TALKING TO TRAVIS CHAREST

[MattBrady]

by Chris Arrant

For seven years, artist Travis Charest has been a ghost in the American comics industry. After a 7 year stint at Wildstorm Studios which saw him do acclaimed work on Wildc.a.t.s., Wildc.a.t.s./X-men and various covers, for all intents in purposes he disappeared. Moving to France to work on graphic novel in the Metabarons series with writer Alexandro Jodorowsky and Humanoides Associes, Charest's name remained highly regarded with comic circles.

But after seven years, he's back. News broke earlier this year that Humanoids Associes decided to have another artist finish the Metabarons graphic novel, ears were perked with the thought of "now what". That what, as glimpsed yesterday in the article on Rambo creator David Morell's Captain America miniseries is this: Charest is back.

Although Charest has recently contributed covers to Dark Horse's Star Wars series, it's his impactful work on this cover for Marvel's Captain America: The Chosen that is ringing the bell marking his full return to U.S. comics. In this exclusive interview with Newsarama.com, Travis Charest talks about his return, his 7 years in Europe and about why he takes longer than your average artist.

Newsarama: Travis, what led to you returning to American comics?

Travis Charest: It's a complicated story, but basically a desire to work with the variety of characters, combined with wanting to be more involved in the industry and trying to attract some new fans. Of course there were financial considerations too. I'd worked for Wildstorm for nearly 8 years and had heard Marvel's siren song for a while but being a Canadian meant I was only able to work with visas that required me to be employed exclusively by my visa sponsor which was Wildstorm/DC. I'm now a permanent resident and am free to work for whomever I like and it was always a goal of mine to work with Marvel.

NRAMA: Getting right to it…. this Captain America cover you've provided us is a great "shot across the bow" of comics reminding people of your work. Can you tell us about the cover itself, from your thoughts on the character to your choices with how you illustrated the piece?



TC: It's kind of funny, when I was first approached about doing something for Marvel, Captain America was the first thing that came up routinely, I was still working on Dreamshifters so I had to decline any offers at the time, when things changed Cap was right there waiting for me, but then he died! I had no idea until the rest of the world did that he was a goner and figured Marvel wouldn't need my Cap services anymore. I can't say what they're for but I'm thrilled to have the chance to draw the covers.

NRAMA: You said "you're thrilled to have the chance to draw the covers", covers being plural. Can you say what other covers you're working on?

TC: I can say there are a plurality of covers, with a character named Captain America featured, other than that I'm unable to comment.

NRAMA: Cue message board fervor. Anyway, back to your approach on the cover.

TC: Because the covers aren't really based on a bit of story they had to be slightly vague and more symbolic or iconic I guess. I tried to give the piece a bit of modernity with the graphic design of the background but rendered very traditionally in keeping with his roots. When I'm inking myself I don't pencil very tightly and do all the rendering more organically with ink.

This cover is sort of a re-emerging into comics for me, so I was a little nervous while working on it and I hope it doesn't suffer for that.

NRAMA: What comics have you read recently that stand out to you?

TC: Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch have really raised the bar with The Ultimates, it always makes me re-examine my own work to try to do my best just in an attempt to keep up. I'm sure that whatever they are working on now will only make things harder for the rest of us.

NRAMA: You spent the better part of seven years outside the public eye, working on a graphic novel for Humanoids and doing a smattering of covers and pin-ups over the years. That's what people have seen – can you give us in your own words what you did during this time?

TC: 4 It has been a while hasn't it? Basically I was working on the graphic novel, and the work was going very slowly. It was a textbook case of not looking before I leapt, I had this idea that I could do it all, at one point I even lobbied to letter the book myself. There weren't a lot of distractions, all the TV programs were in French, no video games and very little money. It was just me trying to do way to much without having the abilities to make it happen.

NRAMA: Why did the work on Dreamshifters go "so slowly" as you said, at a pace slower than your Wildstorm work?

TC: I suppose the biggest problem I had was my process, I was doing everything the wrong way, it was like painting each page 3 times. I think I was also suffering from a lot of insecurities, I'm a massive fan of Moebius and The Incal is my favorite series. It's the reason I signed on in the first place, I was always second guessing all my choices and doubting myself. I think I really disappointed Jodorowsky and his excitement for the project understandably waned and the last couple of years only saw a few pages produced in that sort of limbo.

NRAMA: What was the original reason you effectively left American comics to do Dreamshifters years ago?

TC: I really wanted to enter that Incal universe, I've always liked science fiction and the chance to be a part of something with people that I admired like Jodo, Moebius and Jimenez was impossible to resist.

And the fact that I was able to live in Paris for a couple of years sealed the deal. I highly recommend it to everyone looking to expand their horizons to live out of their comfort zone for a while, not that Paris isn't comfortable. Lastly, I think my work at Wildstorm was starting to slide, I never thought that I had done those Alan Moore scripts justice and the way the Wildcats reboot ended up got me thinking it was time to do something different for a while.

NRAMA: Since the publisher has opted for another artist to finish the book, what do you plan to do with the artwork you finished for it?

TC: All the pages I made will still be used in the book, I believe the story will be broken into two parts with Zoran doing the art for the second half.

If you mean do I plan to sell the originals? I worked way too hard on those pages to ever part with them, it would kill me to see them in someone else's hands.

NRAMA: You recently moved back from Paris to the United States. Was this done as part of your attempt to re-enter American comics, or have anything to do with work at all?

TC: The move back was primarily motivated by wanting to be closer to family, we wanted to get married, buy a house, start a family, all that good stuff, which we could have done in Paris, but neither one of us was French citizens and there was a time limit on our stay there. And although I miss Paris and all my friends there, California is not too shabby.

NRAMA: One of the things that's hounded you over the years is the inability to do a monthly book, which goes back to your late 90s run on Wildcats. To set the record straight once and for all, can you talk to us about your attempts at doing monthly comics back then and how and why you realized it just wasn't for you?

TC: It's obvious that I'm not a monthly artist in the strictest sense, any time I've tried to do it, the work has suffered. I think there's a place for me in the industry, but it's not on a regular monthly. I'd love to do an arc on a book here and there but I'm also a fan of comics and ironically my biggest peeve is inconsistent art on a book, I prefer one artist, especially now that I almost exclusively buy trades rather than monthlies, and a single book with the same art throughout is my ideal situation. In my fevered imagination I would love to do 12 issues of Uncanny X-Men or Avengers just so I could have those books and have my name be a little part of the history of those great comics.

NRAMA:The market now is quite different than the one you left in the mid 90s. With graphic novels and rotating artists being more the norm than ever, do you see more a place for an artist like yourself than you did in the late 90s?

TC: I hope so, it does seem to be a reality today. I don't know if it's a good thing or not but it is where things look to be headed.

NRAMA: In the seven years since, the industry has changed much and there's been more opportunities for artists who don't work on a monthly comics schedule, with cover work and graphic novels. How has this trend affected your own outlook at the opportunities for you in American comics?

TC: I don't know how much goodwill I have with the fans today and I'm going to have to earn my way back so I think for the immediate future I should strive to achieve what the fans are asking for in terms of commitment rather than try to bend the process to my habits.

NRAMA: One thing that has kept your hardcore fans delighted is the serializing of a comic strip by you on your MSN forum called Spacegirl. Can you tell us about this story, and where you plan on taking it?



TC: Spacegirl came out of wanting to draw something as fast as possible, the work on Dreamshifters was very labored and sometimes when you have the same page on your table for weeks you can begin to hate the very sight of it. I can blast through a strip in an hour or two and it's a great outlet, not to mention I had not had the chance to draw a female character while working on Dreamshifters and wanted to practice. The "story" if it can rightly be called that is just a vehicle to draw whatever I feel like at the time, there's sort of an outline and a definite ending for this arc but most times I sit down to do a strip without having much of an idea of what's going to happen. This arc is nearly over and I plan to make the story a lot "bigger" for the next one.

NRAMA: Do you have plans to collect Spacegirl into a printed edition at some point?

TC: I'm looking into that right now, nothing too ambitious, but there seems to be a tiny following for the character and it would nice just to have a little collection for myself even if no one else wants it.

NRAMA: You recently did some Star Wars covers for Dark Horse. Are you doing any more of those?

TC: Yes, more Star Wars covers are on the way, I can't say much more but there will be more.

NRAMA: What else are you working on?

TC: I've got a lot of covers to finish, some other stuff I can't talk about, and likely more Dreamshifters work before that's completely finished. I'm busier than I've been in a while.

[GenerallZodd]

One of the best artists Ive ever seen.

[NeoGundamX]

He kicks ass as an artist. He has been ghost in the industry lately. Hopefully Marvel can pick him up. My avatar is a Captain America that he drew.

[gregmas]

Unbelievable artwork - I can't wait so see more, in whatever form it comes out in.

[griff311]

Charest is an amazing artist. I remember first noticing his work when he did a few covers for Detective Comics in the late 80's or early 90's. I would love to see Charest do a main-stream character mini-series. I know a monthly is out of the question for him, but a bi-monthly would be great!

[eltopo]

the guys is unbelievably talented,love his work I cant wait for the cap book

[Tobey Cook]

Charest is still one of my favorite artists of all time. I remember his early work on Darkstars back in the early 90s being a highlight, as well as a story in Green Lantern Corps Quarterly #6 that is just brilliant storytelling.

[shadowchaser]

about time hes back!

i've missed his artwork alot, hes just amazing

[jeremysee]

I was wondering if we'd be seeing more Charest when the CAPTAIN AMERICA cover for THE CHOSEN was revealed...I for one am THRILLED for the return of one of the most gifted and creative artists in comics history. Can't wait to see what Travis has in store for us, CAP and MARVEL!

WELCOME BACK!

and p.s.--I think the art on WILDCATS did do MOORE's scripts justice, and then some...

[CaptainTemerity]

Amazing stuff from this guy. I loved his Wildcats run, and always looked forward to seeing more from him.

[Joe Jusko]

Travis is a friggin' incredible talent!!!! This is my favorite line in the interview, re; SPACEGIRL- "I can blast through a strip in an hour or two...". It would take a normal person a week to produce work of that caliber! LOL Consider me a part of the 'tiny following' that absolutely adores that strip!!

[Darth Tigris]

Been a fan ever since I first saw his work on this Flash/Eclipso annual or something (might have been his first professional work) years ago. I've followed his work closely and was always blown away by what he could pull off on a page. Go back and look at his work on Wildcats/X-men and tell me that its not some of the most beautiful work you've ever seen.

I certainly hope he takes whatever Marvel's offering (c'mon, you know they are coming at him hard) and we get to see him on a high profile book and soon. And since it looks like its joining the rotating artist pool, I vote for a Mighty Avengers arc for starters.

UPDATED: I found a link to some of his Wildcats/X-Men art. Almost everything here is interior art. Enjoy!
http://www.travischarestgallery.com/...y=wildcatsxmen

[bebopeva88]

Travis is probably the best artist out there -- he's simply amazing. I've been drooling over his con sketches and the little that I've been able to see of his Metabarons work ever since he left the US comic industry.

I am so psyched that he's back in the US doing some covers, and seemingly with some top secret goodness in the works.

[stlfan79]

Good to see one of the industry's premier talents back in American comics so those who have not had the opportunity to see his work can now enjoy it.

[Gladiator X]

There's lots of folks that draw really cool comics.

Charest is an "artist".

Can't wait to see what all he's doin' for Marvel.

[stiltman6969]

holy ____... now THAT is a gun/sword. not that namby pamby Final Fantasy garbge.

[lanzajr26]

I am very happy to see Charest back in the comics scene, I've always had a great admiration for his work. Regardless of how quickly he can work, it'll be great so see him cover new characters at Marvel and hopefully have the opportunity to work on a new mini-series.

Welcome back Travis!

[steven_eks]

Charest's work has come so far since his inception to the business. His work is beautiful--I can't wait to see what he's going to produce now.

Steve

[The Shadow]

Awesome news he's back!!!

I've been a fan of his since his early days and cannot wait for his Marvel stuff. He's one of the few artists I would buy a book I didn't normally get for.

[crazyhorse01]

Originally Posted by griff311

Charest is an amazing artist. I remember first noticing his work when he did a few covers for Detective Comics in the late 80's or early 90's. I would love to see Charest do a main-stream character mini-series. I know a monthly is out of the question for him, but a bi-monthly would be great!

That would be great, but let's see if he can handle a bi-annual first.

I can't believe that it's seven years later, and the Metabarons book is going to be completed by someone else. Jeez. I guess all things don't come to he who waits.

Now do you see why I was laughing at the people who were screaming bloody murder about the delays on Ultimates #13?

[looshkin]

Travis is one of the best and this is the only time a Captain America title will have ever been added to my box.

[Charlie Hustle]

If he couldn't finish the metabarons book in 7 years it's a good for him to go to Marvel with hitch, Madureira, etc. lol.

"But after seven years, he's back. News broke earlier this year that Humanoids Associes decided to have another artist finish the Metabarons graphic novel, ears were perked with the thought of "now what". "

[H.W.]

Simply love his art.

[ziza9]

One of my favorites. Welcome back brother.

[creatorman]

Truly one of the greatest artists of our time.