GO WEST DON HUDSON

[MattBrady]

by Daniel Robert Epstein

Don Hudson is best known to comic community as an inker on such works as Amazing Spider-Man, Punisher War Journal and Daredevil. But over the last few year Hudson is one of those creators that have dropped out of the regular rotation for the big companies. Now Hudson has to create challenges for himself and one of those is Gunpowder Girl & the Outlaw Squaw.

Gunpowder Girl & the Outlaw Squaw is about two women in the Wild West who seek their fortune as outlaws. The story begins with a train robbery and it turns out that in many ways Gunpowder Girl & the Outlaw Squaw are the villains because they kill anyone who gets in their way. Hudson has taken a familiar genre and spun it all Camille Paglia-like.

Newsarama: How did you decide to do Gunpowder Girl & the Outlaw Squaw?

Don Hudson: My good friend Steve Buccellato puts out an anthology magazine called Comiculture. He asked me if I wanted to contribute something and I thought it would be a great opportunity to tackle a Western which is a genre that I really enjoy and that I really haven’t done before. I came up with doing a Western with my own particular slant on it, making it two women from different backgrounds who really wouldn’t associate with each other, but because of circumstances being the way they are, they decide to join up.

NRAMA: Westerns are somewhat notorious in comics just for not being popular for a long stretch, although they are coming back somewhat now. Was it a difficult decision to decide to do one?

DH: It was a drawing challenge for me basically. I wanted to do something that would be entertaining and really challenge my skills. I was doing it for myself. Since it was for an anthology it would be about eight pages at a time I would have to work with. That was another challenge. I really wasn’t thinking, “Well, this might not sell. No one’s reading Westerns.” I was just doing it for myself and if it’s entertaining people will come to me.

NRAMA: What made you decide on the sepia tone for the art?

DH: The sepia tone was Steve’s idea. The first two chapters were originally printed in color. But after I did the entire graphic novel, Steve said, “Well, this would look really good in sepia tone, like a Western type of period look.” We did some tests and it really did look rich and blew a lot of texture into the artwork. It’s something you don’t see anymore either.

NRAMA: No you don’t and I thought it looked great. How did you decide on the size of the actual book?

DH: The dimensions are magazine dimensions but just a little smaller. It fit best because when I printed it in the magazine, it was a bleed book which means that I draw artwork outside the printed size. So the artwork would bleed and get cut off basically, but when we put it in that particular size book all the artwork showed and we can see everything. It was no longer a bleed book and that was a good dimension. I think that was more the work of the publisher, Richard Starkings at Active Images. He came up with that dimension and he’s had a lot of experience with putting out really interesting small press books. He’s another friend that I’ve known him for years.

NRAMA: Is that how you decided on Active Images?

DH: Yeah. Also he lettered the book. Richard Starkings is the publisher of Active Images and he runs Comicraft, which does lettering for practically everybody in the industry. After I finished the book, he took it from there. He took over the project, did all the art direction and published it.

NRAMA: What did you draw Gunpowder Girl & the Outlaw Squaw with?

DH: It was just pencil, pen and ink.

NRAMA: How much was done on the computer?

DH: Not much, I’m more of the old school. I know about the whole doing it in pencils and then taking it into Photoshop and playing with it, but I never did that. All the color is done in Photoshop, but I’m just traditional pencil and ink and all that other stuff.

NRAMA: What were some of your favorite Western comic?

DH: I really enjoyed a lot of John Severin Westerns. John Severin was the number one guy when he would do EC Comics or when he would do a few of the Western comics in the ‘70s when Marvel still put out Westerns. Also Doug Wildey who was an artist who put out a book called Rio in ‘80s when I was growing up. It was hand-painted and had really great storylines. It was his own character and he really put a lot into it. So those two guys were my biggest influences.

NRAMA: Had you ever worked on a Western when you were working for Marvel?

DH: No, when I did my time working for Marvel, I was inking Daredevil, Web of Spider-Man, Shield, you know…those books. I didn’t have an opportunity to work on Westerns. That’s probably why I decided to do a Western now. I wanted to do something challenging like drawing horses and making sure the characters were authentic with interesting storylines.

NRAMA: Did you just come up with these characters when Steve said he wanted you for the anthology or had they been percolating in your brain for awhile?

DH: It was a real spur of the moment. I just came up with them, I said “Outlaws! I want to do outlaws! And the outlaws are women and they’re being chased by the man.” That was basically it. That’s how it started. “Oh, two outlaws and they’re being chased like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid but with women.”

NRAMA: I don’t know if you meant it but having women outlaws instead and then the Native American girl working with the white girl does add a bit of social commentary to the book, was that on purpose?

DH: I’ve noticed that everybody who reads the book reads something different into it. When I wrote the book I wanted to write a story about friends and family. The story starts out with three women and they don’t really know each other but they’re traveling together for this certain purpose. When one of the women dies, the other two figure out, “Well. We can still be friends. We are family.” They discover closeness. That’s basically the commentary I had in mind. It was about two women who are totally different, becoming as close to a family as they can get and also be murderers and thieves. It really wasn’t anything political or anything like that but I’ve had people come up to me and say, “Oh. They’re bad people and they should’ve got caught at the end.” Just all sorts of different opinions and ideas about it. That’s entertaining to me too. I’m thinking, “Well, it’s good that the story can mean different things to different people.”

NRAMA: Are you doing more stories with these characters?

DH: Yes, I am. I’m continuing the story with the characters and I think you’re going to find out more about the Outlaw Squaw. She’s really unusual because she’s just more or less disowned her Indian tribe and she’s focusing on making as much money as she can for as long as she can do it.

NRAMA: Are you doing any work for any of the larger companies?

DH: I am doing some proposals. But I think Marvel and DC are focusing on their own thing and I’m beneath the radar of all the big companies, which is fine because I’m busy. I’m doing storyboards in LA storyboards here, so I’m not really wrapped up in it.

NRAMA: Have you worked on storyboards for anything that we would’ve seen?

DH: Commercials for large agencies. I came out here I did TV for Sony animation back in the late ‘90s. I did Dragon Tales which is a PBS show, Godzilla and Ghostbusters.

NRAMA: What else are you working on?

DH: Besides the sequel to Gunpowder Girl & the Outlaw Squaw, just the storyboard stuff because Marvel hasn’t called me to do The Hulk. I think they’ve got that covered.

Gunpowder Girl and The Outlaw Squaw is 76 pages in paperback. It's out, and can be found at comic shops, or via Amazon.com at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/097...books&v=glance

[Blackhawkaaaa!]

Looks pretty good...love that the Western is back, and back BIG!
When's this coming out & what will the price be?

[Rich! Starkings]

It's already in stores and on Amazon.com and it's just $12.95!

Rich!
President & First Tiger
Comicraft & Active Images!

[The Marvel]

I read it back when it first came out and thought it was a great book. You can find a review of it on our website, url below...

[Mr Wesley]

The artwork looks great... a very "Gerry Ordway" vibe.

But $12.95 for 76 pages?!?

Sorry, but I just can't afford that.

[Mike S Miller]

Woo-hoo! Westerns!

God, I love westerns...

[bcwflash]

Can't afford it?
2.99 for 22 pages is what many comics cost now so 66 pages would be almost 12.00 ten pages more for a dollar is about the average going price.
If you can't afford a trade price i can understand but it all equals the same amount in cost.
Other trades are cheap because the story is reprinted from a series so the cost is less and the profit doesn't have to be as great since it broke even or made money the first time.

[Michael C Lorah]

The art looks great. Best of luck, Don.
I'll try to pick this one up after the holidays are past and I can spend my money on myself again!

[Cry For Life]

[SarcasticMan]

I'm glad an interest in Westerns seems to be rekindling. I hope that it bleeds over into TV and Film.

The book looks good, but I have to say the artwork looks too "clean". I like my westerns gritty and dirty.

[Dane]

Nice interview, but i'm wondering why this book is only now being talked about..i got this last july, lol. Looking forward to getting the sequel.

[Bakema NL]

Looking good, I'm buying. It's certainly cool to see these western books appearing, there's some very nice stuff out there now.

[Kolimar]

Another old pro that still has what it takes. Good luck, Don.