Comics Interview: Dissected – Issue #10
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 (DAK).
Up Front
This month rather than basking on the glory of the previous double-sized issue or of reaching the 10th issue milestone he turns the spotlight on Bill Chadwick. He was the first ‘Fan in The Street’ from #1 and since #5 he has been working for Comics Interview in an editorial role. Now I am trying to remember if I gave him a hard time or not?! Anyway, DAK makes a big deal of dedicating the Up Front space to Chadwick but really it just reads as three further questions from the ‘Fan in The Street’ interview. It would be a cool move if he was going to switch this space over to spotlighting the CI crew but for it to be fun it would have to have more depth. DAK ends with a tease of a big announcement coming next issue.
Doug ‘ACE’ Moench
I am coming to this interview as someone who is deep into collecting back issues of Master of Kung Fu. Moench came onto that series with #18 and lasted till the end with #125. So naturally my first instinct was to scan through for any talk of this series which had ended the previous year. Sadly for me, it only came up a handful of times and it wasn’t really anything juicy. First off Moench says how Ralph Macchio told him he chose to be the editor of MOKF because he knew it would be an easy job receiving scripts from himself and then receiving art from Gene Day. Then there is a touch of melancholy as he highlights the solitary nature of being a comics creator. Despite their brilliant synergy on MOKF they never actually met. Day died in 1982 of a coronary believed to be brought on by stress. Moench further adds how Day and Zeck had told him horror stories of 14-hour days at Marvel making changes right up to the deadline! At the end of the interview, it is stated how the second part has been lost. It is promised to appear in an upcoming issue if Moench can find the time to recreate it! The second part focused more on his career as a whole and upcoming projects. As for what we have here, he is mainly talking up his latest work Aztec Ace. Now reading through these Comics Interviews is going to end up costing me some money! Aztec Ace sounds and looks amazing. It ran for 15 issues at Eclipse and a complete hardcover collection on eBay is between £45-£70. For a writer is refreshing to see how many artists he calls out as inspiration, rather than keeping it just to other writers. Moench says he is leaning more toward working in the creator-owned field. The all too familiar story of the creation of Moon Knight leaving a bitter taste in his mouth makes it easy to understand why.
Hitting The Marx
As ever with everyone featured in CI I have a look at their Wiki entry. The only mention of Christy Marx’s comic work is Red Sonja, which comes up briefly in conversation here. But her credits for animation are mind-blowing! Name any of your most beloved Saturday morning cartoons and she has contributed to numerous episodes. During the time of this interview her current projects are Sisterhood of Steel which I’m sure was mentioned in a recent issue of CI and Carlos McLlyr. The latter of which gets all of the attention. The story behind Carlos McLlyr is something that is relateable to stories you hear from indie creators online today. She began work on a Zorro project alongside her husband Peter… before the guy who owned the rights to Zorro pulled the plug. Rather than resting on their laurels and sulking they took all the research and ideas and put them into their own character. In today’s market place with creators being able to put comics out there with crowdfunding stop wasting time trying to break into the closed circle of existing characters. Think about your favourite character and the elements of those stories you like and do your own thing, build a fan base that way and see where the ride goes. Several times in this interview she mentions how much research went into creating this series. For some reason I just loved how many times she mentioned it. Back in the day when I thought I could write comics, research was always the most fun part to me. Even to the point I would start writing the first panel, stop and go back to research! There is a very, very slight underlying hint in this interview of trying to paint Marx as the thinking man’s pin-up of comics fandom. It isn’t an uncomfortable amount but it does feel forced and unnecessary. I liked the part where she confessed to drawing over Robin in her youth to make him a girl. It makes me wonder if there is any crossover between her and Frank Miller with regard to Carrie Kelly in Dark Knight Returns. The accepted origin is that he got the idea from Jamie Hernandez but maybe this interview has uncovered some hidden comics history.
Aloha from Leialoha
As well as having one of the coolest surnames in comics, he also has a stellar career working as a penciler and inker across the board of publishers. In the year of this interview, 1984, he was the inker on the famous silent issue of GI Joe. This is by far one of the most jovial interviews in the pages of CI to date. This is because Ken Steacy is sitting in on things as the interview takes place in his studio. It is a real contrast to see these guys bouncing off each other compared to the picture Moench painted. I mean they even work in a dick joke and I can admit to not being above that level of humour. Early on there is plenty of tongue-in-cheek mocking of the interview standards in CI and how comic book interviews are dull on the whole. He is currently working on Coyote for Epic. This is another of those cool little 80s series I would like to have a taste of. It originally ran at Eclipse for 8 issues before making the switch to Marvel’s Epic line, although Leialoha would leave after #2. There is talk of a future Samurai project with writer Carl Potts. I know Potts did Shadowmasters in ’89 but with a different artist. Like Moench, Leialoha is leaning more towards working on creator-owned projects, whilst still operating solely as inker when it comes to work for hire. This is a smart approach as it allows a steady income stream but also stops the muddy area of creating characters for Marvel as a penciler and not receiving royalties. In his opinion Marvel Epic offers the best of Marvel Comics work and the best of alternatives.
Ad Space
To my recollection this is the first issue where the full-colour back cover advertises a comic not featured in the issue, that being Power Pack. Marvel in fact goes big with a double-page ad announcing Bill Sienkiewicz joining New Mutants. Since the big interview in #7 Comico has a stronghold on ad space. Mage, Grendel and Evangeline all get full-page ads. Judge Dredd again has a presence, this time with an ad for the new mini-series ‘The Judge Child Quest’
Colour Commentary
Fun fact to kick things off Anthony Tollin is the husband of fellow colourist Adrienne Roy who featured in #9. To be fair there isn’t much of note in this interview. The best bit of wisdom he drops for any aspiring colourist is “A colourist can really sabotage the storytelling of the writer and artist.” He runs through the usual influences and creators he has learnt from. From a career point of view, he started at Warren in an editorial role, before moving to Marvel. Here he worked in the zip department for the Marvel UK titles. He says he left Marvel for DC as he was uncomfortable with office politics. At DC he has the feeling there is an emphasis on storytelling in colour. One last fun fact to wrap this up. Tollin is the proud owner of all the original pages of Green Lantern #1.
Hamlin Time
This interview is a good example of Comics Interview perhaps not being new reader friendly. Obviously, people who aren’t fans of comics aren’t picking this up, what I mean is there a people who read comics who don’t know or want to know how the industry works. So when DAK asks the first question of what Mark Hamlin’s job is? The answer may seem foreign to someone not versed in comics culture or even basic sales for that matter. I had to reread it for it to sink in and essentially he sells comics to retailers on the publisher’s behalf. Again, to anyone working in comics or sales today may not see this as revelatory, but right at the birth of the Direct Market Hamlin must seem like he reinvented the wheel, hence an interview in CI! He is currently plying his trade at indy media darlings Comico. From his travels, talking to retailers and from being in shops he believes sales of alternate comics have increased from 10% of the market share to 20/25%. To me looking back on this period it feels like the height of fandom and the Direct Market aligned at the perfect time. Having speciality shops and specific avenues in which to buy comics allowed fans to branch out and try new things. It offered a chance for readers to follow creators rather than characters. It was lightning in a bottle. It makes you wonder if an equally big change in the distribution and purchasing of comics would have the same impact today. Never it seems has fandom felt more divisive and split. People are s set in their ways, unwilling to try new things and have a growing disdain for the output of ‘The Big Two’ that there is the possibility that such a change would be more detrimental overall.
Letters Page
Again not much report here. The one that did catch my eye was from Gerry De La Ree of Saddle River New Jersey. He writes to educate people on the fact he co-wrote two issues of Captain America at the age of 16 with his friend Ron Gaetz For their work the pair split $30. He also had a short story published in Minute Man Comics. A quick Google search confirms this was in #1. In his letter he confesses to not being a comics fan, but again the Google search shows a healthy body of Sci-Fi writing credits.
NEXT: JRJR! PACIFIC! ORZECHOWSKI!
