CATCHING UP WITH CHRISCROSS

[MattBrady]

by Zack Smith

ChrisCross (aka Chris Williams) has earned a loyal fan following from his work on such books as Captain Marvel, Slingers, Blood Syndicate and most recently, Firestorm. His work has also earned raves from the writers he’s collaborated with – Christopher Priest has a page on his web site calling him “one of the greatest comic book storytellers alive.”

Chris has been absent from the U.S. comics scene since abruptly leaving Firestorm, a departure that sparked a considerable amount of online controversy. But he’s recently returned with stories in Wildstorm’s Welcome to Tranquility and the upcoming Midnighter #11 with Keith Giffen. We spoke with Chris about his Midnighter gig, why he left Firestorm, and what he’s been up to the last few years. HINT: It involves ancient Egypt and cheesecake.

Newsarama: Chris, how did your recent gigs with Welcome to Tranquility and Midnighter come about?

ChrisCross: Well, I was looking for extra work, because I’m still finishing up some stuff for Humanoids Publishing. It’s taking longer than I planned, and I understand they’re going through some financial difficulty, so I’ve had to go out and find some extra work while I’m finishing up the project I’m doing with them.

That (assignment) was kind of thrown to me. I went to Ben Abernathy and told him I was willing to take on some extra work while Humanoids was trying to figure out their situation. I’ve known Ben Abernathy since he was at Marvel, and he said, “Any time you want to work with me, let me know, I’ll hook you up.”

The first thing was Welcome to Tranqulity, which I had a lot of fun with, and as I was taking care of some extra stuff, some ad pieces for Toyota, something happened where I just needed some fast cash, so I hit up Ben Abernathy again, and the Midnighter issue came up! So I got a lot of work. (laughs)

NRAMA: And you’re just doing the one issue…?

CC: Yeah, it’s just the one thing, but I think Ben Abernathy might throw some more stuff at me in the future. I think it’s time to get back into the comics industry, try and ween myself back in.

NRAMA: What’s it been like working with Keith Giffen?

CC: Keith – I don’t know if people truly realize just how intelligent that brother is! And he’s funny, of course. But I’d never really read his scripts before. I’ve worked with people like Christopher Priest and Dwayne McDuffie and Peter David, and they’ve all got their own flavor to them.

Keith Giffen is just very intelligent, very erudite…very calculating, to say the least. His dialogue is just well-read. His scripts are definitely a challenge – he definitely makes you pull into yourself. It’s good that he’s an artist – he writes like an artist, he writes like someone who’s written novels.

I’ve talked to him a few times – this arc is definitely edgy, and you can’t cheat on his stuff. You definitely have to use everything he says, and add to it – you can’t take anything out of it.



NRAMA: What are you working on for Humanoids? Can you talk about the project at this time?

CC: Sure. The first book is already out. It’s called Neferites L’Embaumeur (Nefertiti The Embalmer), and it’s in French.

NRAMA: How long has it been out?

CC: It’s been out about a year. I think it’s only being sold in Europe and Asia and everywhere but in the United States.

NRAMA: Is there an English-language translation, or have you been unable to read a copy in your native tongue?

CC: They haven’t made one in my native tongue yet – I don’t know if they’re going to do one in my native tongue yet. But it would be nice if they did! I hope that’ll happen, once they get through whatever they’re going through.



NRAMA: How many volumes is this?

CC: I’m in the middle of the second volume. I’m penciling and inking this, so this is something I’ve pretty much been doing with them for the past two or three years now.

After I left Firestorm, I went straight into this, so this is why I’ve been out of the industry for a while. I’ve been doing a lot of stuff outside the industry, working with ad agencies, and that was a lot of fun. Mostly, I wanted to get my name out there, because I wanted to see how my work would do in the international market.

NRAMA: There have been several U.S. creators who have recently done work for overseas publishers, such as Howard Chaykin’s Century West. What’s the appeal of doing books for that market?

CC: A lot of artists are doing that. I think a lot of artists want to take a break from the rat race of North American comics, and you will get projects outside the genre (of superheroes).

Take this one – I had a choice between doing a story in WWII or a story set in Egypt! Of course, I had no idea what I was getting into, but I loved the challenge – you physically create Egypt, you pick the costumes, the situations, the way everything was, the aesthetic, just go for it!

If you’re in my office, you just say, “Crap! Let’s get to it!” (laughs) The sheer volume of reference I needed took me about a month to get. I think I had about 500 pages of references in total. And there’s more every day.

NRAMA: Was a desire to do something beyond superhero books part of why you left Firestorm?

CC: It’s funny about Firestorm, because the sheer volume of books I was doing at that time kind of burnt me out. I was doing two books a month, Firestorm and Outsiders, plus there was a JLA arc that I never really finished, it never panned out, because I wound up taking the Firestorm gig.

I did four issues of Outsiders, which got put into (a trade paperback), and the JLA stuff was supposed (to be collected), but I only got two issues in before I had to jettison that for Firestorm.

NRAMA: Sounds like a stressful time for you.

CC: It was! It really was. I had a lot of stuff going on at the time personally, as well as all the projects being thrown at me. I was busting my behind doing work, but I had never drawn two issues at once. And they were both group books, at that. The only person I know who’s done something like that is probably John Byrne or George Perez. And I don’t even know how they did it!



But it was fun doing it, it was just stressful trying to maintain the deadlines thrown at me, then jumping off of that and then working on Firestorm. And what happened from that was I found myself totally burned out, to the point where I was thinking of letting go of the whole art thing altogether.

NRAMA: Oh my God.

CC: Yeah, it just got to the point where I was just…tired. I just wanted to pick up and be a chef somewhere or something. The fiancée and a couple of other friends convinced me to stick with it. They told me, “There’s things you need to do, you can’t cut it out yet.”

NRAMA: Given what you went through in the past, would you be willing to commit to an ongoing series again?

CC: I would love to do it. In an ideal situation, I would like to do it on my own terms, where I was writing and drawing a particular piece that I had a lot of control over. I’m actually working on some stuff like that. In the interim, if nothing else was happening, of course! It’d be no problem, no problem at all.

I’m glad I didn’t quit…I probably would have wound up coming back to it, anyway. But, you know, I’ll always have some love for cooking, also…

NRAMA: Really? What’s your favorite dish to make?

CC: Oh, I love to bake. As I was doing the first book for Humanoids, I was actually baking cheesecakes and selling them for extra money. I’ve got a good nine flavors that I can do so far.

NRAMA: You’re a man of many talents.

CC: Well, cooking was essential – when you’re living on your own, you don’t want to be spending your money on diner food or take-out all the time. You’ve got to put your nose to the grindstone and learn how to do it! So thank God for Mom and Grandma for that. You’d be surprised at how many artists really know how to cook. A lot of them are inkers, really. Rob Stull, he’s great. So is Chris Sotomayer, the colorist. Sean Parsons, he’s really good. But I try to really push it to the next level – I’ve thrown a lot of cooking parties in the past.

NRAMA: What else are you working on?

CC: Well, I’ve got some pieces in Complex magazine – there were two pieces on Toyota that I penciled and inked. Other than that – finishing up Humanoids, getting that out of the way, and there are some other projects that I can’t talk about right now.

But mostly, I’m just trying to get back in the saddle, hopefully with a much more mature outlook on how things are done this time.

[Greygor]

You might find this a better link for the Christopher priest page

http://www.digital-priest.com/archive/xero/cross.htm

[SouthtownKid]

Looks like I'm buying Midnighter now. I've been a huge fan of ChrisCross' since his amazing work on Captain Marvel. I hope his Humanoids work makes it over here at some point...

[Hobowatcher]

I like his work, and I'm always glad to see it, but to set off a tangent...

Now that Image is publishing that Luchadores comic, a Humanoids comic, wouldn't it be great if they could reprint some more of their stuff over here? A fat Incal book...a couple of fat Metabarons books...the list is endless. There's an untapped market there, and with Image's outside of the box image being quickly developed, its a perfect time for it. Man, that would be just awesome.

[TF_Loki]

Originally Posted by SouthtownKid

Looks like I'm buying Midnighter now. I've been a huge fan of ChrisCross' since his amazing work on Captain Marvel. I hope his Humanoids work makes it over here at some point...

You and me both. I caught his stuff on Blood syndicate and Heroes and was amazed. Nice dynamic fluid style. Glad both him and John Paul Leon (from Shadow Cabinet - my most favourite milestone book) are still getting work. Hopefully, we'll see a little more from him now. I missed his turn on Outsiders so I'm gonna go find that right now...

[Tuck!]

Originally Posted by SouthtownKid

Looks like I'm buying Midnighter now. I've been a huge fan of ChrisCross' since his amazing work on Captain Marvel. I hope his Humanoids work makes it over here at some point...

Amen brother!

[saiyanspider]

Cross rocks! I have loved his stuff for a long time. I look forward to him doing regular work again.

[Spy_Smasher]

What a fanboy I am -- it's actually shocking to me that someone would want to leave comics, and art in general, but that's business, I guess. I've just spent too many decades (at this point) wishing I had any talent whatsoever with a pencil.

[prolix]

Did you here that Marvel? DC? He said he'd like to do an ongoing series! Hello!?

[Paul Sizer]

Chris is an amazing artist who's action scenes are nearly unmatched in the current comic art world. I really love his work.

All of this is made more amazing by the fact that Chris was involved in a near fatal bicycle accident in August of 2006:
http://www.comixtreme.com/forums/arc...p/t-31494.html

Keep drawing Chriscross! Comics needs your skillful hands!

[Korvac]

I heart ChrisCross's work. I would have dumped Captain Marvel sooner had he not worked on it. Same with Firestorm. He is leagues better than a number of artists on regular books right now.

[I am MODOK]

I'll pick up Midnighter this week for Cross' artwork. He's one of my faves. This and a Velocity book for Maguire art. Who would have thought?

[Godfather]

I miss Chris. I'm glad to see him getting back into the swing of things.

[bdub40]

More Cross is always a good thing. I have loved him since Captain Marvel and even though I was already buying Midnighter now I am that much more excited for it. Get him on an ongoing for crying out loud!

[darthdad]

i was picking this up anyway but now i'm a little more excited. Issue 10 was part one of a Keith Giffen Story that had a lot of possibilites so I'm really intrigued to see how his art really compliments Giffen's story.

[CaptainTemerity]

One of my favorite artists. I first noticed his work in the Heroes mini (or, actually, a preview of it that DC had sent to retailers). Followed him wherever I could after that.

Really glad he's sticking with the art. Although, I do love cheesecake.

[C_Striker]

Those Midnighter pages look fantastic...I can't wait to read it

[Darth Tigris]

Originally Posted by Paul Sizer

Chris is an amazing artist who's action scenes are nearly unmatched in the current comic art world. I really love his work.

All of this is made more amazing by the fact that Chris was involved in a near fatal bicycle accident in August of 2006:
http://www.comixtreme.com/forums/arc...p/t-31494.html

Keep drawing Chriscross! Comics needs your skillful hands!

You know, I never noticed Chris until Slingers came out. I had ZERO interest in the book, but they had a gimmick where the first issue had about 8 (IIRC) unique issues in 4 different versions that focused on the different characters. I flipped through them at the shop and his actions scenes were UNBELIEVABLE. I had the hardest time settling on just one of the issues.

That series showed his potential, but he's grown so much since then. He completely deserves a high profile book. His work proves that.

So is what Priest stated back in 2003 about the industry and race really STILL that big of an issue that it keeps a talent like this marginalized? That's a humongous shame. Whenever Joe gets back for Joe Fridays, this is a question in the case of Chris that should be asked. At a time, Joe was one that got it (his insistance on Priest take on Panther was key to Marvel Knights at the time) and I still think he's that guy. Maybe he'll have an honest and enlightening answer for us.

[nickmarino]

those pages look awesome

[Agent Wax]

I loved his Captain Marvel stuff, and this looks great. He does action very well.

[kaiserdean]

I love his work but calling yourself "ChrisCross" comes off as a bit douchy. Short of being a GI Joe or a musician, you shouldn't give yourself a codename...

[MattBrady]

Originally Posted by kaiserdean

I love his work but calling yourself "ChrisCross" comes off as a bit douchy. Short of being a GI Joe or a musician, you shouldn't give yourself a codename...

Yes, listen to "kasierdean" and follow what he says!

lol.

MattB

[Master Bates]

Chris is an AWESOME guy. I remember when I first met him at MegaCon in Orlando a few years back. Took some pictures with me and my girlfriend, signed a bunch of books, chatted a bit...

Just a really, REALLY cool dude.

I buy everything he does.


When I know that he is doing it.


REGULAR. BOOK. NOW. Chris!!!

[Smoky]

Originally Posted by MattBrady

Yes, listen to "kasierdean" and follow what he says!

lol.

MattB

But kasierdean is much a cooler sounding codename then chriscross.

And Chriscross is an awesome comic book artist, so who cares what name he uses?

[Bungle]

CrissCross!!!

Hell yeah!!!

I've been wondering where he's been! Giffen & Cross... looks like I better give Midnighter a try...