HITMAN: AN APPRECIATION, II - JOHN McCREA

[MattBrady]

by Zack Smith

With DC Comics revisiting the violent and hilarious world of Tommy Monaghan in September's Hitman/JLA, we’ve been chatting with the demented minds who brought Tommy and company into our homes each month. To follow up on our talk with Garth Ennis, we called up the book’s artist, John McCrea, over in the UK.

As sly and sardonic as the characters he drew, McCrea gave us the secrets of everything from Natt’s hat to Tommy’s scarf to a certain group of supporting characters he’d love to see as action figures….

Newsarama: Thanks for talking with us, John. To start off, what was the experience of working on Hitman like?

John McCrea: Oh, it was very enjoyable. Garth and I were longtime collaborators, and we'd known each other before that, before we broke into comics. He used to come into the comic shop in Northern Ireland that I used to run, and we got sort of friendly during this time. We broke into comics together with Troubled Souls for Crisis, and we've pretty much worked solidly since then.

Garth and I knew each other well; same sense of humor, liked the same sort of movies, blah blah, blah. So Hitman was more of the same, only because we were working on a character that we had created, it was much more our thing. It was great fun.

When Garth first pitched Hitman, I thought, "Well, it's a hitman character, that's got a certain lifespan. I can't imagine it running or being interesting for a long, long time." I thought it would have a very limited lifespan, and that I'd stick with it for 12 issues, and then maybe I'd drop out and do something else. But it was just warming up by issue #12, and I was really enjoying it. What I had said was that if it didn't last longer than Gunfire, I would quit working in comics altogether. I don't know if you remember, but Gunfire was one of the shite-er characters to come out of Bloodlines….

NRAMA: I remembered Gunfire 1,000,000 from that one issue of Hitman, but I had no idea you'd worked on the original book…

JMcC: No, I just felt a terrible kinship with that book as it was born from the same crossover but I always thought that if our kid couldn’t last longer at school than the hillbilly cousin ( I’m really pushing the analogy here) then it was time to give up . I think that was my suggestion, putting Gunfire into issue 1,000,000. I certainly told Garth many, many times that I hated Gunfire, because it's a terrible, terrible concept. I'm pretty sure Garth agreed with me. So when it came time to blow him up with a hand grenade made out of his arse, it was just perfect.

But that's the sort of humor that we were just talking about. That's a perfect example of why I enjoyed Hitman so much. It mixed really dark stories, really nasty and horrible stories, with the most absurd humor at the same time. That sort of humor is very rare in comics, and it was great fun to do that with Garth. It also gave me a chance to stretch myself as an artist as well, trying to mix those, trying to make it believable for a reader when they're looking at Baytor behind the bar and going, "All right, I accept this." It's a big reason why I enjoyed doing Hitman, and why I've enjoyed it this time round.

NRAMA: Which did you enjoy doing more: The more dramatic stories, or the more humorous stories?

JMcC: Well…you know, that's a tough call. I've always enjoyed humor in comics, and I think my work has always lent toward…humorous-ness-ess, if that's a real word. I did enjoy the humorous stories very much. I think my favorite story is probably "Zombie Night at the Gotham Aquarium." Just the absurdity of the baby seals and the penguins and everything as zombies.

I probably preferred the humorous storylines, not to take away from (the dramatic stories). That's purely from a drawing perspective, from how much fun they were to work on. When I go back and re-read the stories, the dramatic ones, the less-humorous ones, they work just as well. They were all fun, but I think I enjoyed the humorous stuff a bit more just because I got to cut loose and do some crazy stuff….stuff that I wouldn't get to do anywhere else in the DCU, that's for sure.

NRAMA: "Zombie Night" is my favorite story as well…I've been trying to buy the original art of the splash page with the zombie animals for years…

JMcC: I've probably sold it. That issue went fast. I might still have a few pages around, but the art from that issue was extremely popular. I tell you, the cover with Tommy and the boys about to club the baby seal…if I'd drawn that cover on every issue of Hitman, I'd have sold the lot. That cover was very popular, and a lot of people wanted to buy it. I think Amanda Conner has it, bless her. There's nothing like clubbing some baby seals to make people smile, I guess.

NRAMA: Have you kept any of the art from the original series for yourself?

JMcC: I've kept the original art, inasmuch as I haven't managed to sell it all! (laughs) Let me name-drop a bit – Kevin Smith bought a lot of issues #1 and #2, as I recall. A lot of the art is gone, the posters and the really nice pages and most of the covers. There's still some left, as there were 60-bloody-issues of the damn thing. If I sold them all, I'd be living in a great big bloody mansion somewhere.

NRAMA: Getting into the schematics of the book, I'd like to talk about how Tommy's look evolved. In his first appearance in The Demon Annual #2, his outfit is more of a costume…

JMcC: It wasn't really a very hard look to come up with. If you look at it, it's not much of a costume: Big combat boots, combat trousers, the long coat…I tried to make it as visually interesting as possible, but sticking those metal things on his collar…I have no idea why I did that, in retrospect. Maybe I wanted him to look just a little bit superhero-y. And the big black shades…again, they started off as a different shape, like they were aviator glasses or something, I can't recall, but they sort of transformed into these great big clunky ass-shaped glasses as they went along, probably because I couldn't be bothered drawing the frames again and again. So they became these shiit-pitch-black glasses…and the scarf, of course, was a bad idea.

NRAMA: I was wondering about that.

JMcC: Yeah! Garth was telling me originally how he imagined the look. He imagined – Christ, what's his name, the guy in Miller's Crossing – Gabriel Byrne. He had a tortured, romantic thing going on in that movie so the scarf seemed to fit. I sort of drew him like Gabriel Byrne when I was starting…and then he turned into me, as many of my characters do. Every artist tends to draw themselves, or an ideal version of themselves.

I think I’ll try to blame the red scarf on Garth. Tommy just looked awful with it. I think when Hitman #1 was going to come out, Garth just said, "Let's lose the scarf. It was a bad idea." I didn't fight that too much, let's put it that way. It was a pain to draw as well.

Really, the whole look of Hitman was a no-brainer…big guns, big characters…it was not particularly high concept, as far as the look goes, but the fun of the book was the personality and characters. It was an easy design.

NRAMA: What about the other regulars at Noonan's? What went into designing them?

JMcC: (laughs) Again, those were easy! For Ringo, Garth wanted a Chinese guy who looked like Chow Yun-Fat from The Killers, so I drew a guy who looked like Chow Yun-Fat. Natt the Hatt was based on Ice-T, as I recall, only he just got fatter.

And the hat itself – you see, when Garth gave me the synopsis for the first six issues of the story, it mentioned that in issue #6, one of Tommy's closest friends was going to die. And I just translated that as meaning that Natt the Hatt was going to die! And, of course, it turned out that it was Pat Noonan who died. That was the twist of the story, that you thought Natt was going to die when it was really Pat.

So I thought Natt was going to die, and I figured, "Well, I'll draw this hat with all this crap all over it, because I'll only have to draw it for only three or four issues, and then he dies!" I never imagined that he'd survive and have to wear it for the entire sixty-bloody-issues! After a while, it was just, "God damn this frigging hat!" (laughs) So I really shot myself in the foot with the hat.

The characters just suggested themselves. To me, when you have to make up a costume and suggest superpowers and things like that, I can find it awkward to design a character. When a character is just a person who has a certain personality, it usually comes through when I start to draw. It's a bit of a no-brainer, really.

Certainly with all the Noonan's guys, I didn't pre-design them at all. I just started with the page and drew them, and that was it. I didn't slavishly draw a bunch of character roughs and designs…I like any line I put to paper to be printed. I'm all about the money, these days. I'm a total whore. (laughs) There you go.

NRAMA: (laughs) A lot of sequences with the Noonan's crew involved them sitting around playing poker for pages on end. As an artist, what kind of challenge is that?

JMcC: It's quite a challenge! By the time I got to issue #50 – oh, I'm not going to lie, by the time I got to issue #20 – it became a continual challenge, scratching my head and asking myself, "How am I going to draw this bar scene of Tommy and Natt talking and make it interesting so I don't try to find a rope and hang myself from it?"

So yes, it was a tough, and if only Eduardo Risso had existed at that point, I could have stolen all of his great angles for people sitting around at bars. But he wasn't around at that point, at least not in the American market. I mean, there's a man who knows how to draw a bar scene, old Risso. Christ, tip o' the hat to him! But yes, it was problematic, drawing the bar over and over and over again.

NRAMA: Did you have any favorite short-term characters to draw, such as the different superheroes or villains that wandered through Tommy's world?

JMcC: Ohhhh, God, remind me who appeared in the comic…

NRAMA: Well, everybody loves Sixpack and Section 8….

JMcC: Oh, obviously I loved those. I mean, I would love to do a miniseries with Sixpack and the team. It would be one of the most awesome things. And Garth and I continually thought about how great it would be to have the action figures! You could have Sixpack with his alleyway-scene diorama and plastic pools of vomit you could put around him. And a little wind-up Baytor, you know, one on wheels, that could run around with its arms spinning, screaming "I—AM—BAYTOR!"

NRAMA: That is the greatest idea for a line of action figures ever.

JMcC: Yeah! You know, come out with it! Put them all in one of those blister-sealed packs – the Defenstrator with his breakable window, and Shakes with his…well, his shakes. And all the brilliant accessories you could put on Jean de Baton-Baton – frog's legs, rings of onions, and baguettes, and bicycles, and maybe a big plate of horse – lots of good things that would make a good action-figure set and make it a popular buy with the kids. (laughs).

NRAMA: I don't want to think about what you'd have for Bueno Excellente…

JMcC: (laughs) But Section Eight, they were great fun, and great fun to design, actually. Again, they were all kind of no-brainers. Steve (Dillon's) character, Dogwelder – he invented the concept of him, I just took the name and came up with the look – he won best character from Wizard, didn't he?

NRAMA: Yeah.

JMcC: Right. That was a proud moment for myself, and for Steve. Because his career hasn't amounted to much since, poor Dillon. He's had what, Preacher, Wolverine since? For God's sake. So I presume he'll always treasure Dogwelder, the shining light of his otherwise unworthy career.

NRAMA: Any favorite sequences from the book, like individual scenes?

JMcC: One of my favorites, inasmuch as it was my idea as anything else, was in the big shootout in Bucket Burger. The big fat guy keels over of a heart attack, and I suggested using the big fat guy as a human shield, and Garth took it and made it brilliant. I think it was one of the few times I ever suggested (a story point), other than getting dinosaurs into (the book). I think I pestered him about that for a while. I loved that, the entire double-page spread of all the T-Rexes bursting through. That was a joy to draw. I kept that, because rarely does one get to draw a double page spread of a bunch of slobbering T-Rexes charging toward you.

NRAMA: Garth told me that the dinosaur story was a homage to a 2000 AD tale I'd never heard of called “Flesh”…

JMcC: Oh God, yes.

NRAMA: I take it you were a fan of that one?

JMcC: Well, I was a fan of 2000 AD, and “Flesh” was a big influence on me, along with…you know the comic that came before 2000 AD, a book called Action?

NRAMA: Yeah! Hookjaw, and Kids Rule OK!…

JMcC: Action was my big realization that comics weren't just about guys in spandex. When I read Hookjaw, and there was that singular moment where two young kids who were out in a boat got chewed up by Hookjaw in a full-page splash, with heads and limbs spinning off, I was sitting there reading this, eleven years old, and went, "Jesus, this is the most incredible thing I've ever seen in my life!"

NRAMA: You know they reprinted Hookjaw recently?

JMcC: No! I'm going to have to get that. After reading Hookjaw, and then going off to 2000 AD and reading Flesh, you begin to realize what comics were all about. (laughs). Flesh was dinosaurs with their heads lasered off, still running around killing people, trampling them. The dinosaur (in Hitman) was based on Old One-Eye from Flesh, and Garth is as big a fan of Flesh as anyone you're likely to come across, and I'm a pretty big fan too, so yeah, that was a pretty big nod of the head to it. I didn't look back at any old issues of 2000 when I drew it; I just kept it in mind. Certainly, I did enjoy the big shot of the dinosaur eating the guy while he was still in his bath. Ah, fond memories…

NRAMA: While I was looking through the original run of the book, I realized there was only one regular issue you didn't pencil, the one that Steve Pugh did…

JMcC: That's right, Steve stepped in. Basically, I was just very, very tired – I was inking the book as well, up until that point. I couldn't quite hack the whole pencil-inking monthly schedule as I always had other comics running concurrently, and I needed some breathing space. I knew Steve had some time on his hands, so he did that issue, and actually inked the next issue as well, the Dr. Seuss Santa Claus issue.

And Steve – Jesus Christ, he is fantastic when it comes to drawing women! The story was all about Tommy and Tiegel gettin' it on, and he was the right choice for that job. I think I got a page or two of that issue, with Tiegel wearing her low-rider jeans and things…it sort of makes me feel all funny down below when I look at those pictures. (laughs) So kudos to Steve, I wouldn't have drawn it anywhere near as well. Once Steve did those issues, (inker) Gary Leach and I fell into place, and he did a bang-up job. He's a great inker, and a great artist as well.

NRAMA: How'd it feel to work on the character again? How do you feel you've changed as an artist since you worked on the book originally?

JMcC: Well, I think I'm a better artist now, though I have spent quite a lot of time not drawing it. I've finished all the art, but I spent pretty much three years drawing it. I've been working on it quite a while because, you see, they didn't give me a deadline originally. So I just noodled away at it between other jobs, and I've been trying to make it, you know, a very nice-looking book. I'm inking it myself, and I wanted it to be the pinnacle of my Hitman work.

And it comes back to issue #34 of the original series, the Superman story. Superman's back, as are the rest of the JLA. And I was very unsatisfied with the way I drew Superman in issue #34. I've always found Superman an incredibly hard character to draw, because he's just such a nice guy. He's just a big, innocent sort of character. I find it very hard to draw that sort of character; it's easier for me to draw people who are sort of, you know, dubious. (laughs).
I wanted to do a good job with Superman in this book, so I struggled over the first issue for a while. It wasn't until I was drawing the end of the last issue that I said to myself, "Yes! I've finally figured out how to draw Superman!" I've since gone back to the previous issues and redrawn a lot of Superman's appearances, because I felt they were not right. I think I've finally figured out how to draw Superman.

You know, issue #34 was our tribute to Archie Goodwin, who was a great editor and a friend of mine and is still sorely missed in the industry. I'm looking at these issues as my tribute to Archie again, only this time with good drawings in it. (laughs) As opposed to all my crappy drawings of Superman in issue #34!

NRAMA: I'm surprised at your thoughts on issue #34, as it's one of my favorite issues…

JMcC: Well, certainly it's a great issue! And Garth, it's funny, he has this dislike of superheroes – you only have to read The Boys and what have you to figure that one out. But one of his favorite characters is Superman! He's got a lot of time for Superman, and that really came through in issue #34. It's an excellent story in spite of my artwork, and more power to Garth, because I'm pretty sure that's why we won the Eisner (for "Best Single Issue" in 1999). I've got a little Eisner award sitting on my shelf, and I owe it to your writing, Garth! It's a great story and a great issue, but I look at how I drew Superman and I go, "Oh, that's tragic." So I'm trying to make amends for that.

NRAMA: Any final thoughts on Hitman?

JMcC: This story, of course, was originally meant to go into the Hitman series, and there were a couple of other stories we didn't get to run. Garth and I are looking at this as being the very, very final Hitman story, but I kind of sneakily hope it's not, and maybe we'll get to do a couple of other untold Hitman stories. It would also be nice if this was popular enough to bring all the trade paperbacks back into print, and got DC into trading the rest of the issues. I was always quite sad that the rest of it didn't get (collected). I'd love to see the entire run as three volumes of Showcase, you know, black-and-white…

NRAMA: That'd look so good…

JMcC: Yeah! I always thought of Hitman as a black-and-white comic that just happened to have color stuck on it. I always saw it as a black-and-white comic when I was drawing it. So I'd love to see it like that, if you could buy big fat volumes of all those issues, that would be great. Who knows? But yeah, I'd love to draw Tommy and the boys again. And like I said, I'd love to do a Section 8 miniseries…Sixpack with his own comic, that would be the be-all and end-all! But I'm sure that idea is pigs flying, really…

NRAMA: What are some of your upcoming projects?

JMcC: I'm working on a bunch of things at the moment. The second half of this year is going to be quite busy, because I haven’t had a lot of books out in the states recently. That's because I've been working in the Middle East on a book for a Kuwaiti company, a superhero comic called The 99. It's been coming out all over the Middle East, but it looks like it's going to be reprinted in the states later this year. That's an ongoing book, and it's written by Fabian Nicieza, and it's a good solid superhero romp.

And I did a thing for Lerner Publishing, a big educational book publisher, I did a 40-page graphic novel for them due out later in the year. Oh yes, and The Athiest, the book I did for Desperado…I never finished that. I did that with Philip Hester, and it's an excellent black-and-white horror comic. I did the first three issues, and then for various reasons I could not finish the last issue. It's now being completed by another artist, who's excellent. So that last issue should be out in the next few months when Desperado relaunches. And of course, there is going to be a stand-alone series with Antoine Sharpe, the main character, and I'm hoping to do something with that.

Because things are so seriously bad with the exchange rate in the states, I'm mainly working for sterling in the UK market. And my Kuwaiti publisher's been paying me in sterling, which is lovely! So beyond the Hitman/JLA book, I really have no plans for much in the US market. Now, that might not always be the case…if I were offered X-Men or that Sixpack miniseries we were talking about, I might say, "Yes, please!"

Hitman/JLA comes out in September.

[ultraaman]

I bought the first 2 years of this book and it is some of the most hysterical cr@p I've ever seen! And I agree the zombie zoo story was just so wrong but dang it was funny.

[Traumaville]

The world need a 'Six Pack' series... okay, maybe it doesn't need it, but it doesn't need a new Flash series, or a new Outsiders, or Trials of Shazam either, so why the hell not!

[whoisparker]

DC, please reprint the original trades and finish collecting the rest of this great series! I want to fill in the holes in my collection.

[emerald archer]

Let me say that I am a late comer to Hitman, having just scored a bunch of issues off of the Bay and my LCS. Loving it!!!!

Glad to see that it's going to come back for a limited run, now if we could only get a new series!

[caleb]

Great interview. I've wondered about Tommy's scarf for a long, long time, and miss getting a regular dose of McCrea's art.

And if anyone from DC's Trade Collection Decision Making Department is reading this board taking fan temperature for future Hitman trades, please include the Demon story arc with the Tweedles and Hitman in it as well (and/or just collect the entire Ennis/McCream Demon run while you're at it)

[phunengames]

This interview....

Bueeeenoooo

[Hamadah]

Woohoo for Kuwaiti comics! Lol.

[vicorintian]

McCrea really grew into me. You could see he was having lots of fun with the characters, but i cant help to think of him as an average artist at the most, i do remember on the wake after ringo´s death he drew Hacken with BOTH hands!!! what gives?

[Sambo253]

Would it be too unmanly of me to BEG DC for a 3 volume Showcase edition of Hitman? It'd be easy on my wallet and McCrea said he liked the idea. I'd probably buy at least two sets.

[Bathawk]

oh come on! gunfire wasn't that bad!

unrelated note, finally! I always get weird looks when I tell folks Garth hates superheroes, but to be frank I really don't see the Boys lasting 50+ issues of herobashing

[xomanowarfan]

great article! Love hitman!!

[OM]

...I've said it before, and I'll say it again: if there were two characters that *nobody* would have complained about being resurrected by an SBP, it would have been Tommy and Natt.

[musclebound]

I have the entire series. It was always one of the first books in my pile to read at the bar. Great comic. Nothing will keep me from buying Hitman/JLA when it arrives in September. Color me a very happy camper. Cheers Garth and John. Maybe the occasion can be marked by some new sketches in my old black book @San Diego ??

[Uncle Jason]

I was a huge fan of this book & still miss it to this very day.

I actually own the first Demon issue that McCrea did the cover for & the Hitman cover with Sean on it (no. 47, I think).

That wasn't actually newsworthy or anything, but I tell everybody this.

Glad you're coming back, fellas!


UJ

[Uncle Jason]

Er, I mean that I own the cover art to both books.

Sorry about the previous wording.

Ah...yeah.

UJ

[phunengames]

Originally Posted by OM

...I've said it before, and I'll say it again: if there were two characters that *nobody* would have complained about being resurrected by an SBP, it would have been Tommy and Natt.

I think I would. It is rare that a writer or company would have the courage to end a series like this. And Stick to it. The way The Vigilate series and Hitman series ended made them great for me. I loved Tommy and Natt. To me they were on a nasty road that had to end like this. The "Untold" tale is fine. New stories may deminish them for me. It is like Elektra. Marvel brought her back because she was a fan fav. To me she does not have the same pop she did pre - Bull's Eye. The Srull thing may have been a mercy killing. Mer-Vel's death was a classic now.....

Like Pet Cematery "Sometimes Dead is Better".

[little kon-el]

When I was younger, I always thought there should have been a Brave and the Bold series featuring a Hitman and Starman teamup. Natt accidentally sells his souls to the devil and the Tommy and the boys have to rescue them in Opal City, inside a magical poster. Matt O'Dare comes to investigate and ends up bringing in Starman and the Shade as backup.

I'd love to have just one scene where Tommy and Jack sit down at Noonans talking about Steve McQueen and/or John Woo flicks while demons and/or Hitmen are shooting at them.

- little kon-el

[Lot 49]

How fantastic to see the return of one of my three favorite comics from the 90's...there aren't many writers (or characters) who could have handled the diversity of HITMAN...

Well, the stories were always about big guns and shooting...but, the diversity is more in the context...

Zombie Night = shooting zombies with big guns
Dead Man's Land = shooting vampires with big guns
Hitman Annual = shooting big guns in the West

I think you get the point...

I'll be there for this one with bells on...as well as any future TPB that DC issues...

[dreddtrw]

The Hitman vs. Lobo one shot is the best Hitman book out there!!!

This was such a great book. It was lots of fun!

[ZampDiSata]

Originally Posted by vicorintian

McCrea really grew into me.

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A dirty mind is a terrible thing to waste

[JusticeLeaguer]

I loved this book! I have never laughed so hard at a comic in my life, especially when they did the Resurrection Man crossover during their run. Resurrection Man got new and different powers after every time he died, so Tommy kept purposely shooting him and killing him over and over until he had a power Tommy thought was worthy of getting them out of the predicament they were in! Just priceless stuff, cannot wait for the new books!

Rob Zedic
Myths, Legends & Heroes
Ottawa,Canada

www.mythslegendsandheroes.com

[Ironhorse]

Oh damm, I really miss Tommy, Hitman was one of the first comics I bought from DC and Ennis, since then I've followed Ennis in every comic he is into. That zombie story was freaking good, the cover for issue # 14 is the best from Hitman, and the funniest I've ever seen in my life . Peace.

[JLAJRC]

Originally Posted by Bathawk

oh come on! gunfire wasn't that bad!

As someone who never read his comic, I always wondered why he became the butt of jokes in other comics. Was he really that bad a character, or was he just written poorly that he became a joke?

[Bathawk]

Originally Posted by JLAJRC

As someone who never read his comic, I always wondered why he became the butt of jokes in other comics. Was he really that bad a character, or was he just written poorly that he became a joke?

Gunfire had an ok backgound and decent backstory, nothing too original, but it was the 90's, as long as it was at "least" a little different it was cool. From what I recal something about the main charcater inheriting his father's munition's company and trying to undo the horrors it caused

anyway

Gunfire was an excellent soldier and marksman, not world class, but enough that we could probably be a vigilante without his power. His power (and source of jokes) is that Gunfire can take any object that was relatively long in some way (pipe, floor lamp, golf club) and "excite" it's atoms, causing it to fire said atoms like a gun from the object
The itme would soon lose it's strucural integrity and disintegrate. Later before his sries ended, he discovered that if he "charged" and object that didn't have a "long end" like a baseball or snowglobe it would explode like a grenade instead of firing liek a gun

Not a major power, but more powers than I have, and I dont think it's any more lame than gambit's power, and for better or worse you knwo how popular he is