Comics Interview: Dissected – Issue #4
Welcome to the latest instalment of a brand-new feature here on Nerdly, where one of our comic gurus, Ian Wells, delves into comics history and dissects Comics Interview, the long-running journal of interviews and criticism from David Anthony Kraft.
Up Front & Credits
Joining the ranks this issue we have Klaus Janson, Lou Mougin, Bob Saland, Charlie Santino and Barry Kleggerman. A very short Up Front from DAK this month as he uses the space to outline one of two new features debuting in Comics Interview this issue. The first is ‘Out of Context’ which is to ask several interview subjects the same question to get a varied response. The question for the first instalment is “People are very concerned about the recent spate of deaths of superheroes – Why do you suppose that is?” This time round the responses come from Steve Oliff, Steve Gerber and Terry Austin. I thought it would be fun if each month I tackled the question using hindsight and my own experiences in reading comics. I think spate is too strong a word as all three creators draw on the same three deaths in their respective responses. Phoenix, Elektra and most recently Captain Marvel. Admittedly it is three deaths all at Marvel but is not an industry-wide occurrence at the time. How many times since 1983 has Phoenix died and come back? This spate as they are calling it is barely a drop in the ocean compared to today’s standards! Elektra and Phoenix dying were fresh and exciting and most importantly not ruined by the internet. It is worth reminding as well that Miller and Byrne were close friends talk of each other’s books may have spurned competition in delivering the most shocking death. Since I have been reading comics I think most major Marvel heroes have all died once. I don’t think too many deaths are something to be concerned about. Everyone accepts no one in comics stays dead, especially nowadays when every character is important IP so we know the characters are going to be back, to me it is important what happens in their absence. At times I think it benefits for characters to be absent for a prolonged time. Speaking from experience how Wolverine died and how he came back weren’t among his most memorable stories, but X-23 flourishing in his absence was a master stroke. At the end of the day as long as it is a good story that serves to entertain there where is the harm?
Startlin’ Stories
Jim Starlin is fresh off the fan acclaim for both Warlock and The Death of Captain Marvel. He is about to launch himself into the unknown… Well, the Marvel Epic imprint at least with his creator-owned series Dreadstar. Interesting inside knowledge to kick things off with as DAK brings up how Death has influenced his work and jokingly he is the writer people turn to when they need a character killing off. Starlin says he was approached by Denny O’Neil to kill of Shang-Chi when sales dropped on his series. Death of Captain Marvel turned into a very personal story for him after originally being against the idea. “I got halfway through the pencils and my father died of cancer… Finishing it off was sort of a catharsis.” He reveals. This book is definitely on my need to read list and the personal connection between the story and the writer will make it a more worthwhile experience. Now working on Dreadstar as both writer and artist he confesses to not being able to work ‘Marvel Method’ instead of full scripting and thumbnailing every page. There are even a few examples alongside the interview of this process. I like that on one page he has an idea for a splash page with the words ‘giant space satellite’ underneath is the final page and he pretty much nails it. There is more insider gold let out as he reveals he broke his hand halfway through Death of Captain Marvel which is why he jokes it looks like his first work on Dr. Weird. Cartoonist Kayfabe have a video on that very comic so I will have to re-watch it to see if that bit of trivia comes up. It is refreshing to see he confesses to not being a good speller, but he is ever improving. “She (Jo Duffy) was amazed about a month ago to find I had turned in ten pages and there was only one spelling mistake.” This is inspiring to the next generation who read this as it proves talent comes in all forms. If people tell you that you can’t do something because of a lack of a certain skill set you can prove to them anything is possible.
Roy Krenkel – RIP
Roy Krenkel passed on February 24th 1983, this is billed on the cover as his last interview. I have to admit I am unfamiliar with any of his work, I have most likely heard his name on Cartoonist Kayfabe. Before the interview we get an obituary by C.J. Henderson. It is a very short and concise passage of the man, his work and his legacy. The great thing about comics is that even if you aren’t familiar with Roy Krenkel’s work there will be at least five other artists influenced by him that you will know. From the sampling of his pencils included alongside the interview I definitely get a feeling he influenced Barry Windsor Smith Conan era. Frank Frazetta is mentioned later in the piece as someone who has taken a lot from Krenkel. He apparently was renowned for not liking interviews, after he had said “Writers want to know how you think. Artists want to know how you draw.” Henderson thought it would be best if an artist conducted the interview so pulled in the assistance of Rick Bryant. Krenkel admits he would have had a bigger career output had he applied himself more, at the time of the interview he is content being a collector. For him collecting started from gathering references for his own work, but now it has grown way beyond that. He says “Reference, I wouldn’t go across the street for, anymore.” Rather than collecting original art, any new art books leave him “Foaming at the mouth!” The interview doesn’t really get into detail about his process and whatnot. There is some early career talk, befriending Al Williamson and the two ending up working for Hal Foster on backgrounds. It very much feels like two friends catching up. So while people at the time may have sought these interviews out for career and process talk there isn’t a lot of it here. However it is still a fun read and makes you feel good inside as you read it, it is like having a conversation with a fun uncle or an older person you admire.
Alpha Andy
Andy Yanchus I know from his work on Alpha Flight (hence my catchy subheading). It is mentioned in the interview he is working on The Marvel Universe with Mark Gruenwald. I assume this to be the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe. To Marvel collectors of a certain vintage, this is a high point of the 80s. So it was fun to discover someone I know from my love of Alpha Flight played a role in this huge series also. The interview is conducted by Jim Salicrup and the pair had previously crossed paths when they were both on staff at Marvel. Yanchus headed up the colour department with George Roussos. He briefly outlines what his duties were, such things as overseeing continuity for characters in terms of things like costume and hair colour and making sure characters didn’t get lost in background colour. He then explains how these jobs have switched to overall editors with the introduction of the Epic imprint. Yanchus has recently made the switch to full-time colouring duties where he is contracted to do 6 books a month. A by-product of his time as a colour editor is that he tends to go bold on colour choices, often using primary colours. This draws criticism from fans who label his work as flamboyant! A really refreshing part of his interview is when he lists his favourite colourists. Not only are they all women, Marie Severin, Glynis Wein and Petra Goldberg, but they are also all obviously different in their approaches to colouring. People in the know are aware comics had a diverse pool of creators as far back as this, by me doing this I hope it sheds more light on this positive period of comics history also.
Dick Giordano
Dick Giordano at this point in his career has amassed thirty years in the industry. Perhaps he is best known for forming Continuity with Neal Adams as well as being an accomplished artist in his own right, before moving into a long editorial spell at DC. The hits under his watch speak for themselves. Watchmen, Crisis on Infinite Earths and Dark Knight Returns to name a few. As an artist he held the respect of the bullpen, in his editors role and Klaus Janson joins Jim Salicrup on interview duties and it gives the whole piece a master and apprentice feel and Janson does a lot of the heavy lifting with his line of questioning. The cover states ‘Giordano talks violence in comics’ so that is the meat I want to dig into most from this, but there are a couple of key things to mention. In one of his earliest moves in his new role at DC he negotiated with Charlton Comics to acquire their characters. Three years later these characters instead would be reimagined in the cast of Watchmen. Secondly he talks of being on editors retreats. Comics fans of the ’90s and ’00s will be overly familiar with ‘retreats’ but usually from a writer’s POV. Giordano states the thinking behind their retreat was because of the Direct Market completely changing the playing field of selling comics, they now know who they are selling to and they want to know best how to use this information. On to the Violence! It seems the subject of violence in Omega Men is not going away! I really makes me want to pick up the issue in question! The recent furore surrounding the issue has led to him rewriting how DC will adhere to the Comics Code, though he doesn’t see them moving away from the Code to its own in-house system. If anyone remembers the last issue Marv Wolfman said the exact opposite, saying a movie-style rating was under consideration, so it will be interesting to see this play out. Janson chimes in with “The Code has become an anachronism, it has not kept up with the times.” They both set the hypothetical situation that if publishers move away from the code we could see a repeat of the 1950’s Congressional hearings. To prevent such a thing Giordano theorises there should be more interaction between publishers, something he admits DC aren’t doing with any of the newcomers. At the end of the interview the promise of more Dick next issue is floated. I hope the second time around they get more into his own artistic career and maybe his plans for DC going forward.
Comic Book Guy – Tony Isabella
This is the second new feature mentioned by DAK in his opening column, an interview with a real comic book retailer. Of course, Tony Isabella is not your average retailer as he is still a working creator as well. At the time he is writing Moon Knight but perhaps he is best known for creating Black Lightning at DC. He kicks things off by outlining his top 3 tips for aspiring comic shop owners. First? Get a good distributor. That seems an easy thing for Isabella to say because as well as owning Cosmic Comics he works with one of them in the shape of Capital City a few days a week. Second is a good location and thirdly you want to develop an image for your shop. This last point is an interesting one that relates to today’s climate more than ever I think. I follow a handful of shops on social media and they all stand out in different ways, they all utilise social media in different ways. After following them for a while you get a feel of which one you need if you are looking for something specific. You read further in the interview you get the impression that his third tip is something you can’t really start doing until the shop is fully established. When he outlines his day-to-day at the shop it does seem like a lot of hard work. Even when you consider the modern technology that could be used nowadays in the paper-pushing part of the day it still seems like a lot of work before the fun can start. I suppose that is all part of the payoff. If you can deal with the hard stuff, then developing the image and making friends and having a core customer base is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. When I am working at my boring 9-5 job I do often daydream about owning a comic shop and how I would like to do different things to stand out. After reading this it has made me rethink things in terms of how plausible they would actually be vs how fun they would actually be! The interview wraps up with some sales talk. I don’t think it would surprise anyone to say that in 1983 X-Men and Teen Titans were strong sellers. I am pleased to say Isabella reports Alpha Flight opened strongly also. Daredevil and Omega Men have both been dropping off. The former may be because of the exit of Miller, the latter because of the perceived overuse of violence. Isabella reports newer publishers First, Eclipse and Pacific are all performing well, perhaps even above expectation. Red Circle, who featured last issue, aren’t selling as much because Isabella believes readers are confused by the number of characters they have. One last thing to take from this interview was his newest project Phil Noir, which the first issue seems really fun. So I have some digging to do!
Word on The Street & Letters
The last two features unfortunately bring a lacklustre end to an otherwise strong and entertaining issue. June Kostar is the fan interviewed for Word on The Street and I know it’s not but the whole piece does have a whole feel of filling a diversity quota. In the first issue they had Bill Chadwick and again without being mean to me, he was like what people picture when they think of the stereotypical comic book nerd. So for this issue it felt like they went to the complete opposite end of the spectrum. I did find a Joon Kostar with some lettering credits in Dark Horse reprints of Conan. She says discovering Barry Smith’s Conan was a turning point for her. So I wonder if it is the same person, though in the interview there is no illusion to wanting to work in comics or having any pre-existing skills to do so. As for the letters page, they are nothing to write home about. One guy by the name of Dennis Perado absolutely goes after Marv Wolfman “You’d think with endless interviews Marv Wolfman does, he’d eventually get good at it.” being his opening gambit. I do salute DAK for running this letter as it’s not all back-patting and high-fives like the previous weeks. I wonder if he ran it by Wolfman first? As the issues go on what I’m looking for from the letters page is for friendships and rivalries to blossom.
