CATCHING UP WITH FRANK QUITELY

[MattBrady]

by Brendan McGuirk

Frank Quitely and Grant Morrison had a simple assignment on All Star Superman; tell a Superman story that captured everything that made the character endure by streamlining the entire mythos. Yeah - no small task. With the first collection due in stores this month, and issue #7 due on the stands this week (click here for a preview), fans eagerly await this redefining run.

We sat down with Frank and discussed everything from his own personal techniques and influences, the allure of cover work, and working with Grant Morrison.

Newsarama: First off, I was reviewing some of your work on 2000AD's Missionary Man, and was struck by a common thread I saw in your work; from the sci-fi townspeople in Missionary Man, Seth in The Authority, to Beak in New X-Men, there seems to be a common thread of some truly grotesque imagery. It seems as though when you come up with these over the top images the pages demand attention. In a time where major films are mining comics in search of compelling imagery, you are in many ways ahead of your contemporaries in finding looks that can really only be achieved in comics. Is this an intentional practice or simply part of your inherent style?

Frank Quitely: The townsfolk in Missionary Man were intended to be a motley collection of ugly and unusual nth generation mutants. I was given free-rein to depict supporting characters and background extras in any way I saw fit, and I just ran with it.

"Seth" from The Authority had considerably more thought put into him, and like I do when I'm designing any new character, I did a whole lot of sketches until I felt I was getting close to something that was going to work. Then I showed Mark (Millar) the best of them, and factored-in the feedback I got from him until I had something we were both happy with.

With "Beak" from New X-Men, I think it was the brilliant Ethan Van Sciver who first drew that character, so I just drew him in my own style. Most of what I come up with is simply my inherent style trying to depict what's being described to me.

NRAMA: Speaking of your collaboration with Grant Morrison - you two started working together on Flex Mentallo, and The Invisibles. From there JLA Earth-2, New X-Men, WE3, and now All Star. What is it about working with Grant that 'clicks' for you? Is there a style or language to his scripting that you feel makes your work easier, or is it just a case of mutual influences and interests? Do the grandiose concepts he tends to throw out there make executing the script more exciting or more daunting?

FQ: And New Toys - a short we did for the Vertigo anthology Weird War Tales.

I love working with Grant. He's a brilliant storyteller, he's endlessly inventive; he finds credible ways of introducing new concepts and new ways of looking at familiar themes, and he understands what makes a comic work more than anyone. There is an element of common ground between us, but I don't think that's the thing - maybe it's mostly to do with the fact that he draws, in very simple thumbnails, every script that he writes. For my part, I approach every script I work on in exactly the same way, irrespective of who wrote it, but I do genuinely feel that the comics I do with Grant work as a whole in a more satisfying way.

As for grandiose concepts - sure, they can make things more interesting and more daunting, but equally, depicting the subtleties and nuances of the mundane can be just as much of a challenge.

NRAMA: You have been a rather prolific cover artist, especially for Vertigo. Is cover work particularly gratifying, as it's basically the ultimate one panel cartoon? The covers on All Star have been fantastic, what has been your chief goal on those?

FQ: I love doing covers, particularly if I'm coloring them myself. Sometimes the writers (and/or editors) have very fixed ideas about what they want which is great because it leaves me to concentrate on the 'finish', and sometimes it's open for me to compose a cover in whatever way I see fit, which is particularly satisfying if I'm designing a set of covers for a story arc or limited series.

I love the challenge of trying to balance the sometimes contradictory requirements of finding the most striking image, with getting all the relevant visual information across (the ultimate one panel cartoon, as you put it). With the All Star Superman covers, because Grant had them all worked out before I started the first one, I've had the luxury of concentrating mainly on the 'finish'.

Much as I loved doing the Bite Club: VCU and American Virgin covers, I had to give them up because it was just too time-consuming. The silver lining for me was that it meant that I could color the All Star Superman covers myself - the first four were colored by Jamie (Grant), but since then I've been able to color them myself which really enjoy.

NRAMA: I wanted to hear some of your thoughts on your work with Jamie Grant. Between the digital inking and coloring, what doors does that open for you in your pencil work? How would you compare digital inks to hand inks, and what are your thoughts on the future of old style India inks?

FQ: Jamie and I go way back. We were both part of the Scottish indie self-publishing scene in the late eighties-early nineties. I was part of the Glasgow scene and he was part of the Edinburgh scene, but we knew each other's work and we were often at the same marts and cons and sometimes at the same parties.

I broke into the mainstream doing Missionary Man. Then when I moved onto Shimura, it was Jamie who took over Missionary Man. I then started working for DC and Jamie moved into the games industry, but he was also still self-publishing and we jammed on a number of his strips together, sometimes me inking his pencils, sometimes him inking mine, sometimes with other people joining in too.

We3 was the first time we worked together on a mainstream title. On We3 I worked really closely with Jamie because I had an over-all color-scheme in mind that I knew was very different from the kind of colors Jamie would normally use, whereas on All Star Superman I've just asked for a few specifics in each issue while for the most part leaving him to his own devices.

I've never been comfortable having inkers, no matter how good they've been, because the lines that I've drawn have been lost and the lines that get printed aren't mine - the storytelling and page-layouts and panel-compositions are still mine, but the actual printed lines are someone else's. What I do now is pencil in blue line the way I used to when I inked myself traditionally, and then 'ink' with graphite (usually with a technical pencil). Jamie then scans the finished page and digitally removes any blue lines that are still visible and contrasts the grey linework till it becomes crisp black and white. It takes me nearly as long to do it this way as it does to pencil and ink traditionally, but it is a little quicker, and at least the printed lines are still mine.

In the future I plan to experiment with scanning my blue line pencils and 'inking' over them in Photoshop - that way I could get more variation in the weight of line I'm using.

NRAMA: Getting to All Star, how do you compare the 'look' of Superman in this book to your earlier work with the character in Earth-2? Are you modeling him in the same frame or are there some wrinkles you added to make this project distinct?

FQ: He's only slightly different, but not deliberately so - Earth 2 was 8 years ago, after all.

NRAMA: Following up on that, fans picked up very quickly on the Silver Age influences on this current run, is that the intent on your end? What is it about that era of Superman that the last 30 years lacked? You brought in modern elements like Doomsday and Superman 1,000,000, do you see one of the goals of All Star as streamlining the best aspects of the Superman mythos?

FQ: The Silver Age is one of the influences in the mix, but from my point of view it's a simple case of sitting down with Grant and listening to what he's trying to achieve, what he's wanting me to do, then getting each script in turn and just getting down to it and trying to do it as well as I can.

NRAMA: A few nuts and bolts questions; how would you describe your own artistic style? You seem to make regular use of wide screen panels and negative space- does this help you balance the pacing of a book? What are your chief concerns when laying out a page or a full script?

FQ: Like any other artist who isn't deliberately trying to ape someone else's style, my style is pretty much a mish-mash of many wide and varied influences from all the paintings, drawings, album covers, posters, illustrations and comics (British, European, American and manga) that have impressed me over the course of my life, all channeled through my 'default' drawing style - which is kind of the drawing equivalent of handwriting, y'know, what it keeps changing back into when you try to deliberately change it.

The thing I like best about widescreen panels is that they really accentuate the feeling of time moving across the page from left to right. The most obvious way to see that is in the multiple-image or strobe-photograph type of panels, but it's there in the more subtle compositions as well. If you think about it, in most panels someone will say something on the left of the panel and they'll get a reply or reaction from someone on the right of the panel - there's an undeniable time difference there - the person on the right with the shocked expression is on the same panel as the person on the right but the facial expression or reply is not happening at the same moment - it's just easiest to make that work to your advantage on a wide panel.

It's something you can't do nearly as effectively in film.

My chief concerns laying out a page are always the same: for a start I've always read the script several times until I really get it and can see it all in my head, and I know where each scene fits into the whole issue and where each page fits into its scene. I then thumbnail in the margins of the script, and take the best of the thumbnails to lay out the page. Obviously, every panel should be readable, should leave adequate space in the right places for the caption boxes and word balloons to run in chronological order from top to bottom and left to right. Depending on the script, I may use a fixed viewpoint, a slow zoom in or out, or panning or dollying, from one panel to the next down the page - it's always a question of balancing all the elements, choosing angles and viewpoints that tell the story with some kind of deliberate flow.

NRAMA: There have been a few images in the book so far that are particularly iconic, from the two page sun spread in issue 1 to the Super-kiss of issue #3. Ian Churchill has already paid homage to your first cover in the pages of Supergirl. Considering how famous Superman is as a character, does it strike you that there aren't a huge number of iconic images or defining stories? Is there any part of you that hopes to fill that void with this book?

FQ: Yes, Ian did a beautiful job on that cover.

Whether it's a cover or an internal page I'm working on, all I'm thinking about is what's the best way to draw what I've been asked to draw - if it later becomes apparent that some of those images strike more of a chord with more people then that's great.

[Carlos Javier]

FQ has really grown on me to the point where he's easily one of my favorite artists. I love his storytelling. I can't wait until Wednesday.

[Scorned1]

Originally Posted by Carlos Javier

FQ has really grown on me to the point where he's easily one of my favorite artists. I love his storytelling. I can't wait until Wednesday.

Me too, I love the way he drew his lines. All Star Superman is his best stuff ever. Love that last issue and page.

[diana_fan]

Frank is amazing. I can't get enough of his work, the way it seems to have a perfect sense of flow, design, and just plain craftsmanship. And All Star Superman is easily the most visually engaging book out there right now, for me.

This was a pretty interesting interview. I don't draw myself, so it is always interesting to hear someone who is so skilled talk about what he does and how he does it.

[johnny.blaze]

This should probably be a Poll @ Talk but who's the better artist Frank Quietley or John Cassady?

[melperfect]

I know many readers go into a tizzy over late books (I do myself sometimes), but it helped me to reconcile with the fact that this book would only be out every few months early on.

I love All Star Superman, it's a great feeling seeing it in the pull box. Frank really has created some of the most memorable images of the character for me. Much like Mike Mignola, his style took a while to click with me, but once it did I couldn't get enough.

[nobleman]

I remember when Frank took over art chores of Authority following Brian Hitch. Took three issues for me to realize that the guy has got talent galore. He's definitely someone I follow no matter what book he's on.

[RockLeefan]

It's great to hear someone talk about the mechanics of drawing an issue. People complain about late artists, but it's clear that there is a reason it takes some of them longer when they put so much thought into the composition of the panels. Not being an artist in any way, i usually assume that a comics pacing is the writer's making but Frank's comments on the use of widescreen panels and the flow of time from left to right is a real eye-opener.
I'm happy to buy (and wait) for pretty much anything Frank publishes, and when he drew me spidey sketch at a comic con in Glasgow he was happy to chat and joke about comics (particularly when neither of us could remember the spidey chest emblem!).

[smitch]

Frank's work has really grown on me as well, and I love All Star Supes.

But what about that image of Emma Frost that Wizard printed ALL THE TIME a few years ago? That was a seriously weird picture of her. Maybe that's what he was going for, just to fly in the face of all the sexy images of her.

[Chip]

Frank is amazing. What a great interview!

[bebopeva88]

Back during Flex Mentallo, when I was first exposed to Frank Quitely's work, I was a little taken aback by his style. I could tell that he was super talented, but the style just didn't fully click with me. By the end of Flex Mentallo, and especially after his Authority work, he became one of my favorite artists. His work continued to grow on me during New X-Men, and after We3, he became a groundbreaking artist for me -- just mindblowing stuff.

He isn't the fastest artist, but that's been a consistent trait of his, so I gladly wait for his work to come out. AS Superman hasn't been coming out all that quickly, but I'm still impressed that the title has nearly double the issues of AS Batman... in less time. AS Superman is great, and it's a treat whenever an issue comes out.

Nice interview, it was great to hear about the process from Quiely himself.

[BillReed]

Quitely = comics art demi-god.

[HartyPotter]

All Star Superman has been my first exposure to Quitely, and I think he's awesome. I've subsequently seen some of his New X-Men art, and I think the world of it as well.

[sexyjesus]

Quietly's art has been crap ever since he stopped inking. His work has suffered ever since. Also, his new color sense is ugly.

I love the guy's stuff, but he needs to wise up and go back to his old ways when he was creating amazing pop art.

[Carlos Javier]

Originally Posted by smitch

Frank's work has really grown on me as well, and I love All Star Supes.

But what about that image of Emma Frost that Wizard printed ALL THE TIME a few years ago? That was a seriously weird picture of her. Maybe that's what he was going for, just to fly in the face of all the sexy images of her.

Naw, even FQ fans will probably concede that that was just a less-than-stellar drawing. Most of his Emma renderings were spot on, though.

[5-0]

I have never been a Superman fan, but seeing FQ's work on All-Star has changed that for me. He is hands down my favorite artist, and if he was drawing a comic about interior design I would still pick it up. I just wish he was faster, not because I am obsessed with deadlines, but because I would love to see him do more work. But what he does produce always amazes me.

[Kevenn]

I absolutely love his art on this title. The only other work of his that I'm familiar with, were his American Virgin covers. I think he's so brilliant.

[vfxdammerung]

I'm definitely in the minority here....Quitely is the main reason why I've stayed away from All-Star Superman so far.

[The Foreigne]

I can't praise Frank enough; he's the best comic artist working today. I would die of happiness if he could keep a monthly schedule.

[Tirpen]

Originally Posted by vfxdammerung

I'm definitely in the minority here....Quitely is the main reason why I've stayed away from All-Star Superman so far.

Probably minority but not alone. My opinion is that FQ is a good artist as long as he doesn't try to draw human faces. Everyone he draws looks slightly retarded.

I've however learned to live with him since Morrison is one of my favourit writers and they do tend to work together alot.

[Boxful]

Quite frankly, Frank Quitely is one of the best artists in the comic industry right now.

I loved his work on JLA Earth 2 and New Xmen.
I've since tracked down the rest of his work and none of it has let me down.

[greenman]

I know I'll be in the minority on this but I don't care for Quietly's work on All Star Superman at all. His faces, particularily, just don't look right. It's one of the reasons I gave up on All Star Superman.

[Green Llama]

Man, I would love to see that Missionary Man stuff collected!

[tsd08460]

larger versions of those covers:

http://www.dccomics.com/media/covers/6413_400x600.jpg

http://www.dccomics.com/media/covers/7435_400x600.jpg

[jaimeramirez]

Although it was never really a reality, I'm still sad that Frank didn't draw the entirety of Grant's New X-Men run. The change in artists, was really annoyng, and not because the other artists were bad, but because Frank was just so much better. The run woud be even more revered if he had.

Definitely one of the best artists in comics today.

JR