Comics Interview: Dissected – Issue #9

Up Front & Letters

DAK uses some of the Up Front space in this issue to publish more letters. It’s all to do with this being the end of CI’s first year and everyone involved is in a mood to celebrate. The letters are basically singing the praises of a job well done and it showcases how well it is selling across the country. There is nothing to write home about in Up Front. Only more of DAK highlighting a good year and rightfully so. He points out how most of not all of the comics featured in CI have been hits with the fans. On a personal level, #6 of Comics Interview was a big deal because of fans wanting to know about the fallout from the JLA/Avengers incident. East Coast distribution sold out completely. All the good stuff is in the usual letters pages at the back. First of all we get a letter from Freff who has both been interviewed and interviewed others on behalf of CI in past issues. He writes in to say D’arc Tangent #2 won’t be happening. He is very open with the details of a falling out between himself and Phil Foglio. “I worked too slowly to satisfy Phil and he worked with insufficient quality to satisfy me.” As I wished for back in my first dissection, we are getting some comics beef in the letter page. A guy by the name of Barry Dutter has been bad-mouthing She-Hulk well here a hero by the name of Amy Sacks steps up to fight the Green Goliath’s corner. Honestly its like reading social media. “Some of us actually like heroines whose powers demand they hot people… instead of firing cute little force bolts at them.” What it seems to boil down to me is that Dutter can’t handle a strong female character and Sacks is right in saying a character flaw like being hot-headed in deemed intriguing on a male character but ‘butch’ for a female character.

Power Hour

Power Pack to me represents an interesting dynamic of the comics scene of the 80’s. This is an era that has the accusation thrown at it that comics are written by men for boys. While the birth of the Direct Market as confirmed an increase in female readership you would feel Marvel would still rightfully have some trepidation putting out a kid-friendly comic by two female creators. Female creators who are both relatively new to the scene too. Louise Simonson has been editor for some time on X-Men and Conan before recently turning her hand to writing. June Brigman has two short stories and fill-in issues on Iron Man and Conan under her belt. Brigman got some real-world experience to add to Power Pack having done portraits at an amusement park one summer! “…the kids wouldn’t sit still. So you had to do the portrait half out your head.” In her first meeting with Louise Simonson (then Jones), the concept of Power Pack was discussed. Simonson asked her if she could draw child and right then she went home and began sketching out ideas. This was March of 1983 so it shows the power (no pun intended) of Marvel at the time. That they were bold enough to put a project together so quickly and get it to market. Brigman began working in June 1983 on the first issue and Simonson had already penned the first 6! As anyone who knows Louise Simonson or has even read the slightest bit about her it will be no surprise that Brigman says their working relationship is wonderful and they have never run into any roadblocks. Being a little more honest Brigman admits to deadline issues, as she is already behind on the first issue, which is now being inked. There is a bonus to the interview as Louise Simonson herself pops in to discuss Power Pack. Her enthusiasm really shines through, she is very proud of her project moving from editor to writer. Calling it her freelance phase. Something she says echoes the sentiment I tried to get across at the beginning. “I don’t want readers to discount Power Pack because it features kids.” I feel this is why we don’t see more of Power Pack today, but I am glad Simonson and Brigman had this moment in time when they were able to do a story they were full of enthusiasm for because the market and readership allowed for more experimentation in what titles a publisher would put out.

Fox in the Box

Gardner Fox was a titan of the Golden and Silver Age of comics, especially for his contributions at DC. We are talking groundbreaking work on both Justice Society and Justice League, the OG Flash, Adam Strange and many more. As of this interview, he has been retired from comics for 10 years but still has a career in writing. Something I wasn’t aware of was his short 2-year spell at Marvel in 1971. He penned Doctor Strange, Werewolf by Night and Tomb of Dracula. For someone who has such an imprint across two ages of comics the interview does rather breeze through his career and doesn’t dig much into the man behind the work. The interview is conducted by Lou Mougin, he states many times how was a fan of Fox’s work particularly Adam Strange and Doctor Fate. This creates a nice reading dynamic for the interview as you can place yourself in his shows of what it would be like asking the questions to someone whose work you adore.

The Mighty Walt!

Walt Simonson is best known for a legendary 4-year run on Thor where he built further greatness on the legacy of what Jack Kirby established. For 40 of those issues he was both writer and artist. I have to confess to only having read the first arc. But it is the arc that introduces Beat Ray Bill! How have we had four Thor movies and not seen Beta Ray Bill yet? On the subject of the movies, a lot of the characterization and visuals for those movies come from this run. This interview takes place early into the beginning of the run and Simonson says how Thor was always his favourite comic, in fact it was the first Marvel comic he brought. So a passion project in a Big Two comic is a refreshing thing to see. I suppose it is a balancing act therefore of him knowing what he likes in Thor comics as a fan and knowing how he wants to push himself as a creator. Going into Thor he is coming off the back of Manhunter and the Alien comic adaptation, both with Archie Goodwin. These two books are both acclaimed now but here Simonson describes them as comics that “sank in the fan market.” The interview includes picture of his cover for the Teen Titans/X-Men crossover, the caption claims this is when fans first became aware of him. When you first read this you think it’s crazy for that to be the case in 1984. Then you put all the dates together and it makes more sense. It shows that fans don’t know everything and stick to what they know. If they had recognised Manhunter for what it was he could have been in the forefront sooner. One thing that stands out is how important Star Slammers has been to him throughout his career. Both personally and as a tool to establish himself. I called Thor his passion project but really its Star Slammers. I wonder if he had a say in the ad placement. Has he has Thor front cover to get readers in with a big character, the back colour cover is Star Slammers to play to the Direct Market. In the early days when he went to DC he had a fully complete bound volume of Star Slammers to show off, Carmine Infantino took one look at it and Simonson was in the door. The conversation turns to his approach to Thor. He says Marvel originally want him on for a year for continuity purposes, he even states he could wrap up his story in #350 which would be his fourteenth issue. Oh little did we all know reading this! The framework for the story he generated in 1967 when he first fell in love with Thor. So it is just a case of making all that flow as both an overall continuity, as well as a series of stories rather than one big story. When you see Manhunter pencils side by side with Thor pencils and then a finished page from the latest Star Slammers you can see a real growth in artists right before your eyes. At the same time it also feels like changing his style each time to suit the style. Like Kirby has to be an influence on the Thor stuff whether he can help it or not. He says when he was working on Manhunter Archie Goodwin was reading Lone Wolf and Cub and you can it in the Star Slammers art. It must have got there by osmosis!

Jaxon

Bruce Sweeney’s intro builds Jaxon (real name Jack Jackson) to be the heir apparent to the Tales of The Crypt legacy alongside Richard Corben and Berni Wrightson. To be name-checked with such esteemed creators of the comic kingdom it is a surprise I haven’t heard even the slightest bit about him! Admittedly I am not extremely well versed in that area of comics, but I have heard of Corben and Wrightson even if I can’t roll call certain issues to check out. Perhaps then this interview will shed some light on both his career up to the date of the interview and offer some hints as to where he is heading creatively. Just to pull some more from Sweeney’s intro; The Underground Price Guide claims Jaxon’s God Nose from 1964 to be the first ‘underground comic’ His current project is ‘Comanche Moon’ a planned trilogy of books telling the story of the chief of the Comanche tribe. Obviously, this is another tick in the corner of positive experiences when it comes to the Direct Market. He doesn’t hide the fact that this is a passion project. He is telling the story he wants to tell, the way he wants to tell it. As he says being a kid growing up in Texas it’s hard to be enthralled by the whole Cowboys and Indians history. A theme that sweeps all through this interview is his attention to detail when it comes to both writing and art. His ethos is to to have his stories tell the truest version of events. He isn’t there to embellish the events, he sums it up with a lovely quote “Myth has always triumphed over fact.” From reading this interview you very much get the feeling he wants to turn away from that. He more or less says Hollywood can tell their version. Just me playing devil’s advocate because clearly the guy is talented but maybe this is a reason why he isn’t a household name. While the Direct Market may be perfect for a project like this, perhaps it wasn’t the right time for it. Western comics died out with the birth of superhero comics. So perhaps there just wasn’t a big enough fan base for it no matter how good the work was. Also, he says himself the trilogy reads better as one story. We have seen people say in previous issues that a benefit of the Direct Market is that publishers can tell exactly who they are selling to. So if it reads better in one sitting but is told in three parts, if people didn’t enjoy one part there is a high chance they checked out. Add into the fact one instalment took three years to complete. Then with so much content out there, people are going to speak with their money and either come back or look elsewhere.

Schools In Session

Before getting into the meat of the interview there is the obligatory quote at the top of the page as with all interviews. And I thought this one really struck a chord with what was to come in the 90’s. As well as being an argument used today for the quality of Big Two comics and the plight of superhero cinema. “The popularity of the superhero is limiting the diversity of artistic style.” At the time of this interview, The Kubert School has been operating for 8 years after opening in 1976. With a handful of alumni being interviewed already in CI it has had some air time in the previous 8 issues. Personally, I was a little disappointed the school wasn’t a bigger topic of discussion, in reality it could have been the whole interview. But Kubert has had such a career there was a lot to cover! On the subject of the school he says it came about based on his own experiences. Starting out so young, he learnt by asking questions. Then when he got more established and became an editor people would ask him questions. He name-checks John Costanza as someone he gave private lettering lessons to. It became a case of formalizing the idea to put all this knowledge into one place. A condensed version of the story is the kids have moved out, he runs the idea by his business graduate wife and the rest is comic book history. While the interview doesn’t give any insider stories about the school, Kubert does outline requirements and the curriculum in depth. Kubert and the faculty are not looking for people who want to specialize in one facet of comics. The school covers the full spectrum of the comics industry. It is a 10-course curriculum, where all 10 must be passed to graduate to year 2. At a point in the interview he says he wants the school to be elite. When he outlines the vetting process this echoes this sentiment. Which makes his final quote on the school rather poetic. “…I still remember what it was like when I was starting out – the smell of the ink and the excitement… It’s hard for me to deny that to someone else.” An argument you hear a lot is that people only break into comics if they know someone who can get them in the door. Yes, Kubert had a friend who helped him out at aged 11 but there must have been something in his DNA that set him apart from the others. Is it because we only hear the success stories that it feels like everyone had an initial connection? For every connection there could be as many misses as hits. Then there are the Kuberts of the world. He could have made a comfortable living doing commercial art. But once he got into comics, he stayed in, and became a pioneer. He became the guy who inspired generation after generation. In this very issue June Brigman cites him as an inspiration. He even got to a level where he could open a school and then any alumni’s future work had a connection to him by association.

Legends of The Letters

Pinaha is new to the game, currently lettering Mage at Comico as well as working regularly for Americomics. He was working as a production artist before turning to comics two years previous. It is interesting to get a newcomer’s point of few in the pages of CI. A lot of the talent interviewed to date have been established or retired legends. I think it would have offered good insight to readers who perhaps found themselves in the same position as Pinaha. With regards to breaking into the ‘Big Two’ he says Marvel have thus far given him the runaround and DC practically want an instant turnaround on work, whilst at the same time not being able to guarantee you enough work to make a living. More good insider talk is the admittance to using his Ames lettering guide incorrectly. Having worked in full-sized pages and seeing it shrunk down he wasn’t happy with the results. But when he did some DC work he got a lettering sheet from Karen Berger and he realised the mistake he had made. The shop talk continues as he addresses working with Matt Wagner on Mage, who would ink in word balloons where Pinaha would only had to add the lettering, the problem was the balloons were either too big or too small for the lettering that was needed. While this was only a short interview I really enjoyed the tone, like I said it made a big difference coming from a newcomer. Little details like filing down his pen to better fit the Ames lettering guide was a joy.

Colour Commentary

Like the Pinaha interview before it this gets straight into talk about the work. Right away she is talking the challenges of colouring a team book like Teen Titans. Saying how Marv Wolfman has always made the point the team are made up of individuals, this filters down to the colouring. Costumes have to work with each other and then find a background that works for them all! One thing that stood out to me was her attention to detail. She says that because DC has such a vast array of characters, if an older character was brought back into the fold she would research the original colour work to keep a continuity for the character. Adrienne can take between half an hour and an hour to colour one page, her process is to start with the light tones and work up to the dark tones. She has been working for 7 years and with the tough talk of the Kubert School previously it is refreshing to see she only completed what she calls a general art course in college, with some colour classes. She discusses how she will never stop learning and would like to become more disciplined in regard to keeping regular working hours. Again all this would be influential reading to anyone at the time wanting to pursue a career in comics.

Danny Crespi Talks Marvel

On the credits page Crespi is billed as ‘the baron of the bullpen.’ I have read a lot of books about the history of Marvel Comics and the name does not ring any bells. So let’s dig in. So he started as a letterer with Marvel as far back as the 50s when it was still Timely. He is now head of production and the interview touches on a lot of his duties. It is probably best to describe him as being conflicted as to whether the older or newer ways of producing comics are better. It crossover with some of the conversation of Pinaha regarding the placement of word balloons. Crespi says it is rare to get sketched in balloons from the writer “…what’s done now is more like second guessing…” he explains. In his role he doesn’t get to see any fully finished pages, only full-sized Xerox’s, a letterer places the lettering on a sheet of vellum, this is pasted onto the finished art in an act that is supposed to save time. However, Crespi goes on to say “As soon as we get back on schedule we want to go back to the old way of doing things.” As I have said before I really like reading old bullpen stories. I had a real smile on my face reading his tales of fishing trips and learning to drink with Bill Everett and John Severin.

Industry Insiders

Funnily enough I got the History Of Marvel Value Stamps for Christmas. The book reprints all the pages the stamps appeared on. A lot of these were letters pages and Dean Mullaney’s name kept popping up and that is the first thing DAK asks him about! They published the first comic for Eclipse in 1978. Sabre by Don McGregor and Paul Gulacy is recognised as one of, if not the first graphic novel to be sold through the new ‘direct market.’ Eclipse came about through Dean knowing creators like McGregor, Gulacy, Moench and Gerber weren’t happy with the situation comics were in around 1977. Dean was a friend of McGregor saw some Sabre artwork one night at his house and offered to help get it published. This era of comics is littered with tales of fans becoming publishers. Just the other day I saw Jimmy Palmiotti on Twitter saying 2024 is going to be the year of big names on Kickstarter and that is the modern-day equivalent of this story. Not only can fans become publishers and creators but they now have the opportunity to directly influence their favourite creators. Dean and Jan talk about the double-edged sword of creator rights is getting books out on time. Because the creators essentially become the editors to, they have more responsibility which creates a domino effect of getting stuff out on time. The proposal of Eclipse is to not have any two comics that are the same. From what they are saying this is a perfect approach for the direct market. Fans tend to like one title and not the other, but they are in a position where each title is making profit. Whereas if they backed themselves into a corner say with superhero comics. If all the titles were of a similar theme but of varying quality then they probably wouldn’t have the same positive sales trends. Again something that relates to the new Kickstarter era is that the best way to push an upcoming comic is as much advance notice as you can give. I have seen people say you can never post enough about your upcoming Kickstarter, it becomes like a 9-5 job and you should never have to apologise for it. Jan and Dean point out Ms. Tree as their lowest-selling book in the 30,000s. It would be interesting to compare this to successful Kickstarters and lower titles at the Big Two in today’s market. Most fascinating was the fact Jerry Siegel of Superman fame is among the ranks at Eclipse. In fact, when Jan and Dean had of Siegel and Shuster’s legal battle over the Superman creation it was part of the inspiration that founded Eclipse. Siegel is working on a series called The Starling which started as a backup in Destroyer Duck.

Reece Strikes Back!

It’s time once again to catch up with everyone favourite comicologist. I know it seemed I was taking the piss last issue with his interview. But in all honesty, if in my younger days someone had interviewed me about my collection I would have answered as if it mattered. And I would expect the readers to hang on my every word. So he kicks things of with some talk about collecting which still holds weight today. It was funny to say he didn’t want to name what books he was looking for as it would jack the prices up! One book he does name is Captain America #33 and whether he can justify spending $80 on it. For him he says Golden Age Marvel is unobtainable, I can certainly relate to this. Not Golden Age but I am finding Daredevil issues under #50 very expensive now. The price hikes to him are caused by the Price Guide and dealers. Like I said people reading this now and then would totally agree with what he is saying. Reece is probably one of the most in-touch people in the comics industry at this point. A wealth of knowledge that has seen him do research work for Marvel. While he certainly does like the sound of his own voice you can not fault his passion. I enjoyed his theory that Namor may be an accidental case of ripping of King Kong!

NEXT: Moench! Sisterhood of Steel! Hamlin!