An Interview with artist Tim Levins
- jddehartwriting
- 9 hours ago
- 4 min read
1. What drew you to comics?
My grandparents had a few 1970s Amazing Spider-Man comics, for some reason – I
guess to give the grandkids something to do when we visited -- and I would read them
over and over. After that, I would try to get my hands on comic books whenever possible.
I’ve also loved comic strips for as long as I can remember, from reading the “funny pages” in the newspaper to later buying collections of my favourite strips.
Drawing was a natural extension of my interest in comics and cartoons. As a kid, I
would flip through my comics and either trace or copy my favourite parts.
2. What was it like working on the Gotham Adventures and Justice League Adventures?
It was a dream come true, as cliché as that sounds. I had been studying traditional
animation, planning to pursue a career in that field, but working in comics was what I had always wanted. In my spare time, I teamed up with a friend from high school, J. Torres, to create a self-published minicomic called The Copybook Tales, which was eventually picked up by small-press publisher Slave Labor Graphics. We did six black & white issues with SLG that didn’t make us any money and received very little attention, but it was enough to get us a foothold in the comics business, and it led to other projects, including a three-issue miniseries at Image called Siren. It wasn’t a success by any means, but I sent copies of Siren to DC Comics as samples of my “professional” work. I received more than one rejection letter in return, but one day, out of the blue, I got a call from Darren Vincenzo, the editor of Batman: Gotham Adventures, asking me if I would be interested in drawing a fill-in issue for that series. I jumped at the chance. One issue led to another, and I was eventually asked to become the full-time penciller, a role that lasted four years.
I learned a lot during my run on Gotham Adventures: How to work under tight
deadlines; improving my drawing and storytelling skills simply by having to draw so much, day in and day out; collaborating effectively with other members of the team. Overall, it was a fantastic experience, and I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity. Plus, between that series and the handful of Justice League Adventures issues I worked on afterwards, the comic-book-loving little kid in me was living out a fantasy, drawing all these classic superheroes and getting paid to do it!
3. Please tell us about one of the best collaborations you’ve had in comics.
The best collaboration I’ve had was with writer Scott Peterson on Gotham Adventures. He started on the series the same time that I did, and we clicked immediately, creatively and personally. Everything with Scott was so natural and effortless – we just “got” each other, and it made the experience of working on the book the highlight of my career. I used to love reading his scripts, not just for the great superhero stories, but also for Scott’s hilarious notes, along with the insightful direction that came from his years as a Batman editor and his genuine love of the medium. He pushed me to be a better artist and has always been endlessly encouraging and supportive. It was a privilege to work with him and to become his friend.
4. Please tell us a bit about your created works for Image and DC.
Siren was the creator-owned series that J. Torres and I did with Image Comics. It
was about a female private eye working on paranormal cases – sort of a grown-up Nancy Drew crossed with The X-Files.
After both J. and I had moved on to other projects at DC, Marvel, Archie, and other
publishers, we reunited for another creator-owned project at DC Comics called Family
Dynamic, which featured a team of Canadian superheroes. Originally intended to be a six-issue miniseries, it was cut to three issues before its debut as a result of DC’s failure to promote it.
5. What is next for you/what work would you like to share about now?
In the past decade or so, I moved away from comics. It’s very labour-intensive and
the pay isn’t great. I shifted to drawing kids’ books for Capstone Publishing base d on DC characters like Batman, Superman, Justice League, etc., which allowed me to keep drawing in the familiar DCAU style, and it gave me the opportunity to ink and colour my own work, as well. I also did a series of how-to-draw superhero books for Capstone, along with a Scooby-Doo encyclopedia.
More recently, I’ve been working with Marvel’s licensing department to create
illustrations that can be used on a variety of merchandise. I was lucky enough to do
licensing work for the Disney+ series X-Men ’97. Thanks to the show’s popularity, I’ve had the fun experience of walking into stores and seeing my drawings on t-shirts, toys, and a bunch of other X-Men ’97 products.
Beyond that, I hope to someday find time to do commission work and to just draw
for myself. Being busy with paid work is obviously a good thing, and I’m certainly not
complaining, but I think it’s important for artists to keep the creative juices flowing with personal projects.
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