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Post by /\/\att on Sept 25, 2004 3:13:46 GMT -5
[shadow=green,left,300]Unfortunately, this isn't a complete transcript, because I had a PC error erase some of it..and I've omitted lots of convo, but here are some great exerpts...[/shadow]
LoGMatt - Lets open it up...what did everyone think of Strikes #1? Josh - very excellent book peev34 - Very solid read! Loved it! Josh - I liked seeing the Bat-Glider ChristopherJones - You'll see the glider in episodes LoGMatt - yes, its in Call of the Cobblepot isn't it? ChristopherJones - I think so. Apparently he only uses it against the Penguin. peev34 - lol LoGMatt - how...useful, lol
LoGMatt - I've found the issue to be a better read than originally suspected. The online previews were the corniest parts. ChristopherJones - Yeah, the preview pages weren't my favorites...
ChristopherJones - So, I've seen a lot of talk about what people think of the show. I've seen four episodes and I think the Joker episode is the weakest of the four. peev34 - And I loved the Joker episode!! I can't wait to see how the show "improves" Josh - What was your fave [episode]? ChristopherJones - Um, I think the Bane episode is really strong. For the record, I've seen the Joker, Bane, Penguin and Man-Bat episodes.
LoGMatt - Chris, do the eps you've seen move as fast at the Bat in the Belfry? Christopher Jones - The show moves pretty fast over-all. I think the ones after the Joker episode spend more time on plot and less time on having to set everything up.
ChristopherJones - Its been interesting watching how people's opinion of the new show is influenced by the place the previous series has in their hearts Josh - I'm a big fan of BTAS, but I don't see the point in comparing them. ChristopherJones - I was a big fan of BTAS as anyone, and I think the new show is great. The art direction in particular is brilliant LoGMatt - agreed! Jeff is a god amongst men. ChristopherJones - And Jeff is a really nice guy! peev34 - Yes he is!
LoGMatt - You've got such a great grasp of his style...even in the first issue. ChristopherJones - Well it's an odd mix of my style and his. Much like my JL Adventures stuff was a mix of me and Bruce Timm.
peev34 - Is it difficult to emulate Matsuda's style in the book? You pulled it off wonderfully! ChristopherJones - It's a bit of a challenge. It's nothing like my "default" style. If I have such a thing. I'm learning some of the nuances. I think I'm getting better at it. Wait until you guys see the story I'm drawing now. It's the Bane issue [Batman Strikes #4] peev34 - Can't wait! Josh - I thought it looked really well, and I agree the Batcave design is awesome. ChristopherJones - Glad to hear it.
LoGMatt - seriously...although the writing needs work...your art is worth my $2.25 by itself! ChristopherJones - I know that Bill Matheny wants to get into meatier stories, just as I do. LoGMatt - Good to hear! ChristopherJones - The challenge is trying to write for a show before its on the air. LoGMatt - Is Bill a big Batman fan? ChristopherJones - Yep. He is. Keep in mind that the first four issues were written without Bill having seen an episode. He's only been able to read the scripts for the episodes with the villians in question. LoGMatt - That would make it tough peev34 - No doubt. Josh - that stinks. its hard to get the essence of the character ChristopherJones - It's the nature of the gig. And it makes it hard to compete with the stories in the late, lamented Batman Adventures, which were playing with versions of the characters who had been explored for over 10 years. LoGMatt - very true. Its almost like starting over. ChristopherJones - It IS starting over. And then theres this confusion with people looking at this as some sort of prequel. It's not meant to exist in the same timeline as the previous version at all.
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Post by /\/\att on Sept 25, 2004 3:14:04 GMT -5
peev34 - How closely have you and Bill worked with Jeff on this book? ChristopherJones - I've spoken with Jeff on the phone several times and he's been very supportive.
LoGMatt - I've got a question for 'ya! ChristopherJones - Shoot! LoGMatt - In regard to the direction of the Strikes title.....once you guys get into the swing of this book, how deep does the creative team hope to take the stories off the beaten path of the episodes? In regard to helping further develop this new animated universe. ChristopherJones - We'd like to really run with the ball. Jeff wants to see us do that too. We'll see what they let us get away with. LoGMatt - Batman Adventures got away with a LOT.....of course they had a decade of continuity and no cartoon to live up to on the air.... ChristopherJones - We've been asked to cycle through the rogue's gallery - a villian per issue - before going on to do any other things. LoGMatt - Of course. Now, perhaps between that large gap of season one and two you'll catch up a bit? ChristopherJones - Of course! We'll be running out of villians soon enough. 13 episodes in the first season, and I think there are only 10 "1st appearance" villians in that 13. And of course they won't get through all 13 episodes before going into re-runs, so we'll probably catch up with the actual broadcast of episodes before we actually get through all the villians in the pipline.
LoGMatt - Chris, any hints on whats to come in Strikes #5 and #6? ChristopherJones - #5 I think will be Scarface. I'm not sure who's up after that. Probably Mr. Freeze or Catwoman.
peev34 - Chris...a bit off topic, but who are some of the artists you "idolize"? ChristopherJones - there was a topic? Lets see.... peev34 - lol ChristopherJones - Alex Toth, Will EIsner, Mike Mignola, David Mazzuchelli, Steve Rude, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Bernie Wrightson, Gene Colan, Gil Kane....the list goes on and on.....John Byrne, Alex Ross, Frank Miller... peev34 - good list!
LoGMatt - Chris - How long, on average, does it take you to pencil a book? ChristopherJones - On JL Adventures I could draw an issue comfortably in about 2.5 weeks. The art on Batman Strikes is more complex. That said, due to some weird deadline issues, I had to draw issue #2 in under 2 weeks.....but that cost me.....Cost me sleep...social time....sanity points... LoGMatt - ,,,,awww there's points! <------ negative 10
LoGMatt - Of course without getting too specific about you personally, what does an artist on your average book make these days? Thats something you never hear about. ChristopherJones - I'm not really sure what the range is. I know for Marvel and DC, I don't think you see artists making less than $150 - $200 per page - closer to $200. But how much more than that someone like a Jim Lee makes...I'm not sure. chebutykin - Then there's the sale of the pages after they are returned to the artist, if he/she feels like selling the original work... ChristopherJones - And then there are royalties, but you really need to be on a high-selling book for those to get to be relevant.
Robin - how did you get started? ChristopherJones - ..When a man and a woman love each other very much..... Josh - LOL! peev34 - lol Robin - LMAO! how did you get into comics? ChristopherJones - I"ve been drawing superheroes all my life. My first pro work was a book called Street Heroes 2005, published by Eternity comics in 1989. Back then, 2005 sounded futuristic. Coincidentally, the cover for that comic was colored by ....BRUCE TIMM. No lie. Josh - wow! ChristopherJones - My first work for DC was doing fill-ins on a title called Young Heroes in Love. chebutykin - Actually, Chris, didn't you have a comic strip at the ripe age of 10? ChristopherJones - Sigh. Yes, Yes I did. And it had the REALLY awesome name of Mister Muscle. I had no awareness by the cleaning product of that name when I came up with it.
LoGMatt - Chris, do you personally buy any comics monthly? ChristopherJones - I buy a few monthly, but my comic buying habits are pretty sporadic, so I tend to go for trade paperbacks more than monthlies these days. I've been LOVING New Frontier. I should've mentioned Darwyn Cooke in my earlier list. chebutykin - New Frontier ROCKS. Bloody amazing book.
ChristopherJones - I've heard a couple of people specifically comment on the last page of Strikes #1. I put a lot of time into designing the Wayne tombstone, as that has NOT been designed for the TV show and I knew we would have to live with the design for awhile. Josh - It was great! LoGMatt - It was a great tribute. I also noticed a few shots of bats in the shadows that were very Timm looking. ChristopherJones - I'm learning more and more. I think the comic would look completely different if Jeff were drawing it. The comic is really in my style with the character and background designs from the show.
LoGMatt - Chris - will the book be its own story / plot or will any be borrowed from the actual episodes? ChristopherJones - The book will feature original stories. I just recently learned of this "Action Jam" book they're doing, adapting a couple of the episodes. That has nothing to do with what we're doing on Strikes.
Josh - Will every issue be one, self-contained story, or will we get some multipart stories? ChristopherJones - For the time being, we're doing single issue stories with a new villian in each issue. Once we've run through all the existing villians, I'm hoping it will open up. I'd love to do story arcs, do non-supervillian stories.
Faithfulbutler - Has anyone asked the question about existing hero characters from the Mythos that haven't appeared yet? peev34 - Any plans for "guest-stars" from the DCU? ChristopherJones - No one's asked peev34 - you beat me to it FB Faithfulbuter - as usual peev LOL ChristopherJones - No plans at this time. Obviously I'd love to. One of my biggest thrills was doing the Phantom Stranger issue of Justice League Adventures. We'll see what let us do once we've used all the villians from the TV show once or twice.
LoGMatt - It would be nice if DC would be a little more interactive with fans and our wants, like with the Jason Todd fiasco, lol. ChristopherJones - One nice thing is that the letter columns are coming back to the Johnny DC titles, including Batman Strikes.
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Post by /\/\att on Sept 25, 2004 3:14:37 GMT -5
Robin - any chance we'll see Robin on the show? ChristopherJones - From what I understand, they'd like to introduce more and more characters as the series goes on. So the longer it runs, the more will likely turn up. I can only assume Robin might be possible if it runs long enough.
BenPIxen - What was the most difficult character you had to draw? ChristopherJones - I've got model sheets and sample backgrounds to follow, I've actually educated myself on the show to the point where I think I'm doing more to keep consistant with the show than any directives I'm getting from above. Jeff Matsuda has really encouraged me to just run with it. The most difficlut character to draw? Man-Bat was a little challenging because it's such a complex character design, but it was fun.
Robin - Whats the deadline for an issue? ChristopherJones - In theory, I should have a month from the time I get the script until the art is due. With some of the issues we've had getting this book started. I haven't had the luxury of that much time on an issue yet.
BenPixen - Have you had a chance to draw Catwoman yet? ChristopherJones - No Catwoman yet. I'm hoping we'll get to her soon.
Robin - So, is there a real rush to get an issue done?f ChristopherJones - There has been, but its just been the birth pains of coordinating a new book with a new show.
Faithfulbutler - This is something I have always wondered. What size page by page do you draw in? Is it comic size, or larger? ChristopherJones - The paper that comics get drawn on is 11X17. The art is approximately 150% the size of the final comic.
BenPixen - What comic would you like to pencil? ChristopherJones - I'm pretty happy drawing Batman. He's my favorite character. I'd also love to work on Green Lantern or Legion of Superheroes. Or Iron Man. Or Spider-man. There are a lot of characters that I'd have a blast on.
ChristopherJones - If i was on a normal schedule, I'd be at the drawing table about 8 hours a day. When I had to draw Batman Strikes #2 in under 2 weeks, it was more like 14 hours a day.
BenPixen - I'm aspiring to become a comic book artist, I was wondering do you have any tips for me? ChristopherJones - Learn to draw by studying sources outside of comic books. Take a life drawing class. Look at photographs. Learn anatomy. You can always apply that knowledge to comic books later.
LoGMatt - as a fan, are there any elemetns of btas you'd like to incorporate? ChristopherJones - I'd like to see more of Wayne Industries or Wayne Enterprises. I'd like to see more of Bruce's history. And I'd really love to flesh out the supporting cast, but I don't know how much they'll allow us to explore those areas.
ChristopherJones - Alfred is the best. Have you noticed that no matter what the TV or film verison of Batman they almost always do well by Alfred? Alfredy was the only saving grace of Batman Forever and Batma & Robin I think his role in the story is just so clear. Alfred gets to be quite a front and center character on the new TV show
ChristopherJones - I hope to bring back the Alf-Cycle. I'd be great for the toyline Faithfulbutler - LOL, the Alf-cycle. I'd love it!!! peev34 - lol. I'd buy that.
ChristopherJones - By the way , the Batwave stuff really calms down after the first episode of the show. peev34 - It didn't bother me a bit anyway ChristopherJones - The gadgets are there, but they're really a part of the story, and not as front-and-center
peev34 - By the way, do you collect any toys? ChristopherJones - I collect a few. I've been getting the 1st Appearance figures. Batman and Captain Marvel are here on my shelf. chebutykin - A few? We can't see the top of our entertainment center. grin. LoGMatt - lol che peev34 - lmao che ChristopherJones - hey Cheb most of THOSE are YOURS! Tell them about the Robotrix, Cheb chebutykin - Four foot tall metal Robotrix from Metropolis - that would be the most noticable piece of the collection...
BenPixen - What character intriques you most from "the Batman" series? ChristopherJones - Obviously I've been focusing on them visually. Every issue I get to refine my Batman and tackle a new villian. That's really been fun. I think the Man-Bat and Bane are GREAT designs. I was as baffled by the new Joker design as everyone else when I first saw it, then you see it in the context of the episode and it makes a lot more sense. chebutykin - The designs for Firefly and the Riddler are also great. ChristopherJones - Wait until you guys see Croc and Clayface. BenPIxen - When are we going to see them? ChristopherJones - Those characters are a ways off, unfortunately,. LoGMatt - yeah, season two guys.
LoGMatt - alright guys a quick announcement. If any of you would like Chris to sign your copy of Strikes #1, he has graciously agreed to do so for the participants of the chat! ....so let me know via PM and I'll get the details to ya! Faithfulbutler - WOW, thanks Matt and Chris! Robin - thats awesome peev34 - sweet!!
ChristopherJones - by the way, it pains me that they never came out with an action figure or maquette of the redesigned Scarecrow from the previous series. The Jeffrey Combs version. LoGMatt - I totally agree Chris! I was hoping that Mattel would release him in those TRU 4 packs, but those look to be going away for awhile.
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