While I continue to expand this blog and eventually create our website, I'll invite some of my pals (whose writing skills are a lot better than mine!) to contribute a bit. Here's my friend and published author John Bruni! WARNING: He's a sick bastard.
Interview with Bill Willingham
By John Bruni
Bill Willingham was born in Ft. Belvoir, VA. He got his start working for TSR, illustrating for their D&D role-playing games. He came to prominence in the ‘Eighties for his series, ELEMENTALS. He has since worked on PANTHEON, IRONWOOD, and PROPOSITION PLAYER, and he is now helming FABLES and JACK OF FABLES for Vertigo and ANGEL for IDW.
JB: So far, we’ve had FABLES and JACK OF FABLES. Will there be any more FABLES spin-offs?
BW: We have the CINDERELLA mini-series [FROM FABLETOWN WITH LOVE], and it’s done pretty well. Chris Roberson, the writer, has an idea for a second case. It hasn’t been guaranteed yet, but we might be doing the next Cinderella caper. FABLES will continue, of course. I hope we’ll continue forever.
JB: Do you have any other projects coming up soon?
BW: Next for me is, of course, a lot more FABLES. 301 issues of FABLES would be a good goal to go for. Then again, Hal Foster did 33 years of Prince Valiant, and we’ve only done 9 years of FABLES, so we have another 20 years or so of FABLES to go. We’re always going to do a FABLES special project. We have CINDERELLA coming out. The next big thing is going to be issue 100 of FABLES, a 100-page spectacular with a FABLES board game inside, and a paper puppet theater that Mark Buckingham is doing with FABLES cut-outs and stages. And we’re doing a switcheroo for one of the back-up stories where Mark is writing the story that I’m illustrating for him. And the next big FABLES project is going to be “Werewolves of the Heartland” in which Bigby finds, of course, werewolves in the heartland and what happens as a result. I wish I could show you the cover. It is so cool. It’s Bigby holding a hot blonde in his arms as he’s fighting off an entire pack of werewolves.
JB: What is your favorite Fable?
BW: I’ll give you the silly sounding, but accurate, answer, which is, I kind of like whichever one I’m working on right now. We have the Rose Red arc going, so I’m really into Rose Red at the moment. During “The Good Prince” it was all Flycatcher. But all time favorite? I don’t know. I’d have to go with Bigby and Snow White, because they’re really the core relationship of the book. My all time favorite before I started writing FABLES was always the Pied Piper. I loved the villains.
Interview with Brian Azzarello
Brian Azzarello was born in Cleveland, OH, and now lives in Chicago. He has had stories appear in comic books like WEIRD WAR TALES, GANGLAND, FLINCH, and WINTER’S EDGE. While he has worked on high profile books like BATMAN, SUPERMAN, SGT. ROCK, and HELLBLAZER, he is best known as the writer of 100 BULLETS, among other crime books, such as JONNY DOUBLE and FILTHY RICH. Other projects of note include LOVELESS, EL DIABLO, and his new project for DC, FIRST WAVE, featuring Batman, Doc Savage, the Spirit, and a few other old DC pulp characters.
JB: You’ve been writing some of the best crime comics I’d say in the history of comics. Ed Brubaker’s close, but—
BA: But he’s not better. Make sure he hears that. I’m just busting his balls.
JB: What’s coming up next for you?
BA: FIRST WAVE, which I’m doing with Rags Morales, bringing back some of the pulp characters.
JB: Doc Savage, the Spirit, and Batman with a gun.
BA: Batman with two guns.
JB: Thank you very much for the brief interview.
BA: That was brief! Jesus!
Leo Perez: Like he is in bed. I mean, I wouldn’t know.
JB: This is my boss, by the way.
Interview with Brian Pulido
Brian Pulido is best known as the president and publisher of Chaos! Comics, and the creator of horror/fantasy characters like Evil Ernie, Lady Death, and Purgatori. He has also written comics based on horror franchises such as NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, FRIDAY THE 13TH, TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, and CHILD’S PLAY. He is also a filmmaker, having written the animated feature, LADY DEATH, as well as writing and directing KILLER GNOME and THE GRAVES (the latter featuring Tony Todd and Bill Mosley). For Avatar, he has developed such characters as Belladonna, Gypsy, War Angel, and his own Lady Death. Lady Death will soon be resurrected for Boundless Comics.
JB: Is there any possibility that you might get Evil Ernie back and do another series?
BP: I really don’t know. All the characters except Lady Death are owned by another group, and I don’t know what their intentions are. Is that something you’d like to see?
JB: I would love to see you helm another Evil Ernie project.
BP: Thank you very much.
JB: Music plays a big role in your work. Do you have any influences in particular?
BP: I veer towards all kinds of rock and roll. If it’s blues-based, I enjoy it. These days, in the hard rock realm, I really enjoy Lamb of God. In fact, Randy Blythe from Lamb of God is in my movie, THE GRAVES. I enjoy a lot of local Phoenix rock and roll. Bands like Calabrese, bands from Tucson like the Mission Creeps, so I love all forms of rock. I’m a classic thrash metaller, so I like Overkill, Anthrax, Megadeth, Metallica, Slayer. I particularly enjoyed Slayer’s latest, WORLD PAINTED BLOOD.
JB: You used to do characters like War Angel, Gypsy, and Belladonna for Avatar. What happened to those projects?
BP: They came and did their run. I don’t know if they were top-sellers, but I had a lot of fun doing them. You never know. Something as crazy as WAR ANGEL could fit very nicely with Adult Swim on Cartoon Network. I don’t know what will happen in the future. The great thing about comics is, they never seem to die.
JB: What’s next for you?
BP: Next up in the world of comics is that LADY DEATH is going to be a monthly series written with Mike Wolfer. It begins in winter 2010. In the world of film, my movie THE GRAVES is now out on DVD from Lions Gate, and it will be on SyFy this summer or fall. Then I begin the next movie I’m writing and directing this summer.
Interview with Jacen Burrows
Jacen Burrows was born in San Diego and now lives in Urbana, IL. He has worked with Caliber Press and London Night, and he now makes his home at Avatar, where he has worked on DARK BLUE, SCARS, 303, CROSSED, and THE CHRONICLES OF WORMWOOD.
Bruni: You’ve worked with great writers like Warren Ellis and Garth Ennis. How do you think this has affected your work?
Burrows: When I first started working with that level of writer was with Warren Ellis, and at the time my skill level was kind of low and I was still trying to figure a lot of stuff out. Having to work with a writer at that level really makes you want to up your game and live up to the quality you know is in the writing. It helps you push yourself. You realize there is going to be a certain expectation on the buyers’ part of quality based on the previous work of the writer. You don’t want to be the crappy artist that he worked with. I want to improve with every single page and every single project. I think working with these people really pushed me faster. They’re so good at telling stories. The paneling descriptions, the flow between panels, made me aware of certain nuances, and how to be a little more cinematic with my work.
Bruni: What are your influences?
Burrows: They’re all over the place. I’m a graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design. I did sequential art and illustration, and they have a major focus on art history. I’ve studied everything, essentially. Fine art, Renaissance painting all the way up to modern art. All of it plays in. You learn basics about composition and even abstract painters, which isn’t something that normally affects sequential artists. You take it all in in subtle ways. You’re constantly evolving. These days, the main thing I’m focusing on is trying to increase my composition skills, so I’m looking at a lot of classic illustrators like Maxfield Parrish, N.C. Wyeth, people like that, as well as the constant influx of new comics artists who bring something new to the table. You can’t stop looking for influences. Every source, cinematic, too. I study a lot of films and a lot of great directors. It never ends. I’m constantly evolving through external sources.
Bruni: What’s next for you?
Burrows: The next project I’m doing is called NEONOMICON with Alan Moore. It’s the direct sequel to THE COURTYARD, which I did with him five, six years ago. It’s an original story, not an adaptation. It’s Alan Moore’s deconstruction of H.P. Lovecraft’s work, taking the work and placing it into the modern world and applying a contemporary realism to it. It’s intensely sick and twisted and very psychological. It gets surreal in spots. It’s a crazy project. I’m excited to see how it turns out.
Interview with Mike Wolfer
Mike Wolfer entered the comics field in 1987 with DAIKAZU, a title published by his own company, Ground Zero Comics. He is best known for his WIDOW series, and he has worked for Chaos!, London Night, and Dark Horse. His current home is Avatar, where he has worked on STRANGE KISS and all of its sequels (including the monthly, GRAVEL), WOLFSKIN, and STREETS OF GLORY.
JB: You’ve worked with some great writers, like Garth Ennis, Warren Ellis, and now Brian Pulido. How has this affected your work?
MW: It’s given me a lot of opportunities I haven’t had before. Obviously, if you work with someone the caliber of Warren Ellis and Garth Ennis and Brian Pulido, they push you to take what you’ve got and go to the next level. Not that I wasn’t trying before, but it’s a little bit different. You’ve got to step up your game. It’s been great, and Avatar has given me one opportunity after another. I couldn’t ask for more.
JB: Do they allow for a lot of artistic freedom? Or are the writers strict?
MW: It depends on the project. When I work with Garth, he has an exact idea of what he wants. He provides all the details. When I work with Warren, on the other hand, he leaves it a little more up to me. I wrote with him after a while, and when you’re writing it, as well as drawing it, it’s totally different. Some things are very vague, but some things are very exact. I work from Warren’s plots, then I actually script them, so in that situation, I’m writing for myself.
JB: What are your influences as an artist?
MW: A lot of people ask me that. What artists do I like? What do I read? Probably nothing in the last thirty years really influenced me. My influences are older. The artists that Warren Publishing had back in the ‘Seventies. The stuff I read when I was growing up. To me, those guys were the classics. Typical comics guys like Jack Kirby and John Byrne and all those guys, I don’t really see them as being influences as much as the guys at Warren. That solid black and white look, the gray tones, the washes, that’s what really captured my imagination.
JB: What’s next for you?
MW: There’s a lot, most of which I can’t discuss. There will be more GRAVEL. Then there’s WOLFSKIN #3, a six-issue miniseries, of which issue one just came out. The big announcement at this show is that Avatar is launching a sister company called Boundless Comics, and the flagship title is going to be LADY DEATH, which I wrote with Brian Pulido.
Short and sweet interviews and even a bit of myself making a compete fool of myself in front of Brian Azzarello. If any of you are in the need to stray away from the DC or Marvel way of comics I highly recommend picking up an Avatar Press book and I also think that Azzarello should never NOT have a full line of people wanting his signature on a book because the man is a genius! More from Bruni to come! P.S. Sorr Bruni my camera didn't save the picture of you and Pulido... BUT we've got Wizard World Chicago my friend!
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