MattBrady
11-28-2002, 09:02 AM
Chris Bachalo is making a dramatic comeback to comics…kinda. Not that he was gone for any real length of time, but the once prolific artist’s work over the past year had slowed to a near trickle, with only an occasional issue of Steampunk or cover here and there.
But things are changing - the recently announced fill-in by Bachalo on issue #18 of Marvel’s Ultimate X-Men is only the tip of the iceberg – a very big iceberg.
“The Ultimate X-Men job has turned into two issues, #18 and #19,” Bachalo told Newsarama. “Things hadn’t developed as quickly as I was planning with these other projects, so when it looked as if I’d have a little more time after Steampunk #12, I asked them if it would be cool to have me either on for an extra issue of Ultimate X-Men, or something else for them. I guess Adam [Kubert] wanted to get caught up a little more, so he thought it would be a good idea, along with Ralph [Macchio]. So now I get to finish the story that Mark is telling.”
While issues #18 and #19 will mark Bachalo’s first work on any X-franchise in years, it will also be a creative first for him as well – the two issues will mark the first time he’ll ink his own pencils.
“That was one of the requests that I had - that I could do all the art on it,” Bachalo said. “It’s not something that I’ve done before. I explained the situation to Ralph, and that while I really wanted to do it, I wasn’t sure how it would look. But he wasn’t worried – he said he was just happy to have me on board. One of the reasons I haven’t inked myself more is because I’ve had the opportunity to work with great inkers. Why ink it myself when someone like Richard Friend or Tim Townsend can do it so well, and make the finished product look so good? I thought it would be cool to give it a try.
“Also, it’s really nice to get back to Marvel – last time I was there, they were in bankruptcy and Bob Harras was still editor in chief, so I was curious to see what it would be like to go back and work with those guys again. And I’m a huge X-Men fan. The idea of going back and working with them is very appealing. Thus far, it has been a wonderful experience – everyone from Ralph to Joe has been very accommodating, so it’s really nice to be back there.”
After his Ultimate foray, Bachalo’s options are somewhat open, with three projects looming in front of him. Helping to clear the way is the fact that he and Joe Kelly’s Steampunk is going “on hiatus” with issue #12.
“The final act, numbering between six and eight issues, is to follow,” Bachalo said. “We're not sure at this time when and where that will be. Joe and I both have a strong commitment to finish the story. Issue #12 ends with our gang preparing for a journey to America. That said, I’m not sure what we’re going to do with it. Frankly, it really hasn’t been doing as well as we’d like it to do. When and if it returns, we’re not sure at this point, because we haven’t really given it much thought.”
The bulk of the material filling his schedule following Steampunk (two of three new projects he’s working on, in fact) will be at Cliffhanger, Bachalo said. “As far as Cliffhanger is concerned, I’m still under contract for a while, and they would very much like me to take a stab at creating something else. Right now, there are two projects in the works, and I really can’t talk too much about either, because they’re so early in development. The one series will be a situation where I will be doing most of the creating, including the writing, the penciling. I’m not sure about the inks at this point.
“Handling the writing is another new adventure for me. I’ve been, on most of the series I’ve worked on, involved in the storytelling process, whether it was an idea or two here and there, or something like Steampunk, where Joe and I spoke extensively about the plot and the entire series. I just thought that at this point, it might be a really good idea to see what I could do myself as far as writing goes. That’s going to be a lot of fun too.”
While Bachalo didn’t want to give much away, he was able to give a few general ideas about what he has in mind. “It will probably be geared toward the sci-fi genre, similar to Steampunk<?b>, but this will be set more in the future, although not too far in the future,” Bachalo said. “It might have a bit of the super heroic element to it as well, although I’m not sure at this time. But, it’s definitely going to be set in the future with beings that are enhanced towards what we would think of as the ‘super heroic’ level.
“Most of the enhancement will relate to science other than the black boxes of a mutant gene or an accident like a radioactive spider bite. It will be more in line with scientists heightening people’s strength and agility, or adding technology to them.”
Along with another project in development at Cliffhanger, Bachalo is working with his Batman: Black and White back up (from [b]Gotham Knights #26) partner, Cyrus Voris on a larger Batman project.
“In creating that small story, we had a couple of ideas that we were tossing back and forth, and one of them grew into this proposal that was much bigger and more involved than an eight page story,” Bachalo said. “So, we’re currently in the process of talking to people at DC about it. I really wish I could talk more about it, and I thought it would have progressed much farther by now, but at this point, we’re working on the story, and getting approval over there. We’re not sure what the format is going to be at this point – it’s probably going to be a miniseries, but whether it’s going to fall into continuity with one of the Batman titles, and be something like [b]Legends of the Dark Knight, I don’t know. It will probably be around six issues long.”
Like his work on Ultimate X-Men, Bachalo’s Batman story will allow him to expand his horizons a little further. “I have three desires for this story – one is to work again with Cy. He’s a person I really admire for his creative talent. Secondly, I want to do an extensive Batman story, and finally, I want a situation where I will do all the art. So for this one, I’ll be doing pencils, inks, and colors. I’ve been talking to different colorists on how to achieve certain effects and work with various techniques, so it’s something I’m really looking forward to doing.”
Bachalo said that his approach to coloring will be with the aid of the computer, rather than paints. “It’s something where, rather than doing flat coloring, I want to experiment with textures and maybe paint effects and scanning, and things like that,” Bachalo said. “Bad@ss did that a lot on Steampunk, and I really liked the look that creates. It makes it a little more deep and interesting to the eye. I want to expand upon that.
“So I’ve been talking to those guys, and Jose Villarrubia at Marvel about the watercolor effects he does over Jae Lee’s work. It’s really neat what they do, and it’s not that difficult of a process, and it should be really neat for this kind of project.”
Along with the three projects in development, Bachalo just finished Just Image Stan Lee Creating Catwoman for DC, has a four-issue deal with Dark Horse to produce Star Wars covers, and will provide the covers for the four-issue X-Men Icons: Chamber miniseries. For the Chamber covers, he will pencil, ink, and color with acrylics. “That’s been a very interesting experience, and a fun experiment,” Bachalo said. “The second one looked slightly different from the first one as my approach changed. The third one will be a little different yet – working out the process and creating the work is such a fascinating experience.”
Bachalo is also considering illustrating a “big” miniseries for Marvel, although he could not elaborate on what it would be about.
Another place fans can find Bachalo’s work in the coming months will be in an eighteen page comic included in Interplay’s Run Like Hell for the PlayStation2. The comic, written by Marv Wolfman, sets the stage for the science fiction survival game, introducing players to the characters and monsters. The game should be hitting stores in late June or early July.
Bachalo completed the comic for Run Like Hell last year, one of the few projects he did that kept him and his work out of the spotlight. Well…that stuff, and the addition to his family. “Last year, I took a lot of time off because of the birth of my son. I worked at a very slow pace on Steampunk because of that,” Bachalo said. “But on the side, I was doing little things. I did an editorial piece for Stuff magazine. I did some work for Fox Kids Magazine, just five page short stories. And Run Like Hell was eighteen pages, so that took about a month of my time. I think, all told, I didn’t work for four months last year, but in the last half of the year, things started picking up a little bit.
“This year, I’ve been much more prolific in terms of turning around work. I’ve done Catwoman, an issue of Steampunk, the Ultimate X-Men issues, and the covers. I’m comparatively pretty busy, and that’s not going to slow down, as far as I can see.”
And that’s fine by Bachalo – he plans to keep working at his current pace, with a variety of projects going with a variety of publishers. “It’s always a good idea to spread yourself out a little bit, and not have all your oars in one lake, and to keep your horizons open,” Bachalo said. “I’m having a great time refocusing on my work and what I want to do. An example of that right now is me looking at the work I’m doing, and deciding what I want to do next. I knew I wanted to expand my horizons and be more than just the penciler, which I’ve been doing for the last ten or twelve years.
“I’m trained as an illustrator, and that’s one of the other directions I want to go with my work – more painted work, and some covers. I painted Shade covers a long time ago, and I would really like to revisit that. I want to work on my writing, and I think like just about everyone else in comics, I’d like a shot at directing a movie as well.
“I realized that I’d pretty much met all the goals I’d set for myself when I was eighteen or nineteen years old. I wanted to get in the industry, I wanted to have a good career, do good work, and be good at what I do. I’m at a point where I think I’m good at it, and I’ve worked on a variety of projects, and it’s taken very good care of me and I’m very happy. I’m just looking for new goals and new challenges – I want to ink my work, I want to color my work, and paint. I want to get into other arenas, like film – there are lots of things out there I want to explore.”
But things are changing - the recently announced fill-in by Bachalo on issue #18 of Marvel’s Ultimate X-Men is only the tip of the iceberg – a very big iceberg.
“The Ultimate X-Men job has turned into two issues, #18 and #19,” Bachalo told Newsarama. “Things hadn’t developed as quickly as I was planning with these other projects, so when it looked as if I’d have a little more time after Steampunk #12, I asked them if it would be cool to have me either on for an extra issue of Ultimate X-Men, or something else for them. I guess Adam [Kubert] wanted to get caught up a little more, so he thought it would be a good idea, along with Ralph [Macchio]. So now I get to finish the story that Mark is telling.”
While issues #18 and #19 will mark Bachalo’s first work on any X-franchise in years, it will also be a creative first for him as well – the two issues will mark the first time he’ll ink his own pencils.
“That was one of the requests that I had - that I could do all the art on it,” Bachalo said. “It’s not something that I’ve done before. I explained the situation to Ralph, and that while I really wanted to do it, I wasn’t sure how it would look. But he wasn’t worried – he said he was just happy to have me on board. One of the reasons I haven’t inked myself more is because I’ve had the opportunity to work with great inkers. Why ink it myself when someone like Richard Friend or Tim Townsend can do it so well, and make the finished product look so good? I thought it would be cool to give it a try.
“Also, it’s really nice to get back to Marvel – last time I was there, they were in bankruptcy and Bob Harras was still editor in chief, so I was curious to see what it would be like to go back and work with those guys again. And I’m a huge X-Men fan. The idea of going back and working with them is very appealing. Thus far, it has been a wonderful experience – everyone from Ralph to Joe has been very accommodating, so it’s really nice to be back there.”
After his Ultimate foray, Bachalo’s options are somewhat open, with three projects looming in front of him. Helping to clear the way is the fact that he and Joe Kelly’s Steampunk is going “on hiatus” with issue #12.
“The final act, numbering between six and eight issues, is to follow,” Bachalo said. “We're not sure at this time when and where that will be. Joe and I both have a strong commitment to finish the story. Issue #12 ends with our gang preparing for a journey to America. That said, I’m not sure what we’re going to do with it. Frankly, it really hasn’t been doing as well as we’d like it to do. When and if it returns, we’re not sure at this point, because we haven’t really given it much thought.”
The bulk of the material filling his schedule following Steampunk (two of three new projects he’s working on, in fact) will be at Cliffhanger, Bachalo said. “As far as Cliffhanger is concerned, I’m still under contract for a while, and they would very much like me to take a stab at creating something else. Right now, there are two projects in the works, and I really can’t talk too much about either, because they’re so early in development. The one series will be a situation where I will be doing most of the creating, including the writing, the penciling. I’m not sure about the inks at this point.
“Handling the writing is another new adventure for me. I’ve been, on most of the series I’ve worked on, involved in the storytelling process, whether it was an idea or two here and there, or something like Steampunk, where Joe and I spoke extensively about the plot and the entire series. I just thought that at this point, it might be a really good idea to see what I could do myself as far as writing goes. That’s going to be a lot of fun too.”
While Bachalo didn’t want to give much away, he was able to give a few general ideas about what he has in mind. “It will probably be geared toward the sci-fi genre, similar to Steampunk<?b>, but this will be set more in the future, although not too far in the future,” Bachalo said. “It might have a bit of the super heroic element to it as well, although I’m not sure at this time. But, it’s definitely going to be set in the future with beings that are enhanced towards what we would think of as the ‘super heroic’ level.
“Most of the enhancement will relate to science other than the black boxes of a mutant gene or an accident like a radioactive spider bite. It will be more in line with scientists heightening people’s strength and agility, or adding technology to them.”
Along with another project in development at Cliffhanger, Bachalo is working with his Batman: Black and White back up (from [b]Gotham Knights #26) partner, Cyrus Voris on a larger Batman project.
“In creating that small story, we had a couple of ideas that we were tossing back and forth, and one of them grew into this proposal that was much bigger and more involved than an eight page story,” Bachalo said. “So, we’re currently in the process of talking to people at DC about it. I really wish I could talk more about it, and I thought it would have progressed much farther by now, but at this point, we’re working on the story, and getting approval over there. We’re not sure what the format is going to be at this point – it’s probably going to be a miniseries, but whether it’s going to fall into continuity with one of the Batman titles, and be something like [b]Legends of the Dark Knight, I don’t know. It will probably be around six issues long.”
Like his work on Ultimate X-Men, Bachalo’s Batman story will allow him to expand his horizons a little further. “I have three desires for this story – one is to work again with Cy. He’s a person I really admire for his creative talent. Secondly, I want to do an extensive Batman story, and finally, I want a situation where I will do all the art. So for this one, I’ll be doing pencils, inks, and colors. I’ve been talking to different colorists on how to achieve certain effects and work with various techniques, so it’s something I’m really looking forward to doing.”
Bachalo said that his approach to coloring will be with the aid of the computer, rather than paints. “It’s something where, rather than doing flat coloring, I want to experiment with textures and maybe paint effects and scanning, and things like that,” Bachalo said. “Bad@ss did that a lot on Steampunk, and I really liked the look that creates. It makes it a little more deep and interesting to the eye. I want to expand upon that.
“So I’ve been talking to those guys, and Jose Villarrubia at Marvel about the watercolor effects he does over Jae Lee’s work. It’s really neat what they do, and it’s not that difficult of a process, and it should be really neat for this kind of project.”
Along with the three projects in development, Bachalo just finished Just Image Stan Lee Creating Catwoman for DC, has a four-issue deal with Dark Horse to produce Star Wars covers, and will provide the covers for the four-issue X-Men Icons: Chamber miniseries. For the Chamber covers, he will pencil, ink, and color with acrylics. “That’s been a very interesting experience, and a fun experiment,” Bachalo said. “The second one looked slightly different from the first one as my approach changed. The third one will be a little different yet – working out the process and creating the work is such a fascinating experience.”
Bachalo is also considering illustrating a “big” miniseries for Marvel, although he could not elaborate on what it would be about.
Another place fans can find Bachalo’s work in the coming months will be in an eighteen page comic included in Interplay’s Run Like Hell for the PlayStation2. The comic, written by Marv Wolfman, sets the stage for the science fiction survival game, introducing players to the characters and monsters. The game should be hitting stores in late June or early July.
Bachalo completed the comic for Run Like Hell last year, one of the few projects he did that kept him and his work out of the spotlight. Well…that stuff, and the addition to his family. “Last year, I took a lot of time off because of the birth of my son. I worked at a very slow pace on Steampunk because of that,” Bachalo said. “But on the side, I was doing little things. I did an editorial piece for Stuff magazine. I did some work for Fox Kids Magazine, just five page short stories. And Run Like Hell was eighteen pages, so that took about a month of my time. I think, all told, I didn’t work for four months last year, but in the last half of the year, things started picking up a little bit.
“This year, I’ve been much more prolific in terms of turning around work. I’ve done Catwoman, an issue of Steampunk, the Ultimate X-Men issues, and the covers. I’m comparatively pretty busy, and that’s not going to slow down, as far as I can see.”
And that’s fine by Bachalo – he plans to keep working at his current pace, with a variety of projects going with a variety of publishers. “It’s always a good idea to spread yourself out a little bit, and not have all your oars in one lake, and to keep your horizons open,” Bachalo said. “I’m having a great time refocusing on my work and what I want to do. An example of that right now is me looking at the work I’m doing, and deciding what I want to do next. I knew I wanted to expand my horizons and be more than just the penciler, which I’ve been doing for the last ten or twelve years.
“I’m trained as an illustrator, and that’s one of the other directions I want to go with my work – more painted work, and some covers. I painted Shade covers a long time ago, and I would really like to revisit that. I want to work on my writing, and I think like just about everyone else in comics, I’d like a shot at directing a movie as well.
“I realized that I’d pretty much met all the goals I’d set for myself when I was eighteen or nineteen years old. I wanted to get in the industry, I wanted to have a good career, do good work, and be good at what I do. I’m at a point where I think I’m good at it, and I’ve worked on a variety of projects, and it’s taken very good care of me and I’m very happy. I’m just looking for new goals and new challenges – I want to ink my work, I want to color my work, and paint. I want to get into other arenas, like film – there are lots of things out there I want to explore.”