1. What initially drew you to comics?
My older brother Lee always had the best stuff. He was my first great influence.
2. From Madman to David Bowie — your work is always enjoyable and creative. How
do you refill creatively?
Over the years I've built the ultimate "happy place". I have a small movie theater and performance stage in my private studio where I can indulge in all kinds of pop culture. Exciting new stuff, and old favorites. So I'm always energized & re-energized creatively, constant over-lapping inspirations, always making something today that didn't exist yesterday.
Laura has her own studio too with her own vibe, and then we make dates to set aside what we're working on for movies, or drop everything each week to get re-energized with friends and family for "Framily Fridays".
3. What do comics allow you to do as a storyteller?
Complete creative freedom to write and draw stories with complete autonomy, or do collaborative projects with my favorite writers and artists. Comics are the ultimate storytelling medium. Words and pictures with the simplest and most accessible process possible.
4. Any message for young creators (and the teachers who work with them)?
Nurture your creative joy and love of storytelling. Don't let anything discourage you from the sheer pleasure of creating. As long as you enjoy it, you'll keep doing it. And if you keep doing it, you'll keep getting better at it. And the better you get, the more the pleasure increases exponentially. Entertain yourself as the priority. Hopefully the level of quality will eventually find an audience, and actually make a living doing it.
5. Where can we look for your work next?
There's currently a 5-issue THE X-CELLENT series for Marvel, with another 5-issue run following before the end of the year. And next month (July) a massive DC COMICS debut. Three 80-page volumes for an epic called SUPERMAN: Space Age.
Next year I have
a musical follow-up to my BOWIE graphic novel, but I can't reveal the subject yet. Then I should have another MADMAN story in the pipeline. And then another project for Marvel is lining up.
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