The Big Question with Barry Kitson: 11-17-00
The Big Question with Barry Kitson
Interview with: Troy Brownfield
Thanks for joining us again in the Big Question! Our guest this time should be no stranger to fans of the JLA . . . or DC Comics in general. He’s been plying his trade around 12 years, working on icons like Batman, Superman and the aforementioned JLA. He did a memorable stint on L.E.G.I.O.N. as well.
However, it’s hard not to mention his name without thinking of his association with Mark Waid. Together, they produced the fantastic JLA: Year One, The Flash and Green Lantern Brave and the Bold mini-series, and are currently doing great things with Empire for Gorilla Comics.
Ladies and gentlemen, a man that really knows how to draw Black Canary, Barry Kitson!
THE BIG Q&A
Q1. Please give us a little insight into the sheer volume of credits that you’ve accumulated.
A1. My first professional work was Spiderman for Marvel UK - two episodes inked by Mark Farmer circa 1988. Then I moved to 2000AD drawing JUDGE DREDD and JUDGE ANDERSON strips, also a few FUTURE SHOCKS
My first DC work was BATGIRL SPECIAL #1 (1989)
Then LEGION OF SUPERHEROES ANNUAL # 4
Four weekly episodes of CATWOMAN in Action Comics Weekly
L.E.G.I.O.N ‘89 #1 through #17 and #23 through #60 - Covers #61 through #67
WOLVERINE # 31 & 32
IRON MAN ANNUAL #(?)
DETECTIVE COMICS # 670
BATMAN/PUNISHER LAKE OF FIRE #1
ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #502 - 520
LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #63
ALPHA FLIGHT (two back up stories circa issues 123/4 I THINK)
AZRAEL #1 - 28 covers 29 & 30
SHADOW OF THE BAT # 35 -39
JLA Year One #1 through 12
BRAVE & BOLD #1 through 6
Flash # (?) layouts
EMPIRE #1 & 2
Batman:Book of the Dead #1 & 2
Currently working on a six part Legends of the Dark Knight arc and Empire.
Future works include an Elseworlds project with Howard Chaykin and David Tischman.
Q2. I’ve admired your work for awhile, but one of my favorite things that you’ve worked on is L.E.G.I.O.N. Could you describe that experience for us?
A2. It was a joy really from start to finish - my first regular US work and I got a chance to learn from Keith Giffen’s breakdowns and storytelling while doing my best to improve my drawing and writing skills. By the time I left the book I had pencilled, inked and written several issues. All with the incredible support of a large and very loyal readership. I was incredibly fortunate to have had L.E.G.I.O.N. as a vehicle as it was full of great characters and character driven stories. It still amazes me today how many people have such a strong regard for those stories. I’m always saying how I’d love to bring the characters back one day, so who knows it might just happen. I still look back on the L.E.G.I.O.N. days as some of the best I’ve enjoyed as a professional artist - it was a great learning curve and a wonderful group of people to work with. Sorry if this sounds gushing, but it is how I feel about it.
Q3. Your profile increased with your work on JLA:Year One. How did it feel to help re-write (or in your case, re-draw) the history of some great comics icons?
A3. That was a dream come true for me! An opportunity to work with all the characters that had originally got me hooked on comics - in their original forms. I think of it as maybe how a contemporary actor might feel if he were given the chance to work with all the greats that had inspired his career, but not as the older men and women they would be, but actually in their prime! It felt about as good as it could get I think!
Q4. How did you become involved with the Gorilla Comics project?
A4. Well that was pretty straight forward - Mark Waid rang me up one night and told me he and some very talented people were interested in starting a creator owned imprint and wanted to know if I’d like to be part of it. I’d always enjoyed working with Mark in the past - and I had a huge respect for the other creators in the group - so I hopped on board!
Q5. Tell us about “Empire” and your role as far as plotting and character designs.
A5. Well as far as the character designs went I pretty much had carte blanche. Mark and I would discuss the nature of each character and them I’d just begin sketching away until we had something we were both pleased with. In fact the designs came pretty quickly , most characters only took a couple of tries before we had them nailed. Probably Golgoth took the longest, I was very conscious of trying to create something unique and powerful. To get the mask right took maybe a dozen attempts, we wanted it to be both impassive and yet imposing.. I think we just about got there! :)
Q6. This is the obligatory “what art tools do you use?” question.
A6. I use a vast array of tools from straight forward pencils, retractable pencils 0.3 or 0.5 usually HB for rough sketching. Brushpens and felt tips for high contrast roughs. A PC for image manipulation. Pencils and retractable pencils B or 2B for final drawings. I use Canson Bristol Board to draw and ink on. I ink using mostly Rowney S.40 #5 kolinsky sable brushes, dip pens usually with Joseph Guillot 303 or 170 nibs and a variety of Rotring technical pens. I usually use Rotring or Pelikan India ink.
Q7. Finally, what’s your dream project? Any characters out there that you’d like to redesign or take over?
A7. There’s hardly a character that I wouldn’t like a shot at taking over and/or redesigning! :) I still love all the classic superhero characters and to be given free reign on any of them would be a dream project. To be more specific I do have a property of my own that I’ve been working on over some years that I’d love to see print one day - that features entirely new characters. I have another dream project using established characters, but don’t actually want to talk about it as I’ve just learnt there’s a chance it might actually come about so I wouldn’t want to jinx anything!
We’d like to thank Mr. Kitson for taking the time to be our guest in the Big Question! Go check out Empire and the JLA: Year One trade paperback and keep an eye out for his upcoming projects.
As always, if you have someone you’d like to suggest as a Big Question guest, let Troy know at psikotyk@aol.com.
Troy Brownfield is the Editor-in-Chief of Shotgun Reviews. He also recommends that you pick up some L.E.G.I.O.N. back issues, especially #50 where Dox fights for his child. That one kicks ass.
