CHRIS WESTON interview

Page from Ministry of Space

Interview conducted by smoky man via email in June 2012, on the occasion of the publication - by NPE - of the Italian edition of Ministry of Space.

For more info about Chris Weston, visit his blog.

And... watch the man at work in this stunning video.

smoky man: I know it's has been a long time ago, but considering that the Italian edition has just been published, what do you remember of your "Ministry of Space" experience? You did an amazing job there...
Chris Weston: I remember it being a very difficult experience, but then most of my better-known books were.
Initially I was attracted to the project because the setting reminded me of Dan Dare, probably my favourite comic strip.
I remember the book being endlessly delayed, but that was just as much my fault as Warren's. It got interrupted by The Filth , which Grant Morrison had convinced me was going to make my fortune. (How we laugh about that now).
The final episode was without doubt the hardest book I've ever had to draw; I got hit by a severe case of "I can't draw!" disease. I completely lost my nerve. Each page was like gouging out my own intestines with a rusty fork.
Image were going through some company turmoil at the time, and I found it very hard to find someone willing to communicate with me. They were happy to talk to Warren so I had to rely on him for any updates, which was frustrating.
So, not a happy time. But I don't think it shows on the page. Laura Martin's colours were beautiful, and I think it's one of the few books I've drawn that wouldn't work in black and white.
And as I said, most of my better work comes out of bad experiences. I'm hoping The Twelve will be regarded in the same way. 

Page from The Filth

What about your current comics commitments? Finally The Twelve is reaching its conclusion and I saw around some recent works you did for 2000AD, if I remember well. So what is happening for you on both sides of the Atlantic? :)
CW: At the moment, not much on the comic-book front. I've been storyboarding a lot of adverts lately, which is cool. 
I get paid well to do these and I get to collaborate with my friend Albert Hughes (the director of Book of Eli) again. I never thought of myself as a team player, but it's always fun to be part of his gang. We're awaiting the green-light on another film, Motor City, potentially starring Gerard Butler. Beyond that I have a top secret comic-book project planned...

Cover for The Twelve

You mentioned the Book of Eli and you also worked on the now "aborted" Akira live action. So, what about the pros and cons of working in the movie field?
CW: It's very hard to find anything negative to say about my film experiences: the pay is better than comics... and, on the whole, the movie people have treated me with more respect and better manners than I've ever received in the comic-book industry.
The downside is you can work for months on a project like Akira that will end up being shelved, and that's a lot of work that will never see light of day. But I can live with that; the larger wage packet compensates for any loss of exposure. However, I still love doing comics, and I doubt I'll ever turn my back on them completely. I feel like I'm only beginning to get the hang of drawing them, so it would be madness to quit now!
On a film you have to subjugate your own ego to a greater extent; I'm there to bring out what's in my director's head, not present MY vision of the script. With comics, I have more free rein to express myself.

A Judge Dredd commission

What's your opinion of the current state of the industry in UK and USA, considering the general crisis, comics reboot, the usual crossovers, prequels/sequels... and the new supports, such as e-book or digital comics? Which are your feelings, from your privileged point of view? I mean you know pretty well both markets...
CW: I'm sure I've detected the smell of mutiny in the air. So many creators I know are getting fed up with working for "The Man"; producing page after page of the same company-owned spandex soap-operatics that we've seen for decades.
They've seen the success that Mark Millar and Robert Kirkman have had with their thematically-diverse and creator-owned projects...  and they are thinking "I want a piece of THAT action".
I predict you'll see a wave of top flight talents risk financial ruin by producing their own books, and distributing them digitally. Some will fail, some will succeed. In the meantime, you'll see the Big Companies replace these creators with more and more talent from The Third World.
It's no secret that super-hero comic sales are on the decline, and the Big Companies will be forced to think of ever more desperate gimmicks and events to keep the readers hooked. What they should be doing is offering the creators better deals and more creative freedom. Before Watchmen may get green-lit, but would  the original series get commissioned in the current  climate...? A 32-page book, no-ads; a stand-alone story with all new characters... and creator-owned? Would a company like DC go for that nowadays? Nah.
But they should.

Nowadays the new-old word seems to be "graphic novel" (which is not, imho, a synonym of good comics). What do you think of the "phenomenon"?
CW: I rarely use the term "graphic novel". "Comic-book" is the phrase that usually leaps out of my mouth. I don't have anything against the term graphic novel", I just never got in the habit of using it. It's been a good marketing tool, to make comics seem more respectable to outsiders who have a distorted view of what a comic-book can be. 

Page from The Invisibles

Are you planning to write and draw something in "that vein" in  the upcoming future? I know you wrote some shorts in the past...
CW: I've been discussing doing a creator-owned, self-written BD-style book with an European publisher, which is REALLY exciting.
My mentor, the artist Don Lawrence, had always directed me to work for the European comic market, so it was quite ironic that I spent the last two decades working for US and UK-based companies. I think the time is finally right now to head East like I originally intended. Variety makes life interesting, after all... and I have no great desire to draw any spandex-clad super-heroes for a while.

Thanks a billion, Chris!

Gary Spencer Millidge draws Kirby & F4

In 2004 Gary Spencer Millidge contributed - with other Italian and International artists - to the Italian book Jack Kirby: Tributo al Re, conceived and supervised by Italian journalist and comics writer Marco Rizzo.
The sold-out anthology celebrated the genius of Jack Kirby in the 10th anniversary of his departure with short essays, appreciation texts, illustrations, short comics and much more. I contributed with a short text and also involved some International friends in the homage gallery.

In that occasion Gary Spencer Millidge drew a great illustration celebrating both Kirby and one of his most popular creations, The Fantastic Four.

Many thanks to Gary for his generous support to the book and... for his permission to post here his great illustration in colour for the first time. Enjoy! :)

P. CRAIG RUSSELL interview

Interview conducted by smoky man, on the occasion of the publication - by NPE - of the Italian edition of Coraline’s adaptation.

Answers received in October 2011. Posted here with the artist's permission.

Many thanks to Mr. Russell for his kindness and support.

P. Craig Russell official site: www.artofpcraigrussell.com

In your long career you have successfully adapted into comics form several works originally from different sources. What about your approach to the original material? Do you generally make a lot of researches and studies before actually start? 
P. Craig Russell: I actually don't do a tremendous amount of studies and research before I start a project. Certainly if the setting is something like, for instance, feudal Japan or 19th century Holland, I have to assemble costume and architectural reference ahead of time and if I'm going for a more realistic approach I pose models and photograph them for reference. The only time I do a great amount of sketchbook work before beginning to draw a story is when the visual 'tone' of the piece is more cartoony. For my adaptation of Oscar Wilde's fairy tale The Devoted Friend I filled 50 pages in my sketchbook.

Page from Coraline

What about your method in adapting into comics form? Do you follow a "standard" process? I suppose that maybe each piece needed its own "tone" depending on the author and specific work, I guess.. but maybe there are common threads or techniques/storytelling devices that you can identify...

PCR: When beginning an adaptation I first photocopy each two page spread of the book onto 11x17 paper. This leaves a huge margin in which I can thumbnail sketch however many versions of a page design I need before solving the problem. I also use these large pages to do a very rough 'blocking' of text to comic page. In other words, based on simple experience, I 'guesstimate' how many paragraphs can make the transition from prose to page. Sometimes it's not even whole paragraphs but only a few sentences that are given an entire page to themselves. I'm also looking for a good 'break' point for each page, almost like the stanza of a poem. You don't want a page break in the middle of a sentence. Also, it's easier to spread out these sheets on the table than to be constantly leafing back and forth through the book as I lay it out.

Page from A Voyage to the Moon

How much did your "method" change with the passing of years? If it did...

For me 'method' is an evolution, just as one's handwriting or drawing style subtly evolves over the years. Having said that, there have been some seismic shifts such as going from the illustrative realism of The Gift of the Magi (Opus 31) to the straight out cartooning of A Voyage to the Moon (Opus 32). But those changes in drawing style were dictated by the subject matter of the story. Layout style has been more constant in its evolution although the year in which I did nothing but lay out over 600 pages (1996?) I quickly evolved a page design approach in which I was acutely aware of the aligning and confluence of the 'gutters' between panels. There was another shift several years later when I was designing Coraline and started running gutters across double page spreads. It's not entirely consistent throughout the book but usually is. With Coraline I also started playing with the interplay on each, or most, pages between very large and very small panels. I enjoyed the challenge of making the pages visually interesting as a series of rectangles while not losing sight of the importance of storytelling, of why those rectangles were on the page in the first place. In other words it failed if it was merely one or the other.

An other page from Coraline

Talking specifically about Coraline, how did the project originate? Which were the difficulties - if there were any - that you faced along the process?

PCR: The first part of your question is easy to answer. For me the project originated when Neil Gaiman called me and asked if I'd be interested in adapting Coraline. I said yes. That was easy. There were no major difficulties except one. It was Neil's description of the 'other father' when he has been relegated to the basement and is reverting to some otherworldly form. Basically he's a slug with little stick arms. The story calls for him to chase Coraline around the basement. This works in prose but I found it very difficult to animate. My version, while decaying, is much more human like, just so I could get him to move. On seeing the finished work Neil wistfully asked what had happened to his 'slug Dad'. I explained. When the animated film came out I excitedly looked forward to how the animators would solve the problem. THEY AVOIDED IT TOO. They put the Dad on a sort of bicycle, chasing her about the garden. I sank down in my seat and said "Oh no, poor Neil. Sorry".

I really appreciated your decision to approach the subject with a "light tone". I really like the way you drew Coraline. I like to think it's a sort of "realistic" cartooning... what about your decision in term of visual storytelling? What about the "design" of each characters? I suppose you were familiar with the illustrations that Dave McKean did for the original novel... they were more darker in style than your approach…

PCR: Dave's beautiful illustrations certainly were darker and edgier than mine. When Neil was discussing the project with me I could sense he was being very careful as to why I was being asked. I understood. I said "you want a more 'user friendly' artist to appeal to the kids". I could hear the smile of relief in his voice as he said "Yes".

A gorgeous page from Ramadan

Doing a step back... as a comics reader I always remain amazed by your Sandman's Ramadan issue, which, in my humble opinion, is one of the peak of the medium, a real masterpiece. So, what about your collaboration with Neil Gaiman? In your previous works together and especially in the case of Coraline...

PCR: The reason I do so many adaptations of classic literature is that, like so many filmmakers who look to the novel or the play for source material, I'm simply looking for a good story to tell. You're halfway there when you have that to start with. It's the same in collaborating with Neil. To me working with Neil is no different than working with Oscar Wilde or Rudyard Kipling. Except they're dead and he's very much alive. And it's very exciting working with a living writer whose life's work is a work in progress and not yet a set of collected works. Also, he's very sweetly encouraging and that makes me want to try even harder on the next project.

What are you working on at the moment? Any "mainstream" involvement, e.g. superhero stuff? I recently saw your b&w Spirit short story and it was a very funny reading and a little example of "intelligent entertainment”....

PCR: Earlier this year I finished work on The Happy Prince, the fifth volume in my ongoing adaptation of the complete fairy tales of Oscar Wilde. Now I'm starting work on the sixth album and the last of those nine tales, The Fisherman and his Soul. There's an album of Neil Gaiman short stories I should be farther along. We're also discussing a several hundred page adaptation of his The Graveyard Book which would involve a number of artists working over my layouts. No super-hero work at the present, the Spirit story was about as close to that as I've gotten in a while. What a delightful script Will Pfeiffer gave me. So between Gaiman and Wilde I have the next couple of years planned out. Which reminds me of an old joke. Q: How do you make God laugh? A: Tell him your plans.

Page from The Spirit N.17

Farel Dalrymple pays homage to Sergio Toppi

In 2005 Farel Dalrymple contributed - with some other Italian and International artists - to the gallery of homage illustrations contained in Sergio Toppi: Nero su bianco con eccezioni, a book written and edited by Fabrizio Lo Bianco, published in Italy by Black Velvet. The volume explored in depth the career and works of SERGIO TOPPI, the worldwide acclaimed Master of Comics Art and Illustration.

In that occasion Dalrymple drew a great portrait of Toppi's character Il Collezionista (The Collector).

Many thanks to Mr. Dalrymple for his generous support to the book and... for his permission to show here his gorgeous illustration. Enjoy! :)

KATHRYN & STUART IMMONEN interview

Interview conducted by smoky man, mainly focused on the Immonens' Moving Pictures graphic novel, on the occasion of the Italian edition published by NPE.

Answers received via email in September 2010.

Originally printed in Italy on the free press magazine Comic-Soon (N. 11, October 2010, Tespi Editore).

Presented here in English for the first time with the artists' permission.

Moving Pictures has been defined as “historical fiction”. Do you think this is a good definition, a good “label” for it?

Kathryn Immonen:  It’s as good as any. And certainly, we’ve been extremely happy to have been positively reviewed by places like The American Library Association and it helps that there’s content in the work that can be linked to school curricula. But really, Moving Pictures doesn’t even fall into the category of what’s currently derisively being called ‘faction’ in some critical circles.  It’s a small story that steadfastly ignores the larger events.  I’m pretty sure there were no fetching Canadians doing curatorial work-study at the Louvre.  And I’m sure we screwed up all over the place but, you know... there’s a big error in The Bourne Identity but it doesn’t stop it from being a terrific film.  But basically, like all fiction I think, it’s an invitation to think about something differently for just a moment.

Stuart Immonen: It's always been our feeling that the "facts" shouldn't get in the way of the "story," that is, if a story -- a fiction -- is what you want to tell. The period is already well-examined; we don't pretend to add to the historical record with Moving Pictures, but I don't think we alter it, either.

KI: Well... not much, anyway.

The book is set in Nazi-occupied France and one of the key element in the story is Art in itself. What led to your interest in this subject and setting? Where did the original idea for Moving Pictures come from?

KI:  Many years ago, I was reading Janet Flanner’s ... Paris was Yesterday, I think it was. She was the Paris correspondent for the New Yorker magazine during the war. And she was talking about the cleaning of the Louvre as a by-product of the shifting of the art out of the city. It was just so strange and funny.  I, like just about everybody, was familiar with those incredible photographs of the art hoard that was found in the  mine in the Austrian Alps.  But I really started thinking about those guys with the rags and the cans of Pledge and the buckets of ammonia water... small domestic  activities that were a side-effect of big global acts of violence and, in a lot of ways, imagination. 

Even if World War II is just mentioned in the story - and for example you don’t see any swastika but just black flags in the pages - MP is clearly “linked” to a well recognizable period of 20th century, but the focus certainly seems to be on the characters and their dynamics. What do you think the actual narrative core to be?

KI: At the beginning, the imagery was there on the flags and, initially, we got rid of it because it just looked so overwhelmingly obvious, somehow. 

SI: Right, this was another case of self-censorship, obfuscating the setting deliberately. It happened in the dialogue, too. In the original script, there were names of well-known historical figures that we eventually decided didn't need to be there, and in fact, got in the way of the story we wanted to tell.

KI: As we continued to kind of keep erasing signs, it started to function in a lot of other ways.  As a visual metaphor for blind spots (wilful or otherwise), as a literal reference to the actual blacking out of signposts during the war, as an impediment to wayfinding  of all kinds.

KI: In many ways, though, the setting just provides a solid backdrop against which to talk about things which are important to us as creators, not the least of which is the hierarchy and valuation of objects.  But also, it’s a historical moment that has been so explored, written and over-written that slippage seems unavoidable.  By which I mean that the fictional characters, in this case, inevitably have a kind of fundamentally unlocatable nature which I find really compelling. You can write about the history all you want, I’m not sure you can ever make sense of it... even as a collection of events. And certainly, throughout the story, the characters in a lot of ways have their backs firmly turned to it. At its heart, it’s a story about desire.

I think one of the strong points of the book is that is a story that you have to read and read again because each word, each expression, each single panel, could be revelatory. The reader has to pay attention. What do you think about this? While reading it, I thought it could work as a very European black and white movie, maybe with a spot, a touch of colour in some scenes… I don’t know if this could make sense for you…

KI: Yeah. I know there has been some vague hope that this property may have another life somehow but I don’t really see it as a possibility. I think the best description of Moving Pictures is still “one long strangled inhalation”. For Stuart and me, it is so thoroughly a comic, conceived completely to exist in that form and, hopefully, make the most of the medium. It’s such an incredibly ‘still’ work. Everything is internalized. And I continue to be amazed at how Stuart compellingly handled the storytelling in a piece where ‘action’ means a character glances over to one side or, if you’re lucky, does something really crazy like sit down and take their jacket off.

SI: I know! It could be adapted, though. It's a very, very controlled reading experience, very deliberate in pacing and composition. For it to be re-imagined for a very collaborative medium like film would be interesting... but different. But that's the case with anything.

How much research did you do, both for the textual part and for the visual one? What about influences and references?

KI: The script was completed such a  long ago and any time I glance back at the notes I kept, I’m surprised by how much I read, how much I knew. I think I’d categorize it more as ‘reading’ rather than ‘research’. Typically, I don’t keep stuff either in real life or in my head.  So, while there was a lot of prep, I wouldn’t say that a whole lot of it found its way into the story in any kind of overt way.  It’s not a work that’s overridden with those kinds of details... at least I hope not. There comes a point, too, where you just have to put a stop to the research and it’s mostly because you are in danger of finding yourself wanting to include things that you find interesting but that  your characters couldn’t care less about.

SI: In a way, that applies to the art, as well. There are so many panels with simple black backgrounds that you might think very little research was required, but in fact, I collected as many period photos and documents as I could. But the drawing style I chose dictated how much could be shown. The details are so spare that when they are included at all, they represent a larger setting.

SI: I was thinking about the styles of German artist Ulf K. and French artist Stanislas when I began work on Moving Pictures, and there is something of Dylan Horrocks in there, too. Pretty shortly the style developed on its own, and drawing that way seemed natural instead of deliberate homage.

Originally MP has been serialized as a web-comics. You said - in past interviews - this was a way for you to be “forced” to meet a deadline. Then it moved to “classic” print. What’s the web for you? Is it a place for experimenting and to express yourself in complete artistic freedom?

SI: The internet is just a vehicle and doesn't necessarily influence the content. However, certain formats "feel" more appropriate than others. The half-hour comedy is no more suited to television exclusively than the daily strip on the web, but those platforms seem to work in those media. A cartoonist can certainly work without the conventions of print deadlines, sales, audience demands or editorial influence online and bandwidth is cheap, so experimental ideas are more likely to be explored, but I might suggest just as likely to fail as they would be in print.

SI: Right now, webcartoonists must supplement a frequent comic strip with sales of paraphernalia, prints or commission work, and they must be prepared to spend a lot of time promoting their product if they want to succeed. That's too much work for us; we just wanted to finish the work, and with both of us busy with jobs already, posting the comic on a schedule was a good way to ensure that would happen.

And print, in this modern digital era? I mean, the original plan was to have MP in print, wasn’t it? In any case, at least you were thinking to self-publishing as a possibility...

KI:  The intention was always to have it in print. And certainly we thought about doing it ourselves, which we’ve done a lot. But this time, we really felt like we wanted someone else to take it over, although all the lettering, design and production work was still done by us. We started to approach publishers and were happy that Top Shelf was interested. It’s been a very good fit.  The real benefit for us, though, was the editorial process. We had some long and profitable conversations with the amazing Chris Staros and there is absolutely no question that he made Moving Pictures a better book. The printed version is not enormously different than what appeared on line but it the changes we implemented as a result of the editorial relationship were invaluable.

Kathryn is credited as writer and Stuart as the artist; is it as simple as that or was it a more “complex” collaboration? I mean I am curious… for example who did the breakdowns and page layouts? Did Stuart do any editing of the writing process?

SI: The script was written with all dialogue and stage direction in place before I touched it. But it wasn't divided into pages or panels. We agreed to a simple format of three tiers of panels (or variations) which helped to determine the pacing. For example, if a scene didn't fit well in a multiple of six square panels, one might be given more "weight" by expanding it across the tier. So there was this intermediate collaborative step between writing and drawing where we both decided how to present the work visually. After the panels were drawn, sometimes I would do the lettering, and sometimes Kathryn would do it and there was usually an examination of the dialogue at that point. I guess that's complex, or at least, unusual.

Stuart, you are well known and admired, even in your superheroes works, for your “chameleonic” style, so in MP you used different approaches to the page: hatching for paintings, a clear but strong b&w line for the “real” story and spot blacks for photo collage. Why did you decide to use these three particular styles? Was it something you also discussed and planned with Kathryn?

SI: Well, thank you for the compliment, first of all. I'm trying to remember if we talked about it, or if I just "surprised" her... there was a period when the style was not concrete, and I drew the first half-dozen pages a number of times in different ways. I think I showed these trials to Kathryn as I worked, and she would tell me, as she usually does, that it was good, but I could tell that she knew I was still grasping at the final form.

KI:  Sure. I would say that I always know when Stuart’s already made a decision even though he’s showing me options and, similarly, we’ll have conversations about things and Stuart makes a decision at the end but I know that the next day I’m going to find the whole thing in the garbage. I’m the same way. To each other, we’re absurdly transparent. It seems like 80 percent of our so-called collaborative process is just listening to the other person work through their own problems.

SI: Finally, I discovered a method of drawing I could maintain for the online serialization, but it wasn't right for the art. In the script, the art works are described as being shown to the audience, but not necessarily as tangible objects, rather like projections. It simply made sense to divorce them from the main characters and settings stylistically as well as compositionally.

In the Italian edition, we decided to maintain the title in English, as in the original book. Because, apart from its literal meaning of "pieces of Art packed and relocated" which is an aspect of the story in itself, I think it evokes more than that... For example, I think it's also connected to the people and their behaviour... it's intentionally "ambiguous", in a good way... What can you say about this aspect of the book?

KI: We liked the title because the literal meaning is the one that applies to the book but it is primarily used as an old fashioned term for film and movies which really has nothing to do with the story. I guess, in many ways, it was a way to defeat expectations right up front and it establishes an environment for the story where meaning and intentions can be slippery or difficult to locate.

Can you tell us pros and cons of work-for-hire jobs for mainstream, big companies and working on your more personal projects?

KI: The personal projects are, in a lot of ways, much easier, mainly because we don’t have to co ordinate with anyone or anything else. But we would both say that working in the mainstream has made our independent work better and vice versa.

SI: Yes, absolutely. The saying in English is, "A change is as good as a rest," and it applies in this situation. Thinking about storytelling in a different way prevents one from becoming stale, or from relying on convention or laziness to solve a problem.

Can you reveal anything about your next “big thing” Russian Olive to Red King?

KI: It’s about a woman who may or may not have survived a small plane crash (it’s clear that she dies at some point but exactly when that happens to a character, who’s still walking and talking all the way through,  is for the reader to decide), the man who’s caught not knowing, and Chekhov. It’s a ghost story. With petroglyphs. And writer’s block.

What about your current or upcoming superheroes works? Uhmm… do you like superheroes, don’t you?

KI: I love superheroes but really, the most interesting thing about a superhero character is not the superpowered part. Patsy Walker is the strength of Hellcat and not the other way around. Bruce Wayne is a lot more interesting than Batman. I think that goes for most characters. Except maybe Superman... I still have trouble figuring out what’s interesting about him. But Lois is a smart girl... so there must be something. Stuart and I both have some really really fun and interesting work for Marvel in the pipeline (unfortunately, not together!) but I think this interview is going to appear before either of us can say what that is. Too bad!!

SI: But we did collaborate on a story for the Image Comics western anthology Outlaw Territory 2, which will be available in October 2010.

A “classic”, final question: what does it happen when your artistic partner is also your life partner?

KI: We’ve been together for an embarrassingly long time (so long that the number got applause at our panel in San Diego... embarrassing) and we’ve been making comics together for almost all of that time and sharing a work space while doing it.  Both those things are our preference. Working together is the easiest thing in the world and, on the days that it’s not... the dog gets extra long walks. 

Invasion

A one-page story that should have been published on the Alias comics section of the Italian newspaper Il Manifesto, but did not make it because of possible copyright issues.
Written by Antonio Solinas and drawn by super-artist Matteo Scalera (Deadpool), it is presented here for the first time ever in English.
The theme for the Manifesto contribution was "Let Us Out", so, rather than turning to political territories, I decided to do something a bit more pop and "out there".
At the time I was delving in my "pikey" obsession, a phenomenon so typically British (I love typically British things), therefore I thought I would make Pikey Mikey, an original creation, the main character. Unfortunately Matteo and I forgot that our alien race might bear more than a little resemblance to other, more famous (and copyrighted) aliens...
Enjoy (and, as usual, click on the pic to enlarge it)!

JEFF SMITH interview

Interview by smoky man and Antonio Solinas. Answers received as mp3 files in June 2009.
Transcription by Antonio Solinas.
Originally printed in Italy on Scuola di Fumetto magazine (N. 70, October 2009, Coniglio Editore).
Presented here in English for the first time with the artist's permission.
Above: Cover for Bone N.1. Bone is copyright and trademark Jeff Smith.
Jeff Smith site: www.boneville.com

Talking about your last work, the sci-fi series Rasl. I read the first issues and I found them really intriguing with an unusual main character: an art thief able to travel within dimensions with a personal history full of mysteries to be discovered. Can you present this new creation of yours to the Italian audience?
RASL is the first real project I have worked on since Bone that was my own. It’s the story of an inter-dimensional art thief, who is not really a hero: he is more of an anti-hero. He is a man who is trapped. What I am trying to do is to mix science fiction and noir together, and I thought it would be more interesting to have a bad character, rather than the usual hero.

I know you did tons of researches for this new comic, that you read many scientific and physics books. You also went to Arizona and visited the local desert for research. So, what’s about the initial seed for the story? What’s about its working in progress, its development?
As it was my desire to mix noir and science fiction, the science part comes from my own love of physics: I love to read about string theory and M-theory. Some of the ideas scientists have, are pretty far out there, they involve parallel universes, and that’s the real science. The fringe science is just as interesting, but it’s a little more conspiracy-driven. Nikola Tesla creating death rays, and Albert Einstein completing his unified field theory in 1928, but withdrawing it because the human race was not really ready for it yet: I love all that kind of stuff, and then when you mix that with noir, you have those tough, brutal, primal characters trying to just survive. I started to like this idea of this character who has these portable thermo-magnetic engines on his shoulders and then I was off.

Rasl seem to be quite a departure from the “all ages” subject of Bone, isn’t it? Were you worried that your established audience could be a bit surprise by it? Or do you simply don’t mind because this is the story you want and have to tell?
You know, I really wasn’t that worried that the people who read Bone would be upset about a more grown-up story from me. I mean, it’s just a story I want to tell and I assumed that if I just did the same thing, and if I did another Bone story, that would be lame. So the fact that it worked out was kind of lucky and there were people that were a little shocked, but I think that everybody is dealing with that alright.

What’s about the schedule for this news series? How big in scope is it? Will it be another 15-year opus as Bone?
This will not be another giant 1300 book. I probably had only one of those, I mean. I am not going to live long enough to do another book that big. I guess probably RASL will be around 350-400 pages. It depends, you know, on how the story rolls out in the end.

Let’s talk about Bone. It has been – and still is – an incredible (and well deserved) success all over the world. It’s obvious that Bone is gained the status of an evergreen comics, one of the gems of this Art form. How do you feel about that? Also, what’s your feeling to be “labelled” as the guy who creates comics accessible to kids?
You know, I don’t really think about being labelled by kids cartoonist or something like that. I just did Bone because I wanted to do it, it was something I wanted to read when I was a kid, but when I was doing it I approached it as an adult (book) talking to other adults, with classic cartoon characters. How someone wants to label it, that’s all marketing.

Regarding Bone - and I suppose a similar thing could be applied for Rasl - I have always been curious to know how difficult it was for you to manage all the different production and promotion aspects on your own. What was the most difficult part of self-publishing, for you?
The early days of self publishing require an awful lot of different... hats. You have to wear a lot of different hats, you have got to make sure your books are shipping to the right places, that you are dealing with invoices, and distributors: there is a lot of travel involved. I remember being overwhelmed by all the paperwork that was involved in the early days.
And that’s not even counting writing and drawing a strip that is liked by anybody beside your own mother. That’s always a struggle. Of course, now I have my wife, Vijaya, my business partner: she handles a lot of that stuff, as well as Steve Hamaker and Kathleen Glosan, and Tom Gaadt. I mean, I have a pretty good team that takes care of a lot of that stuff for me now, so it’s not quite as tough as it was in those early days.

You always mention Pogo by Walt Kelly as one of your major influences. Is there any other comic or cartoonist that plays a major role in inspiring you in this phase of your career?
Nowadays, one of my favourite cartoonists is Paul Pope, who does sci-fi/noir/fantasy comics, like Heavy Liquid and 100%. And whenever a new comic comes out by Paul, I get really excited and I kind of try to keep up with the level of intensity and depth that he gets in his stories and in his frames.

Let’s talk about some technical aspects. What drawing tools do you use in your work? What do you think about digital art? Have you ever resorted to Photoshop? What’s your approach to technology?
My approach to technology is almost like a double-headed coin: on one hand, my actual comic pages are pretty old school. Two-ply Bristol board, plate finish, pencil, and I use a Number 1 horse hair brush dipped in India ink: I just use that one size brush. Pretty straightforward when it comes to that. However, in the early days of Bone, I would use xerox copies or something, to replicate something in the background if it was absolutely necessary that it stayed the same. I think Photoshop is just the new version of that, so sometimes I use Photoshop to move things around: I am not afraid of it. My feeling on technology comes out of this: if you can use something in the comic and the reader doesn’t notice it or it doesn’t stop the story, then use it.

Before jumping into comics you worked as an animator. Have you ever thought about going back to doing animation, now that you are famous and respected?
Fuck no!!! [laughs]

Let’s talk about your approach to creating a story. Given that you do everything by yourself, how do you normally proceed? Do you work with a full script, or do you just write down an outline of the story? Do you always employ the same method or does it change, from time to time?
My methods are pretty consistent. I start with an outline: key element, though, is that I really like to know the ending, before I start, so usually the first thing I do is to write down the ending, and then write down the beginning, and then the middle, and then maybe find two more spots to hit on in the outline. And then... then go, baby!

A question about the visual side of your work. You normally ink yourself. How does this affect your pencils? Do you draw loosely and then put the finishing touches when inking, or do you do most of the work in the pencil stage?
I do always ink myself and because of that I draw very sketchy and very loose, and I really do the final drawing while I am inking. Sometimes I have young cartoonists asking me if I have pencils so they can have access to my pencils so they can practice inking on, and I always have to tell them that my pencils are worthless: you just couldn’t possibly ink them unless you were there when they were pencilled in my brain.

Bone was definitely a plot-driven story, a choice that doesn’t seem very common in an era where “decompressed” storytelling and cool dialogues seem to be the norm. What was the reason for this choice and what do you think about the whole “decompressed” storytelling thing?
Decompression: I just don’t think it’s that easy to label stories, you know. I am very guilty of taking whole issues for a scene, and sometimes three issues to tell one scene, as early as 1993 or 1994. I just think it depends on what the pacing of the scene is. I mean, I think people can tell if you are full of shit and you are trying to stretch something out because you don’t have a story. But if you are telling a story, and it takes a nice long time to tell it, then decompress it. If not, don’t.

Do you still have the time to read comics? Which comics and cartoonist do you follow regularly? I have always admired you for your support to the indie comics scene…
Well, the kind of comics that I like to read aren’t really mainstream comics. I don’t follow books that come out on a normal schedule. The guys I like are like Jeff Lemire, who did the Essex County Trilogy and has got a few more projects coming out that are very interesting. I mentioned Paul Pope, he is also very sporadic. That’s what I like. I like the guys that are doing stuff and when they come out they surprise me and I got to find them.

After years of rumours about an animated Bone movie, it seems that you received an interesting offer from Warner Bros. What about the status of the deal? What can you reveal to us?
Yeah, I am working on a movie with Warner Brothers right now. I learned a hard lesson last time I had a movie deal and I was working with Nickelodeon and Paramount, and so I don’t really like to talk about it. If Warner Brothers want to talk about it, they can talk about it. But they are working on it.

For a long time, your work has been published in black & white. Then Bone was coloured for the Scholastic edition and you wrote and drew the Shazam! miniseries. Did colour affect your approach to comics in any way?
I don’t think so. I had completed Bone in black and white before we even started to consider doing colour. But Shazam!, when I wrote it and drew it, I knew it would be in colour and I like to think that I would do it the same way, but you know I was aware that some things, like night skies and things like that would be a lot easier to communicate in colour. There are a few scenes where Mary Marvel and Talky Tawny are talking by the river at sunset, and I could evoke a mood with the golden colours and I knew I would get that. So, yes, in a way it gives you a little bit to lean on.

Let’s talk about Shazam! For years, you have been the embodiment of the independent attitude in comics. How did it feel to cross the barrier and work for a big publisher, such as DC Comics?
Oh, it felt alright! DC Comics called me, as I was getting near the end of Bone and asked if I wanted to work on a superhero comic, and when they suggested that I would work on Captain Marvel, I thought it was a pretty good fit. Let me just point out that they called me the week before 9/11, so I returned their call a couple of weeks later, in 2001, and I thought that superheroes were actually invented to be propaganda against the Axis, in World War II, and I thought that Captain Marvel would be a great way to talk about fighting an enemy like that. I mean, half the enemy was our own government [laughs] but it seemed to be a useful kind of thing to work with.

What was the reason behind your decision to work with DC? How was working with an editor, after years of total freedom?
I had a great experience working with DC. My editor there was Mike Carlin and to be honest with you, I kind of expected him to give me a little more trouble than he did. But really, they gave me a free hand to work with Captain Marvel, and I think Mike is a really good editor. The comments he gave, he would state them in such a way that he would make me think it was my idea, so it was a pretty good experience all around.

Why did you pick Captain Marvel, of all the DC characters?
What was really interesting to me about Captain Marvel was that he was a character who had not undergone through a revamp, one that all the characters seemed to have gone through ever since Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns, making them very melodramatic and giving them problems and a lot of darkness. That happened to Captain Marvel’s enemy, I can’t remember his name, he’s got Captain’s Marvel suit in black instead of red [he is referring to Black Adam]. He has been updated and so he is horrible. He actually rapes and kills people, which to me is a stupid thing to have in a comic book: I don’t even understand why someone would do that, or want to read it. But Captain Marvel was not like that. He was almost like he was trapped in amber or something: he had been suspended since the early Golden age of comics and I was intrigued by working on something that would connect me so directly to the dawn of American comics.

What can you say about your soon to be released children’s graphic novel Little Mouse gets ready? How did it start? What’s the story about?
Little Mouse Gets Ready: this really is a children’s book. The idea of the Toon books series is to create graphic novels for emerging readers, I think we are talking about between 5 and 7-years old. This is the brainchild of Francoise Mouly and Art Spiegelman, and they asked me if I had an idea for a story. And the idea came up with Little Mouse. It is kind of based on a character that I had around when I was very young, sometime between six and seven or so. I just had this mouse wearing a red vest, so I thought that I could try to do something with that and concentrate on the story on a very simple level and try to draw kid to a comic from panel to panel. It was kind of fun!

A personal question. Your wife is from India and last year you went on tour there. How do you think the close interaction with a culture so different from yours had influenced and still influences you both as human being and as an artist?
I think that’s a big question. Because Vijaya’s family is from Southern India, we have been over to visit a number of times, and I think it’s had a huge effect on me, both in terms of my art and as a person. Any type of travel outside your country is going to be an eye-opening experience and most likely a good thing. I mean, I love to visit Italy or Spain and since I am usually a guest at a comic show I am always lucky enough to have people that want to take me out and get me a good meal and show off the local cuisine. It’s mind-expanding: I think it’s good for you. In terms of my artwork, in America there are certain kinds of things to see, you know, we have the mountains and the desert and the skyscrapers, but in Europe some buildings are over a thousand years old, thousands of years old. And in India, those old temples and churches are still living, and the gods are still residing on the street corners, and I think quite a bit of it made its way into Bone, especially the final act, where they are in Atheia.

A political question. I am curious to know, which are your feelings about Obama as the new USA president? I think it’s a great opportunity of change, not only for USA but for the whole world…
Well, I think you can probably tell from my answer to the Shazam! question that I was not very happy with the Bush administration. I am very happy about the Obama administration coming in and I think it’s a miracle that he kept the US economy and probably the world economy from going down the toilet, because clearly Bush and Cheney were lighting oil fields on the way out of office just like Hussein when he was leaving Kuwait [laughs]. I am very hopeful and I hope the world can forgive us for letting those bastards hang around for as long as they did.

A final question, a fan question. Any chance that you will return – sooner or later – to tell new comics stories of the Bone cousins?
I am a big fan of NOT doing sequels, but the Bone cousins have been such a big part of my life for so long, I am sure I will find some excuse to do something with them again. So, fingers crossed! [in July 2009 Jeff Smith said something more about this. Read the details at his blog]