Comics Interview — Issue #001

Joint interview about launching DC's new direct-sales-only series The Omega Men. They discuss building alien cultures for the Vegan Star System, their realistic approach to violence freed from the Comics Code, and their collaborative Marvel-style working process. Giffen shares his rocky early career — getting into Marvel through a lucky portfolio drop-off, a period away from comics selling vacuum cleaners in New Jersey, and returning to DC through a conciliatory phone call to Joe Orlando. They also detail their plans for the series: treating it as a society of 100 characters rather than a traditional superhero team, with real casualties and shifting focus.

Wide-ranging conversation covering his move to California and his work as story editor at Ruby-Spears animation. He delivers a blistering critique of Saturday morning TV censorship, describing network Standards & Practices departments as trying to create "animated Valium" and blaming them for breeding the punk-rock generation. Discusses co-creating Thundarr the Barbarian with Joe Ruby and designing it around known censorship limits (the Sunsword, rubber-tipped arrows). Expresses deep frustration with mainstream comics' lack of creativity — "recycled 1960s comic books" — while singling out Frank Miller's Daredevil and Dave Sim's Cerebus as the exceptions. Voices strong optimism that independent publishers like Eclipse and Pacific are "redefining the mainstream" and discusses his collaboration with Jack Kirby on Destroyer Duck.

Discusses finishing Frank Miller's final Daredevil issue, wrapping up The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones after John Byrne's departure over a conflict with Lucasfilm, and discovering new talent Kevin Nowlan for Dr. Strange. Reflects on his X-Men tenure — "fun while it lasted" but he got "X-Men'd out" — and his career path from inking backgrounds for Dick Giordano at Neal Adams' Continuity Associates to becoming one of the top inkers in the industry. Talks about his tradition of sneaking Popeye and other characters into backgrounds, and the long-running Jack Abel/Howie Chaykin murder subplot hidden in newspaper headlines across multiple Marvel books.

Talks about redesigning the Star Wars logo for Marvel for $25, only to see it used on billboards, posters, and merchandise worldwide. Details his extensive work on the Creepshow film for George Romero and Stephen King — creating splash pages, prop comic book pages, and fake ads for the movie's comic-book framing device. Discusses the overlooked craft of lettering: how bad lettering can destroy a great story like "a movie with a bad soundtrack," and how the field has become more lucrative with logos now paying based on usage (toys, films) rather than a flat rate.

Explains his self-taught coloring techniques (cel-vinyl animation paint, airbrush, felt markers) and how he broke into comics through conventions and a connection with Byron Preiss, eventually coloring for Howard Chaykin's The Stars My Destination and Marvel's Hulk magazine. Vents about the constant frustration of beautiful color work turning to "mud" in printing due to paper quality and separation issues — "So often you put all this beautiful work into something and it turns to mud." Discusses upcoming work on the X-Men Graphic Novel with Brent Anderson and his side career illustrating computer books.

Gives a rare inside look at Western/Whitman Comics, one of the most overlooked publishers in the fan press. Discusses reviving Magnus, Robot Fighter and Dr. Solar (he read all the old issues and pushed for the revivals himself), the peculiar challenges of the "three-in-a-bag" distribution model that eliminates individual sales figures and makes letters pages impossible, and pay rates lower than Marvel/DC. Reveals that Whitman's printing has been frozen since March but he's built up a year's worth of inventory so they won't be caught short if it resumes. Defends the new Magnus against a negative Comics Journal review that focused on the art while ignoring the story.

Marvel's president discusses the company's transformation from a struggling publisher losing $2 million/year ("a total disaster, totally mismanaged") to a diversified entertainment company. Covers the royalty system's success in sparking "a whole brand new burst of creativity," the launch of Marvel Productions animation studio (hired David DePatie after his split with Friz Freleng), merchandising synergy (creating a persona for ROM, the G.I. Joe licensing empire with 35 licensees), and his personal decision to sell off Marvel's pornographic skin magazines because "I'm not a pornographer." Shares his vision of Marvel as "the company people think of when they think of kids" and mentions plans for a Captain America Broadway show and expanding from four to six animated TV shows.

David Anthony Kraft explains the genesis of Comics Interview — how a lunch conversation with Jim Salicrup led to the "all interview" concept, the department structure modeled on comic book credits (Writer, Artist, Inker, Letterer, Colorist, Editor), and the philosophy of letting comics people speak for themselves. "Interviews are more honest... you don't have to read between the lines."

A non-industry comics reader from Hell's Kitchen shares his lifelong reading history, from Dell's Davy Crockett in 1954 through the early Marvel era, how Howard the Duck pulled him back into comics as an adult, and his current reading habits and opinions on the state of the medium.