Pourquoi la BD?
Aucune idée, j'ai toujours aimé dessiner. J'ai trés vite eu envie de raconter des histoires, donc les deux ensembles ça c'est bande-dessinée quand on est belge, je crois. (Rit) Je ne me suis jamais posé la question de me dire si je veux faire autre chose. Depuis tout petit c'était ça, mes parents lisaient beaucoup de bandes-dessinées aussi et je suis né dans la bande-dessinée donc.
Pour le public espagnol qui ne vous connait pas trop, lesquels de vos travails leurs recommanderiez-vous? Pouvez-vous nous donner un top 3, par exemple?
Le top 3 de ce que j'ai fait...je dirais Cosmic Patrouille, c'est de parodie de super-héros. Je dirais une série que j'ai fait pour Crossgen comics qui s'appelle The Crossovers, qui était vraiment très agréable à faire. Et...il y a un truc qu'à mon avis est plus facile à trouver pour le public espagnol aussi, c'est les épisodes de Tellos que j'ai faits. Voilà!
Vous avez été scénariste et dessinateur de Cosmic Patrouille, l'auteur total.
Oui, j’ai fait le scénario, le dessin et la couleur. J’ai fait la total, oui.
Ça prend combien de temps de faire un album plus ou moins?
Un album de Cosmic Patrouille complet? Je dessine assez vite, donc je dirais que ça me prend environ cinq mois de travail. Enfin, vite, c'est pas vite pour le secteur américain, mais je peux travailler encore plus vite. En fait, en temps véritable c'est beaucoup moins de temps. Mais il y a moments où on dessine beaucoup et des moments où on dessine moins donc. Mais quand je commence et que je ne fais que ça, c'est à peu près cinq mois.
Vous avez travaillé avec d'autres scénaristes. Comment est pour vous travailler pour un scénariste et comment approchez vous le travail pour dessiner ce que le scénariste veut?
Pour travailler avec un scénariste j'ai besoin de beaucoup d'affective. Je ne peux pas travailler une commande, c'est très difficile pour moi. Ça m'est arrivé quand j'ai travaillé pour le marché américain. Là je ne connaissais pas le scénariste, mais je veux quand même le contacter par e-mail et parler avec lui au téléfone. C'est très important pour moi. Sinon, j'aime bien travailler avec des scénaristes parce qu'un scénariste me fais déssiner des choses que je ne ferais peut-être pas moi même. Surtout c'est un métier très solitaire, donc le fait de collaborer avec un scénariste, un coloriste, j'aime beaucoup. J'ai commencé ma carrière en écrivant tout seul et puis, parce qu'il y a eu un projet qui s'est presenté, j'ai travaillé avec un scénariste. Et pendant quasiment quinze ans, j'ai travaillé qu'avec scénaristes et je n'ai plus rien écrit. Et là, avec Cosmic Patrouille, j'ai recommencé à tout faire et j'ai vraiment du plaisir à faire tout tout seul en fait. En effet, c'est un peu envie de faire ce que j'aime. Si je me lève le matin et j'ai envie de dessiner une page avec Iron Man, je fais une page avec Iron Man.
Vu une série comme Cosmic Patrouille, ça se voit que vous devez être un fan du comic américain. Quelles séries suivez-vous à ce moment-ci?
Savage Dragon, parce que c'est ce qui me rappelle le plus les comics que je lisais quand j'étais petit. Parce que c'est juste du fun, pure fun. Encore toujours Spiderman. Même si je déteste plein de choses qui se passent dans Spiderman pour le moment, je suis quand même toujours curieux de savoir ce qui se passe. Je dirais Hellboy... Même si je trouve que ses histoires ne sont pas toujours... Mais ça reste là... Ouais, je dirais que le top 3 c'est ça. Moi je suis toujours curieux. J'ai grandi avec les personnages de Marvel, donc je suis toujours curieux de savoir ce qui se passe avec les personnages. J'ai regardé les F4 de Bryan Hitch, même si j'avais pas envie de les lire, mais j'avais envie de voir... Chose pareille pour les Ultimates. Je voulais voir ce que Marvel avait fait avec les Ultimates, des trucs comme ça. Mais je dirais que vraiment le truc qui revient, j'arrête et puis je recommence, est toujours Spiderman.
Vous connaisez le marché américain et le marché européen. Quels sont les grandes différences entre eux?
Dès mon expérience, il y a de très grosses différences, oui. Quand j'ai travaillé pour Crossgen, par exemple, j'avais un scénariste, un lettreur, un encreur et un coloriste. Et la première chose que j'ai faite quand j'ai accepté de signer le contrat c'était de parler avec tout le monde. Mais l'éditeur m'a dit, non non non, tu fais juste les pencils, le dessin, et les autres font leur travail, et tout passe par l'éditeur. Moi, je voulais vraiment créer une équipe parce que c'est des gens avec qui j'allais travailler pendant six mois et faire cent trente deux pages, tandis qu'en Europe c'est à l'inverse. On rencontre d'abord un scénariste avec qui on crée un projet et après on va voir un éditeur. Et c'est la très grosse différence. Je crois que la plus grosse différence, appart du rapport entre auteur et éditeur, est le rythme de travail, ce qui est vraiment une grosse différence.
Quand on parlait avec un autre auteur, on a évoqué l'obsession qu'il y a aux États-Unis avec le chiffres de vente. Croyez-vous qu'il se passe la même chose en Europe?
Moi, je pense que c'est relativement pareil. Parce qu'aux États-Unis il y a de plus en plus de séries independantes, des gens qui font de la BD pour faire de la bande-dessinée. C'est qui arrive aussi aux États-Unis dans le monde de la BD, c'est qu'on a l'impression que certaines personnes font de la bande-dessinée pour arriver au cinema. Ça, c'est quelque chose qui n'est pas vraiment arrivée chez nous en Europe. Mais je vois en même temps qu'on commence de plus en plus à penser les projets en termes de bande-dessinée, merchandishing, dessin animée, cinéma, des choses comme ça, donc... Mais c'est vrai qu'aujourd'hui, c'est plus facile de faire une vraie création en Europe qu'aux États-unis, á mon avis. D'un autre côte, il est probablement plus facile de s'autoéditer aux États-Unis qu'en Europe. Mais apart ça, je ne sais pas.
Aujourd'hui, je préfere travailler pour le marché européen parce que j'ai plus de liberté, ça c'est vrai. Mais si Marvel m'appelait demain pour faire un truc, je dirais oui. Plus parce que c'est l'enfant en moi qui a envie de le faire que le professionel. Parce que depuis un point de vue professionel, je crois qu' il'est plus intéressant de faire des projets personnels, des creator-owned, que de travailler pour le mainstream et de grosses boîtes comme DC ou Marvel. Pour Marvel je ne ferais pas n'importe quoi, ça c'est une évidence.
J’ai grandi moi avec la bd franco-belge et la bd américaine, donc pour moi c'est le même métier, mais avec de petites différences.
Nov 9, 2008
Lille Comics Festival 2008:
Interview with Khoi Pham
Q- How is it working with Brian Michael Bendis? How are his scripts?
A- Brian is very specific and this makes it very easy for me because I like drawing what people ask me to draw. So you just give me the script and it's very easy to translate it onto the page. It's very specific, and I like that. I don't know about other pencillers, but I like that, being very specific. It's challenging because it demands a lot in terms of visual expressions and drama, because he's very specific with the emotions of the characters. But it's a fun challenge for me to do a story with Brian, specially for Secret Invansion, where for the Mighty book they were all tie-in issues that had all different characters, different parts of the story, different times…So keeping up with that was a fun challenge.
Q- Speaking of SI. How was it to get the story? Because there were so many, well, secrets. Did you have access to everything or did he leave some things a bit vague so that...you know…?
A- I didn't ask. Maybe if I’d asked, they would have told me. But I don't ask, so I just get a script and I just draw. But I got everything I needed because everything was tied in, so I got pages that Leinil was drawing, I got pages that Jim was drawing and so I knew what was happening as I was drawing. But I don't ask ahead to see what happens because I'm a fan too and as such, I want to find out myself. So I didn't have many secrets, and since I like to chat, it was good that I didn't knew too much.
When you work for Marvel, everything is top secret. SI, Hercules... It's all top-secret.
Q- How did you manage to get into comics big time?
A- I have no idea. I don't know. I'm very fortunate and I wonder that myself every day, but I'm still pretty new. I've only been drawing comics for 3 years, but I think... That was a good question! Why am I drawing Mighty Avengers? I have no idea! I think... I was an attorney, I'm a lawyer too. So I was doing that full time and when I started drawing for Marvel I was doing both, lawyer work and drawing X-Factor and drawing Hercules. And I think they were pleased with what I was drawing and they wanted to see more, you know, faster and better work. And I thought “I can't, because I have 2 jobs and I have to work for you full time. I can't just quit.” And they said "Ok, we'll put our faith in you. We'll sign you." And you know, if you're a exclusive, they have to give you a regular book to work on. How I ended up with Mighty Avengers? I have no idea. It was open. Then they had to give me a new place, so they put me there. Maybe it's just good fortune, has nothing to do with talent but with being in the right place at the right time.
Q- How is it working with Peter David compared to BMB? Because I believe their styles are very different.
A- They're very different. It's been fine and great. I've been lucky to work with Peter a lot, with Brian, and with Greg Pak, and Fred van Lente, who are all great writers too. They've very different styles and I learn a bit from everyone. Because I'm very new, so I try to learn a little bit from everyone: writers, inkers, colorists, pencillers, learning from Peter David's storytelling style which is very humorous… There's a lot of humour in there! Greg Pak and Fred van Lente were also humorous, but there's a lot of action in there, a lot of fighting in the Hercules stuff. And there's Brian who is very dramatic and serious and dark, and that was fun too. Now I'll be working with Dan Slott too, who reminds me a little bit of Peter David's storytelling, and that it's fun. It's been really great. But it's difficult to compare them. I mean, the scripts are... as penciller, all the scripts mean a bit the same, you know. I just try to do exactly what they write down. But their styles are different and they're all fun.
Q- Any new projects in the future that you can talk about?
A- No, just Mighty Avengers. But it'll be fun. We'll start with issue...21. There won't be any Mighty in December, I think. It'll be starting in January, and it'll be a relaunch of the book because of what happened in SI and we're going to do something really cool. I think it will be a nice contrast to SI, all the post-SI stuff. I hope people like it because it's been fun doing it so far.
A- Brian is very specific and this makes it very easy for me because I like drawing what people ask me to draw. So you just give me the script and it's very easy to translate it onto the page. It's very specific, and I like that. I don't know about other pencillers, but I like that, being very specific. It's challenging because it demands a lot in terms of visual expressions and drama, because he's very specific with the emotions of the characters. But it's a fun challenge for me to do a story with Brian, specially for Secret Invansion, where for the Mighty book they were all tie-in issues that had all different characters, different parts of the story, different times…So keeping up with that was a fun challenge.
Q- Speaking of SI. How was it to get the story? Because there were so many, well, secrets. Did you have access to everything or did he leave some things a bit vague so that...you know…?
A- I didn't ask. Maybe if I’d asked, they would have told me. But I don't ask, so I just get a script and I just draw. But I got everything I needed because everything was tied in, so I got pages that Leinil was drawing, I got pages that Jim was drawing and so I knew what was happening as I was drawing. But I don't ask ahead to see what happens because I'm a fan too and as such, I want to find out myself. So I didn't have many secrets, and since I like to chat, it was good that I didn't knew too much.
When you work for Marvel, everything is top secret. SI, Hercules... It's all top-secret.
Q- How did you manage to get into comics big time?
A- I have no idea. I don't know. I'm very fortunate and I wonder that myself every day, but I'm still pretty new. I've only been drawing comics for 3 years, but I think... That was a good question! Why am I drawing Mighty Avengers? I have no idea! I think... I was an attorney, I'm a lawyer too. So I was doing that full time and when I started drawing for Marvel I was doing both, lawyer work and drawing X-Factor and drawing Hercules. And I think they were pleased with what I was drawing and they wanted to see more, you know, faster and better work. And I thought “I can't, because I have 2 jobs and I have to work for you full time. I can't just quit.” And they said "Ok, we'll put our faith in you. We'll sign you." And you know, if you're a exclusive, they have to give you a regular book to work on. How I ended up with Mighty Avengers? I have no idea. It was open. Then they had to give me a new place, so they put me there. Maybe it's just good fortune, has nothing to do with talent but with being in the right place at the right time.
Q- How is it working with Peter David compared to BMB? Because I believe their styles are very different.
A- They're very different. It's been fine and great. I've been lucky to work with Peter a lot, with Brian, and with Greg Pak, and Fred van Lente, who are all great writers too. They've very different styles and I learn a bit from everyone. Because I'm very new, so I try to learn a little bit from everyone: writers, inkers, colorists, pencillers, learning from Peter David's storytelling style which is very humorous… There's a lot of humour in there! Greg Pak and Fred van Lente were also humorous, but there's a lot of action in there, a lot of fighting in the Hercules stuff. And there's Brian who is very dramatic and serious and dark, and that was fun too. Now I'll be working with Dan Slott too, who reminds me a little bit of Peter David's storytelling, and that it's fun. It's been really great. But it's difficult to compare them. I mean, the scripts are... as penciller, all the scripts mean a bit the same, you know. I just try to do exactly what they write down. But their styles are different and they're all fun.
Q- Any new projects in the future that you can talk about?
A- No, just Mighty Avengers. But it'll be fun. We'll start with issue...21. There won't be any Mighty in December, I think. It'll be starting in January, and it'll be a relaunch of the book because of what happened in SI and we're going to do something really cool. I think it will be a nice contrast to SI, all the post-SI stuff. I hope people like it because it's been fun doing it so far.
Lille Comics Festival 2008:
Interview with Frazer Irving
A - Bonjour, je m'appelle Frazer!
Q - Err...we're actually Spanish.
A - Hola. I was in Avilés recently. Loved it...Spanish red wine, good. French red wine, yeah. Ok, go on.
Q - I'd like to talk a bit about the latest project you're working on at the moment.
A - I'm working on a project called Gutsville. It's an Image book, and because the writer and I are creating it ourselves, there is no editorial intervention, which means we're dealing with topics like racism, drugs, sex… All the things that a lot of mainstream comics are very scared of. And I'm exploring, you know. But it's also a very emotionally draining comic, so it's being delayed, like every Image comic-book. It's being delayed by many months but eventually it will work out. Do you want me to tell you what it is about?
Q - Sure
A - Okay. A hundred and fifty years ago, a boat of people including slaves was on its route to Australia when it was swallowed by what they think it's a huge whale. Now the people survived inside the stomach of this whale. And the story picks up in the modern day, 150 years later, and the inhabitants of this city, called Gutsville, struggle to reconcile their existence with this extremely oppressive regime of religion and values. And at the center is our hero, an artist in a world where art is not accepted, where survival is the only impetus. "Impetus", you know the word?
Q - Yep.
A - Good, good, good. I've just discovered that word. And it's six issues and it's...I don't know what else to say about it...
Q - Well, when you when were talking about the setting, I couldn't help but think a bit about Limbotown.
A - It kind of even looks the same. They have very puritanical trademark hats. But whereas Limbotown is just like a sidenote, a suggestion, Gutsville is like an essay, it's like a novel. We're exploring parallel storytelling, where you have three stories going on at once, and they will merge. And they will all affect each other. A lot like novels do or like modern tv shows like Lost or Heroes. What else can I say about Gutsville? It's awesome! And when it's finished, everyone must read it! We want to do comics for people who don't read comics, for people who maybe are tired of or not interested in shallow material like the superhero stuff, which is aimed to a juvenile audience on a whole. I wanna draw stuff which affects real people, which affects the world, you know. Every artist has a voice, a burning urge to spit something back into the universe. And this is the only way to do it. It's nice to draw superheroes punching things, but I've got something to say about the world, you know. And this is my voice.
Q - Are you using the same style you used for Klarion? This kind of colours and exaggerated gestures?
A - No. Klarion was effectively...it was like Disney, cartoony, but it was twisted. Gutsville cannot have that, it has to...do you want me to show it? Although the recording doesn't show it. So everyone listening or reading… to see it you have to buy it!
(Pause in the interview while he rummages through his bag and takes out the first three issues of Gutsville. Then he hands them to me and notices I'm holding the Spanish edition of the Robin issues with Klarion in them)
A - Cool, you got my comics! Europeans are excellent! I go to America and they say "Can I have a drawing?" "Of what?" and they go "What do you draw?" All around Europe they bring the comics, and they have translated versions which I never have. They never send me my comics that are being translated. It makes me so angry! In Avilés someone showed me the Klarion book and I was like "Whoa", it's translated! And he just gave it to me. Now I have both. The reason I wanted the Klarion book is because, you see, they actually pay royalties on the foreign editions. So if the Seven Soldiers series book sells, I'm going to get a small bit of it. But I cannot judge whether my work is more popular than someone else's, so when I see my own book I'm like "Ok, if it sells like 3 copies, it means I suck but if it sells 3 million, I rock."
Q- In that case we've got a problem in Spain because there are no sales figures available for anyone. They're top secret.
A- I can understand that. I think that in our business, specially in America, everyone, editors, publishers and the readers are obsessed with sales figures. It's like, "well, this comic book only sold 33k, whereas the previous month it sold 33.5k. Ohh, this comic-book is getting worse". It's like...no, it's an anomaly. And it's not always the sales figures that go into readers' hands. It's what retailers order from the publisher. And they're so obsessed with numbers that they actually judge a book. Readers will actually judge a book. Not all readers, but some readers will judge a book by how many it sells... I wanna smack them on the head! If you like it, it's good. If you don't like it, it sucks. Who cares what anyone else thinks, man?!
Q- Any example of such a comic?
A- Oh, any Image comic. People say "Hah, Image comics only sell so and so. They're not very good". No! Actually Image comics are brilliant, but they're very hard to publicize because the Internet and the community think in terms of numbers. They tell other people it's not very good because it doesn't sell and then they follow, like sheep. I know it sounds cruel but I've been part of that community and I've read some guy doing a review online of one of my comics and write: "Dude, it only shold 30k." And someone replied "Glad you told me that, I won't bother." I mean, what's that got to do with anything?! Read it! I mean, the solution to this I think is in the Internet, so you can try before you buy. Something like i-Tunes, where you can listen to a fraction of a song. I think that would solve a lot of this, because then people would try a book and, if they liked it, then they'd buy the collection. But this is not an idea that's popular with my employers. They don't want to give anything away for free, which I think it's counterproductive. Even drug dealers give away the first sample for free! We should definitely do that with comics...
Q- You talked before about editorial intervention. Mentioned Image gives you more freedom because you don't have to deal with that. Have you ever had anything censored by an editor or had to redraw something that he or she didn't like?
A- The only time was... The only time I've ever been told to redraw something… And it's great because normally editors give freedom to do what I want, and I hope they do this because they realize they get better results. Not because they're just scared or whatever...
(Takes the Robin comic and turns the pages until the end of the first episode, then he holds it up for us to see)
The original version of this page had Robin rising up from the ground and his head was there, right? And they said, well it looks like Robin is giving Klarion a blowjob... And I was like...aye...I didn't think it was that obvious but ok, fine, so I changed it. His face as well is like...well! (Laughs) I like to have some fun with the artwork and there are jokes that go in. Most editors don't read the scripts. I had my IM comic...In the script there was a scene with a woman smoking a cigarette, so I drew it. And then the editor says "We have no smoking in our comics", as if it was my fault! And I was like "No, it was in the script, but you didn't read it, so it's your fault, not mine" Other than that, I think that if editors are displeased with my work or want to censor it, their action is just not to hire me again and not to censor the comic itself,which is probably too much hard work. They don't want to waste time with me redrawing things.
Q- How was it working with Grant Morrison?
A- Grant's great! He's got an organic way of working where, and no one told me this, he writes the script but he leaves it vague and he wants the artist to kind of digest and process the script and spit out something new on the page. And I didn't notice until issue 3, then it was fine. Klarion has a thing about his face like make-up. That was my idea and Grant changed the script to kind of reflect it in some comments. There's a line where these kids are like they like Klarion more than the head of their gang. And the evil pervert who controls them makes some joke about how the girls like him because he's got those Goth eyes. That was Grant reacting to my artwork, which is great. I would love to get to work with him again, because now I know that I can contribute more and be a force within the story. But nobody told me at the time.
And then, the very first issue I did, I sent thumbnails sketches of 22 pages to the editor, which was unfinished, rough art. Apparently, these were passed around the entire crew and Grant saw it. But he didn't know these were rough. He thought they were finished pencils. Someone accidentally sent me his reply, which said something like "let me know when Frazer has fixed this art, because this work is substandard". I was heartbroken because I thought he was talking about the final artwork, which I'd sent off by this point, and it wasn't about a year later that I realized this was a miscommunication! The politics and the bureaucracy can be really annoying sometimes. So stupid! Why can't we all just get along and have fun and draw comics, listen to music?! I'm a hippy, really... A hippy with absolutely no hair!
Q - Err...we're actually Spanish.
A - Hola. I was in Avilés recently. Loved it...Spanish red wine, good. French red wine, yeah. Ok, go on.
Q - I'd like to talk a bit about the latest project you're working on at the moment.
A - I'm working on a project called Gutsville. It's an Image book, and because the writer and I are creating it ourselves, there is no editorial intervention, which means we're dealing with topics like racism, drugs, sex… All the things that a lot of mainstream comics are very scared of. And I'm exploring, you know. But it's also a very emotionally draining comic, so it's being delayed, like every Image comic-book. It's being delayed by many months but eventually it will work out. Do you want me to tell you what it is about?
Q - Sure
A - Okay. A hundred and fifty years ago, a boat of people including slaves was on its route to Australia when it was swallowed by what they think it's a huge whale. Now the people survived inside the stomach of this whale. And the story picks up in the modern day, 150 years later, and the inhabitants of this city, called Gutsville, struggle to reconcile their existence with this extremely oppressive regime of religion and values. And at the center is our hero, an artist in a world where art is not accepted, where survival is the only impetus. "Impetus", you know the word?
Q - Yep.
A - Good, good, good. I've just discovered that word. And it's six issues and it's...I don't know what else to say about it...
Q - Well, when you when were talking about the setting, I couldn't help but think a bit about Limbotown.
A - It kind of even looks the same. They have very puritanical trademark hats. But whereas Limbotown is just like a sidenote, a suggestion, Gutsville is like an essay, it's like a novel. We're exploring parallel storytelling, where you have three stories going on at once, and they will merge. And they will all affect each other. A lot like novels do or like modern tv shows like Lost or Heroes. What else can I say about Gutsville? It's awesome! And when it's finished, everyone must read it! We want to do comics for people who don't read comics, for people who maybe are tired of or not interested in shallow material like the superhero stuff, which is aimed to a juvenile audience on a whole. I wanna draw stuff which affects real people, which affects the world, you know. Every artist has a voice, a burning urge to spit something back into the universe. And this is the only way to do it. It's nice to draw superheroes punching things, but I've got something to say about the world, you know. And this is my voice.
Q - Are you using the same style you used for Klarion? This kind of colours and exaggerated gestures?
A - No. Klarion was effectively...it was like Disney, cartoony, but it was twisted. Gutsville cannot have that, it has to...do you want me to show it? Although the recording doesn't show it. So everyone listening or reading… to see it you have to buy it!
(Pause in the interview while he rummages through his bag and takes out the first three issues of Gutsville. Then he hands them to me and notices I'm holding the Spanish edition of the Robin issues with Klarion in them)
A - Cool, you got my comics! Europeans are excellent! I go to America and they say "Can I have a drawing?" "Of what?" and they go "What do you draw?" All around Europe they bring the comics, and they have translated versions which I never have. They never send me my comics that are being translated. It makes me so angry! In Avilés someone showed me the Klarion book and I was like "Whoa", it's translated! And he just gave it to me. Now I have both. The reason I wanted the Klarion book is because, you see, they actually pay royalties on the foreign editions. So if the Seven Soldiers series book sells, I'm going to get a small bit of it. But I cannot judge whether my work is more popular than someone else's, so when I see my own book I'm like "Ok, if it sells like 3 copies, it means I suck but if it sells 3 million, I rock."
Q- In that case we've got a problem in Spain because there are no sales figures available for anyone. They're top secret.
A- I can understand that. I think that in our business, specially in America, everyone, editors, publishers and the readers are obsessed with sales figures. It's like, "well, this comic book only sold 33k, whereas the previous month it sold 33.5k. Ohh, this comic-book is getting worse". It's like...no, it's an anomaly. And it's not always the sales figures that go into readers' hands. It's what retailers order from the publisher. And they're so obsessed with numbers that they actually judge a book. Readers will actually judge a book. Not all readers, but some readers will judge a book by how many it sells... I wanna smack them on the head! If you like it, it's good. If you don't like it, it sucks. Who cares what anyone else thinks, man?!
Q- Any example of such a comic?
A- Oh, any Image comic. People say "Hah, Image comics only sell so and so. They're not very good". No! Actually Image comics are brilliant, but they're very hard to publicize because the Internet and the community think in terms of numbers. They tell other people it's not very good because it doesn't sell and then they follow, like sheep. I know it sounds cruel but I've been part of that community and I've read some guy doing a review online of one of my comics and write: "Dude, it only shold 30k." And someone replied "Glad you told me that, I won't bother." I mean, what's that got to do with anything?! Read it! I mean, the solution to this I think is in the Internet, so you can try before you buy. Something like i-Tunes, where you can listen to a fraction of a song. I think that would solve a lot of this, because then people would try a book and, if they liked it, then they'd buy the collection. But this is not an idea that's popular with my employers. They don't want to give anything away for free, which I think it's counterproductive. Even drug dealers give away the first sample for free! We should definitely do that with comics...
Q- You talked before about editorial intervention. Mentioned Image gives you more freedom because you don't have to deal with that. Have you ever had anything censored by an editor or had to redraw something that he or she didn't like?
A- The only time was... The only time I've ever been told to redraw something… And it's great because normally editors give freedom to do what I want, and I hope they do this because they realize they get better results. Not because they're just scared or whatever...
(Takes the Robin comic and turns the pages until the end of the first episode, then he holds it up for us to see)
The original version of this page had Robin rising up from the ground and his head was there, right? And they said, well it looks like Robin is giving Klarion a blowjob... And I was like...aye...I didn't think it was that obvious but ok, fine, so I changed it. His face as well is like...well! (Laughs) I like to have some fun with the artwork and there are jokes that go in. Most editors don't read the scripts. I had my IM comic...In the script there was a scene with a woman smoking a cigarette, so I drew it. And then the editor says "We have no smoking in our comics", as if it was my fault! And I was like "No, it was in the script, but you didn't read it, so it's your fault, not mine" Other than that, I think that if editors are displeased with my work or want to censor it, their action is just not to hire me again and not to censor the comic itself,which is probably too much hard work. They don't want to waste time with me redrawing things.
Q- How was it working with Grant Morrison?
A- Grant's great! He's got an organic way of working where, and no one told me this, he writes the script but he leaves it vague and he wants the artist to kind of digest and process the script and spit out something new on the page. And I didn't notice until issue 3, then it was fine. Klarion has a thing about his face like make-up. That was my idea and Grant changed the script to kind of reflect it in some comments. There's a line where these kids are like they like Klarion more than the head of their gang. And the evil pervert who controls them makes some joke about how the girls like him because he's got those Goth eyes. That was Grant reacting to my artwork, which is great. I would love to get to work with him again, because now I know that I can contribute more and be a force within the story. But nobody told me at the time.
And then, the very first issue I did, I sent thumbnails sketches of 22 pages to the editor, which was unfinished, rough art. Apparently, these were passed around the entire crew and Grant saw it. But he didn't know these were rough. He thought they were finished pencils. Someone accidentally sent me his reply, which said something like "let me know when Frazer has fixed this art, because this work is substandard". I was heartbroken because I thought he was talking about the final artwork, which I'd sent off by this point, and it wasn't about a year later that I realized this was a miscommunication! The politics and the bureaucracy can be really annoying sometimes. So stupid! Why can't we all just get along and have fun and draw comics, listen to music?! I'm a hippy, really... A hippy with absolutely no hair!
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