Archive for the ‘Interviews’ Category
It’s the return of a legend.
Actually, make that two.
Well, OK, maybe that’s over-hyping it a bit, but this Wednesday will see two big comebacks: DC Comics’ The Flash and Canada’s own Ken Lashley.
After a four-year hiatus, the native of Burlington, Ont., is back with a sonic boom as the smoking hot artist of DC’s The Flash, The Fastest Man Alive #1.
“It’s a long time (away from comics),” said Lashley, 39, best known for his work in the mid-to-late ’90s on Marvel’s Excalibur and X-Calibre.
“I was busy doing things for LucasFilms and Hasbro and all these other places, but I started thinking, ‘Well, it would be nice to get back to my roots’ and I was able to do that.
“I’m very, very fortunate to have a change to go back and getting a pretty big book like Flash is pretty cool, too.”
Lashley’s path back to comic book illustration began after he started making inquiries to people at Wildstorm Productions, an imprint of DC.
“DC got wind that I was willing to do comics again and that was it,” Lashley said. “They looked at my stuff and I got the gig.”
Nabbing the job on The Flash, one of DC’s hotly anticipated summer releases, was unexpected, the artist said.
“I hadn’t done comics for a while, so I figured they’d be giving big titles to guys who’ve been working their way up doing smaller books,” Lashley said. “But they just put it out there and said ‘Hey, do you want to do it?’ and I said ‘Sure.’”
The fan response to Lashley’s signing on to The Flash has quickly gone from first gear to overdrive, he said.
“At first I think they were kind of like: ‘Who?’ and ‘When was the last time he did a book?’ But once people got a look at the work I’ve been doing and some of the drawings for the book, there’s definitely been a lot of positive things,” Lashley said.
The new Flash book opens with a major mystery: What happened to the most recent Scarlet Speedster, Wally West, when he disappeared during DC’s mega-crossover Infinite Crisis and who’s going to be the man in the red-and-gold suit now?
“The speculation over who The Flash really is has been great,” Lashley said.
“I think people will be really surprised over how it all plays out in the end.”
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J. Michael Straczynski plays a better game of cat and mouse than Tom and Jerry.
After establishing a great career as a TV writer/producer/director with his series Babylon 5 and other projects, Straczynski moved into comics and to become one of the No. 1 writers for Marvel.
Currently penning Amazing Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and Squadron Supreme, he has been alternately been called a genius and a buffoon, depending on which comic fan you ask and who their favourite character is.
Straczynski, a guest at this weekend’s Paradise Comics Toronto Comicon (www.torontocomicon.com), also loves to drop hints about his grand machinations at Marvel and did just that over lunch with JPK, hinting at a shocking event for Spider-Man, the reasons behind the upcoming Civil War in the Marvel Universe, the contentious ‘clone saga’ in Amazing Spider-Man, what three new projects he’s got on the go and why Dave Sim is a true comics visionary.
JPK: You’ve had a colourful year with a fair bit of controversy.
Straczynski: Why whatever do you mean? (Laughs)
JPK: Let’s start with the new gold-and-red armoured costume for Spider-Man. Any reflections or regrets?
Straczynski: No regrets at all. Bare in mind, it’s not like we’re making a long-term change. We said from the beginning that the uniform has grown out of his relationship with Tony (Stark a.k.a. Iron Man). It’s not just an instrument by which he operates — it is also a metaphor. As Tony has put Peter under his wing, Peter is now wearing his colours and using his technology which really helps to reinforce that connection so that when it does crack, which inevitably it will, it makes the separation that much harder. It’ll be personal as well.
JPK: The much-anticipated first issue of Marvel’s Civil War ships on May 3. As writer of Fantastic Four and Amazing Spider-Man, do you enjoy participating and having this kind of story crossover into the worlds you’re created for your characters?
Straczynski: Given the option of doing a crossover story or having my gums extracted, I go for the gum extraction because it’s less painful in the long run.
But this is a storyline worth doing. We have, in the U.S., great political division between those on one side of the war (in Iraq) and those on the other. It’s a very polarized society right now with the red and the blue states and conservative versus liberal. Someone once commented that if the nation were as divided geographically as it is politically, you’d be hearing gunfire in the distance.
There’s no reason we can’t take that and extend it into the super-hero community as a metaphor for what’s happening in the greater culture. It allows us to explore those issues in a safer environment.
So I think it’s a good story to tell. The details of the telling have been a major league pain in the ass, but at the end of the day it’ll be worth the doing.
JPK: Where do you see the characters you work with after the fallout of Civil War?
Straczynski: Certainly the world of all these characters is going to change significantly and to some degree we’re still evaluating where that’s going to go. We all so caught up in the heat of telling the story that the aftermath will have to shape itself to some extent. It will flow logically and organically out of what precedes it.
We do want this to have significant lasting changes and not to be something where the last book of Civil War comes out and we’re back to zero again.
Peter, in particular, will go through a huge change at the end of this story. It’s going to be probably the biggest thing to happen to Peter in 30 years. It’s huge.
JPK: OK, now you’ve peaked my curiosity.
Straczynski: Then my job is done and I can go now.
JPK: How hard is it to work on iconic characters like Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four?
Straczynski: It is a mixed blessing. On the one hand it is an established iconic character and you have opportunity to reach a large audience and it really is a measure of trust from Marvel that they would give me these characters in hopes that I will not screw them up — which is more than I would necessarily assume.
But at the same time, they also come with certain limitations. There are walls around these characters that you really cannot go past. Then again, it’s not that different then what we deal with in television where you know damned well that Angela Lansbury isn’t going to turn into an axe murderer at the end of the average Murder, She Wrote episode.
So we’re used to dealing within those confines, which is why I think a lot of folks from television are making the transition to comics, because we’re used to dealing with established characters and finding new ways of looking at them.
JPK: Do you ever butt heads with your editors? Are you ever told ‘no you can’t do that?’
Straczynski: With Marvel and Spidey, only once. I wanted Gwen’s kids to be fathered by Peter, not by Norman Osborn. I thought it would be an interesting point of view to go with the character where he would assume responsibility for that and all the rest. They said ‘well it makes Peter feel too old. How about someone else? How about Norman Osborn? The fans will love it!’
I dutifully fell on my sword on that one for a long time and then finally I said ‘you know, it really wasn’t my idea to do it that way.’
JPK: What’s it been like working with a big company like Marvel?
Straczynski: They’re a great company to work for. They’ve been very supportive. They give me no problems and a lot of latitude.
Joe Quesada and Dan Buckley and the rest of them — I can’t speak enough positive words about them, they’ve been great.
JPK: You’ve taken your acclaimed series Supreme Power from Marvel’s adults-only MAX line to its Marvel Knights line and re-dubbed it the more classic Squadron Supreme. ...
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Jessica Abel isn’t a great female comic book creator — she’s a great comic book creator.
Before her arrival in Toronto to be part of the Women Of Comics symposium at the 2006 Paradise Comics Toronto Comicon (www.torontocomicon.com), the Brooklyn, N.Y., resident spoke with JPK about the status of female creators, her influences, her new book and the use of the term “graphic novel”.
JPK: What is your impression of the Women Of Comics event you’ll be participating in this weekend?
Abel: I think it’s really great to be able get a bunch of women together that are doing this.
I looked at the list of panels the other day and there’s a lot of interesting stuff going on.
Although I always have mixed feelings about going to an event as a woman in comics as opposed to as a cartoonist.
It’s not a lack of pride in being a woman cartoonist, but that it’s just odd.
JPK: So it’s weird to be singled out for one thing when it’s not the most important thing?
Abel: It’s not the central emphasis of my work, obviously. But that said, I think that the selection of people that they’ve chosen to bring kind of back’s that up in a way. There is no theme to the women who are coming.
A lot of women who are coming I don’t have any idea who they are — which is good. There have been times in comics when almost any woman in comics, I would know who they were.
JPK: Given the number and the diversity of female creators coming, do you think this shows women’s stature in the industry is at a high-water mark?
Abel: No, not at all. I think it’s only just beginning.
JPK: Is getting together a couple of dozen top female creators a good start?
Abel: I think it’s really good to have this wide variety of women coming to the show, showing how diverse the work of female creators is.
The basic thing I’ve always said about this topic is that the reason there aren’t more women cartoonists of my age and older is that there was very little work that most girls would like back when we were kids.
That has changed completely. At this point I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that there were more young girls than boys reading comics. With the influx of Manga and then the new wave of accessible non-ouetré super-hero comics, there’s just a lots of girls reading comics and that means that a lot of girls are going to want to make comics. Over the years I think we’re going to a huge increase in the proportion of women making comics. This is just the leading edge.
JPK: So then how does it feel to be part of that leading edge?
Abel: It will be nice when I don’t have to talk about it anymore. It will be nice when it’s just automatic. You know, when it’s not notable and it’s not special to be a woman in comics — when it’s just normal. That will be the mark of us having come really, really far.
JPK: What were your influences when you started reading comics?
Abel: I read lots and lots of comics when I was a kid — anything I could get my hands on — and I did like super-hero comics. Not deeply, but I liked them enough, which was some part of what helped me stay in it, stay reading until I found really good comics.
When I was in college, the real turning point for me, although I had seen other comics that I had really loved before that, the one thing that made me want to do it myself was Love And Rockets.
I could name off a whole bunch of other influences that were around the same time, but that was the really thing that turned me from being just a reader to wanting to do it.
JPK: Do you see influences from Love And Rockets in your work?
Abel: I think it’s more for others to say whether it shows or not, but Jaime’s work has been a perpetual favourite of mine. I don’t think his work and my work are very similar now, but they do have the same basic approach, which is the semi-realistic, and yet fully fiction world.
That’s a really broad category when you’re talking about literature or film or something — not even worth mentioning — but in comics it’s not such a huge category.
JPK: Your new book, La Perdida, is excellent. What has the reaction to it been like?
Abel: Thanks. The reception has been really, really good. There’ve certainly been a few people who have picked on stuff about it, but for the most part, say 99 per cent of the reaction has been very positive.
But of course, I’ve been releasing it in installments, so it’s not new for me. But the book is new and there are a lot of new readers, which is nice. It’s been nice to encounter people who’ve found it for the first time because now it’s outside of the comics’ ghetto.
JPK: So what’s the follow up project?
Abel: Right now I’m working on the script for a comic with a co-writer and it’s being drawn by a guy name Warren Pleece. It’s called Life Sucks and it’ll probably be out in 2007.
My husband, Matt Madden, and I are also working on a textbook for making comics.
I’m also working on a non-graphic novel — that’s what we’re going to call them from now on, by the way.
JPK: A non-graphic novel?
Abel: Anything that’s not a comic is now called a non-graphic novel.
JPK: I like that.
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She’s frank, funny and intelligent. She’s also one of the most talented artists in the comic book industry today. Jill Thompson, the Eisner Award-winning creator of Scary Godmother, is one of almost two-dozen top female creators who attended the Women Of Comics symposium at the Paradise Comics Toronto Comicon (www.torontocomicon.com) in 2006.
She spoke with JPK about her views on the status of women in comics, why the monthly comic grind isn’t for her and the status of a long-awaited collaboration with husband, Brian Azzarello.
JPK: What does it mean to you to be part of such a large collection of female creators?
Jill Thompson: It’s nice that someone’s taken the time to track down as many of us as possible. Usually that’s not considered very marketable.
I know a lot of the women who are going to be there, but then there are many that I don’t know, so it’s going to be nice to meet other people that do what I do that are the same gender as myself.
JPK: I’m told you were the inspiration for the event. Organizer Peter Fisico of www.allnewcomics.com said seeing you at a store appearance interacting with a woman and her little girl was the spark that more attention needed to be paid to women in comics. What’s it like to be the inspiration?
Thompson: I didn’t even know that. (Laughs)
Pete does pay attention to stuff like that. He’s always thinking about ‘how do we get people who go to bookstores all the time into comic book stores where they will find stuff they’d like if they only knew about it?’
JPK: What’s your impression of the status of women in comics right now? Do you think they get the respect they deserve?
Thompson: I’ve never had a problem. But I know that there are a lot of women that would argue otherwise.
JPK: Did you have any female artistic role models?
Thompson: There was a couple: Hilary Barta and Sandy Plunkett. But then I found out they were guys.
Wendy Pini [of Elfquest fame] is probably one of the only high-profile females in the field when first started reading comics. I enjoyed the books she created and her art style.
I liked Marie Severin, too.
I liked men and women — I was a huge John Bucema fan and a John Byrne fan. It was always an added bonus, like frosting on the cake, to find out that ‘oh and a girl did this’.
I always wanted to do this. It didn’t bother me that there weren’t many other girls doing it. I felt like it was this secret thing that I knew about that no one else did.
JPK: When you get the opportunity to meet young girls, in particular, at these events, is it a meaningful thing to you that you might be inspiring them?
Thompson: It’s very meaningful. One of the biggest influences on me was a friend of mine, a fellow named Bill Reinhold who works for Marvel and DC and used to work for First Comics illustrating The Badger. He took the time to look at all my drawings, to give me critiques about what was wrong or right with my artwork and really just push me along.
I think if I could do for someone else, boy or girl, what Bill did for me — it would be a great thing.
JPK: What can your fans expect from you next?
Thompson: I’m just finishing up a Goosebumps adaptation for Scholastic/Graphix. Then I’ll be working on another collaboration with Evan Dorkin for another Dark Horse ‘The Book of…’
JPK: And that is?
Thompson: The Book of Monsters.
JPK: Is it another dog story?
Thompson: Yeah. I think it’s called The Dog And His Boy. It made me cry when I read it so now I’ll have to do my best to make everyone else cry.
After that I’m going to be doing a four-book series for HarperCollins — a series of creator-owned graphic novels (for kids). It’s all painted and about 94-96 pages each.
JPK: Do you ever see yourself working on monthly comic again?
Thompson: No. I don’t need to be in the most extreme version of the monthly comic grind. I don’t think that there’s anything wrong with doing that, it’s just that I’ve moved to the point where I like to do black and white comics myself and I also like to paint my own comics so I just like to control everything.
JPK: And now the question that must be asked…
Thompson: Let me see if I can guess: Will Brian and I ever work together?
JPK: You win. The answer?
Thompson: Not on anything we can think of right now. People kind of expected us to and now they don’t — so maybe now we should. (Laughs)
It just has to be the right thing. I’m sure it’ll be just one of those things that’ll happen by accident.
JPK: Any negatives to having a symposium like the Women Of Comics?
Thompson: I guess you wouldn’t want a plane to fall on the convention centre because then there wouldn’t be any women in comics left.
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Sara “Samm” Barnes has a fascinating dual life. She’s not only a television, movie and radio producer, having worked on such films as Cats And Dogs and Mission To Mars and the TV show Jeremiah, she is also a writer for Marvel Comics.
In fact, her mini-series Doctor Spectrum earned Barnes the 2005 Joe Shuster Award for outstanding Canadian comic book writer. She’s up for the 2006 honour, too, for co-authoring last year’s Dr. Strange mini-series with friend and colleague, J. Michael Straczynski.
She is also one of almost two dozen top female creators featured at the Women Of Comics symposium at the 2006 Paradise Comics Toronto Comicon and over a hastily eaten lunch, she spoke with JPK about what it’s like living her dual life.
JPK: What does it feel like to be part of this amazing collective of female creators?
Barnes: Humbling… amazing. I’m as interested as the fans to hear what they have to say. I’m a huge fan of many of the people on the panel.
I’ll be doing a lot of listening, I think.
JPK: What is your impression of the status of women in comic right now?
Barnes: We’re better than we were.
I’m a huge fan of so many male writers, but I’m reading them because they’re good writers. The same is true of women: I’m a fan of women who are great writers, not because they happen to be women
I think we need to encourage more women to read (comic) books —no matter who wrote or drew or created those books.
JPK: You are one of a minority of women working on mainstream comics. Do you feel any added pressure with that?
Barnes: I write what I like. I write from my gut. I hear the story, I watch it in my head and I write it down.
JPK: You have a dual career as a film/TV producer/writer and as a comic book writer. Do you prefer one ahead of the other?
Barnes: Comic books are like candy — they’re like dessert. I love writing for television, I’ve enjoyed working in radio drama, I’m just about to start my first foray into directing and I love producing, but there’s something about comic books that are so fun and free. It’s imagination — you can go absolutely anywhere within a page.
JPK: Anything you’ve got in mind to work on next?
Barnes: I have one small seed of an idea. It’s a strong female character and it’s something that’s been playing in the back of my mind, it’s like a little whisper and I’m starting to listen to it. It’s definitely not Spectrum, it’s not as serious as that.
It’s something quirky and different. I’m ready to write something like that.
I also think we need to write the follow up to Dr. Strange. The six parts were good, we left it at a point where we wanted to launch off and now I think we’re ready to do the next six parts.
JPK: With Straczynski?
Barnes: Yeah, I think we’ll do it together.
JPK: How did you feel when you heard about your second consecutive Joe Shuster Award nomination (for outstanding Canadian comic book writer)?
Barnes: Gobsmacked. I’m speechless. I’m floored.
It’s a really honour and I’m so thrilled.
JPK: Do you think your TV work has been a benefit to your comic book work or vice-versa?
Barnes: My comic book work helps me in so many ways because you are forced to direct, to see it in your head.
It forces you to keep the story condensed. You can’t just go off and rabbit trail for four pages — who’s going to tune in? You really need to focus, to know what the core of your story is and hit those beats. I think I’m much stronger thanks to my comic book work.
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The Women Of Comics took centre stage at the Paradise Comics Toronto Comicon in 2006, but that didn't mean they didn't let the men come out and play.
There was an all-star list of dozens of creators, including Greg Rucka (52, Checkmate), Frank Cho (Liberty Meadows), Michael Lark (Daredevil), Brian Azzarello (100 Bullets) and Dave Sim (Cerebus) and featuring guests of honour David Lloyd (V For Vendetta) and George Perez (Infinite Crisis).
But one late addition is a coup for event organizers: DC Comics vice-president and executive editor, Dan DiDio, who took time out of his busy schedule to talk to JPK about why he just had to be there, what he thought of Infinite Crisis #7, the weekly series 52 and the DCU One Year Later and the love of the DC Nation.
JPK: So what was it that made you want to come up and do this event in Toronto?
DiDio: “First, we have a lot of exciting things taking place at DC right now and we’re trying to get out there are ring the bell as loud as we can. There’s a lot of great momentum and great excitement about our work … and I like to go out and meet them face to face and get a chance to talk to them about what’s going on.
“The fans’ enthusiasm is infectious. The more excited they get, the more excited we get about the work that we’re doing and we want to do even better.
“Second: A lot of my top creators are actually in the Toronto area so it allows me the opportunity to see a lot of my guys up there. We have such a strong talent pool in town that it’s good for me to get a chance to sit down face to face with them about new projects we’ve got going on.
“The third thing is that I absolutely love the city of Toronto. In my old job I used to work for a Canadian animation company out of Vancouver and that used to bring me to Toronto about once a month for about six years. I haven’t been up for a while, so it’s going to be fun getting up there again.”
JPK: What’s are your impressions about Toronto as a comic book town?
DiDio: “Every time I went to Toronto I was always surprised to see the number of comic stores in the area and how well they were frequented by the fans. I always got the impression there’s a real strong base of comic fans up there.
“I also always felt that the fans there had a real sense of the current, of what trends are going on. I really got a good taste of where the industry is going and what might be breaking soon by what’s working well in Toronto.”
JPK: What can fans expect from your DC Nation tour?
DiDio: “A lot of silliness. The whole purpose of the DC Nation tour is to create something that is fan-centric and interactive with the company. Over the last year and a half we’ve felt a lot of support and a lot of good will from our fans, but to get out there and meet them face to face and to talk about comics, not just to get them to ask us questions, but for us to ask them questions about what makes them love the comic business and what they’re really excited by. That whole interaction is what built the whole industry of comics — that sense of community.
JPK: Any big announcements this weekend?
DiDio: “Probably not. We’re getting up there less than a week before the final issue of Infinite Crisis hits so I’m sure we’ll be able to tease a couple of bits and pieces from that story, hopefully without giving too much away. And we’re just two weeks from the first issue of our big epic, 52, going on.”
JPK: Infinite Crisis has been one of the biggest and most successful comic projects in years. Do you think the payoff is going to be worth the buildup?
DiDio: “I was just going through the final proofs for Infinite Crisis #7 and it exceeds all my expectations. I’m pretty cynical about this book after being so close to it for so long, but it’s everything I thought it would be in the end. That’s a great feeling.
“I didn’t turn one single page and say: ‘Oh I wish we did this.” It’s all there.”
JPK: Any fears about doing a weekly title with 52?
DiDio: “Tons of fears. Everything’s build on a schedule so it’s just a matter of keeping schedule, but also maintaining a level of quality that’s essential to bring back readers on a weekly basis.
“We’re pulling out all stops to make sure that book exceeds all expectations.
“The interesting thing about 52 is that it challenges the reader because the pacing, the style of storytelling, the amount of story that goes on in a single issue is completely different that what people have gotten used to.”
JPK: As we’re midway through the second month of One Year Later in the DCU, what’s caught your attention so far?
DiDio: “The thing that’s been most amazing, as least from the fans’ side, is that I thought people would take a chance to sample a book or two here or there — it might have been an interesting point to see what’s going on in a particular series or with a particular character — but I’m hearing that a lot of people are sampling the entire line of One Year Later, which couldn’t please more. It shows that it has really created a level of interest in DC that we haven’t seen in a very long time.
“Part of what I wanted to do is try to create different levels of change throughout the whole DCU line and we’ve achieved that. Some books have drastic changes, some have minor changes, but when you look at the whole you really feel the DC Universe has been pointed and refocused in a new direction and hopefully an exciting ...
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He’s got one movie in theatres and more on the way and yet another No. 1 book on the New York Times bestseller’s list.
Neil Gaiman’s life is good.
The 44-year-old author of American Gods, Neverwhere, Coraline and the landmark Sandman comic book series hits Toronto on Saturday for a reading and signing in support of his latest effort, Anansi Boys.
But first he talked to JPK about the new novel, making movies, his comic book future and how to tell if something’s truly funny.
JPK: What is it about the relationship between humans and gods that interests you?
NG: “I think it’s mostly because you can do an awful lot with gods. I think they’re sort of hardwired into the human psyche.
“We’ve had stories about them. They are in some ways special and in some ways they’re us — only they’re us magnified. It’s that power of magnification you can use."
JPK: It seems like this connection between humans and gods has been a running theme with your stories (American Gods, Anansi Boys, Sandman).
NG: “Since I’ve been writing for 20 years, I’ve written so many different things now that anything I do more than once, people can now go, ‘Well, I’ve noticed all of your books are variants on Alice In Wonderland’ or ‘all of your books have gods in them’ or ‘explain the preponderance of cats in your work’ and it’s all true.
“(Often) it just seems like a nice way of telling that particular story.
“Now I guess that means gods are off limits for a couple of years and I’ll have to do something else."
JPK: From where did you draw the inspiration for Anansi Boys?
NG: “I made it up out of my head.
“And also I’ve always loved Anansi stories, I always loved trickster stories and it seemed like a very good place to start."
JPK: Is it fair to call Anansi Boys a sequel to American Gods?
NG: “No, not in any way. It would probably be fairer, but much more complicated, to say that American Gods borrowed a character from a novel that I had not yet written as a special guest star."
JPK: Did you enjoy writing something with a little bit lighter tone?
NG: “I did, but I found out very rapidly why a lot of comedy writers work in pairs. That’s why it was very easy doing Good Omens with Terry Pratchett — you can tell in a second if something’s funny or not because the other guy laughs.
“When it’s just you, you have to go by your own tastes. And if you’re having a particularly gloomy sort of day, when nothing seems funny, but you’re writing a funny book anyway, it can start to come out sort of jaundiced."
JPK: And yet, you found your funny place.
NG: “I think it’s funny. I hope so. And I hope it’s more than that. I wanted to write something that was funny, but was also scary, was a screwball comedy, but also had magic in it and weirdness and that also got to say things that were big and honest about families and people."
JPK: It’s a bit hard to put your finger on, isn’t it?
NG: “It is. But that best thing right now about being me, and writing books, is that nobody expects me to do anything anymore. None of my books have been like the other ones. It’s not as if anybody expects me to write Neverwhere, Neverwhere Again, More Neverwhere or more American Gods or even more Sandman, it’s just whatever I’m going to do and people seem very cool with that."
JPK: Is it nice to be of the stature you are where people will buy anything you write sight unseen?
NG: “It’s a double-edged sword.
“It’s like writing a short story. When I was a young man and I wrote a short story and it was accepted, I would be thrilled because nobody knew who I was and if they wanted to print the short story it was because they really liked it.
“Now, I’m Neil Gaiman. Which means if I do a short story for an anthology that’s asked for one, I can turn in the most terrible piece of garbage and they’d still print it because they can put my name on the cover.
“But it’s also lovely having an audience. That’s the best bit — that there’s people out there who want to read what I want to write."
JPK: There’s a great running gag in Anansi Boys about a lime. Are you expecting people to be turning up with limes at your book readings?
NG: “Actually there was one reading I did in Chicago a few weeks ago where they’d given me a bowl of limes on the table for decoration.
“So I gave them to people who seemed to particularly need their own lime."
JPK: How are you feeling as Mirrormask is set to debut in wide release (it came out on Sept. 30)?
NG: “It was always a very small movie. It was never initially meant to even appear in cinemas — the idea was this tiny little direct-to-DVD thing. They gave us $4 million to make it, which it four minutes of the Beowulf film (he wrote the screenplay for and is currently executive producing).
“I love that it went to Sundance (Film Festival), which nobody expected since they don’t take children’s movies and they don’t take fantasy movies."
JPK: What has the experience of working on Beowulf been like so far?
NG: “It’s done for me. They’ve started shooting.
“Now I’m very much looking forward to going to the set — well it’s not really a set, it’s just a big room (the actors are being shot against green screen and the rest will be added digitally).
“I’m very much looking forward to going to the big room and seeing all the props made out of wire-mesh."
JPK: Any thoughts on any more of your work being turned into films?
NG: “It seems like everything is. Coraline is being turned into a film now.
“Film aren’t terribly high on my list of importances. A book is much more important ...
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A cover to an issue of New Avengers by Canadian artist David Finch.
David Finch is one of the hottest artists in comics and — yay for us! — he’s also a Canadian.
In advance of his appearance at this weekend’s Canadian National Comic Book Expo in Toronto, the 33-year-old from Tecumseh, Ont., spoke with JPK about New Avengers, Moon Knight and his dream project at DC Comics.
JPK: What does it mean to you to be a headliner at the Canadian National Expo?
David Finch: “I think it’s great. It’s an honour and it’s great to be able to do it in Canada where I’m from.”
JPK: After you wrap up your impending final arc of New Avengers you’re moving on to the much-anticipated Moon Knight six-issue limited series. What is your interpretation of Moon Knight going to be?
DF: “It’s with Charlie Houston who’s a novelist and a great writer. This is his first comic project and he’s really unusual in that his stuff is perfect right out of the gate. He just knew how to do the job.
“It’s a relief for me because my job is easier when I don’t have to think. A good writer means (an artist) doesn’t have to think.
“He really thinks in terms of drama when he writes and it’s apparent reading his stuff.
“As far as interpretation goes it’s still a little bit up in the air, but I would really like to do … well … I’d like to say Frank Miller, but my Frank Miller is more like Jim Lee on Deathblow. That’s just where my influences are.
“I don’t want to do exactly Jim Lee’s Deathblow, but it’s definitely going to be a big influence.
“I’d also really like to try to do a lot of what Eduardo Risso is doing with 100 Bullets
“I’m really excited about it. It’s more where I feel comfortable stylistically anyway and I haven’t had a chance to do that for so long that it’s almost become a fetish for me. I’ve just been obsessing over what I would like to do if I had the chance to do that kind of a book.”
JPK: Is moving onto a different book with a different feel a good chance to experiment with your art style?
DF: “I’m hoping that it is. It’s been too long since I’ve done that.
“Normally moving on to something different is just a different set of characters and I can’t say I’ve really changed as much as I probably should. I’m really hoping to do that this time.”
JPK: So what’s on tap after Moon Knight?
DF: “It looks like I’m going to do a Marvel Knights Spider-Man run. I don’t know that that’s set in stone, but that’s what it looks like right now.”
JPK: Any other Marvel characters you’d like to take a stab at?
DF: “One of these days it would be great to do Daredevil.”
JPK: Have you drawn much Daredevil before?
DF: “I’ve drawn him a little bit in Avengers actually, but in that book I’m always drawing people a quarter-of-an-inch tall, so I don’t even consider any character I’ve had a chance to draw in Avengers as much of a chance to draw him
“I did get to draw him a bit in Ultimate X-Men, but that was Ultimate Daredevil.”
JPK: If you could work on any character for any company, who would it be?
DF: “Batman.”
JPK: Why Batman?
DF: “Batman lives in a mansion. He has a Batmobile. And all of his villains are great — he’s got the Joker and the whole list.”
JPK: But of course you have no plans to go do Batman over at D.C.?
DF: “I have absolutely no plans whatsoever. As long as Joe Quesada is editor-in-chief (at Marvel) I can’t envision leaving.”
JPK: The kind of work you do is very detailed. How long does it take to draw a comic page?
DF: “A page takes me — I would say on average — about seven hours. Of course that can really vary depending on what’s on the page.
“A book takes about a month and I’m sure Avengers readers will laugh at that, but if I’m actually sitting down and working and doing my job the way I should be, there’s no reason it should take longer than a month. Anytime it does take me longer that a month it’s just me blowing it.
“I haven’t really been even remotely proud of the work that I’ve done for quite some time. I’m really hoping to rehabilitate with Moon Knight.
“It’s certainly no fault of Bendis, I just don’t think I have a grasp of this. It’s not so much that I’m enjoying it or not enjoying it, I think it’s just beyond me — beyond my skill set.
“Moon Knight is just much more what I’m comfortable with so I’m really hoping to do a better job.”
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The Thing by Canadian artist Steve McNiven.
Halifax resident Steve McNiven is an artist on the rise in the comic book industry. After getting his start at CrossGen, he’s moved on to Marvel Comics where he’s worked on Marvel Knights 4 (the other Fantastic Four book), and Ultimate Secret and has now moved on to the red-hot New Avengers.
Before appearing as a guest at this weekend’s Canadian National Comic Book Expo in Toronto, the 36-year-old talked about his blooming career with JPK.
JPK: What does it mean to you to get high billing at the Canadian National Expo?
Steve McNiven: “It’s cool. I’m surprising to think anyone would want to meet you. It’s a big honour for me. I’m just glad [writer Brian] Bendis wanted me on New Avengers — it really ups your profile.”
JPK: Does it mean any more because you’ve lived in Toronto and you’re a Canadian at the Canadian Expo?
SM: “I lived in Toronto on and off for nine years, including a five-year stint right before I broke into comics.
I was busy practicing drawing and hanging out with other guys who wanted to break in. Pretty much all of them have actually.
“It’s fun for me to come back and hang out with all those guys.”
JPK: Who were your Toronto comic book compadres?
SM: “J. Torres (Teen Titans Go) and Francis Manapul (Witchblade) are two guys I really hung out with and they’re both doing some incredible stuff.”
JPK: So what are you working on next?
SM: “I’m working on issues 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 of New Avengers.”
JPK: That’s a healthy run.
SM: “It’s a big run. I just finished up a four-issue arc and the next one is six issues, so that must be good *laughs*
“I was originally supposed to jump onto Ultimate X-Men with (Hollywood director) Bryan Singer for a six-issue arc, but that has been moved to a summer 2006 release so I asked: ‘Can I do more Avengers?’
“It’s thrilling. Brian (Bendis) is an amazing writer.”
JPK: The arc of Avengers you’re working on right now isn’t coming out until mid-2006. You must know a lot of secrets?
SM: “I know everything that happens in House Of M, who the mystery Avenger is and everything. It’s pretty amazing.”
JPK: You get to do a bevy of characters on New Avengers — any characters or titles you’d like to work on in the future?
SM: “Spider-Man is one of my favourites and I’ve been putting the word out that I’d really like to do a run on Amazing Spider-Man at some point. Hopefully that’ll happen.”
JPK: How would you define your style?
SM: “My style is draw what I know and if I don’t know how to draw it — I don’t draw it.
“A lot of the time I draw for colour. I’ve had the same colourist for my whole career.
“A lot of guys work for contrast, for black and white with perditions of gray, but I tend to draw for the colourist. We have a really good rapport and we know what we want to get out of the art.
“I’m not really as interested in how I draw something as why I’m drawing it.
“I like to give each panel its moment. Some guys just choose their ‘money shot’ and then everything else is inconsequential.”
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Neal Adams has never been one to rest on his laurels.
The 64-year-old comic book icon, who helped define the modern version of Batman with his groundbreaking work in the 1960s and 70s, is as busy as a man half his age.
Based out of both New York City and Los Angeles, he is hard at work with his company, Continuity Studios, and has even managed to illustrate a few comic book pages for Marvel Comics recently.
Ahead of his appearance as a guest of honour at the Canadian National Comic Book Expo, from Aug. 26-28 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Adams spoke to Metro about what he’s been up to, where his future in comics is and what he thinks is the best comic ever made.
JPK: So let’s talk comics.
Neal Adams: “I have no interest in comics. I’m interested in science, comparative religion — anything that’ll empty a room in two minutes
Any of those would probably do it.”
JPK: OK, ummmmmm … So we know you’re not working primarily in comics anymore, what are you up to?
NA: “We (at Continuity Studios) do what are called animatics for commercials, which are sort of cheap commercials that you use to test. We also, lately, are doing finished commercials (using CGI).
“We’re doing CGI (computer generated imaging) animation for commercials, which is an extension of work that we’ve done for animatics — except it’s more finished.
“We will be making ourselves available for film and television and I’m also spending my excess money *snickers* on Bucky O’Hare as a feature film.”
JPK: You’re not resting on your laurels, are you?
NA: “Neal doesn’t do that.
“I’m pretty much at the beginning of my career, I figure.”
JPK: How so?
NA: “When I got into comics — and I don’t mean this in an egotistical way — they were in the stone ages. They didn’t know reproduction methods, they were printing on what amounted to toilet paper and the stories were only six pages long … so we’ve changed quite a bit what goes on in comics.
“As they slowly go down the toilet we seem to be making them incredibly interesting these days
“Entering comic books at that time was a little bit like roughing it. I was trained as an illustrator and I did a syndicated comic strip (Ben Casey), I did comics for advertising and I did advertising. To go backwards into comic books wasn’t as satisfying as it might have been had the technology been better.
“Now the technology has gotten better and most of my time is spent doing other things. At some point I’m going to have to do some comic books just to show there still some power in the tiger’s tank.”
JPK: Which leads us perfectly into the question: is there a glorious return to comics coming for Neal Adams?
NA: “I don’t know that it’s going to be a glorious return but I certainly am going to do some comic work.”
JPK: Do you have anything specific in mind?
NA: “I’d kind of like to do a Batman thing. I’ve been talking to DC Comics about a Batman thing for a while. Or maybe it’ll be some Green Lantern/Green Arrow stuff or Green Lantern stuff.
“I just did an eight-page thing for Marvel for one of their X-Men books and it was fun — but it was only eight pages.
“What I try to do is give people a taste so they don’t forget me.”
JPK: Do you think the deluxe reprintings of your Green Lantern/Green Arrow, Deadman and Batman stuff by DC Comics has garnered you a new generation of fans?
NA: “It’s a shame that if you work and then you don’t do work in a given field then as the generations move forward you fall into the background. That is: it’s a shame for everybody else, not for me.
“I think it’s very nice that DC has decided to do this because what happens is you get to see more than a year’s worth of work in one book.
“The last Batman book is going to be quite a corker because we’ve redone all the colour on it.”
JPK: Overall, what’s your impression of the state of comic books nowadays?
NA: “I like it. I think it’s terrific.”
JPK: What comics are you reading right now?
NA: “Certainly The Ultimates; I read Fantastic Four; I don’t read too much Spider-Man because it’s just everywhere; I spottily read X-Men stuff, although I hate it when they go off to other dimensions and stuff — it makes me crazy; I read the Rags Morales series (Identity Crisis). I’ll read anything Jim Lee does — but the last Jim Lee story, written by that guy that does 100 Bullets (Brian Azzarello) just made me nuts. I love 100 Bullets, but hated that Superman thing.”
JPK: Are there any other characters that you’ve never worked on that you’d like that chance to draw?
NA: “The only character I really wanted to do was Batman. I wanted to do him because they were screwing him up — really, really treating him badly.”
JPK: Any desire to return to Green Lantern/Green Arrow or Deadman — works you’re associated with?
NA: “First of all, I don’t think Deadman has been done well since I did it.
“If I were to do Deadman, I’d just pick up where I left off with that anguished, tortured, poor bastard.”
JPK: And Green Lantern?
NA: “I talked to the writer (Geoff Johns). Maybe we’ll do a couple of Green Lantern stories.
“I’d kind of like to the story and then let him do the dialogue. He can even write it if the structure is there that I need because I like a certain epic quality.”
JPK: Are you interested in working with any specific writers or would you prefer to pen your own material?
NA: “I am interested in certain other writers — Jeph Loeb, for example, is a really good writer.
“I kind like that guy that does Buffy (Joss Whedon)
JPK: You’re probably best known for your Batman work. Is that your favourite piece of your work?
NA: “My favourite piece is Superman/Muhammad Ali. I think that’s probably the ...
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