Link to orginal version: Mania interview about past and future work.
Most comic fans know Dave Gibbons as the extremely talented artist, who with Alan Moore, created the legendary Watchmen. But to get the entire picture, you have to look a good bit further. Mr. Gibbons is more than an artist, he is a creator - and in this first column we're going to take a look at Dave Gibbons, the writer, as well as artist.
One of the most acclaimed creators of this current comics age, the former building surveyor started drawing British comics in the 1970s. Later he approached Marvel Comics US about working for them, but they never "got back to him".
In the 1980s, DC Comics wanted to draw from a new pool of talent and they went looking in Britain. Dave Gibbons was among those tapped, and he began a tenure drawing one of his childhood favorites, Green Lantern. Later on in the eighties, Gibbons would illustrate fellow British writer Alan Moore's Watchmen 12-issue story for DC. This award-winning tale is still considered by many to be the greatest comic book story ever told.
Since Watchmen, Gibbons has illustrated many other projects, including Give Me Liberty, written by Frank Miller. He also wrote works like World's Finest, and most recently Ground Zero, for Vertigo/DC.
Steve Cadigan: What is GROUND ZERO going to be about?
Dave Gibbons: Well, that would be telling! Let's say it's the comic book equivalent of a Hollywood effects movie. A GOOD one. All the imagery will be created in the computer and it promises to look stunning. Widescreen comics might be an apt description...
How did you become involved in the World's Finest comics that you
wrote for Steve Rude?
Superman editor Mike Carlin saw a piece ("Survivor") I'd done in A1
magazine; he thought I understood Superman and just phoned me up to
offer me the job. The fact that Steve Rude was drawing it made me say
yes in one nanosecond rather than two...
Since you are also an artist, when you come up with a story, how do
you decide whether to draw it yourself, or to get another artist to
illustrate it?
The mechanics don't really work like that. I've told how World's Finest
came about; with Aliens, it was a case of Mike Mignola and I wanting
to do something together for friendship's (oh, alright, and profit's)
sake. Kal just popped into my head after drunkenly saying I'd write
something for another artist.(Not Garcia Lopez who actually made a far
better job of it than the original artist ever would!) Other times,
someone will ask me if I want to draw a certain story... it varies. No
method...
Why did you first decide to be a writer?
I just always loved comic strip storytelling. It was easier to break
in by drawing, although I always wanted to write as well. Finally, I
did.
How did it feel when you finished writing your first comic book
script?
Sort of... okay.
You have illustrated stories for some of the best writers to work
in comics (like Alan Moore and Frank Miller, for example). Has working
with them had any influence on the way you write?
I'd say. It's like being allowed backstage. The fact that Alan and
Frank are such different writers is also very illuminating...
You are mostly thought of as an artist. Do you wish for the day to
come when you are thought of as a writer as much as an artist?
Not really. I just get on with what I do.
Tell me a bit about your experience writing ROGUE TROOPER?
It was my chance to "rewrite history" -- get rid of all the things I
didn't like in Rogue (primarily the bio-chips) and play up the things
I did like. As it happened, all the readers thought the bio-chips were
the best thing in the series and the editors lost no time in
re-instating them. We were also plagued by deadline problems, which
spoilt the continuity and this was compounded when the reprint
appeared with pages out of order. A shame, because I had plenty of
ideas for where the series could go...
How did you become involved with writing Aliens: Salvation?
See question three. I might point out, however that Mike and I ended
up making only our page rate! For some reason, Dark Horse made no
attempt to push the book. I think we just missed the Aliens boat,
actually...
A few years ago, you talked about how you had discussed with
Vertigo the idea of you writing and illustrating a comic for them. You
said that it would be a tale of schizophrenia. What was that title
about, and will it ever be made (whether at Vertigo or somewhere
else)?
Wow, I admire the depth of your research. This idea became something
of a standing joke between myself and Karen Berger. It's not so much
about schizophrenia as being delusional. Or perhaps not...
It's still cooking away on a back burner somewhere in the labyrinthine kitchen of my subconscious. (You can see I'm the right guy to write it, can't you?)
How did you become involved with the Super-Soldier DC/Marvel
crossover comics that you did some writing and art on?
They asked me, and the whole thing was so stupid and fannish, I
couldn't say no. Mark Waid and I plotted the second one, which I
scripted and pencilled. This time I got to do World War II!
You are a big fan of Captain America. In the past, you almost got
to do a CAP story with Stan Lee, but Marvel was not interested then.
What was that story about, and do you think that it will ever be made?
Again, I applaud your research. The story was a kind of What If thing, with Cap being thawed out in a world ruled by the Nazis. It was pretty good if I do say so, with a couple of Really neat twists. I don't think it'll ever be done now, but I've sort of had my Cap-kicks doing
a Hulk short with Cap in it; and, of course, the Super-Solider books. Would've been great to collaborate with Stan though: I just ran out of gas with Marvel.
Are you a writer who a story comes to easily, and you then have a smooth and fun process of writing it? Or are you a writer who writes a bit, doesn't like it, makes changes, then more changes, and the wholeact gets a little frustrating? Or do you experience both ways,depending on what you are writing? You seem to be someone who has fun at what he is doing.
Once I've got the big shape of the story, which usually comes quite
quickly (or not at all!), it's really a question of process; breaking
the narrative into scenes, the scenes into pages, the pages into
panels and the panels into specific images and dialogue. Once I'm
writing the final script, I rarely change anything major, but might
polish the dialogue, say. I try to find a way to enjoy
what I'm doing, figuring that if it's not fun for me, then it probably
won't be for the reader, either...
Do you have any new writing projects planned for the future that
we have not talked about?
I'm doing a short story for an upcoming Vertigo book called Gangland,
which I'm both writing and drawing. I'm still aiming towards writing
and drawing a bigger project of my own... and lettering and coloring
it, too!
| by Steve Cadigan |