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| INTRODUCTION | ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS | INTERVIEWS | ARTICLES | GALLERIES | BIBLIOGRAPHY | LINKS | WANTS |
| INTRODUÇÃ0 | AGRADECIMENTOS | ENTREVISTAS | ARTIGOS | GALERIAS | BIBLIOGRAFIA | LINKS | PROCURAS |
Entrevistas / Interviews
by José Carlos Neves
designer, letterer (Doctor Who, Transformers, Freefall Warriors, and
also strips for the competition such as Halo Jones for 2000AD and Detective
Comics for DC) art and editorial assistant, colorist, color separator, editor
and finally group editor. After five years at Marvel UK, Rich moved to New York,
where he worked as a freelancer letterer and, 7 months later, moved again,to
sunny California where he still lives today in L.A.
In the early
90s Richard worked for a time at Graphitti Designs, learning to work with a
Macintosh computer which inspired him to develop the methods and processes for
digitally lettering comics which are now the industry standard. It is a real
privilege to interview the creator of the Comicraft studio and the critically
acclaimed HIP FLASK comic book.
First
of all, Rich, let´s “complete” your background:
•
You know, having been raised in England on a healthy diet of satrical magazines
such as PRIVATE EYE and PUNCH, I’ve always avoided direct answers to questions
like this. My ‘biography’ once appeared in the back of a SPIDER-MAN book and
I described myself as having pioneered mimeographic lettering during World War
II and then claimed to be 19 years old. Shortly thereafter I overheard someone
at a convention turn to a friend and say, “That’s Richard Starkings? He
doesn’t look 19!” In another bio I suggested that I had nine children.
Sometime later at a Comicraft christmas party in my house, one of my clients
whispered to his wife, “Look at Richard’s wife – doesn’t she look
amazing? And after nine kids!”
-Hilarious.What
is it that attracted you to comics?
•
When I was growing up in the sixties and seventies, fantastic stories and ideas
were much harder to find in movies and on TV than they are today. In those days,
television was black and white and sought to inform, educate and entertain -–
in that order. But comics were full of splashy full color strips and fantastic
ideas, they cost less than the price of a Mars bar and they weren’t bad for
your teeth. What’s more, unlike TV and movies back then, you could go back to
a comic again and again and again.
-As
a child, did you spend a lot of time indoors reading?
•
If you’re raised in the North of England, there’s always a lot of time to
spend indoors, watching the rain or the fog or the snow outside. Either you head
down to the footy field to get smashed into the mud or you stay in to read a
book (or play Scrabble).
-Comic
books only or mainstream literature also?
•
Reading books was a struggle for me in my early teens. My Mum and my sister flew
through books at an alarming rate. Later I found out that they would skip
descriptive passages or pages of dialogue that they found boring. I always
sought to read every word and still do so to this day. In my late teens I often
sat in bed for hours reading Tolkien, HG Wells, Asimov, Robert E Howard and all
manner of fantasy books. At high school and college I ploughed through the
Brontes, Hardy, Shakespeare and Keats and a truck full of classics. I was the
only student at college who read MIDDLEMARCH from cover to cover, and I was
rewarded with a ‘C’ – one of my lowest grades at college. Not that I still
bear a grudge or anything.
-What
books and tools would you recommend for someone trying to break into lettering
in the comics industry? What are
your own favourite working tools?
•
Pencils and a Macintosh. The faster, the better. OSX. Illustrator, Photoshop and
InDesign.
-Do
still you do hand drawing these days or is it all mostly done on computers, as
you have revolutionized the field?
•
As I’ve said many times elsewhere, I don’t miss lettering by hand. It can
get tiring on the eyes to be staring at a computer screen for 8 hours a day, but
it beats being hunched up over a drawing board for ten hours with a huge inky
callous on your right middle finger. I still love drawing with pencils and ink
however.
-Do
you prefer to use “subtle touches” in lettering or is it sometimes better to
produce lettering and design that calls attention to itself?
•
Different projects call for different approaches. Joe Kelly and
Chris Bachalo
wanted an elaborate treatment of the lettering in STEAMPUNK, to match the
intricacies of he story and art.
Tim Sale
likes a very soft and subdued look to
the lettering of his books. I respond to the demands of the creators I’m
working with, project by project.
-What
was the most interesting lettering work you’ve done so far?
•
The comics that excite me the most are the ones that break new ground. It can be
fun to letter BATMAN, SPIDER-MAN or UNCANNY X-MEN, but even as a lettering
artist, you’re following in somebody else’s footsteps. Fresh and original
creations like BATTLECHASERS, DANGER GIRL, STEAMPUNK or THE RED STAR (or HIP
FLASK!) are more challenging and stimulating as no one has made the rules for
you to follow and you’re in the position of collaborating closely with the
artists and writers themselves.
I’m
sure you’ll also want to hear that I have a soft spot for HALO JONES BOOK
THREE (I never knew where the story was going and Ian Gibson drew the
spectacularly beautiful art on huge pieces of board) and THE KILLING JOKE. I was
a big fan of both Brian Bolland and Alan Moore so working on their one project
together was just a dream come true.
-I
know you’ve won a lot of awards but do you think the average comic book reader
pays much attention to the letters they read or is it mostly taken for granted?
•
Like most production responsibilities in any medium, it’s mostly taken for
granted.
-
What was the first comic by Alan Moore did you read?
•
I was reading DOCTOR WHO WEEKLY,
DAREDEVILS
and WARRIOR as and when they hit the
stands – so, whichever one of his strips for those magazines was published
first would be the first I read.
-Did
it have a special impact on you?
•
WARRIOR was enormously important to British comics, and to me personally as some
of my first lettering work appeared in the last two or three issues. It was
astonishing to read a British comic magazine featuring so many good characters
and stories. I preferred V FOR VENDETTA to MARVELMAN but enjoyed them both.
The
work that had the most impact on me were the ones that I lettered back in the
mid eighties;
HALO JONES
and THE KILLING JOKE. In the midst of lettering HALO, I
wrote my first professional comic strip script for issue 12 of SPIDER-MAN AND
ZOIDS. It was just a 6 page strip for the ZOIDS series, but it featured a girl
in a salvage ship investigating the disappearance of a spaceship which had
crashed on the planet of the Zoids. It wasn’t until a few months later that I
realized that the girl was obviously six parts Halo Jones and six parts Maggie (from
LOVE & ROCKETS, which Moore had acknowledged as an influence on HALO).
As
for THE KILLING JOKE, well, during the course of the two years I spent lettering
that book, I was realizing that my first marriage was just not working out. When
I was lettering the last few pages of the book I was caught on the horns of a
dilemma -- should I leave my wife and strike out on my own, or stick it out and
resign myself to an unsatisfying marriage? When I read over the page on which
The Joker tells Batman The Joke, all the hairs on the back of my neck stood up
and I pretty much made up my mind to take the leap into the unknown right there
and then.
-What
do you think is his best work to date?
•
SWAMP THING
and
THE BIRTH CAUL.
-Why?
•
SWAMP THING was a regular monthly book that rose above everything around it, and
it wasn’t a super hero book. Moore produced terrific stories every issue long
before he was *Alan Moore!* It was satisfying and intriguing without seeming
overcalculated as WATCHMEN and BIG NUMBERS clearly were. The issue where Abby
realizes that (dead) husband is actually her (dead) uncle actually gave me a
nightmare. I don’t think a comic ever gave me a nightmare before or since!
THE
BIRTH CAUL was a chilling read – it felt like someone was walking through my
childhood in hobnail boots. Eddie Campbell really brought Moore’s poem to life
and it struck me as being a very British artistic statement.
-What
do you think about Big Numbers, if you have read the only two published issues?
•
I read them when they were published and they left me cold. Not because of the
story but because of the art which came across as American advertising art. It
didn’t suit the environment Moore was trying to create.
-What
do you think Alan would have intended to convey with this very promising story?
•It’s
been so long since I read them, it’s hard for me to say.
-What
more do you know of this would-be magnum-opus?
•
Only what I’ve read in George Khoury’s book!
-Do
you know, for example, the whereabouts of some people involved, like Alan´s
former wife, Phyllis; Debbie Delano, the
“invisible” Al Columbia…?
•
Pass!
-Do
you agree with Chaos theory that our world (and the Universe as a whole by
extension) is ruled by fractals, strange attractors and so on, where a little
alteration on initial conditions could cause big and unexpected alterations on
the final ones?
•
I’m a practicing buddhist and active member of the buddhist lay organization
Soka Gakkai (Value Creation Society). I believe that we are the masters of our
own destinies and that the mystic relationship between human beings and the
environments in which they find themselves are all inextricably connected. We
can use our connections with one another to create beautiful peaceful
environments or hellish chaotic environments. Chaos is the name we give to those
things we don’t understand, but I believe every effect has a cause, whether we’re
aware of it or not.
-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 AM intended to do with
Big Numbers?
•
There are already books and graphic novels out there that put their readers in
touch with the complexity of human experience. I’m sure Moore is capable of
doing the same. He’s very good you know.
-Do
you think someday Alan could change his mind and think about it again?
•
Is it possible? Yes. Would he want to? I don’t know. I’m sure it would come
out as a very different piece of work ten or twelve years on. It’s important
not to limit people, especially artists, to our expectations of them. Their path
to happiness and creative satisfaction rarely lies in the same direction as our
own.
-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?
•
I thought it was a Ripping Yarn, which gripped me from start to finish.
-What
are your impressions on Brought to Light and its references to the CIA's covert
operations around the world?
•
Hmmm… Alan Moore and
BROUGHT TO
LIGHT, Michael Moore and BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE…
I wonder if they are by any chance related? I’m sure they’re both on the
same CIA blacklist somewhere.
-Do
you think that comics can be a political instrument , that they can reach and
appeal to a large audience?
•
Of course! All forms of artistic expression are potential instruments of social
change – or reinforcement of the social norm, depending on the artist’s
point of view. And comics DO appeal to a large audience, just not the ones we’ve
been talking about here.
-And
AM´s debuting in mainstream literature with Voice of the Fire, do you think it
accomplished it´s
intention, to tell the history of magic, wichtcraft,
shamanism and so on, through the history of Northampton?
•
No idea, haven’t read it.
-Being
a Buddhist, what do you think about Magic and about Alan's lyrics, CDs, The
Birth Caul and Snakes and Ladders?
•
I think we all possess mystic, magical powers. Society has constantly sought to
dampen down our extrasensory perceptions of the world, but we all catch glimpses
of our inherent occult powers from time to time. I think human beings have run
too far away from the natural order of the world and in so doing lost touch with
the supernatural order of the world as well.
-Movies
and mainly music, can affect us deeply, rousing emotions. So it is Poetry. They
all can transcend its limitations as a genre. What about comics? Could it have
this quality also?
•
Well, I think it DOES have this quality. But if you look for it in super hero
comics, you’re not likely to find it.
-Would
AM be the pioneer and maybe the main representative of this wider scope of the
genre, as a true art form?
•
I think the true artists are way out there, creating work that’s way too
challenging for commercial success. Alan Moore is one of the better creators
working in commercial, mainstream comics, right up there with Will Eisner, Frank
Miller,
Dave Sim
and Stan Lee. I daresay he’s taking leave of commercial,
mainstream comics because he’s aware that he can’t grow as an artist within
the medium’s current constraints.
-Is
there anything on which you´re working that you´d like to tell us about?
•
I’ve published a number of books in the past year which I’m particularly
proud to be associated with – David Hine’s
STRANGE EMBRACE, a modern gothic
psycho-sexual tortured Victorian romance
horror story which any fan of FROM HELL would certainly enjoy;
THE SPIRAL CAGE,
the autobiography of fellow buddhist Al Davison whose story is at once
distressing and uplifting and is prefaced by an introduction by Alan Moore (you
may have heard of him); SKIDMARKS, the kitchen sink story of a boy and his bike
by Ilya; TEMPTATION, a collection of truly funny comic strips -- in which the
Devil attempts to convince a batty old hermit to sell him his soul -- by Glenn
Dakin prefaced by an introduction by Eddie Campbell (I daresay you may know of
him as well); All On Sale Now!
-What
about your own comic,
Hip
Flask?
•
Ladronn
is currently working on the third issue (of five) in the series after
taking a break to finish a strip written by
Jodorowsky
and some covers for the
Dark Horse CONAN series. The HIP FLASK: UNNATURAL SELECTION hardcover is
currently in print in the US, France (from Semic), Spain (from Carlos
Pacheco’s company Dolmen) and Germany (from The Letter Factory). It will soon
be seeing print in Italy, all being well.
HIP
FLASK is very much a labor of love. Ladronn never intended to find himself
typecast as a Marvel comics penciller; his dream was always to paint. He has
often described HIP FLASK as the work of his life and as important to his career
as THE INCAL was to Moebius’s career. Of course, it was ten years before THE
INCAL was completed, and Ladronn has already committed three years to HIP FLASK,
so it’ll be some time before it’s finished, but when it is, you know it’ll
be well worth the wait.
--Do
you know the writings of culture luminaries such as Gurdjief, his pupil
P.D.Ouspenski,
Robert Anton Wilson, Colin Wilson, Crowley and so on, some even recommended by
Alan? What other authors do yourself recommend?
•
I’ve read Colin Wilson’s book THE OCCULT, but not the other authors you
mention. I recommend Rilke’s LETTERS TO A YOUNG POET to anyone intending on
working as an artist or writer. I also think Exupery’s THE LITTLE PRINCE is
one of the most profound books ever written, but you can’t get much deeper
than THE MAJOR WRITINGS OF NICHIREN DAISHONIN.
--To
be a little philosophical, what is your conception of Time? The fourth dimension
of space, like Einstein´s idea or something else?
•
I think that, as human beings, we have a very shallow and limited perception of
time. We’ve generally accepted that time is linear and perceive that yesterday
is behind us and tomorrow in front. I’m of the opinion that time is very much
like the shifting patterns of a kaleidoscope and is in fact, all around us,
changing from moment to moment in a manner which is a little beyond our current
capacity to grasp intellectually. Check out the book,
THE DANCING WU LI MASTERS
or the movie
MINDWALK
if you’re interested in ideas that challenge
conventional wisdom in regard to Time and Matter.
-What
do you imagine a being (or an object, like the Tesseract) from the Fourth
Dimension if he/it could appear in
our tridimensional reality?
•
You’ve lost me there… we live in a four dimensional reality, the fourth
dimension is time, no…? I have no
idea what a Tesseract is.
-A
Tesseract is a "hipercube", something like a repreentational view, in
two dimensions, of an "object frrom the 4th D". See one
here. Please,
what are the three most important events of your life?
•
Well, they’d have to be my birth, life and death, wouldn’t they?
Flippancy
aside, I’d have to say that moving to America in 1989 was very significant to
me, publishing my own comic book, HIP FLASK, was liberating and the births of my
children opened my eyes to the concepts of unconditional love and my
responsibility to the lives of oher human beings.
-What
about nowadays, what is seminal for you now?
•
Daily Life.
-How
do you imagine real-life computers and digital technologies in ten years?
•
I try not to. Keeping up with current technology is overwhelming enough.
-In
your opinion, are culture and war the instruments of American supremacy over the
world?
•
Woo! That’s a big one! I’d have to say that American corporate culturalism
is one of the most subtle and insidious tools of Imperialism ever inflicted on
the world. I’m with the Brad Pitt character in
FIGHT CLUB, and the first rule
of Fight Club is “You don’t talk about Fight Club.”
-How
do you judge the neoconservatism of Bush administration.
•
And the second rule of Fight Club is “You DON’T talk about Fight Club!”
--How
do you perceive science and technology nowadays, and do you think that we may
lose control over them one day in the future?
•
I think simple economics will slow down the rapid growth of the Information
Technology industry. Economics or Asian Chicken Flu. If you haven’t seen the
brilliant BBC series
SURVIVORS
from the 70s (now available on DVD in the UK),
you should!
-Do
you know the comic art of the now famous Brazilian Mike
Deodato? What do you
think about it?
•
Yes, I’ve worked on books pencilled by Mike and his studio. His style is very
similar to Byrne, Alan Davis and Mark Silvestri. I think he’s a very good
super hero artist.
-Finally,
which places in the Net do you visit more often?
•
http://www.bbc.co.uk/
http://www.truthout.org http://blackstar.co.uk/
http://www.sgi-usa.org
-What
about your insightful site www.balloontales.com
?
•
Balloon Tales is put together by Comicraft’s brilliant secret weapon, John JG
Roshell, designer and webmaster of all the Active Images network sites,
including the news site http://comicworldnews.com/
JG
is the largely unsung genius behind comic book lettering, the Comicraft way. He
is way more responsible for turning the industry on to digital lettering than I
am, but he seems happy to let me take the blame and the credit.
Thank
you, Rich, for taking part of your very precious time to answer all these
questions
• You’re very welcome. It’s good to hear some new and different questions!
Other
"Rich and Comicraft" related Sites:
http://www.hedgebackwards.com/