Entrevistas  /  Interviews

I have always drawn and painted, as far back as I can remember. Since my mother is an artist, she has always encouraged our artistic and cultural interests.
Alan Moore and Villarrubia
-What is it that attracted you to art and drawing? What were your  influences?

I was attracted to the fact that I could do it, that it came naturaly  to me. 
I never had to struggle too much with it.  My earliest influences where my mom and my father's best friend, Ezequiel, a brilliant painter and illustrator.

-How you first become interested in comics? What are your earliest  memories as far as that go?

I started reading Spanish comics as a child, American and European comics as a teen. I just never outgrew them. My earliest memories are for Spanish comics, which are humor books for children: Mortadelo y Filemon, Zipi y Zape, Las Hermanas Gilda, and many other titles made me laugh a lot. 

-What was the first comic by Alan Moore did you read?

An early issue of Swamp Thing, but not the first one. I had heard good things about the series and decided to give it a try.

-Did it had a special impact on you? Why?

I enjoyed it a lot, but did not know right away that he would become my favorite writer. Within a few issues, though, it became clear to me that his work had a literary quality unbeknownst to many comics until that point.

-What do you think is his best work to date? Why?

BIG NUMBERS. It is just an amazing combination of art and story: Sienkiewicz at the top of his game and Moore starting an incredible story.

- Have you only read the two published issues?

Yes, that's all that is available.

-What do you think Alan would have intended to convey with this very promising story?                                       (Voice of Fire)

I have no idea. Knowing that Alan always has big surprises and plot twists in most of his stories, part of the pleasure would have been discovering the story in later chapters.

-Do you agree with Chaos theory that our world (and the Universe as a whole by extension) is ruled by fractals, strange attractions and so on, where a little alteration on initial conditions could cause big and unexpected alterations on the final ones?

I don't know a lot about the Chaos theory, only Alan's explanation of it. It sounds plausible to me, but I don't agree or disagree with it. At this point I don't know enough to have an informed opinion.

-Could a graphic-novel comprise all the complexity of human existence, common life, the whole Universe and so on, as an unique, united system, as Moore intended to do with Big Numbers?

Well, not all of it, of course. No work of art could. I think that Alan wanted to reflect several aspects of real life, but not all the complexity of human existence. That's pretty much impossible.

-Do you think someday Alan could change his mind and thinks about it again?

He might. Only time will tell. Last time I asked him, he is not interested for now.

-We all have read rumors about the fantastic possibility that you would be the artist for it. It is too good to be true.

Thank you. I am flattered, but I have never been asked or asked myself. As a matter of fact, I asked on behalf of a very talented artist who told me he would do it, and Alan said that he could not think of a better person for it (he is a realistic painter), but nothing has come out of it.                                                                (Alan Moore in Northampton, by Villarrubia)

-Have you seen the script for it, that mystical large sheet of paper covered by 480 little squares written and scribbled and almost cryptographed and storyboarded by Alan? 

No, but then I know people who have seen it and told me it is amazing.

-We all know that you have had already some personal contact with Alan. So, please, tell us a little bit about it.

Alan is a friend. For several years we were telephonic friends and last year I met him in person. I will, God willing, be back to see him this year.

-What are your ideas about Watchmen's innovations?

Watchman was, and is a brilliant piece of writing in many levels. Structurally it is a wonder, full of symmetries and complexities, but it is the lyrical quality of the writing and its emotional content that set it apart from previous comics works.

-And for From Hell, do you think it could be considered a history of the cradle to the 20th Century, with all its paranoia, conspiracies and corruption? 

Yes, of course. Alan made this point both in the story itself and in interviews about it, and it makes sense. Victorian England had all the seeds of the decline of the Western World.

-What are your impressions on Brought to Light and its references to the CIA's covert operations around the world?

It is one of my favorite pieces by Alan. Again, like BIG NUMBERS, both creators were working at full strength. Amazing. Amazing piece.

-Do you think that comics can be a political instrument, which can reach and appeal a large audience?

Yes, of course. They already do, via political cartoons. In the USA it is just not done through comic books. I think that the work of Joe Saco, Peter Kupper and Ted Rahl are exceptions.

-And Moore debuting in mainstream literature with Voice of the Fire, do you think it accomplished it’s intention to tell the history of magic, witchcraft, shamanism and so on, through the history of Northampton?

Voice of the Fire is, to me, his best writing. I have just finished reading the novel for the fourth time, and every time I have read it, I have discovered more and more levels to it. A truly remarkable piece of literature.

-Do you think Moore tried to redeem himself for his introduction for V For Vendetta where he almost demolished it as a city?

V for Vendetta was written at a very different time of Alan's life. It is his first major work, very influenced by the eighties and its social climate. Voice of the Fire is mature work, still angry, still passionate, but much more complex.

-As for the American version for it, by Top Shelf, with your artwork, how are the things going? Have you finished the artwork already? 

Almost done. I plan to finish the last two images this week.

-How many illustrations? 

Cover, back cover, endpapers, frontispiece and twelve interior illustrations.

-Will they convey images from the stories or will they be more iconoclastic?

Some are portraits of the characters while others are portraits of the authentic location where the stories take place.

-Could you send us one or more samples as an aperitif to the upcoming book?

Yes. (See images here and in Gallery)

-What about The Mirror of Love, that sensible pro-gay cause fine piece of writing Alan had done and that you are illustrating to an upcoming book by Top Shelf also? Any "samples" of its art for us?

Sure.

-Do you think initiatives like that could raise more respect and/or even interest for the Gay cause?

Maybe. I don't know what kind of impact it will have, but it can't hurt. The idea of an important heterosexual creator like Alan writing such a passionate defense of same sex love, should give some people pause, and make them think about a topic that, perhaps, they had mostly ignored.

-That Moore Lithograph done by you that Top Shelf is announcing, tell us a little about it.

It is an official portrait of Alan in front of a door he had custom made with his Avatars, the Moon and Serpents. Alan seems very happy with it and so am I.

-Any other projects related to Alan? 

We have talked about other possibilities mostly illustrating Magic texts, but nothing specific. We also talked about possibly doing more ABC stuff, but I don't have anything planned. I am painting the next Promethea hardcover cover painting over a JH Williams sketch.

-What do you think about Magic and about Alan's lyrics, CDs, The Birth Caul and Snakes and Ladders?

I am as ignorant about magic as I am about Chaos theory. Of course, I love listening to what Alan has to say on the topic, both in person and in interviews. But that's about the extent of my knowledge.

In terms of his CD's I think they contain some of his best work. The Book of Copulation, which is part of Moon and Serpent, is one of his unheralded masterpieces the first time that I felt I understood what he meant by magic. It is a beautiful, painful, emotional piece. I love it!

-Movies and mainly music, can affect us deeply, rousing unexpected emotions. So it is Poetry. They all can transcend its limitations as a genre. What about comics? Could it have this quality also?

Yes of course! Not often enough, though.

-Could you mention examples? 

A lot of Alan's work, Jimmy Corrigan, CAGES, Ghost World, Black Hole, Optic Nerve, Krazy Kat, Crumb's work, Stuck Rubber Baby, Love and Rockets, Tale of One Bad Rat, Fires, Les Yeus du Chat, Berlin1934, Enigma, SKIN, Maus, Streak of Chalk, Orpheus by Max, Big Man by Mazzuchelli, Totentanz by Battaglia, Bloodstar, The Man by Bode, and. oh, so many others.

Villarrubia, Karen Berger annd Melinda Gebbie

-Would Moore be the pioneer and maybe the main representative of this wider scope of the genre, as a true art form? 

Pioneer, no. Windsor McCay and George Harriman would be the yet unsurpassed pioneers. And remain main representative, is perhaps not very fitting, since he is a writer, half of the team. Now, the best writer in the history of the medium is appropriate.

- Returning to your comics and art, tell us more about them, their motivation, generation, objectives and so on. What do you think is your best comics till now and why?

The same ones I mentioned before that are still being published. They are the best because they are all different from each other, they are not generic.

-How is it different in creating a regular fine art or comics art piece and a digital one? Do you work mainly in Photoshop and/or use also CorelDraw and other art software?

In comics you follow a script, in fine art you don't. The books I am doing for Top Shelf are actually somewhere in between. I tried applying fine arts aesthetics and thinking to illustration projects.

I use Adobe Photoshop almost exclusively. It is by far the best software for image manipulation. I am very happy with its latest version.

-Where can our readers see your amazing digital art?  There are some pieces in the web, but the best sources are the graphic novels Veils, Promethea Volume 2, and the upcoming volumes from Top Shelf.

-Do you know the comic art of the now famous Brazilian Mike Deodato?

Yes, of course. I know since his famous and controversial run in Wonder Woman, when he was clearly influenced by Jim Lee. He is doing an excellent job in the Hulk right now.  

Jose Villarrubia and Melinda Gebbie (Amadora Comics Festival - Portugal-2002)

-We know that you have been also in Amadora, Portugal, last year, as an invited artist for its "Argumentos", an exposition in homage to Alan (see other photos in Article The Nightingale from Northampton by João Lameiras). What are your opinions about that Festival, your contact with the amiable Melinda Gebbie, as well as the other Artists present (O'Neill, Lloyd and so on)?

Oh, it was fantastic! Everybody was nice as can be and I have never, even in Angouleme, seen so much original artwork. Meeting Melinda there was a total treat, since we are friends, she’s a lot of fun and very, very insightful and I also befriended Oscar Zarate, who's work I have always admired and is a sweetheart in addition. The people that organized the show were terrific, and Pedro Mota, the curator of "Argumentos", has become a good friends.
-Muchas gracias y saludos, Jose. It was very good talking to you. JC

Voice of the Fire                                          Voice of the Fire                               Jose Villarrubia