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Home ¦ Features ¦ Boo Cook Interview Part 3

23rd October 04 Back to Part 2

Boo's album cover work (view larger image)

Well, Wagner – Dredd… obviously. That just has to be said. Something that’s never going to happen is Strontium Dog. He is my favourite 2000AD character and if I could do him, it’s be great. But it’s Carlos’ territory – no-one goes there, and rightly so I may add. But… well… you never know… he is getting older…

Really, Rob Williams is my fave writer for AD at the moment. Low Life! I’d have killed to have drawn that. I’m trying to get Rob to write some Dredds. Rob + Dredd = Good.

The other series that I’ve personally wanted to see you working on is Ace Garp.

Arrrgh! I knew it! One pin-up! I do just one pin-up, and everyone keeps asking!
Of course, I’m very fond of old Ace, but… it’s not going to come back, is it? Is it? I just don’t think it’d work in today’s frame, would it? Nobody’s into CBs any more. [historical note: Citizen’s Band two-way radios, the trucker’s friend and a craze in the mid-1980’s] The strip ran its course. Maybe a one-off’d be a good thing to see, but, I don’t know about bringing him back for good.

Ace Garp returns! (view larger image)

A small one, maybe. I get these big nine-parters, and they take me about a year to do. It’s quite a long time to be drawing the same thing. I know Joe Colquhoun who did Charley’s War just did that solid for about six years or something, and hats off to him for doing that, but variety’s the spice of life and I want to draw Dredd now, please!

Did you enjoy drawing the “shitting vicar” in Asylum I?

BC: No. [Deadpan] I was very personally offended by the script for that page, and could barely bring myself to draw it. [Laughter]

Ideally, wouldn’t every page have a shitting vicar in it, eh? With his foot chopped off and all his fingers broken… which nobody seemed to complain about. Just the poop got to people. Well done Rob! More of it please!

Don’t know who else we could have apart from vicars. Just people shitting in general. Librarians… anyone in highbrow positions like that… let’s get them shitting.

Wulf (view larger image)

DOING her??? Fnarr! NO.

Moving on… What’s the single best image you’ve created?

That’s quite a toughie. Hmm… I’ve just done a cover for Asylum II that I was quite chuffed with. And because it’s a character I designed as well, it’s been a great moment. Apart from that, I really enjoyed doing the Ace Garp pin-up. BECAUSE IT WAS A ONE-OFF! I love it all. I really do love it all.

I hear that you’ve got a new method of drawing…?

Well, it’s sort of similar to method acting. You know, where De Niro will plumb his past for emotional reactions? And it’s the same sort of thing as that, really. I won’t say exactly what, but there’s some gnarly stuff happens at the end of Asylum II and, well, I’m standing there at my drawing board… Basically, I like to really try to feel what the character’s going through and then physically act it out. I don’t even use a mirror, I just sort of get the feeling, and then try to get that down. Once I’ve stopped, erm… crying.

I don’t do it for every picture, just the ones that really need to kick arse.

I’ve also been told I ought to ask you what you got for your birthday?

Oh shit, what did I get for my birthday? Oh…yeah. Just a bit of, um, Spandex… it’s yellow… with big ears… and paws… [deep breath] It’s a full body Wolverine suit.

No way!

Yeah. So I had to then run around, and there is actually some digital camera footage of me attacking a Scotch egg with my adamantium claws. And then losing really badly, actually! I might let them get onto the 2000AD Review website at some point…

The infamous Wolverine costume in action...

Who are the comics artists you rate?

Rate? Brendan McCarthy, for his loose-ness and his psychedelic-ness and experimental-ness. That’s the main things I get from him. Obviously, most folk on Earth love Jack Kirby. He was The King, really. I’ve got a few of these massive Kirby collector books, packed full of interviews, and he wasn’t just an amazing artist: everything that came out of his mouth is worth… worshipping… by… people with lesser minds. He’s a total guru for me. Obviously my work looks nothing like his, it’s just things like dynamism, page flow… Kirby was the master of that.

Apart from those guys, I really like Henry Flint. For similar reasons to McCarthy, actually: he’s got the looseness thing off to a T.

Frank Quitely, Moebius, any of those European fiddly-line people… I could go on for ages, there are just loads and loads of artists. But I think that that’s me main crop there.

Tusken Raider - Acrylic artwork (view larger image)

Errr… I was trying to think of Gemma other than in terms of “a loose woman”… but “a tight woman” came to mind… I think I should just leave that there… she’s neither tight or loose… Oh God stop me… what were the other things?

Drink & drugs.

I can’t drink and draw. I tried it once on a Future Shock page, saw what I’d done the next day, and had to just scrap it and start again. Cos you think you’re good. And you’re actually shite.

So that just leaves one thing, doesn’t it really? I Am A Living Drug. Yeah. I’ve been known to dabble here and there… partake of certain fuels which assist the creative process… They just get your inspiration going and take you that extra mile.

I am talking of course about Alka Seltzer here. Nothing else… that doesn’t grow in fields.

Finally, what’s coming up? Will we see you in American comics soon?

Lobster Random (view larger image)

Maybe… wearing my Wolverine suit. On the letters page.

American comics? I don’t know, really. There’s a lot of Spandex wank goes on over there that… You know, I’m not going to turn it down, but at the same time when I get such creative freedom with AD and it’s paying the bills, then I’m pretty happy. Then again, if somebody said “We want you as the cover artist on the Silver Surfer”, I’d be there in a shot, you know? Certain projects you just don’t say no to. I do like me heavy hitters from America… The Thing, The Hulk, all the big dudes with the dual-personality thing going on. I’m into them, don’t ask me why!
Who knows, really?

Have you got anything lined up beyond Asylum II?

Not really, not specifically. Although, the other day I did ask Mr Tharg and he did say: “Dredd?”

So I ran around the house skipping and laughing wildly after that. For a long time. But I’ve not yet been given a solid script. I need to go and arm-wrestle with John Wagner. Or spike his drink, maybe.

Boo Cook, thank you very much!

You can currently catch Boo Cook's art in 2000AD on Asylum 2. And you can listen to his band over at the official 2000AD site.