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Coleby Interview Part 2
 PART
1 |
9th
October 03
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How much input
did you have in the creation of Bato Loco, and will we be seeing more of him?
Bato Loco...the
main man! Gordon Rennie really gets credit for creating the devious wretch that
is Loco. I came up with the visuals for the character, but he was basically 'there',
fully-formed as I read the script. To be honest, he's one of the most enjoyable
characters that I've worked on...he's essentially well-meaning, but somewhat bewildered
by the world in which he lives. He also seems to have a genetic, built-in, 'trouble-magnet'.
Somehow, I empathise with all of those traits!
I did, however,
undertake a great deal of arduous and painstaking research whilst working on Bato:
a whole weekend watching the Godfather, Goodfellas, Carlito's Way, and Ocean's
Eleven DVD's. Good God, how I suffer for my art...:-)
I really hope to
do more with Bato, though ultimately it's up to Alan Barnes.
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Rogue
("Friday") Trooper |
You've worked
on Rogue Trooper in two incarnations, the much maligned Michael Fleischer "Friday"
run and the more recent Rennie run. What's your impressions of the two versions?
Ah...I knew we'd
get to that sooner or later! The Friday stuff was drawn at a real personal and
professional low-point in my life. To be honest, I don't look back at the work
I did during that period with any great fondness. I suppose we all wish that we
could erase a certain part of our published history, and for me it would be just
about everything from around that era.
For what it's worth, my personal philosophy is that if you have a strong character
that communicates with the readership then you really don't need to keep re-inventing
the character. By all means develop and expand the storyline, move on to a new
setting, new objectives or whatever, but when you get to the stage of having to
re-write the central character then the original premise is exhausted, and it's
probably time to kill the story.
I'm not hugely
given to nostalgia-driven stories, but I thought that Gordon's take on Rogue was
a lot of fun. Probably I tried too hard with the artwork as I'd just returned
to comics after something of a hiatus ( working for a new-media animation company
). In retrospect my stuff was a little too cluttered...put it down to over-enthusiasm!,
As a long running
contributor to 2000AD - how would you compare the current Rebellion-run version
to its earlier incarnations?
Rebellion have
obviously realised that 2000AD can't simply continue to trade on its 'cult' status,
and have really set about reinventing the comic. I think it's fresher and more
readable than it has been for a long time. Frazer, D'Israeli, and the rest are
doing work that easily matches up to anything in 2000AD's long and distinguished
history.
I fully support
the crossover into new media also: no other genre seems quite as insular as comics,
and it's got to be healthy to reinterpret the content as story cds, computer games,
and whatever else is likely to find an audience.
Do you think
2000AD or Judge Dredd will ever succeed in the US market? Is the new Showcase
comic the way to go? (i.e. showcasing talent as opposed to characters).
I can't think of
any reason why Dredd shouldn't succeed in the US. A parody of society overseen
by a neo-fascistic governing body? Perhaps I should refrain from commenting on
the topicality of that particular scenario...
And as I type,
I just heard this morning that Arnie is now governor of California...God help
us all.
I can't really
make the distinction between talent and characters: I feel that both need to be
strong for a story to be worth reading.
What do you
think could be done to improve the state of the comic industry in the UK today?
Let me draw a larger
proportion of it.
Are there any
characters that you'd like to take a stab at?
I'd love to have
a bash at the Silver Surfer...preferably with Galactus stomping around in his
cosmically-gargantuan and grumpy way. Also Thor: all that Asgard stuff that Kirby
designed would be fantastic to have a go at. Hmmm, what else? Hellboy, perhaps.
Oh yeah, Devlin Waugh...that would be pretty close to the top of my list. Apart
from that, whatever comes along next.
Whose work do
you currently admire - both in writing and art?
Frank Miller...as
far as I'm concerned he's the consummate comic-book artist. He doesn't try to
be a fine-artist or an illustrator, he just gets on with telling the story in
the most direct way possible: something I really aspire to.
Mike Mignola impresses
me with everything he does. I also like Tim Sale's enjoyably wonky anatomy ( well,
Tim Sale's drawing's enjoyably wonky anatomy ). Jock, D'Israeli, Sean Phillips,
Eduardo Risso, Kelley Jones, Moebius, Rick Leonardi, Mike McMahon, Alan Davis...oh,
loads of stuff, I could be here all day if I keep going.
There's a huge amount of vintage work that I also admire: Rudy
Nebres, Bernie Wrightson, Al Williamson, John Buscema, Jack Kirby etc. There's
such a rich heritage to this medium that it's immensely rewarding to dig back
through the history of the genre and trace links through to the work that's seeing
print today.
As for writers, Gordon's stuff is great right now. Andy Diggle's
work on The Losers is fantastic. And recently I've started bashing some of my
own plots down on paper...so watch out!
Outside of comics,
I'm a massive fan of political cartooning. Ralph Steadman and Gerald Scarfe have
been artistic icons of mine for many years...partly because I'm constantly in
awe of their creative brilliance, partly because they both share my cynicism towards
the glitterati: professional political liars, and vacuous, self-obsessed
'celebrities'.
Finally - what
projects have you got lined up for the future?
In the immediate
future there's more Inquisitor for Games Workshop. I also hope that I'll be working
for 2000AD again soon, though I'm not sure on which story just yet: maybe Bato
Loco, maybe something else. It's the unpredictability that keeps the job interesting!
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