1. What drew you to comics?
Didn't have to be "drawn" there, I was there pretty well since birth. My dad was a cartoonist as a young man, and we had original cartoon art on the walls of the house, framed, including a couple of original Pogo strips, a ton of political cartoon originals and my father's originals from the 30s and 40s. Comics were never discouraged, and in fact, keeping them in nice shape was important in my house because I had a bunch of siblings and we were supposed to keep them nice for the other sibs to read 'em. As a result, I have a set of comics from the 50s and 60s that were purchased by older siblings, but kept in pretty good shape (mostly DC Superman and Batman stuff). My "core" collection comes from the family collection, long abandoned by the siblings and left to me.
2. What has it been like to revisit The Batman Adventures Continue?
Fun. Surreal. Like old times. A bunch of answers. Probably the most important "take" on the comeback is that we never left. I did a 70-page graphic novel in BatVentures style with Rick Burchett just a couple of years ago. I did covers for Batman Adventures meets the Teenage Turtles a couple of months before that. I'm ALWAYS asked for BatVentures style commissions for conventions and fans. And the "style" gets asked for on other projects. I did an issue of Marvel's HULK book in the animated style. I drew a year's worth of Ultimate Spider-Man in the animated style. It's not so much a comeback as a continuation for me and this style. Same for Paul and Alan, I suspect....
3. You’ve worked on a wide range of books, including work for DC and Marvel — what’s been the best collaboration you’ve experienced so far?
My two favourite collaborators are Dan Slott and Rick Burchett. Anything I do with either of those guys turns out pretty good. And the THREE of us got to do She-Hulk together for a few months, and Batman Adventures together for a year and a bit. But Spidey-Torch, with Dan Slott is one of my favourite projects, and Dark Claw with Rick Burchett is another of my faves. It's very often those two guys. ALSO: I did a bunch of stuff with Mark Waid when the world was young, and pretty proud of most of that stuff, including kind of creating the "speed force" in a phone call with Waid, just shooting the shit about Flash's super-powers.
4. Any message for young creators?
First piece of advice: Get good at the skill set, don't guess, don't do it by instinct. Put in the time to get good at not just anatomy, but storytelling, architecture, facial expressions, composition, clothing folds, interior design, acting, lighting, AND scriptwriting, character development, pitching, dialogue, etc. Being good at a few common poses does not a career make. Get good at the whole thing. ALSO: Though there's no better job -- it's damned fun, but you've got to TREAT it like a JOB. you gotta make deadlines, and you gotta take gigs that may not appeal to you, to pay the bills. Form relationships with editors. It can't all be Spidey and Batman. Sometimes you do a (unnamed character) comic because you're trying to impress that office with your speed and skill set, and that editor becomes the editor of Spider-Man in two years, he brings you with him...Make editors rely on you, and make them think of you FIRST for a gig, and you'll work for decades.
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