| Off
the Record...
 Marvel
Comics chose Marvel Age Spider-Man #1 to give away on
Free Comic Book Day this year. Out of the 2,000 comic
retailers across the globe, Comic Books, ETC! is the
only location artist Mark Brooks will be on FCBD to
meet fans and sign copies! As an incredible bonus, Amazing
Fantasy #1, the new series J. Michael Straczynsky personally
requested Mark to draw, debuts just a few days prior
to FCBD. We met with Mark recently to preview Amazing
Fantasy and find out why no one is calling her Spider-Girl...
yet.
CBEtc: For this year’s Free Comic Book Day
giveaway, Marvel chose to reprint Marvel Age Spider-Man
#1. Is it weird knowing that over 100,000 people across
the globe are going to be staring at your artwork? Is
it an honor?
BROOKS: It was a surprise. I didn't expect this at all.
Actually, the way I found out was I picked up a Previews
Catalog. I opened it to the page that shows all the
free comic books and suddenly saw my comic. I'm deeply
honored. I mean last year (the Marvel Free Comic Book
Day giveaway) was Ultimate X-Men by Adam Kubert. I think
the year before was Mark Bagley with Ultimate Spider-Man.
So, you know, to be in such a fine crowd is an honor.
It's a little nerve racking, the thought of all these
people being able to read my work and scrutinize it.
But above and beyond, it is definitely an honor.
CBEtc: For those who aren’t familiar, Marvel
Age Spider-Man is an all-ages modern take on the classic
tales from the 1960s. Did you read any of the stories
you worked on as a kid? Were you familiar with them
or were they brand new to you?
| 
"Like Dr. Octopus for example. He always
wore the blocky, 70 year-old-woman, sunglasses,
and I gave him Oakley wrap-arounds. You know things
like that... little touches that I personally
think improve his character."
|
BROOKS: Well, actually, they were pretty brand new to
me. I knew the core story for pretty much most of it.
But I honestly never read it. So the first thing I did
when I got the assignment was I went and dug up the old
Steve Ditko / StanLee stories and read through them to
find out what the storytelling was like, what the artwork
was like, and things like that. Then, I figured out a
way to bring it while keeping the core spirit of the story,
and still make it my own. I think that Dan Quantz, who
actually wrote the stories, did the same thing.
CBEtc: Did you feel any pressure trying to live up
to comic legends like Steve Ditko?
BROOKS: Yeah, I did. You're basically not looking just
at big shoes, but the biggest in the industry. So a lot
of people said "How can you make Steve Ditko better,"
"How can you go in and try to show Steve Ditko up
or Stan Lee?" I didn't try to do that. That's pretty
much impossible. You're looking at a 1960's style type
of storytelling and art, then your looking at my work,
which obviously I grew up more in the 90's. I didn't try
to make it better; I tried to reinterpret it my own way.
CBEtc: What character interpretations are you
pleased with the most?
BROOKS: The two I probably enjoyed the most would have
to be Doctor Doom and Doctor Octopus. I really stuck with
more of a classic look for both of them. I didn't reinterpret
them heavily - just more of my own style. Like Dr. Octopus
for example. He always wore the blocky, 70 year old woman,
sunglasses and I gave him Oakley wrap-arounds. You know
things like that; little touches that I personally think
improve his character.
Same thing with Doctor Doom. Back in the old days his
armor was very clunky, very boxy. Kinda like the old Iron
Man armor. I took him and gave him a little more of a
streamlined bulky look, but at the same time, my colorist
went in and made his armor a little rustier looking, a
little more beat up, more medieval looking. Almost like
a knight's armor. Little touches like that. The spirits
still there for the characters, but we wanted to do something
on our own. Kind of a selfish way to help us enjoy the
book more.
CBEtc: Currently, you are launching Amazing Fantasy,
a new Marvel series with J. Michael Straczynski’s
protégé, Fiona Avery. Marvel has been pretty
hush about the exact details on this title. Anything you
can reveal to the fans about this new series?
| 
"She is kind of a female part Spider-Man.
Though she didn't gain her powers the same way.
She does have pretty much all the same powers
Spider-Man has: super-strength, she can cling
to walls, but she has a couple that he doesn't
- that are really going to surprise people."
|
BROOKS: Well, mainly it centers on a young 15 year old
girl from Brooklyn, NY. It is basically about the trial
and tribulations she goes through in her everyday life.
During a skirmish near the end of the first issue, she
comes across a fight happening in the middle of a park
in Brooklyn. Turns out she is the "Intitate"
that this character Miguel is looking for. They meet under
very straining circumstances at the end of the first issue.
During that time she's mortally wounded and in order to
save her life she has to give up something very precious
to her which you'll find out within the second issue.
And in doing this, she becomes this new Initiate for this
corporation called WebCorps.
Anyone familiar with Amazing Spider-Man is familiar with
the Ezekiel story line this all centers around the whole
spider-totem mythos. Very similar to a Buffy the Vampire
Slayer story line. There is a character named Miguel who's
very much a Giles type character in that his job is to
go out and find the Initiate. His expectations during
all of this is that he's going to find a man. Probably
around the age of twenty. What he finds is a girl who's
15 years old. She's Puerto Rican and not what he expected
at all. Basically that all leads into the story. I can't
really give a lot more details about what's going on with
it.
As for the main character, all I can say her name is Anya.
She is kind of a female part Spider-Man. Though she didn't
gain her powers the same way. She does have pretty much
all the same powers Spider-Man has: super-strength, she
can cling to walls, but she has a couple that he doesn't
that are really going to surprise people. One of them
(I'll kind of give you a little hint on), she doesn't
get around by webbing or by any kind of swinging, but
she can get around just as proficiently as Spider-Man.
CBEtc: Because of the tie-in to the Amazing Spider-Man
universe and the main character’s look, a lot of
people want to call this the new "Spider-Girl"
book for current continuity. Is that a fair description?
BROOKS: Really, at this time, no. That description really
started online. Some of the major comic magazines like
Wizard automatically started referring to her as Spider-Girl.
But if you go search some of these articles and some of
these things you read online, you’ll notice that
neither myself nor Fiona, nor our editor, nor Joe Quesaeda,
nor Dan Buckley have ever referred to her as Spider-Girl.
These are assumptions being made by the general comic
reading public. Right now she is a female character with
spider-like powers that rival Spider-Man’s in the
Amazing Spider-Man universe. If you want to refer to her
as Spider-Girl that’s totally up to the readers
themselves, but just know you will never hear us say it.
CBEtc: Will there be any Amazing Spider-Man villains
making their way into the series in the foreseeable future?
BROOKS: As of right now, no. She really is going to have
her own rouges gallery. She’s going to have her
own support characters. The first six issues, you're learning
about her and her world. Same goes for Miguel. The first
six issues show her trying to balance her life between
the two worlds she’s living. One being a 15 year
old freshman in a Brooklyn high school living with her
single father. The other being the new Initiate of this
corporation call WebCorps, and trying come to terms with
what she is and the life she has to live outside of her
normal life. So while it’s still going to have fantastic
reality whenever your seeing her with WebCorps, it’s
also going to be grounded in her real life, when it comes
to her high school life, her friends, her father. A lot
of things that young people today can actually identify
with.
CBEtc: Much like the Spider-Man comics
from the 1960's.
| 
"For this book, I really wanted it to be
fun. I wanted it to have an edgy darkness to it
during certain areas, but you have to show Anya
when she’s at high school or around her
father. It has to have that kind of, not necessarily
light hearted, but more of a real world feel.
"
|
BROOKS: Exactly. It was basically the same thing. It really
did try to focus on that. You look at Spider-Man trying
to deal with being Spider-Man and also with being Peter
Parker. So it’s along the same lines.
CBEtc:
Will Spider-Man be making any appearances in the series
in the near future?
BROOKS: Within the first six issues, no. He wont. Like
I said. we really want to focus on explaining who she
is and her life and environment. Now, I’m not saying
Spider-Man won't appear at some point, but the first six
issues are a self-contained arc.
CBEtc: Did
you design the characters in Amazing Fantasy?
BROOKS: The main character, Anya, was actually designed
by both Joe Quesada and myself. We did back and forth
for about a week on different designs and finally settled
on the one that you see now. Every other character you
see in the book; including Miguel, her father, all the
different people at WebCorps, people at her high school,
her best friend, and things like that were all designed
by myself. I got personality descriptions from Fiona,
but beyond that, as far as visually, she really left it
up to me to match the visual with the written word of
the personality. For instance, Miguel was written as kind
of a dark soul, lonely character, so my first thought
was he kind of reminded me of Antonio Bandaras in "Desperado."
If you look at the character in the first issue, you can
definitely see the resemblance.
CBEtc: Did you have a certain look you
were going for?
BROOKS: I don’t like to go into a book think to
heavily about how it’s going to look before I find
out what Fiona or what any writer is going to right. Because,
I find if I think one thing and I get the script say something
totally different I’ve kind of screwed myself up
in my head. So I really try to keep an open mind until
I read the character bios or the first script. After I
read that I can get a better idea. For this book, I really
wanted it to be fun. I wanted it to have an edgy darkness
to it during certain areas, but you have to show Anya
when she’s at high school or around her father.
It has to have that kind of, not necessarily light hearted,
but more of a real world feel. But then once you got to
WebCorps, it’s gonna be a little darker and so I
wanted to find a way to visually show the two together,
but without them conflicting with each other or contrasting
too much. So that was basically my only goal. The rest
of it really fell into place with my own style.
CBEtc: Is it more fun sitting down and sketching a
character, trying to come up with different designs? Or
do you enjoy more laying out the book?
| 
"... they said they were looking for an artist
for the new Cable & Deadpool series. So I
sat down and did a bunch of character mockups
for both characters, sent those into Marvel and
within 24 hours found out I was the artist on
the book."
|
BROOKS: When I’m initially starting a book like
this, I definitely do the characters first. I sit down
and do little mock ups, what we call one sheets. (These)
basically are standups of the character, maybe a couple
of head shots. I figure out facial expressions, how they
would move. I’ll do that with pretty much every
major character. Now if it’s just a sidekick that’s
gonna appear, I’ll normally do them straight from
the board.
Once I have the script, I do layout all 22 pages first.
I’ll have small thumbnails, about eight inches tall
and by four inches wide. I just layout every page in the
whole book and send those in for a approval. Normally
they are just glorified stick figures. Then I go straight
to board.
Laying out the book is definitely the worst. It’s
the most tedious part. Because when you layout a book
no one is going to see it but you and your editor. So
your not doing it for anybody to see it. You don’t
get paid for it. It’s there just for the approval
process. It’s tedious. It’s also the hardest
because your trying to come up with different angles and
positions and things like that and you know once your
editor approves these that’s how they are. You can’t
go back and change later unless they want another layout.
Of the three things; character design, layout, and the
actual page itself, I definitely would say layouts are
the worse and characters designs are the best because
you have the most freedom.
CBEtc: Explain
how you went from Marvel Age Spider-Man to Cable &
Deadpool to Amazing Fantasy in such a relative short period
of time.
BROOKS: That’s actually a really funny story. I
met Jemas and Quesada at Philiycon 2003 last year for
the first time. Erik Ko, from UDON, was my representative.
Erik introduced me and I showed them my work. About a
week later Erik told me Marvel was saying they wanted
me to do this book. It’s a one shot that was retelling
of the original Steve Ditko/ Stan Lee story from Amazing
Spider-Man #3. It was the second appearance of the Vulture.
So I got the script and sat down and did the 24-page book,
turned it in and never heard anything else from it. Never
was even told what it was for. I had assumed it was for
a volume of Essential Spider-Man as a bonus at the end
where they had a story redone by an artist, but I was
never really told.
Once I finished that book I was contacted about a week
later, they said they were looking for an artist for
the new Cable & Deadpool series. So I sat down and
did a bunch of character mockups for both characters,
sent those into Marvel and within 24 hours found out
I was the artist on the book. So I got my first script,
sat down started doing the first book, got three fourths
of the way through and got a call from Erik, my agent,
saying Marvel had contacted him again.
| 
"I do like to take credit for kicking off
the Marvel Age line. I think without that first
issue, I don’t know whether that line would
have gotten launched. Whether that’s true
or not, I don't know. But, you know, I’m
a legend in my own head."
|
They said the first issue I had done of the Spider-Man
book had been shown to Barnes & Noble, Target, Wal-Mart,
and some other retailers. Marvel was told if they could
get together four more issues to do a trade paperback
that they would order (a certain) amount of copies.
Apparently the number was high enough where Marvel really
felt that they needed to get this cracking. So they
came back to me and said we need you to do four more
issues in about 3 months. I had to turn them out really
quick.
They told me to finish the current issue of Cable &
Deadpool. They were going to cancel the solicitations
that have already gone out in Previews (for the first
issue) and resolicit it in three months. That way, I
could finish the Spider-Man book and jump back on Cable
& Deadpool. So I went on to finish the next four
issues of Spider-Man and went back to Cable & Deadpool
for the second issue.
At this time, I found out Spider-Man was being called
Marvel Age Spider-Man and learned about the whole movement
there. Went back to Cable & Deadpool got three quarters
of the way through the second issue and was called and
told that J. Michael Straczynsky had asked for me personally
to work on Amazing Fantasy. It was an offer I couldn’t
refuse, so I ended up leaving Cable & Deadpool after
the second issue and moved to Amazing Fantasy.
The funny thing is, the way that I drew the books
and the way that they came out, it appeared to a lot
of people that I was doing two issues at once. Because
I had two issues coming out every month for about 3
months. But in actuality, it was a case for me working
straight for 9 months with nothing ever coming out,
so when it finally did come out, they had stockpiled
all this artwork from me. Anyone out there who thinks
I can do two issues a month… that’s a myth.
[Laughs] I just want to clear that up now.
I do like to take credit for kicking off the Marvel
Age line. I think without that first issue, I don’t
know whether that line would have gotten launched. Whether
that’s true or not, I don't know. But, you know,
I’m a legend in my own head. [Laughs]
CBEtc: So first issue you completed for Marvel Age Spider-Man
wasn't the first published?
BROOKS: I did four stories total. I did two Vulture
stories, one Doctor Doom story and one Doctor Octopus
story. The issue that I’ve done that we are waiting
on is Marvel Age Spider-Man #6. That was actually the
first issue I did. It was the second appearance of the
Vulture from the early 1960's. When they finally decided
to launch the Marvel Age line the finally figured out,
"Hey we have the second appearance of the Vulture,
but we never got the first appearance!" So that’s
when they came back and said "Ok, we need you to
draw the first appearance of the Vulture." Which
I did, and it became the first issue published of Marvel
Age Spider-Man. The second appearance of the Vulture
(the first one I actually did) ended up being pushed
back after Doctor Doom, Doctor Octopus, Sandman and
the Lizard. Which is funny, because I think it’s
the worst of the four that I did. Cause I really started
feeling the character later on. To everyone that picks
number six up, it’s the worst one I did.
| 
"... there is two kinds of schools of thought
on drawing women. There’s the realistic
way and then there is what I call the "Heart"
way, where all the heads are (shaped like) hearts...
that’s kinda how I do it. "
|
CBEtc: What was your relationship with UDON (pronounced
Ew-Don)?
BROOKS: UDON is a conglomerate of artists started by Erik
Ko. It’s not really a studio. It’s not really
a comic publishing company. It’s more of a group
of artists that got together lead by Erik Ko to offer
our services to companies on various projects. They do
work for Capcom, all kinds of video game companies, Image
Comics, Dark Horse, etc. etc.
Erik had done an interview with Rich Johnson at Comic
Book Resources and he was mentioning what he considered
some of the great talent of the industry and he mentioned
a bunch of names, mine included. I contacted him just
to say thank you through instant messenger. We ended up
talking for a while. I gave him a call and we talked on
the phone a little bit. Just talking about comics and
things in general and after about a week he asked if I
like to join UDON.
I was a little hesitant at first because I didn’t
know a whole lot about UDON. So Erik made me an offer,
"Tell you what. You join UDON if I can get you a
book at Marvel." I agreed. A few weeks later, I went
to Philly, and that’s when Erik introduced me to
Joe Quesada and Bill Jemas. And a week later, I got the
Spider-Man book and "Bam!" - I was an official
member of UDON. I am still a member of UDON. When it comes
to my comic work with Marvel, they like to work with me
directly. So, I’m on my own when it comes to my
work with Marvel. But anything outside of Marvel, any
commercial artwork I do, like video games or Toy designs,
or cartoons and animation, that still is through UDON.
Erik is still my agent.
CBEtc: What was your
first published comic work?
BROOKS: My very first published work would have been Atlas
#1 done through Avatar Press. It was Tidalwave Studios,
which was previously with Image. The ended up leaving
Image and joining Avatar. Atlas was such a tiny book.
I think shipping on that ended up being round 3800 copies.
I’m still surprised when someone shows up at con
with a copy of it. It was very small. But that was the
very first one.
CBEtc: A lot of your early work was covers, with your
most recent being issue #8 for Street Fighter. While doing
Amazing Fantasy, do you think you will still have time
for the occasional cover work?
BROOKS: I am now. I was really cranking those first couple
of issues and that’s pretty much all I worked on.
I had no time for anything else. I didn’t even have
time to sketch in my sketchbook when I wanted too. Now
that I’ve caught up and I’m on a better schedule,
I am going to be doing more covers. In fact, as lot of
people know, UDON has acquired the rights to Rival Schools
and Dark Stalkers. Which are two Capcom fighting games
like Street Fighter. I’m doing a double page split
cover for both those titles right now, so, yeah, I’m
definitely trying to fit in more cover work. I like to
spread myself out as much as possible. Any artist will
tell you covers are the most fun to do. So the more I
can do the better.
| 
"When I was in the sixth grade, I was in
a drug store and I picked up my first copy of
X-Men by Alan Davis. It was the one where Wolverine
and Sabretooth are fighting with Betsy Bradock
running away. I owe that issue, and Alan Davis,
for the reason I got into comics."
|
CBEtc: You seemed pretty married to the Marvel Universe.
If the opportunity arose, what DC character would you
love to do?
BROOKS: It’s gonna sound cliché, but I think
every artist has certain goals in their career. My goal
is to draw every major character out there. I’ve
done Spider-Man and it was such an honor. Really, I would
like to, at some point in my career to tackle Superman
and Batman. I mean a know they're very cliché and
very typical characters, but I’ll feel like I’ve
really accomplished something if I could draw them as
well. A lot of them even just for fun, like Hellboy for
instance. I would be happy to do a Hellboy cover. I would
do that for free! These are the things I’d consider
and honor to work on.
CBEtc: What did you
do before you broke into the comics industry?
BROOKS: Believe it or not, I was an office manager for
Nextel. I wore a suit and tie everyday. I had anywhere
from twelve to twenty five people underneath me at any
given time. I was drawing at night. Even with my first
published work coming out, Atlas and some of the other
work, I was still working at Nextel. So I know it’s
hard to look at me now to guess but, yeah, that was the
case for many a year.
CBEtc: Have you always
wanted to get into art?
BROOKS: Ever since I was a kid. My father was a graphic
designer and I was always wanted to be an artist. When
I was in the sixth grade, I was in a drug store and I
picked up my first copy of X-Men by Alan Davis. It was
the one where Wolverine and Sabretooth are fighting with
Betsy Bradock, who’s running away. I wish I had
an issue number I could tell you. I owe that issue, and
Alan Davis, for the reason I got into comics.
CBEtc: You have recently help form a new studio in
Atlanta with artists like Georges Jeanty, Dexter Vines,
Tom Feister. How’s it working out so far?
BROOKS: It's not so much a studio as it is a loft of
space where a bunch of us got together and are just
able to hang and draw together. We just find we are
much more creative when we around other people doing
the same thing as you. If we ever get blocks, you can
get up off your drawing board and walk over to the board
next to you and see Tom is working on or Georges is
working on. And it gets you going. So basically that’s
all that is. Right now we jokingly call ourselves studio
"no name" because we don’t have a name
yet.
CBEtc: So what do you think stands out in your style?
Who do people tell you that your work looks influenced
by?
BROOKS: The number one person I was hearing for a long
time was Steve Skroce. And I had never even seen his
work. The first time I had seen his work was when someone
was talking about the Matrix and the designs for the
Matrix. And I found out that Steve Skroce was one of
the artists who worked on it. So I went in and tracked
down his work. I kinda see what people are talking about
in some areas.
| 
"The second appearance of the Vulture (the
first one I actually did) ended up being pushed
back... which is funny, because I think it’s
the worst of the four that I did. Cause I really
started feeling the character later on. To everyone
that picks #6 up, it’s the worst one I did.
"
|
It’s really hard being an artist, to judge your
own work without automatically having a certain view
of it already. I get a lot of comparisons to Manga and
Anime styles. I think "Manga" is a label that
a lot of people ignorantly put on artwork. I heard someone
the other day refer to Mike Wieringo as "Manga
and Anime." I think most the time when someone
refers to it that way there also the same person who’s
never watched an anime or never read Manga to really
understand what they are talking about. It’s kinda
nuts. Humberto Ramos is the same things. So I get called
that a lot.
Specifically, I hear Steve Skroce a bit. I hear Chris
Bachalo sometimes. A little bit of Adam Warren. But
not as often as you think. I really don’t get
compared to a lot of artists very often. Which I think
is a good thing because I really want to produce my
own work. Something that’s identifiable as me.
I’d prefer to have someone say "Hey, your
work reminds me of Mark Brooks!" Hopefully that’ll
happen someday.
CBEtc: Do you often hear your work has a J Scott
Campbell feel to it?
BROOKS: Actually I haven’t drawn a lot women in
the past. And I just started drawing women recently,
and I’ve heard it a couple of times since then.
I think it’s because I draw my bodies kinda ripply
kinda the same way Campbell does. As far as women go,
my women do kinda look similar because there is two
kinds of schools of thought on drawing women. There’s
the realistic way and then there is what I call the
"Heart" way, where all the heads are (shaped
like) hearts. Like the bottom of a heart comes to a
point and the chins are very small and the eyes are
kinda big. You know it’s not really a Manga sort
of way to draw it. It’s just a carotene way to
make a women look more feminine and beautiful. But that’s
kinda how I do it. I think J Scott Campbell does it
the exact same way. The heart shaped faces. So maybe
that’s where it’s coming from.
CBEtc: There’s a debate on who said this first,
Mark Bagley or Cully Hamner, BUT… both have said
to be successful as a comic book artist, you need to
be two out of three things. Those three things are:
a very nice guy; a really good artist; and a really
fast artist. You could be a really nice guy and a really
fast artist, but you don’t really have to be that
good. You could be a really good artist, and a very
fast one, but you don’t have to be that nice.
Or you could be a really good guy and a good artist,
but not be that fast. Which two do you think you fit
the best?
BROOKS: I know I’m not fast. I can be incredibly
slow. So I guess the two would have to be a really nice
guy and a really good artist. I don’t like saying
a really good artist, necessarily. I feel the minute
I start saying I’m a really good artist or that
I really think my work is top, that I might as well
just stop because I’m not growing anymore. I personally
hate just about everything I do. But, apparently, I
must be doing something right because I do keep getting
work. So, yeah, I guess it’s those two. I wish
I were faster. I’m still working on that part.
I’d like to get all three eventually. But I guess
right now it’s those two.
CBEtc: What do you like to listen to when you’re
working?
| 
"It’s only going to get better. Every
issue I think you’re going to see it get
better, better, and better. I’m really ramped
about these books. By the time we get to [Amazing
Fantasy] #4, I think you are gonna see things
that blow your mind."
|
BROOKS: I listen to a lot of different stuff. I like
Meat Verse and the Gimmie Gimmies. I listen to Cake
a lot. Beastie Boys. Things like that. But I find I’ll
put in a CD based on what scene I’m drawing. Like
for instance, I was doing a scene just recently where
Anya was doing this whole gymnastic routine. It was
really kinda badass looking. So I pulled out a lot of
techno music. I really started feeling the energy that
she’s doing.
With the first issue, I had to draw these really dark,
evil bad guys called the Sisterhood of the Wasp attacking
Miguel. I played Marilyn Manson when I was doing that
to give that really dark creepy feel and kind of a driving
mood at the same time. It really depends on what I’m
drawing at times. Sometimes when I’m just doing
a nice cover, a nice visual scene, I’ll watch
cartoons. I’ll just listen to TV, Comedy Central
or something. It really just depends on what I’m
doing.
CBEtc: Have you seen MTV’s Spider-Man cartoon?
CBROOKS: Yes, I hate it. I don’t like it because
I’m not real big on CG (Computer generated) art
unless it’s done incredibly well. I’m a huge
fan of Pixar and Finding Nemo and all that good stuff.
That stuff is incredible. For Spider-Man, it’s comic
book, a hand drawn medium. If you are going to do it CG
you’ve got to do it really, really well. I just
do not like the way it’s done personally speaking.
I’m not saying it’s not a medium unto itself,
a lot of people like it and I’m never the kind of
person to say "Because I feel this way you should
feel this way too." For me, it’s hand drawing
all the way. If you want CG in it, give me hand drawn
animation with CG background and things like that. The
kind of stuff you see in Ghost in the Shell or something
like that.
CBEtc: What’s happened recently
that you wish you had a Spidey sense to warn you?
BROOKS: I wish I had known when I first started Amazing
Fantasy the push this book was gonna get from Marvel Comics.
I was told Marvel was going to push the book but, I had
no idea they were gonna push it this much. I don’t
know what I could’ve done to make it better. I’m
pleased with the work I did. I’m not trying to say
I don’t like the work… I did. I would have
really liked to turn it up to "11" and really
seen what I could’ve done had I known it was gonna
be out there as much as it is and in the public as much.
CBEtc: So, people picking up Amazing Fantasy #1 should
expect your best work to come thereafter?
BROOKS: Definitely. I’m very pleased with issue
number one. It looks really good. I think people will
enjoy the read. It’s only going to get better. Every
issue I think you’re going to see it get better,
better, and better. I’m really ramped about these
books. By the time we get to issue four, I think you are
gonna see things that blow your mind.
Okay, now is the time for "2099" portion
of our interview. This is where I ask you 20 questions
in 99 seconds. It’s basically an "either/or"
type of response, but you can answer whatever first
pops into your head.
Interiors or Covers: Covers
"Mang-ga" or "Mon-ga":
It's "Mon-ga"
Late night or early day: Late night
Play with toy or keep in box: Oh, play with
the toy!
Fly or drive: Drive
Big Goggles or Spidey Mask: Gotta go with big
goggles
South Park or Simpsons: South Park
Cell phone or E-mail: Cell Phone. No! E-mail.
Let’s go with E-mail [Laughs]
Drawing funny books or selling cell phones:
Drawing Funny books
Sleep in or make deadline: How about try and
do both?
X-Box or Playstation: Oh, Playstation!
For backgrounds - interiors or exteriors: Exteriors
First print or trade paperback: First print
Mac or PC: PC
Star Wars or Star Trek: Star Wars. Trekkies
should be shot!
John or Paul: I'd say John. Look at the sunglasses,
man!
Locked in a room with Deadpool or Pidge (Voltron):
Deadpool. At least we could joke together.
Squeeze from the middle or at the end (toothpaste):
Middle
Lou Ferigno or Adam West: Lou Ferigno. I hear
Adam’s kind of a jerk
Buffy or Vampirella: Vampirella. Definitely.
ART CREDITS (Most Recent to Oldest)
Amazing Fantasy #1+ (Interiors/Covers)
Marvel Age Spider-Man #1, 2, 4, 6 (Interiors/Covers)
#3, 5 (Covers only)
Marvel Age Spider-Man (Vol.1) Digest TPB (Collects issues
#1-4)
Street Fighter #0 (Interiors) #8 (Cover A)
Cable & Deadpool #1-2 (Interiors) #6 (Cover)
G.I. Joe vs Transformers #1 (Gold Cover Variant) #3
(Cover B), #4 (Cover B)
Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye #1-2 (Interiors)
#3-4 (Interiors/Covers)
Misplaced #2 (Cover)
Voltron #0 (Interiors/Cover) #1B (Cover)
Ultraman: Tiga #2-3 (Cover)
Robotech Sourcebook (Interiors)
Tenth Muse Atlas Story (Interiors) |
