Voices from Artists Alley: KARL STEVENS

All week we're presenting the latest batch of mini-interviews with independent comic creators we caught up with at the recent Boston Comic Con. Today we unveil our chat with Karl Stevens, a writer and artist whose work can currently be seen in the Boston Phoenix. Let's see what he had to say for himself, shall we?


Now, you have a comic that’s appearing in the Boston Phoenix, is that right?

That’s correct. It’s called Failure and it’s an autobiographical comic. It’s basically about me living in Jamaica Plain and getting drunk all the time.

Fair enough. And how long have you been working on this?

Well, I’ve been doing comics for the Phoenix since 2005. The first one I did was called Whatever, which was recently published in a collection by Alternative Comics.

And how did you get the gig with Phoenix?

Well, the first work I did was called Guilty, and it got reviewed by the Phoenix. And it was right around the time that they redesigned the paper. I had been doing freelance illustration for them, so the art director asked me to do a comic that was kind of similar to that book, which was about living in Allston. And that became Whatever.

Now, you also have here a third book you’ve published, Anatomy for Artists. That’s basically a how-to art guide?

Yeah, that’s basically a straight illustration project. It’s for artists that want to learn anatomy; I didn’t write it, I just did the illustrations. The idea of the book is that you find the anatomical parts on your own body and that will make it easier to familiarize yourself with them.

Well, that makes sense. So, you had mentioned that Failure is semi-autobiographical. Were your earlier projects like Guilty and Whatever also autobiographical?

Yeah. I mean, I definitely used myself in the first strip [Whatever]. But, yeah, there’s a strong element of that, writing about personal things that have happened to me and the world around me.

And did you study art in school?

Yeah, I studied painting at the art institute of Boston and also at Montserrat College of Art.

And what kind of feedback have you been getting about your work?

Mostly positive. A lot of people seem to like it.

Do you know when Failure will be collected? I know you’re still working on it, but is there a lot left in the storyline?

Maybe in 2010 sometime. Or maybe in early 2011. It’s part of a larger book that I am doing, so… I have this literary agent now and she’s been pitching it around so we’ll see what happens.

Is Failure available to read online, or is it something you can only read in the printed version of the Phoenix?

Yes, you can read it online at the Phoenix website which is phx.com and just look in the comics section, it will pop up. Or you can go to my website, which is karlstevensart.com.

And do you know what you’re going to be working on after you finish Failure?

I’m only like halfway in, so I haven’t really started thinking about it.

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Voices from Artists Alley: KEITH GLEASON

Next up on our spin through the world of independent comics and the creators who publish them is Keith Gleason. Keith is one of the masterminds behind Hero Envy, a comic that spins out of the live action web sites Swass Adventures. But instead of me just blathering up here in the intro, why don't we get right to the interview and let Keith explain it all himself?


So, what can you tell us about yourself and this project?

Hi, I’m Keith Gleason from Swassadventures.com and we’re talking about our web series “Hero Envy” and the Swass Adventures. Basically what it is, it’s an online webisode series, live actors, all scripted. It’s a show about geeks – it’s for geeks – and how they relate to each other and the adventures that they go in on.

We’ve done like adventures about Transformers, about wrestling, you know, anything geeky, we’ve done it, we’ve talked about it. We’ve made fun of reality shows, Behind the Music and stuff like that. And then basically, we’ve been doing that since 2005 and we decided a year ago to start a comic book based on the series of characters that we’ve built on the web. And the comic book allows us the opportunity to exp[and on their adventures and do stuff that we couldn’t do in the actual webisodes.

So we decided to do it top notch, full color. It’s got a 23 page full story and then a six page back-up story, which is drawn by a separate artist. It’s about one of our side characters called El Diablo, who’s a wrestler character, an imaginary friend and his origin and how he came about. And in the back we have a letters page and an episode guide so if you haven’t seen the episodes online, the comic is designed for a new reader so they can read it and say, “oh, there’s more episodes on line” and they can go check it out. It’s tons of entertainment for the money.

So you publish this print on demand?

Yes, we use Comic Express. We do all our work through them. Great company, every time I’ve had an issue they’ve taken care of it right away, they get back to you right away. It’s a good company.

Now, a lot of people who use on demand end up printing in black and white because it’s a lot cheaper, but you went with full color. Was that much more expensive?

Yeah. It definitely is a little more expensive and that’s why we’re selling at $3.99 versus $2.99. But when I wanted to do this, I wanted to go all out. I wanted to make a comic that was going to stand out. In Artists Alley. So I wanted to really represent how god I think we are. I wanted people to check it out. My mentality is, if it looks good, they probably are more inclined to check it out. That’s why I wanted to go top notch with the comic, and basically find a good artist or a couple god artists.

And when did you publish this first issue?

Recently, probably within the last few months we’ve come out with this. We’re already working on issue two, here are some of the pages from two. We got a different artist because the guy who did the original issue is kinda having a mental breakdown, so instead of waiting for him we started with a second artist. This one’s going to be all set at San Diego Comic Con. It’s going to be a lot of fun and we’re having a lot of fun doing it and making the series go. It’s a lot of fun.

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Seven Questions with TOM BREVOORT

Today, the Vault is excited to present seven questions with Marvel editor Tom Brevoort. For those of you who were hoping for more from the small press and self-published creators we've been talking to in Voices from Artists Alley, don't worry; there's another convention coming up next month, so you can expect to see more interviews soon. But today, we're going to head back to the big guns: over the last twenty years, Tom Brevoort has overseen a number of acclaimed and popular projects including current series such as New Avengers, Captain America and Fantastic Four as well as some of the industry's biggest events, such as Civil War and Secret Invasion. Tom was gracious enough to spend his valuable time answering some of the longest questions ever composed in interview history, so won't you do him a solid and take a couple minutes to read his thoughtful answers?


1. While you are well known as the editor of such bestselling titles as New Avengers, you also oversee a number of somewhat lower profile books as well. What can you tell us about the projects that you have coming out soon, and which books should discerning comics readers keep an eye out for that they otherwise might not be aware of?

This is such a broad question that it's difficult to know where to start, and it's hazardous in that somebody's sure to take offense if I leave their project out. But let me just work my way down the list. As I have for the past decade, I'm continuing to edit the AVENGERS family of titles, NEW, MIGHTY and DARK, as well as CAPTAIN AMERICA (currently on hiatus while REBORN plays out), SECRET WARRIORS and FANTASTIC FOUR (on which Jonathan Hickman and Dale Eaglesham just began an excellent run) and a bevy of limited series, one-shots and side projects. But if I had to aim people at a few special projects, the three I'd want to bring up would be 1) THE MARVELS PROJECT, in which the award-winning creative team of CAPTAIN AMERICA, Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting, tell the undisclosed origin of super heroes in the Marvel Universe. 2) NOMAD, GIRL WITHOUT A WORLD, wherein Sean McKeever combines his skill at writing teen drama with super heroics set firmly within the landscape of the main CAPTAIN AMERICA series, with artwork by David Baldeon, and 3) STRANGE, Mark Waid and Emma Rios' reinvention of Stephen Strange, no longer the Sorcerer Supreme and on a journey of discovery as a result. All three are high-quality projects, each with a very specific sensibility and a unique flavor. I really dig them.



2. There seem to be as many different styles of editing as there are editors in comics, with some taking a hands on role in shaping the direction of the books and characters while others act more as facilitators for whatever the creative team feels like doing. How do you define your own role as editor?

I think there are different editing styles even within the hands of a particular editor, depending upon the needs of the project and the creative team. Every interaction I have with various creators is different, and so I don't have a single way that I edit comics. But my log-line description of the role of the editor (at least when it comes to editors who work on company-owned properties such as Marvel and DC possess) is that he's a combination of the coach and the manager of a ball club. The editor doesn't play in the game, but he gets to select who does. He can switch out a substitute, or call in a pinch hitter as needed. He can call for a specific play. And it's his job to make sure that the team is at the ballpark on game day, ready to play. The editor is also not the star. While in the day-to-day course of doing the job any given editor may throw off story ideas or ways of restructuring or improving a particular tale that others then get to make hay out of, the editor really belongs backstage, directing the action from there. The creators do the work, so they deserve and get the credit. Editors get the blame. That's not a condemnation of the system in any way, merely a statement of fact--and one that a would-be editor needs to embrace before he's truly ready to play in the big leagues.



3. Over the last year you've been involved in an ongoing project on your blog where you are trying to trade up from some random back issues to a copy of Fantastic Four #1. For me, it harkened back to the old days of collecting when fans would write each other through lettercolumns and swap back issues. What brought this about and do you have anything similar planned for the future - say, perhaps a run at Captain America Comics #1?

As you probably know by now, my Trading Experiment finished up earlier this month, when I did in fact trade for a copy of FANTASTIC FOUR #1, which will be auctioned off to benefit the Hero Initiative. We're talking now about possible ideas for follow-ups, though I don't think trying to go back as far as CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS #1 is very realistic--for all that it's rare and valuable, there are a lot of copies of FANTASTIC FOUR #1 out there, far more than there are copies of books like CAP #1. You can go to any comic book convention and see dozens of FF #1s floating around. Plus, I wouldn't want to simply repeat myself. This whole experiment was inspired by the works and the writings of Danny Wallace and Dave Gorman. First together then separately, they pioneered a specific kind of genre--the "real world adventure", wherein they would take on a quest or a mission of some kind, and then recount the adventures they experienced while attempting to fulfill their mandate. Danny's slightly better known in the States as the guy whose story the film "Yes Man' was based on. So I was rereading their collection of works, spurred by their respective new releases Friends Like Me and America Unchained, and thinking about something similar that I could do (without all of the traveling and expenses and upheaval of lifestyle that they regularly engender) and that's where I hit upon the notion of the Trading Experiment. One of the other elements that runs through Dave and Danny's books is a feeling of the overall generosity of spirit of people, and that was certainly borne out by my experiences with the Tradees, who typically offered more than they were getting, and in many cases donated rare comics without asking for anything in return, just wanting to give to a good cause. So it was a lot of fun, and hopefully we can come up with a worthy successor concept down the line.



4. One of the more interesting things you've been doing on your blog is posting some internal memos and directives from Marvel's past. One of these that caught my eye included a release schedule that had a number of Avengers issues, such as #504, that were never produced due to Disassembled and the launch of New Avengers, which suggested that the decision to do those projects came about pretty late in the publishing process. I'm wondering just what the genesis of that decision was - did you or other members of the editorial team come up with the idea for New Avengers, was it the result of a pitch from Brian Michael Bendis, or did it come about through some other fashion?

NEW AVENGERS came about at one of our creative retreats, where the senior editorial staff gets together with most of our key writers to chart out the course of our publishing plan and our stories for the next year or so. At this particular retreat, a lot of time was spent in trying to drill down to the essences of what each series was meant to be about, in an attempt to either pull them back on-message a bit more, or alternately finding new and interesting avenues to take them in. And as we discussed AVENGERS, Mark Millar said that he didn't understand why the Avengers were so often all these second string characters that he had never heard of. What made the idea of the Avengers cool to him was the notion that it would be the book with all of the biggest and best characters in it. After some discussion, we broke for dinner, where Mark and Brian discussed these ideas a bit further, and by the time everybody came back in the next day, Brian had put together the outline of his pitch to take over the series, what eventually became NEW AVENGERS. So the story and the approach of AVENGERS: DISASSEMBLED and NEW AVENGERS was Brian's, but the instigator of the concept was Mark and everybody else who was in on those discussions at the time.



5. As a reader of New Avengers, one thing that frustrated me was the disbanding of the New Avengers team in Civil War, as so much of the series up to that point seemed like setup (for instance, the introduction of new members like Sentry and Ronin, Spider-woman being a double agent, the subplot with the new Black Widow and SHIELD, etc.); having the team disband before any of that was addressed led me to question the purpose of those stories. I'm wondering in general, how do editorial and creative teams handle interference from mega events, and specifically how much of what Bendis originally had planned for New Avengers ended up being used in New Avengers or Mighty Avengers and how much of it had to be scrapped?

Interference from mega-events makes the assumption that people are being coerced into participating in these stories, which really isn't the case. While it's true that CIVIL WAR changed the trajectory of some of the stories that Brian was developing (including the groundwork for SECRET INVASION that he was laying), the conception and development of CIVIL WAR came out of another of those creative retreats, and Brian was there in the room to discuss and debate the storyline, and was completely on board with participating. He did some of his strongest work on the CIVIL WAR issues, I thought, particularly the Luke Cage issue and the CONFESSION epilogue issue. Of course, there are degrees of involvement--if you're writing Captain America and Captain America is going to play a major role in an upcoming event storyline, then it's going to impact upon you in some way. But that's all part of the deal when you're playing in the shared universe sandbox of the Marvel Universe.



6. One of the main events that spun out of New Avengers was Secret Invasion. You recently posted on your blog an original draft from Bendis for this story and in it the big casualty was Hercules rather than Wasp (who died in the published version of Secret Invasion). When it comes to planning these events, how are these kinds of decisions made? Was this change a result of Greg Pak's desire to use Hercules, or Dan Slott's interest in exploring the effect of Jan's death on Hank Pym? Or is it the other way around, where those projects came about because this change was made? Or some combination of the two?

It's different in each of the cases you cite. Hercules dying at the end of SECRET INVASION was just a notion that Brian was toying with at the outset of outlining his story, one that he didn't get very deep into thinking about, as we at that point were beginning to plan to launch INCREDIBLE HERCULES out of WORLD WAR HULK, and that sidelined his thinking. But it was Brian who decided to make the Wasp the final casualty, building off of seeds he'd left himself in early issues of MIGHTY AVENGERS, and it was Dan, coming onto MIGHTY as Brian cycled off, who chose to pick up that baton and run with it in terms of exploring how her demise would affect Hank. Ideally, this is how our stories and creators should synergize, with each one finding inspiration and building on the work of the others.


7. Lastly, what's one specific storytelling technique your creators use that you could share with new creators to help them hone their craft?

There are couple of concepts and ways of thinking that came to the fore during the craziness of the Bill Jemas-era--Bill could get overly dogmatic about his thinking, but he made a number of really good, really important points with regard to telling stories that can be embraced by a broad audience, which should be the goal of any storyteller. Start at start--tell your story from the beginning, and take the time to introduce your characters and make me feel for them. Keep your storytelling straightforward--while it seems clever to try to employ byzantine storytelling structures, often a new writer's reach will exceed his grasp, and they'll often try to disguise an inability to generate empathy or reader involvement with their ideas by the use of complicated narrative tricks. There's nothing wrong with being straightforward and clear. Don't play exclusively to the cheap seats--while we love our hardcore longtime audience of readers (of which I am one), if you're creating material aimed at them exclusively, if your plot turns on being conversant with an earlier story published two decades before or you don't identify or characterize the shocking mystery villain you've brought back out of the shadows on the last page, you're talking past most of your potential audience. Finally, have something to say--understand the metaphoric content of your stories and make them about something that relates to your readers' lives. This needn't be a straightforward one-to-one affair, but the best, most successful, more memorable stories are about something more significant that one super hero pounding another, and speak to the common experiences, fears, dreams and desires that everyone share.

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Seven Questions with FABIAN NICIEZA

Today we have the good fortune to present an interview with none other than Fabian Nicieza. Over the course of his long and storied career in comics, Fabian has written a number of popular series including New Warriors, X-Force, X-Men, Thunderbolts, Cable and Deadpool, Nightwing, Robin and Trinity. He also was the writer for the short lived Hawkeye series, which I didn't ask him about but which I wanted to give a shout out to because I thought it was really sweet. Anyway, enough with the introduction, let's get right into the interview!



1. You’re right in the thick of Battle For the Cowl over in the Batman books. What can you tell us about that story, and what other projects do you have lined up for when it ends?

Battle for the Cowl was a natural extension of the storyline that Grant had planned for Batman R.I.P. and the disappearance/seeming death of Bruce Wayne during Final Crisis. Knowing there would be an aftermath to the loss of Bruce for all the Bat-family made for a perfect opportunity to really shake-up the status quo on every single title in the Bat-verse and editors Mike Marts and Mike Siglain have taken advantage of that opportunity.

I've been lucky enough to be asked to work on some of the titles coming out during this period, which led to the new monthly Azrael title this October, as well as getting a chance to write the Batman and Detective Annuals.


2. You recently spent a year working with Kurt Busiek on the weekly series Trinity. How does collaborating with another writer differ from the usual collaboration you have with your artists and editors? And how does your approach change with a weekly book instead of a monthly book, if at all?

I enjoyed collaborating with Kurt a lot. He is so good at finding the core of every character and finding the right place in a story to utilize that understanding. I had co-written in the past, but never in anything so involved and long-term as Trinity was, and I found it a great learning experience, as well as a fun challenge from the standpoint of pacing, structure, characterization and even the schedule. I think we all rose to the challenge and did a very solid job on the title. It wasn't the greatest comic ever published, but within the context of the parameters of a 52 issue story coming out every single week, I think we did a real good job of making a fun popcorn thrill ride with lots of interesting, unexpected "little moments" as well.

And all this is despite the fact that Kurt is a Red Sox fan...



3. You’ve been under exclusive contract with DC for awhile now after a long tenure at Marvel. I’m wondering if you find writing DC characters to be significantly different than writing Marvel characters. Not necessarily in terms of editorial or the companies themselves, but do the settings, themes and characters – the milieu of the DC Universe as opposed to the MU – naturally lend themselves to a different style or story or a different kind of storytelling? Or is it basically the same game just with different toys?

You know, I haven't given that a lot of thought, since I tend to handle the assignment I have without thinking about such philosphical esoterica. To me, the meanings of a "DC hero" or a "Marvel hero" are really relics of the Silver Age in the 60's. I think through the 80's into today, everyone working on superhero comics has tried to approach their work with the Stan Lee sensibility of giving characters personalities, conflicts, foibles and weaknesses. To that extent, I think the approach to superheroes is uniform across the board. Personally, I think Marvel's universe has become a bit grimmer than DC's over the last few years. I know we have plenty of death and despair at DC, but the grimness from Marvel comes from an inherent specter of the real world being a bad place. "Government can't be trusted" or "authority = evil and coercion," while at DC the grimness seems to stem more from difficult character arcs, i.e. Superman or Batman's current status quo, or overlying "villainous threats" such as the events in Green Lantern.


4. Along those same lines, I know that as a young reader you were a fan of Avengers over on the Marvel side. What DC titles or creators were (or are) you a fan of and which DC properties might you want to work with in the future?

I was a big fan of Infantino's Batman without even knowing it back when I was young. Gil Kane's work on Robin, Dave Cockrum on Legion, Steven Englehart and Marshall Rogers on Detective, Len Wein and Dick Dillin's JLA. As for characters I'd want to write, well, I got to write my three favorite DC characters already in Nightwing/Robin, Superman and Hawkman. I've also gotten to write Ragman, who is a quirky favorite, and I'll be using him in an issue of Azrael as well. That being said, I would never say no to writing Dick Grayson in any way shape or form, whenever I'm asked, and I sure would love a crack at a monthly Hawkman title. No offense to the many very talented people who have worked on him before, but I know I would write the most interesting Hawkman book ever.


5. Recently some of the characters you were strongly associated with at Marvel have had significant and controversial changes, from the New Warriors being scapegoated and disbanded in Civil War to the revelation of Shatterstar’s relationship with Rictor. In this past instance, Rob Liefeld came out publicly against the change. Did either of these stories bother you as a creator or are these sorts of changes just part of working within a shared universe? Or both?

Honestly, I haven't read any of them, so I can't comment on the quality of the work or how appropriate they were to the core truths of the characters involved. I will say that the companies own these characters so editors and writers working on them today are expected to write stories that are just as good -- or just as bad -- or better -- or worse -- as any that came before them.


6. You’ve recently scripted some direct-to-video animated movies, including Hot Wheels World Race and The Black Belt Club. How does writing a script for this sort of project differ from preparing a comic book script? And do you have any more non-comics projects in the works?

Movie or animation scripts require a three act structure that isn't always conducive to comic book structure, so whereas comics are a series of smaller stories in service to a never-ending story, movies should be self-contained stories that have a history and a future built into the tae being told. I do a lot of non-comics work, more than comics at this point, but it's not strictly script-writing. I work with Starlight Runner Entertainment in NYC on transmedia development and content management, caretaking and producing borderline academic dissertations for corporate Intellectual Properties for companies such as Disney, Fox Feature Films, Coca Cola, Microsoft among others. I've also been working for a year on a kids sports/entertainment website and we are almost to the point where we are ready to begin active production towards a goal for a live beta test late next year.


7. Lastly, what’s one specific storytelling technique you use that you could share with new creators to help them hone their craft?

I always try to make sure that the voice you read is that of the character and not of the writer. The words they say should be what THEY believe and not necessarily what you believe, how they say it and not necessarily how you say it. You are using them to tell your story, but never forget it is their story.

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Seven Questions with KURT BUSIEK

This week, The Vault had a chance (through the magic of internet tubes) to interview Kurt Busiek about his various projects. Over the past three decades, Kurt has worked on a number of renowned series, such as Marvels, Untold Tales of Spider-man, Avengers, Thunderbolts, Kurt Busiek's Astro City and, most recently, Trinity. Plus, he recently launched his own website. That means we've got a lot of ground to cover in just seven questions, so let's see how we did.


1. You recently announced that Astro City is returning to a monthly schedule and that you’ve got a new series, Kurt Busiek’s American Gothic, coming out soon. What can you tell us about your plans for these series?

I don't want to tell too much -- I always like it when the audience finds out what's going on by reading the stories, instead of hearing about it on the internet. But what's next for ASTRO CITY is a 2-part Astra story, later this month, all about the night she graduates from college, and what happens then. After that, we have the 4-part finale to the epic-length DARK AGE project, then a special look at the Silver Agent, and that wraps up, we hope, the "specials and mini-series" era of ASTRO CITY. We'll go officially monthly at that point, with a story about the inner workings of Honor Guard. After that, we've got a story about the secrets of the N-Forcer program and a tell-all book, a larger story involving the origin of Winged Victory, involving Samaritan and the new Confessor, and even a story about a talking gorilla who wants to be the drummer in a rock 'n' roll band. And plenty more.

AMERICAN GOTHIC starts off with a number of single issue stories -- it's a series about magic all around us, in the modern-day real world, and we'll see a wide range of things from a vampire in Alcoholics Anonymous, a long-haul trucker driving the ghost of his late wife to her eternal reward, a night in the life of a tooth fairy, the exorcism of a murdered business, and more. After the opening batch of stories, we have a longer arc planned, about a young girl in a fishing village in Rhode Island that's fallen on hard times, and what happens when the Norse god Thor takes up residence on a nearby island. And again, plenty more.

With luck, we'll do it well and it'll all be fun.


2. Does your commitment to these books signal a change in emphasis to more creator owned works (like, maybe a new ShockRockets or Arrowsmith series?) or can we still expect to see you on Marvel and DC properties such as Superman? How about Alex Ross’s Project Superpowers?

My commitment to those two books, at least, means that'll be most of my workload. Two books a month is more than half of what I'm capable of, so I won't be piling on additional ongoing series, at least not at present. And I'll admit, after spending a solid year on the weekly TRINITY, I'm itching to do more creator-owned stuff, so I'm happy to be following that path for a while.

There is another ARROWSMITH project on my plate -- an illustrated novel -- that I'm working on slowly. And I expect I'll keep my hand in on the big-company characters -- I'm doing a project called BATMAN: CREATURE OF THE NIGHT that's a follow-up of sorts to SUPERMAN: SECRET IDENTITY, and I'm sure we'll be talking about that more when there's some art to show. No plans for me to work on PROJECT SUPERPOWERS, though -- but I did point out a 1940s superhero Alex wasn't aware of, and he's planning to get him into there somewhere, so I guess I've had some small effect on it.


3. Your recent work at DC -- the large, one-sheet Wednesday Comics and the weekly series Trinity – pushed the boundaries of traditional formatting and scheduling within the comic industry. How interested are you in exploring these more experimental formats and how do different formats affect your approach as a writer?

I like comics. I like the variety of forms comics can take, from something like the daily three-or-four-panel comic strip to massive original graphic novels, and I don't see any reason comics need to be in that same monthly 22-page format all the time. So yeah, I'm interested in other formats, provided they're a good format for the story I want to tell (and vice versa, I guess, since in both WEDNESDAY COMICS and TRINITY the story was tailored to the format). There are other formats I'd like to try -- downloadable weekly 7-page chapters, landscape format comics, original digests and more. If it's a way to showcase good comics, I'm interested in it.

As for tailoring work to different formats, that's key, I think. Whether it's a different page length, different page size, different frequency, it's going to affect things like the rhythm of the story, how much room you have to establish and explore things, where the cliffhangers and revelations fall, how much recapping you need to do, and more. So whenever I'm working an a new format, I mess around a while beforehand, trying to get a sense of what'll work best, what'll suit the story I'm telling, how to use the medium effectively for that format. It's good to have challenges, you learn a lot that way.


4. For my money, the epic Kang saga that finished your Avengers run was one of the greatest Avengers stories ever. Yet, none of the Earth shattering events in the book were referenced in any other Marvel title. What was behind the decision to have this story be completely self-contained in Avengers rather than a larger event?

It wasn't completely self-contained, actually. I know there was some connection to in in DEFENDERS, in a small ways, and I think Fabian brought it up in THUNDERBOLTS. But the decision was made to let everyone else know what was going on, and if they wanted to tie into it, they could. Fabian and I were the only ones who did.

It's always a difficult choice to make -- does the company force everyone else to turn their series into a piece of someone else's story, or do they allow creative freedom, and assume that the stuff you don't get to see happens in between issues somewhere? I've always disliked having to write someone else's story, which is why, whenever a crossover came up on a book I was working on, I preferred to be in the driver's seat (I'm thinking here of "Maximum Security" and "Live Kree or Die"). I'd rather be driving the bus than get run over by it. That's another reason I'm happy to be doing more creator-owned work these days -- both major companies seem to be doing lots of enforced cross-continuity, with big, sprawling, line-wide events, and speaking as a writer and a reader I prefer more self-contained material.

So while I wish more people had wanted to tie in to "The Kang Dynasty," I'm glad we didn't force them to. And glad you liked it so much!


5. Keeping with the theme of the mega-crossover, do you feel event books help the industry by spurring interest among current fans, or do they hurt by making books less accessible to new fans? How does a writer go about managing the impact a company event has on the stories they wish to tell in their own title?

Oops, I think I just answered that -- or at least some of it. I think event books clearly work, or are at least working at present, because the fans like them and buy more of them. I probably would have been really excited by that kind of thing when I was 15 or 16, myself, and certainly a lot of readers are excited about it these days. For myself, it's not to my current tastes -- I'd rather have a book be self-contained, which may be why I prefer series like FABLES and USAGI YOJIMBO and SAVAGE DRAGON to books that are constantly telling pieces of a story that may be happening in books I don't even buy. So it makes them less accessible to me, but it wins over other readers who get excited about it. Six of one, half dozen of the other. If it works for the publishers and brings them a bigger audience, that's what matters, and I'll find other stuff to read.

As to how a writer manages the impact, well, they need accurate information from their editor about what's going to be happening, because the impact may need to be written in their books before the events in the other books are published, so their "aftershock" comes out a month after the event, or whatever. It's the same process as keeping continuity from older books straight, with the added handicap that you can't always read the stories you're tying in to.

One writer I know was writing a book that was crossing over with a major event in a larger book, and the writer of the larger book was so late, the writers of the tie-in books were writing their issues two or three months ahead of him, and revising them when his scripts came in, which made for a lot of extra work and headaches, but the result turned out to read much better than you'd expect, from a process like that.

It's part of the landscape, I suppose.


6. As comics have become a source for more mainstream media like TV and film, more and more comic creators seem to be jumping to those industries. Do you have any plans do move from comics to other media, and are there any film or TV adaptations of your work in the pipeline?

I'd like to write novels as well as comics, and I'm working on that. But I don't intend to jump ship -- I like comics, and expect to keep writing comics for a long time to come. I like novels, too, so I'd like to do that, too. Movies or TV strike me as scarier, because the writer has so much less control. But if the right project came along, who knows?

As for adaptations of my comics work, there's nothing specifically in the pipeline. Film rights to one series have been bought, and there's interest in others, but the road from interest to an actual movie or TV show is a long and hard one, full of stumbling blocks and minefields. So maybe something'll happen, and maybe not. I try not to pay too much attention.


7. Lastly, what’s one specific storytelling technique you use that you could share with new creators to help them hone their craft?

A couple that I used while I was new to comics -- I used to take comics that I thought were particularly well-paced and actually write out an outline of what happened in them, panel-by-panel, kind of reverse-engineering a plot-outline from the finished work, so I could see more clearly how the writer had structured out the story, how much information he (or she) got on a page, where the story sped up or slowed down and why. I did a variant of this for Scott McCloud, too -- I wrote up a plot outline from an issue of AVENGERS that he hadn't read, and he drew that comic (very roughly, just storytelling layouts) from my outline, then went and compared it to the published comic to see how the actual artist had done it, and learn from the contrast.

There have also been times that I had to write a character with a tricky speech pattern, and I'd type out all their dialogue from several issues of whatever series they appeared in, to get the rhythms of it in my head. When I wrote an UNTOLD TALES OF SPIDER-MAN that was narrated by Mary Jane, I started each day by typing out all the MJ dialogue in ten issues of Stan Lee's run of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, just to get her "voice" down.

There are different ways of opening a scene, too -- start close on an action and pull back to reveal the scene, start with an establishing shot, zoom in on a particular set of characters, then cut to individual actions. One I'm fond of, particularly when there's a crowd of characters, is to start with a big roomy master shot that has everyone in it, and then zoom in to tighter shots of individual actions -- this means that first big panel is a pain to draw, but the artist only has to establish the crowd once, and the impression will carry over to the tighter panels.

But mainly I'd recommend people experiment, try all kinds of stuff, and see what works best for them and their own style.

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Seven Questions with JIM SALICRUP!

Our newest interview subject needs no introduction, but just for the sake of propriety we'll go ahead and give him one. For nearly 40 years, Jim Salicrup has been an industry mainstay, first as editor on just about every major Marvel title, then as editor-in-chief at Topps, senior editor at Stan Lee Media and now as the creative force behind Papercutz. In his "spare" time, Jim also is on the board of trustees at MoCCA -- the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art -- and somehow still makes the time for conventions, fan interaction and interviews. Like, for instance, this one:


1. For those of our readers who may not be familiar Papercutz, what can you tell us about the company and your upcoming schedule?

Sure! Papercutz is essentially a successful graphic novel publisher whose titles are primarily sold in bookstores. We started up about five years ago, and amazingly each new series launch of late has be been bigger and more successful than the last. So, while we're still a relatively small publisher, we've got a lot of big talents.

You may have noticed I've very carefully avoided mentioning exactly which titles we're publishing and who our intended audience may be. The reason for that is, some folks might mistakenly leap to the wrong conclusion about us, so I wanted to ease into it. Y'see, even though I often say that Papercutz produces graphic novels for all ages, some people think that means "for kids only." So, while some of our titles are primarily for kids, others truly are for all ages-- titles such as TALES FROM THE CRYPT and CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED for example.

The reason my Papercutz publishing partner, Terry Nantier, and I decided to produce graphic novels for all ages, is that we both felt that the comics industry wasn't paying enough attention to kids, especially girls, and we wanted to see if we could produce great comics would reach that audience. Terry and I both grew up reading some of the best comics in the world-- Terry loved the great European graphic novels, I loved 60s Marvel Comics, and we both are crazy about Tintin -- so we both know that kids can appreciate great writing and great artwork in comics, and we both hate the idea that comics should in any way be dumbed down for kids. We remember how smart kids really are.

As for our upcoming schedule, here's a good example of what I'm talking about -- we'll be launching early next year DISNEY FAIRIES, featuring Tinker Bell and her fairy friends in Never Land. We want the writing to be on the same level as Carl Barks's Uncle Scrooge comics, and with Stefan Petrucha as our writer, I'm sure we can do it! Stefan wrote The X-Files comic at Topps Comics, and most fans found the writing to be just as good as the TV series, and in some cases, even better! Stefan has a lot of experience writing Disney comics, as he's written many Mickey Mouse stories for the European market, many of which have been published here by Gemstone. As for the artwork, let's just say, we're aiming to make this perhaps the most beautiful Disney comic ever created. How's that for ambitous?

As for the rest our line, we offer BIONICLE, a world populated only by robot-like creatures; CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED, featuring stories by the world's greatest authors; CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED DELUXE, featuring much longer adaptations of stories by the world's greatest authors; GERONIMO STILTON, which I'll get to in a little bit; THE HARDY BOYS, all-new adventures of Frank and Joe Hardy; NANCY DREW, the world-famous Girl Detective; and TALES FROM THE CRYPT, the classic horror comics anthology with a tad more twisted humor and sick satire.


2. You’ve expressed some concern on your blog over the fact that the acclaimed Classics Illustrated series put out by Papercutz isn’t carried by many comic stores that seem to cater only to superhero fans. Does the direct market system help the industry, or is it in danger of marginalizing “mainstream” comic business while bookstores enjoy a boom in alternative formats like manga digests?

Well, I don't want to sound like I'm complaining, because I'm not! Papercutz is doing very well in bookstores, schools, libraries, and even in foreign markets and as downloads from GoComics. The truth is I love comicbook stores, and I want them to do better, but outside of the top 200 stores, the stores that really know what they're doing, it's as if the rest of the stores are determined to go out of business.

The problem is that too many comicbook stores sell that same comics month after month to the same customers, and then they wonder, especially during tough economic times, why their business is hurting. While the most successful stores do indeed carry all sorts of comics and graphic novels, many stores still perpetuate the myth that non-super-hero comics don't sell. That's what they said about Manga, and now you can find a Manga section in every major bookstore. Guess what? Now bookstores are opening up shelf space for Kid's Graphic Novels sections -- again the majority of direct market comicbook shops have missed the boat.

Case in point-- our most recent launch was for a series called GERONIMO STILTON. This series is certainly aimed at younger readers, and it's featuring the title character from a series of kids books that have 35 titles in print, and each one sells an average of 185,000 copies! Let's put that in perspective -- in May of 2009, according to industry experts, not a single new comic sold over 100,000 copies. So here's a property that outsells every single comicbook in the comics shop, and other than the smartest comicbook stores, the direct market couldn't be bothered! Instead, they just continue to buy more of the same ol' stuff, at higher than ever prices, and wonder where their customers are vanishing.

Now, what if a comicbook store actually ordered a few copies of GERONIMO STILTON, and placed 'em prominently in their store window? Maybe kids who weren't aware that GERONIMO STILTON was now in comics form and available in graphic novels would actually, perhaps for the very first time, venture into the comics store and buy a graphic novel! And what if that kid showed it to his friends who might also be avid GERONIMO STILTON fans?

But, as I said, GERONIMO STILTON is clearly aimed at younger readers -- he's a time-traveling mouse, in case you're curious -- and comic shops will insist such a graphic novel won't sell. That's funny, 'cause we sold out of every copy we brought to sell at the San Diego Comic-Con.


3. Besides your work at Papercutz, you’re also on the board of trustees for the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (or MoCCA). What can you tell us about MoCCA and what is it that you do there?

Papercutz really does take up the majority of my time, but I do love comics, and the opportunity that MoCCA founder Lawrence Klein offered me -- to help start a comic art museum in New York City -- was truly an offer I couldn't refuse. After all, I love comics, New York City, and museums, and this combines all three. So, if starting an all-new comics company wasn't a big enough challenge, try starting a not-for-profit museum in Manhattan.

It's been quite an adventure, and I can't tell you how exciting it has been. MoCCA is an almost entirely volunteer organization, which means people are their simply because they believe in what MoCCA is doing. Mostly I'm a glorified advisor to MoCCA, but I'm really their happiest MoCCA member-- it's almost as if I have comics museum of my very own with great exhibits and incredible programming designed just for me. The truth is, that anyone who becomes a MoCCA member or volunteer can feel the same way. You simply need to get involved, and if you have a great idea for an exhibit or a panel, or whatever, you can help make it happen. Currently, there's a wonderful show up that's just been extended due to popular demand: "Sounds and Pauses -- The Comics of David Mazzuchelli." On display are pieces from Daredevil: Born Again and Batman: Year One, to his current, many-years-in the-making Asterios Polyp graphic novel, and lots of stuff from in-btween too. Please go to www.moccany.org for more information, especially on how you can support MoCCA by becoming a member, a volunteer, or attending the annual MoCCA Festival. Chairman Ellen Abramowitz and Director Karl Erickson are bringing MoCCA to new heights of glory, and it's great to be a part of it all.


4. One of my vivid memories from reading comics as a kid is an essay you wrote in an issue of Marvel Age where you discussed the term “Marvel Zombie”: someone who read and collected Marvel comics to the exclusion of all other companies. I have to admit I was not a Marvel Zombie, but I had friends that were and they proudly embraced the title. Where did the term originate and how do you feel about the recent wave of wildly popular Marvel Zombie comics?

I know who created the term Marvel Zombie, but that person had requested that I not reveal this top secret information, so I will honor that request until I'm told otherwise. The first few editorials I wrote about the term "Marvel Zombies" were somewhat outraged on my part, as I simply don't like name-calling of any kind. I still find terms such as "hot," "geek," "nerd," "jock," to be dehumanizing, and to some extent offensive, but I recognize that's a battle I'll never win. So, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, and I started using "Marvel Zombie" in MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE as a badge of honor, as opposed to the originally intended insult. I was soon proclaiming MARVEL AGE "The Official MARVEL ZOMBIE Newsmagazine!"

As for the recent MARVEL ZOMBIE comics, they seem to be fun, and I've enjoyed the ones I've picked up. I was wondering when Marvel was going to bring back TALES OF THE ZOMBIE, got tired of waiting, and we've worked in a parody of good ol' Simon Garth in the "Diary of a Stinky Dead Kid" spoof in TALES FROM THE CRYPT comicbook #13 (to be collected in TALES FROM THE CRYPT graphic novel #8, coming in November. It's by Stefan Petrucha and Rick Parker, and it's good sick fun.


5. During your time at Marvel, you edited some of the best loved runs in the company’s history, including the Phoenix Saga in X-Men, Todd McFarlane’s run in Amazing Spider-man, the Stern/Byrne era in Captain America and the Fall of Yellowjacket storyline in Avengers. What do you consider to be the highlight of your time as an editor at Marvel and why?

First, thanks! I really appreciate that. Second, how can I possibly answer that? It's like being asked, who's your favorite child? Actually, it's much harder, because I only have one step-daughter, and she's incredible! This reminds me of what someone once said to me, when I was sitting at my desk in "the Spider-Man office." Seeing how much I obviously loved working on Spidey -- I had decorated the office with all sorts of Spider-Man toys, posters, you-name-it -- this kind soul asked, won't you really be sad when you're no longer editing Spider-Man? I answered "A little, but as much as I love Spider-Man, it's comics in general that I love! I'm happy editing anything you throw at me, and figuring out not only how to make the stories and art as good as possible, but how to make it as successful as possible as well!" Which is exactly how I feel today editing NANCY DREW, working with writers Stefan Petrucha, Sarah Kinney and artist Sho Murase. In fact, unlike Spider-Man which had already been done brilliantly by creators Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, and later writers Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway and artists such as John Romita, Gil Kane, and Ross Andru, we were the first ones to ever create NANCY DREW comics, and I suspect what Petrucha, Kinney, and Murase are creating today, may be looked back on, generations from now, as the definitive NANCY DREW comics.

All that said, and as much as I enjoyed every single comic I ever edited at Marvel, I probably enjoyed editing THE FANTASTIC FOUR with John Byrne the most. John was very passionate about producing a great FF comic, and it was a real joy to not only watch and witness what John was coming up with, but I even got to toss in a very crazy ideas, and John made them work brilliantly. I remember being excited whenever new FF pages from John arrived -- it was like being a kid again, and eagerly devouring the latest issue by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby! When you're job is that much fun, you ALMOST feel guilty about getting paid.


6. As editor on Avengers, you were editing writing done Marvel EiC Jim Shooter. How did the process of editing your own boss work? And how did the experience of working so closely with the EiC influence your own later stints as EiC or senior editor at Topps, Stan Lee Media and Papercutz, if at all?

Working with Jim was a constant learning experience. I didn't even know how much I was learning from Jim at the time, and I'm eternally thankful for the opportunities he gave me. Working with Jim as his editor though was a little awkward, as he had this impossible job of being Editor-in-Chief at Marvel, and the notion that he could write a monthly title as well was wishful thinking on both our parts. As Editor-in-Chief he'd say I should fire Shooter the writer, but I liked his ideas so much that I didn't want to lose him.

As I said, I learned a lot from Jim, and I hope I've been able to incorporate that knowledge in what I later did at Topps Comics, Stan Lee Media, and now at Papercutz. It's funny, one of the things Jim pushed for at Marvel was more self-contained stories, and now that's almost all we do at Papercutz. Jim's constant emphasis of the basics of storytelling has well-prepared me to edit graphic novels that need to be clear enough for young readers, yet sophisticated enough for older readers. It's amazing how confusing comics can be for non-comics readers, and part of what we try to do at Papercutz is produce comics that anyone can easily access. Just simple things like making sure the characters are well-introduced have a big positive impact on the overall stories. Of course, I learned a lot from others as well, especially Stan Lee and Roy Thomas, but Jim's advice may be most helpful when dealing with the nuts and bolts of comics storytelling.


7. Lastly, what’s one specific storytelling technique you use that you could share with new creators to help them hone their craft?

It'll sound obvious, but since comics are a visual medium, try to make your stories as visually interesting as possible. Yes, the old "show, don't tell" bit of advice is usually most helpful to new creators. Having the right powerful image can add tremendous impact to a comics story -- just think of the images that you remember from comics, and ask yourself if there's something in your story that could be conveyed more powerfully or poetically or even subtly through the right image.

Furthermore, and it may at first sound like a contradiction, so many comics creators today are trying to emulate film so much that they've abandoned literary techniques that are still effective in comics. Like a novel, to a certain degree, comics can also get inside characters in ways that would be awkward in film-- think of film adaptations that feature all the actions, but little of the insights of the book. If the captions or dialogue offers something that would've been impossible to glean from just looking at the art, then you're doing something right.

Thank again for this opportunity, Scott! And just to prove I learned something from all my years working with Stan Lee, let me wrap-up by saying "Watch out for Papercutz!"

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Seven Questions with BOB ALMOND!

Today we are lucky enough to sit down with near-legendary inker Bob Almond. Bob has been working in the industry for 17 years, inking such high profile projects as Black Panther, Warlock and the Infinity Watch and Star Trek. He's also worked tirelessly to ensure that inkers get the credit and recognition they deserve, through his long running website The Bob Almond Inkwell and through his creation of The Inkwell Awards, which annually recognize excellence in inking.

Despite his busy schedule, though, Bob still agreed to talk with us, even providing us with some fantastic artwork (we strongly recommend you click on the pictures and view them at their full size). So without further ado, here's Seven Questions with Bob Almond!

(note: you may only see six questions here. That's one of the dangers of interviewing a professional inker -- he answered one of the questions in invisible ink! I'm pretty sure if you mess with your browser settings long enough, though, you'll be able to see the seventh question. Go ahead and work on that and let us know how it turns out.)


1. Thanks for taking the time to sit down with us today, Bob (metaphorically, over the internet, that is). What can you tell us about your upcoming projects?

The only inking work I have coming out soon will be in Europe, regrettably. I've been assisting my oft-partner Sal Velluto inking the Phantom for Egmont Publishing. It's always a joy to return to familiar ground after twelve years of working with him, especially on such an iconic and globally-recognized character. Sadly, they don't credit me over there.

I also have my ongoing 'Inkblots' column in Sketch Magazine going on two years now. There's not a lot to pimp out right now but that can change in a heartbeat in this business.


2. Marvel is reprinting some of your work from Black Panther in the upcoming Marvel Bromance compilation. When you look back on your work at Marvel so far, what do you personally consider to be the highlight?

The Black Panther work is the highlight, the close second being my first gig inking Warlock and the Infinity Watch (due to the gorgeous Angel Medina pencils and the fact that I'm such a fan of Jim Starlin's work). I was more prepared for BP than Warlock as an artist and Sal & I had enough time together that we were in perfect sync on this job. And Priest allowed input from us and took many of my ideas and request and made them a reality in the subsequent scripts. Between that and acting as unofficial 'continuity cop' and assisting Sal with reference, etc. I felt like more of an active participant in the overall creative process than I usually am, and that's why Priest began crediting us as 'storytellers' instead of just 'pencils' and 'inks'. Together, we achieved being the longest-lasting creative team to work on a BP series and we even got to play with all of his three top rogues (Klaw, Killmonger, and Man-ape).


3. Inkers don't always get as much credit as other creators, either inside or outside the industry, the jokes in Chasing Amy being perhaps the most famous example. Could you give us an overview of just what the job of an inker entails?

The craft of inking was created in the comic book business to expedite production so that's why there's the mystery outside the industry since they have no reference point to relate to. Inking is redrawing the pencil image in ink in an effort to capture what the penciler intended but enhance it. Much like how penciling isn't just drawing but the penciler is also telling a story with sequential art, our job is to elaborate in areas of the drawing and storytelling like giving objects weight and dimension through line weight variations, establish or enhance the light sources, build up contrasts and boost textures for clarity and color, and sometimes even edit the art or fix things like anatomy and perspective. I think of it as akin to us being the bass player to the band's guitarist. They usually grab the spotlight and take the lead but the bassist supports them and helps the overall music to sound better.


4. As part of your efforts to give inkers and the inking art a higher profile, you created the Inkwell Awards. What can you tell us about the awards and the type of feedback you've been getting about them within the industry?

We're trying to draw attention to and spread more information on this misunderstood and often maligned skill, especially with the diminishing focus on inking in general of late. We want to focus on the quality freelance ink artists who perform exceptional work and deserve recognition for this work each year. I'm not against coloring over pencils minus the inks in general, and I understand budgetary matters, but I think it should be more the exception, not the rule, as I find that it rarely looks good but often dark, muddy and lacking something. Good inking is a craft that brings quality to the process. But I admit that I/we have an obvious bias;-)

The feedback has been overwhelmingly optimistic and enthusiastic. It's certainly been a learning process and we keep improving and strive to excel in all areas with each successive year. We've assisted some ink artists in need. And this month we announced that we've established The Dave Simons Inkwell Memorial Scholarship Fund, following the tragic passing of our fellow committee member and friend, to the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art in order that a talented student in financial need may benefit annually.


5. Beyond your professional interest in comics, you're also a fan and collector and a regular at conventions. Based on your experiences on both sides of the fence, how would you describe the current state of the industry?

There's a lot of 'doom & gloomers' out there screaming about how the sky is falling, the industry is dying and the craft of inking is all but extinct. I'm not so cynical. We're never again going to achieve the record sales of the early '90s. However, as long as we can accept that, I can say that the industry seems relatively healthy considering the economy. Conventions are well-attended by an enthusiastic public and are plugged more than before, as with SDCC coverage on tv, online and in print. Big-budget movies and video games allow the publishers another venue to bring customers in to seek their products. Diversity of titles and genres is still exceptional. But we have to keep trying to bring in the younger readers. The biggest wildcard is the new technology in how the material is created and the medium that the fans can receive it. I cannot predict how comics and the industry will be faring in five let alone ten years but it most-likely will be different. Inking is presently expensive and difficult to do digitally with a wand tool on a tablet or computer screen but there are sure to be modifications. Although the loss in original art as a supplementary income would be a tragedy and another key reason traditional inkers don't go full hi-tech.


7. Lastly, what specific storytelling technique do you use that you could share with new creators to help hone their craft?

Not a storytelling technique (what, and share the secrets of my success?!) but I can share some advice. For starters, the three P's: to practice, persist and be patient (although natural talent comes in handy, too!). It's no guarantee but you have to have the passion (another P) to persevere and to not to do it for the BIG bucks because they_ aren't_there. Diversify your styles and have the equipment like a large scanner and printer, all to be competitive. Learn more than one craft if you can (pencil? digital color? etc.) so as to not be limited and pigeon-holed. And don't ever get too comfortable. Always be prepared for the worst by networking and not have all your eggs in one basket.



(Art Credits: Power Man vs. Doctor Doom, commissioned work re-visioned from the story in Hero For Hire #9, by MC Wyman and Bob Almond; re-created cover of Black Panther #27 by Sal Velluto and Bob Almond; Marvel's The Falcon and DC's Crimson Avenger and crime boss Morgan, commissioned work by Geof Isherwood and Bob Almond; unpublished Archer & Armstrong cover by Sal Velluto and Bob Almond)

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