Comics Interview: Dissected – Issue #8

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.

A Yak with DAK

DAK uses the Upfront space to plug alternative/independent comics, whilst also going out of his way to say Comics Interview strives to include them. Personally, I feel he is selling himself short in that regard. In the eight issues I have looked at so far, I feel the alternatives/indies have had decent representation. Look at #6 you had Berke Breathed talking Bloom County right alongside huge fanboy porn in the shape of JLA vs The Avengers! Comico was featured last time out, and the comics of First have been featured. It would be interesting to see how the early days of those two, their success and the dent they made in the market compare to some of today’s newcomers like TKO and AWA. There have been many comics featured that carry that indie vibe but are put out by the big two. I am talking about Omega Men and Ronin from DC which are outside of main continuity, so they kind of blur the line. Also, there has been a lot of coverage of comics from the Marvel Epic line.

The Fans Talk

So already I have had to go back on my word and return to breaking down the letters page. This is because some of the letters tied nicely into the overall themes of the issue, as DAK discussed in his editorial. They have ties to some of the points that have come up for me over the course of the previous issues and some stuff that comes up in the upcoming interviews. First up we have two comic pros writing in. Craig Russell aka P. Craig Russell writes into to correct an art credit from his interview in #3. He wanted to set the record straight by stating art on Elric is a collaborative effort with Michael Gilbert. Next up Brian Talley future artist on one issue of Southern Knights (also from Fictioneer Books) writes in calling for an interview with Gary Groth! And DAK replies that it is coming! Patrick Marcel writes in all the way from France to dress down D. Jon Zimmerman also interviewed in #3. Marcel makes a similar point to me in that how can Zimmerman talk about the French comic scene and not talk about French comics?! “This narrow-mindedness seems to be symptomatic of American comic book fandom.” Jonathan Smith has a whole-page letter completely deriding Marvel and refusing to buy their comics. He lists some creators he would like to see in the pages of the magazine as does Terence Larkin. Names that appear on both lists are Trevor Von Eeden and Gerry Conway.

300 Not Out

Is World’s Finest recognised as a DC flagship comic? Is it held in as high regard as Action and Detective? I remember when The New 52 started there was debate over whether those two titles should be included because of their place in fandom. Whereas World’s Finest was nowhere to be seen. It was a staple of the Silver Age as this interview can attest too, as its 300th issue is coming up. In my time reading comics it had been absent, okay there was Batman/Superman which is essentially the same comic, but why not just have the World’s Finest title for the prestige if nothing else? In recent years there have been several revamps but as is a sign of the times it can’t seem to stick. The interview is billed as sitting in on a plotting session with editor Roger Slifer and writer Mike Barr. Honestly, I thought this would be more fun, but it just doesn’t click and falls flat. Ed Piskor was recently on the Word Balloon podcast and he said he found the questions in Comics Interview to be too much like fanboy stuff. Reading this interview I can completely see where he is coming from. When Slifer and Barr describe the upcoming story for #300 in a nutshell it does sound fun and epic. But when it is broken down over the course of the Q+A format it does start to sound boring and convoluted. You would think a milestone like #300 would be a stand-alone issue, but Slifer explains how plot points began way back in #296. Seeing as this Jim Salicrup sitting in on a plotting session, the only real bit of editorial insight we get is when Slifer says he has to check with the respective writers and editors as to the current status quo of the characters that will appear. All the interview does is reinforce the argument that ‘Big Two’ comics are completely inaccessible.

Capital Duo

In a change of pace for CI here we have Mike Baron and Steve Grant interviewing each other. At the time they are both producing comics for Capital. Baron has Nexus and Badger, whilst Grant has Whisper. Baron is a guy who I knows his work, but haven’t sampled much. Nexus is probably his biggest calling card in comics. What surprised me is that the way Baron describes it here is nothing like I thought it was about just based on the images I have seen from the great Steve Rude. On why he is drawn to superhero comics Baron Says “The comic form legitimises the most outlandish behaviour, specifically physical behaviour.” Grant I know more about having read some of his Punisher issues and some X from Image in the 90s. Jim Rugg on Cartoonist Kayfabe put Whisper on my radar, I love the look of it and it is something I always look for in the cheap bins. Everything Grant says here makes me want to scratch that itch even more. What stood out was him saying he grounded Whisper’s skills and strengths in reality with Aikido. Whether I ended up dedicated to getting a full run or not is a different matter. I may just settle for enough issues to get a good taste of the series overall. Grant says he likes the limited series format because “Stories never really come to an end.” It’s worth pointing out that Capital Comics folded later in 1984 and Whisper moved to First, where it ran for over 30 issues. I wonder what changed his thinking? Both creators feel comics are built on and haven’t moved away from the Superman or Batman archetypes. Those are Superman as the power fantasy and Batman as the revenge fantasy. I have heard Neal Adams make the same argument, his was simplified to Alpha (Superman) and Omega (Batman). Baron and Grant with their current series are looking to move away from those archetypes and explore different motivations. Baron gets a larger share of the real estate due to having two current comics at Capital, the second being Badger. He reveals how Badger was not originally the lead character in the series, it was Weather Wizard. In the pages of CI so far we have seen nothing but praise for the creative freedom the likes of Capital, Comico and First offer creators. But during the inception of Badger Baron was told “We are not in business to experiment… Give us a costumed superhero to hang the book on.” This goes against all the praise for creative freedom and feels more like a publisher saying “Do this because we know it sells.” I really enjoyed this style of interview of peers chewing the fat with each other. It certainly did remove the aforementioned fanboy element of the questioning. I hope there are more interviews of this nature in future issues.

Ad Space

While readers may feel the interview space is dominated by the ‘Big Two’ the advertisement pages have always swung strongly in favour of the indies. Following the Comico interview last issue we get a full-page ad showcasing both Mage and Evangeline. I actually have this Evangeline one-shot featuring art by Judith Hunt who is not spoken about enough. Mike Baron and Steve Grant are interviewed in this issue about their respective Capital Comics, so of course those comics get a full-page ad preceding the interview. The Love and Rockets ad from the previous issue pops up again. Another ad that popped up last issue is the Manhunter ad from DC. It is a curious ad as it features caricatures of the creative duo Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson and said caricatures dominate the page. They are much larger than Manhunter himself! Lastly, there are two huge Marvel ads in this issue. They are two ads that root this in a moment in time, a moment that will hit two very different nostalgia notes for fans of a certain age. The ads in question are Secret Wars #1 coming in January and The Official Marvel Comics Try-out Book.

Colour Commentary

Tom Ziuko was a name I hadn’t heard before and nothing on his credits stood out. But then within the first part of the interview drops three gems from his career that cover a wide spectrum of comics. First, he explains how he has been getting approval from Wolfman and Perez for the colour scheme of the ‘new Robin.’ He says the idea was the make Robins’s colours darker and do a reverse of Batman’s blue and grey. This is the origin of ‘Disco Nightwing’ right here within the pages of CI! Next up he has recently done a promotional piece for Ronin. It would have been good if they had included the piece in the interview, I have probably seen it but just for peace of mind. But then again I can see the redundancy in showing a piece in black and white when talking about a colourist. Lastly, Ziuko reveals he has just joined up to be the colourist on Scott McCloud’s Zot! As this interview goes to press the ink is drying on his new DC exclusive contract. He reveals how part of the contract allows him to do one indie book, as he had already agreed to do Zot! Also as part of his new contract, he is moving from Supergirl to Vigilante. Again here DAK has missed a chance to dig deeper. Not only is Ziuko being moved off a book he likes to do, Vigilante, he says it is something he objects to “morally and aesthetically.” To me this shows creators in comics are just moving from book to book, paycheck to paycheck. He actually has strong opinions on what he is working on, now I want to know what those objections are?! Later on there are some more personal revelations on his career. I found it really honest of him to open up and say he is a colourist because his anatomy and perspective work wouldn’t have been up to the standard of a top penciler. There is a great dedication involved in his self teachings to be a colourist. He got some unused Neal Adams covers and just made a load of copies and went about experimenting with colour. His philosophy on colour is that it should enhance the art not hinder it.

Richard Burton… No the other Richard Burton

This acts as a sort of part two to last issue’s interview with Nick Landau and Mike Lake, as there is lots more 2000AD and Dredd talk. 2000AD is something I’m not over familiar with in terms of history and whatnot. So I thought it was worth noting at the time of this interview is seven years old. To me it always felt like American comic fans see 2000AD as this uniquely British creation. Funnily as Burton explains here the original genesis was to make it more like American comics, so even alongside other British comics it was seen as an outsider. Burton is an employee of IPC rather than 2000AD directly. The conversation retreads some of the same ground that Landau and Lake covered in terms of reprints. This did give the reading experience a feeling of deja vu, but there were gems in the interview. On the subject of reprints and making them a viable income stream he states “IPC don’t understand quite what they’ve got on their hands.” What I enjoyed about this interview was the cross-section of differences between comics from both sides of the pond. It struck some nostalgia to see the subject of annuals come up. I only had one Marvel annual in my youth, most of my others were based on my favourite cartoons or football. He does confirm my memory in that the annuals always came out at the end of the year in the UK in time for Christmas. Interviewer Jim Salicrup says State-side annuals were more of a summer reading experience for kids. A wider topic of difference is that there is no Comics Code in Britain. The process he describes is more of a maze through common sense. He says editors have to deal more with the pulse of parent and pressure groups. When you think about today where we have classic novels being removed from school and the levels of censorship on things like Disney+ because of pressure from outside sources it kind of makes you grateful that comics do fly under the radar at times.

Warren Reece Speaks

Right try not to laugh but in his little bio box Reece is described as a ‘comicologist.’ I mean he does own a Marvel Comics #1 signed by Everett, Burgos and Schwab. I did find one credit for Reece online and that was for #18 of Marvel Age. I assume this was in some sort of writing capacity as those magazines didn’t carry too much original art to my knowledge. On the credits page, this interview is listed as a part one! I don’t think he has his finger that much on the pulse of the industry that he deserves a second part. That interview is going to have to include some bombshells to impress me (famous last words)! As impressive as his collection is the interview at times does just feel like a list of these items. He does touch on his upbringing in the UK and attending car boot sales. On pure coincidence, I have read about some new car boots near me that have started since COVID and of course, I am curious to check them out for nerdiness. Another cool flash of his geek credentials saw him in attendance at the first Phil Sueling convention in 1968. Here he purchased a Captain America #1. There is mention of another collector of his ilk George Olshevsky. I am now fully expectant of him turning up in the pages of CI. A common theme of this issue if you haven’t spotted it is the missed opportunities to dig deeper. On the second page of said interview is a picture of an unused Steve Ditko cover for Amazing Fantasy #15. The caption states Reece has restored it! This should have been the interview! How did he acquire it? Did he restore it personally?

NEXT: Walt Simonson’s Thor!