I like that the hosts are as antagonistic with each other as they are friendly. Constantly poking each other’s assumptions and attitudes, whilst ultimately respecting their conclusions. It’s quite a feat to be entertained by stories about the lives of fusty 1970s politicians.
Pye's perfect Sunday… album
Current go-to record is Incidental Music by W. H. Lung. I had it on almost non-stop last year, and there’s always room for Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash or some 80s metal on a Sunday.
Pye’s perfect Sunday… treat
I do very little regular exercise, bar one thing: which is a bike ride with some friends through the muddiest, boggiest most overgrown bit of wilderness we can find at 6am on a Sunday morning, returning home at about 9.30 covered is mud and scratches but with a packet of bacon in hand, feeling a lot better about life.
Petrol Head collected edition trade paperback is out now from Image Comics.
In a climate crisis-ravaged future metropolis, an old, grumpy, obsolete, smoke-belching, cigar-chomping, HOTROD-RACING ROBOT is one 12-year-old girl’s only hope. Together, can they outrace the chasing Robo-Cops with an invention that might just save humanity?
"PETROL HEAD is unreal. This must be one of the most exciting comics, both visually and story, I've seen in ages. Get this ordered!" —MARK MILLAR (Kingsman, Marvel’s Civil War)
Collects PETROL HEAD #1-5
Pye Parr is a graphic designer, illustrator and comic book artist.
Starting as the designer for UK sci-fi comic 2000 AD, he shifted to art, developing a distinct visual style characterised by bold, kinetic lines and vibrant colours. Beyond 2000 AD Pye has a highly diverse body of work, from comic art to gig posters, book jacket design, concept art, large scale oil paintings and corporate branding. Clients include Games Workshop, Image comics, Z2 comics, Titan Books, Rebellion, Hasbro, CAB, Harper Collins, Hachette, Penguin, Solaris Books and too many smaller press publishers to count.
His first professional comic work was the on-going series Intestinauts for 2000 AD, followed by Realm of The Damned, a trilogy of blood-soaked black metal inspired horror graphic novels. Pye’s first creator-owned comic book, Petrol Head, launches in November 2023, and combines his love of motor-racing, robots, silliness and dayglo retrofuturism.
Pye lives a wilfully quiet existence in a sleepy town in Warwickshire, UK with his wife, children and ancient dog. When not drawing he enjoys tinkering with bicycles, good beer, computer/board games, model making, and dreaming about cars he can’t afford.