Comics Interview — Issue #114

Main Topics: Batman covers and Shadow of the Bat, trading cards and the entertainment card market, Image Comics and independent publishing

Contents
  1. Brian Stelfreeze
  2. George White
  3. Editorial: Up Front (J.R. Mather)
  4. Letters: The Last Word
interview Brian Stelfreeze
Interviewed by DAK & Julia R. Mather
Brian Stelfreeze Cover Artist / Illustrator, Freelance (Gaijin Studios) Working on: *Shadow of the Bat* covers; *This Year's Girl* painted graphic novel
Stelfreeze discusses his origins in commercial and fashion illustration in Atlanta, his early work for Comics Interview Group, and how a rejected Batman sketch he drew for Comics Revue #50 — deliberately violating DC's style guidelines — ended up winning Denny O'Neil's attention and led to his contract painting the first twelve covers of DC's new Shadow of the Bat series. He talks about his graphic approach to anatomy, his mixed-media painting technique combining airbrush, acrylics, and colored inks, his enthusiasm for Gaijin Studios (a creative collective with Adam Hughes, Tony Harris, Joe Phillips, Cully Hamner, and Jason Pearson), and his reaction to the Image Comics breakaway.
interview George White
Interviewed by Sandra Dincher
George White VP of Public Affairs, Impel / SkyBox International Working on: Marvel Universe Series 3, Jim Lee X-Men cards, DC Cosmic Cards, Disney and entertainment card lines
White traces Impel's rapid growth from a sports-card distributor to the world's second-largest trading card company, driven by the breakout success of the Marvel Universe Series One and Two sets. He discusses upcoming releases including the Jim Lee X-Men set (with a gold-foiled hologram and a new X-Force Sentinel character debuting via cards), the DC Cosmic Cards line, Disney and Star Trek sets, and market research showing that women now purchase 36% of all entertainment cards.
article Editorial: Up Front (J.R. Mather)
A brief personal reflection arguing that creative freedom, not money, is the true measure of wealth, using years working in the Middle East as a counterpoint to the lifestyle of freelance comics professionals.
article Letters: The Last Word
Reader Don Markstein rebuts a previous letter defending Marvel's aggressive market tactics, arguing that a "Gladiator Ethic" of crushing competitors is self-defeating in an expandable market like comics.