THE MANY WORLDS OF TOMMY LEE EDWARDS

[MattBrady]

by Zach Smith

Tommy Lee Edwards is currently specializing in offbeat looks at the Marvel Universe in the new miniseries Bullet Points with J. Michael Straczynski and the upcoming 1985 with Mark Millar, both of which he’s penciling, inking and coloring.

In addition, he’s storyboarding a movie, designing a video game, and doing a series of 50 Star Wars paintings for Del Rey.

At some point, he might find time to sleep.

Bullet Points, chronicling an alternate history of the MU where a chain of events lead to Captain America becoming Iron Man instead, Peter Parker turning into the Hulk, etc., gave Edwards an opportunity to do a project that was more “mainstream” than his last book, the critically-acclaimed The Question at DC.

“I like that’s it good-old-fashioned comics,” Edwards said of Bullet Points.

“It doesn’t take itself too seriously. I think, on the surface, some people may think that it’s very serious, and some elements of it are, because it’s about bullets and their kind of butterfly effect on the Marvel Universe, but I like that it works on its own.

“But at the same time, for Marvel fans, especially if they know the real story of these characters that are affected, it’s adding an extra element of fun. And for me, fun is the main factor. I’ve worked on a lot of comics that, frankly, weren’t about fun. I kind of like that it’s just entertaining.

“Right now, as we speak, I’m inking a page with Daredevil, Doctor Doom, Magneto, Kingpin, Professor X, Thor and Namor. I get a chance to draw all these guys, and a lot of them are ones I grew up on, so that’s the most fun part for me.”

Edwards also liked that the project was likely to be collected, unlike The Question, which he considers his best work for a mainstream publisher.

“I still go to conventions and people say, ‘oh, there was a Question miniseries? You drew that?’” Edwards said.

“That kind of stuff is really frustrating when you put so much of your life into something and have it not really be seen, and also not be collected. I love what Marvel’s doing, with realizing the potential of the trade paperback market and taking advantage of that and getting stuff into bookstores with the collected format.”

The Silk Hope, NC resident became involved with Bullet Points as part of an exclusive comics deal with Marvel that will run for three years. The five-issue miniseries was completely scripted when Edwards read it.

“This was something I wanted to spend a year on,” Edwards said.

“I’ve been working on it since January. I’m finishing #4 by the end of November, and #5, the last issue, will be done by mid-to-late January.”

Why does Edwards work so far ahead of deadline? “That’s the way it should be!” he laughed.

“It usually takes me ten weeks or so to do a comic book. So when we agreed to me doing exclusive comics with Marvel, it basically came down to me doing five issues for them. So it’s taken me about a year to do that amount of work.”

Edwards said that he enjoyed working on the book’s World War II setting.

“Having been an illustrator for going on 15 years, I have just piles and piles of reference,” Edwards said.

“The one aspect of Bullet Points that was the easiest for to find reference materials was the WWII stuff, because I draw a lot of that anyway. I have a creator-owned character that takes place right after WWII, I’ve worked on the Medal of Honor games for EA Games, I’m doing another Axis & Allies box cover right now for Hasbro. It’s just a part of history that interests me.”

To depict a WWII-era Iron Man at the battle of Guadalcanal, Edwards got a copy of Essential Iron Man Vol.1 and studied artist Don Heck’s original depiction of the character. Using that visual as a base, he crafted a massive, clunky version of Iron Man that’s one of the first issue’s most memorable visuals.

“All I did was think of this as being in the real world, so when the troops see him for the first time, it’s like, ‘what the hell is that thing?’” Edwards said.

“Also, he had very limited mobility. I think in a lot of the other comics, the metal just goes any which way it wants, and I tried to make it seem like he has a hard time moving around.”

As he mentioned, Bullet Points isn’t the only project on Edwards’ plate. “While I’ve been working on Bullet Points, I’ve been doing more game design stuff for EA Games for another Medal of Honor game and storyboarding a movie called The Heaven Project that starts shooting next year,” Edwards said.

“It’s directed by John Glenn, he’s a guy I went to school with, and he’s written the new Warriors movie directed by Tony Scott. He’s written a movie for Spielberg, he’s writing a movie for Sam Raimi, and pretty soon I won’t have to explain who he is to anyone!”

Edwards is also following up his book Star Wars: The New Essential Chronology with an Essential guide to the force. He said that working with Lucasfilm has been one of his most fulfilling projects.

“As my wife calls him, ‘Uncle George’ is one of my most loyal clients in way,” Edwards said.

“Of all the licensing stuff that I do, Star Wars has always been the one project where they gives me the most freedom and we have the most trust. I give them very minimal sketches, they have a good idea of what they’re looking for, and they pretty much know what they’re going to get from me. (George Lucas) usually buys most of my originals from me, which is really nice.

“Like most of us in our mid-thirties, it’s something I grew up on, and now I have two kids that are really into Star Wars, so I see the new movies as ‘their’ Star Wars, so it’s something I really enjoy doing.”

Edwards works heavily on “style guides,” used to help design merchandise and tie-in materials for major motion pictures. He’s worked on the new Star Wars trilogy, the Harry Potter films, Batman Begins and Superman Returns.

For these materials to be available in time for the film to come out, Edwards often has to start work before footage has even been shot.

“When I worked on the first Harry Potter movie, I was working from the script, and they hadn’t even cast the kids yet,” Edwards said.

“I did about 70 pieces, half were ink drawings and half were paintings, and some wound up affecting the movie! I did a painting of the Hogwarts castle, and in the beginning, all they really had was the concept art and a model they did of the castle.

“So when I drew it, I did it with the rocks and the water and the moon at night and all the kids in the boats going to the castle, and then the director (Chris Columbus) went, ‘oh, that’s how it needs to be in the movie.’”

For Batman Begins, Edwards got to sit in on a literal work-in-progress.

“Me and my best friend John Paul Leon went to England and spent a couple of weeks at Shepperton Studios while they’re building the Bat Cave,” Edwards said.

“We’re sitting there with hard hats on drawing it from life, trying to figure out what it’s going to look like. We knew from reading the script that the Batmobile was going to jump over a ravine and waterfall into the Bat Cave, so we had to imagine that.

“We drew the Batmobile from life; they put a suit on a mannequin, and J.P. spent the whole day drawing it and figuring it out so we could draw it and figuring it out so we could draw it on-model when we got home. Then, eventually we saw the movie, and it’s pretty fun how close we got, where we pretty much went from nothing and the studio has all this art from merchandise and licensing.”

This work in a variety of mediums means that not all of Edwards’ fans know all of his work.

“I have a bunch of fans that only know the Potter stuff, or people that only the Star Wars stuff – especially the Star Wars stuff – and there are people that only know the comic stuff,” Edwards said.

“And there are people I know through animation, from working on Sinbad for DreamWorks, that only know me from that…there’s a certain amount of crossover, but there are very few people out there that know everything I’ve done.”

But Edwards enjoys the creative challenge of juggling the different projects.

“I tend to get bored if I work on something for too long, and I kind of enjoy having all these things to jump on,” Edwards said.

“It keeps my blood flowing, and if there’s any down time on one thing, for financial reasons, I have something else to do as well. I can do the other things and comics can be the labor of love, because comics are really my favorite thing to work on.”

Once Bullet Points finishes, Edwards will start work on the long-gestating 1985, a project that, until recently, was intended as a fumetti comic with real “actors” and special effects.

Edwards said that he did not forsee a problem working from the original scripts, and praised Mark Millar’s work on the project.

“He's writing solid and well thought-out scripts that center on realistic people in a fantastic situation,” Edwards said.

“It'll be a fun challenge to tackle the 1985 I remember as a kid, without faking any of the research or time-period. The characterization and personalities in Mark's writing really impressed me.

“The whole project feels like an 80's kids movie like the ones I saw at that age. I was 12 in 1985. I loved movies like Goonies, Gremlins, The Monster Squad. I devoured comics at that age, like Spider-Man, X-Factor, X-Men, Fantastic Four, and the Avengers. Mark's story brings it all back for me. I can't wait to get started.”

[Roy Batty]

As much as I like Tommy Lee Edwards work, he's always seemed to me somewhat of a poor-man's version of J.P. Leon, who is the real deal.

Anyway, I'm glad he's illustrating Millar's 1985 (now that the photo approach has been discarded), and I probably will be buying his BULLET POINTS once it gets collected, despite my absolute disdain for almost anything Straczynski touches (barring his SUPREME POWER, and even that he got weak knees about and watered it down into its current castrated incarnation).

[BillReed]

Tommy Lee Edwards is one of my favorite artists working in comics at the moment, and yeah, they really need to collect The Question, which was brilliant.

[RedRonin]

Stuningly amazing art. I wish Edwards and John Paul Leon could turn out more comics every year, but you got to do what feeds your family.

Also I loved Monster Squad. Anyone know if it's out on DVD?

[Kolimar]

Really good-looking art.

[Kolimar]

Comic book creators and their work in other fields. What do you think?

[thunderthief]

Tommy Lee Edwards is absolutely one of my favorite artists. I originally wasn't going to pick up the Question mini, though I was a still a huge fan of his at that point. But, I picked up the first issue and it blew my mind. I definitely picked up the rest!

And I had no idea his range of work went so far. Those Star Wars pics are amazing! He and John Paul Leon are best friends? I should have figured that just by looking at their art styles.

Bullet Points is something I'll have to get in trade, but 1985 looks extremely interesting...

Unfortunately, it seems DC has moved to a less eccentric version of the Question character, trying to put him closer to his "Jake Marlowe" roots. I personally thought the Bruce Jones, drug using, urban shaman was much more the original take on the character. What was better was that it didn't necessarily disregard his past exploits (except for the Lois Lane crush of course). But, nonetheless, it probably won't see the light of day in trade.

[beta-ray]

Hmn interesting. I never saw a resemblance to JPL (who is one of my favorites too, get him on more Marvel projects!)... For some reason I thought that his work more resembled Tony Harris (though Harris is "cleaner").

Good interview, he's into a lot of stuff eh?

I hope the link from the front page gets fixed, since it points to sfritz's animation article (when I checked anyway)...

[Charlie Hustle]

That's one pie-fingering son of a bitch.

[solitarg]

I just want to give some props to the articles writer Zack Smith. Zack I have read all of your/his interviews and you/he has asked a lot of good questions. Good job. Good interview/article.

Tommy Lee Edwards is pretty awesome too!!!

[kalorama]

Originally Posted by thunderthief

Unfortunately, it seems DC has moved to a less eccentric version of the Question character, trying to put him closer to his "Jake Marlowe" roots. I personally thought the Bruce Jones, drug using, urban shaman was much more the original take on the character.

It was Rick Veitch, not Bruce Jones, who wrote the miniseries in which the urban shaman idea was introduced.

[Floyd Lawton]

The Question was a real good mini. They should collect it for sure...

[immortus]

The Question was one of my favorite miniseries of the past couple of years. Question in 52 would be so much cooler if he was Veitch's characterization.

[matchesmalone]

I think Tommy Lee Edwards has evolved past John Paul Leon-lite - especially in the coloring.

I wish the interviewer had asked him about swiping a Hulk picture from fan-created CGI imagery though - as pointed out in Lying in the Gutters -

http://www.comicbookresources.com/co...g&article=2629

When I see something like that, I wonder how much of the rest of the artist's work is swiped (especially when he makes a bad cover-story for it). But maybe Marvel won't let that happen any more.

[Kolimar]

Originally Posted by Charlie Hustle

That's one pie-fingering son of a bitch.

That made me laugh out loud.

[Redmond]

One thing I wonder about Tommy is if he is using 3D software to help out lately? I really enjoy his steady output and I'm amazed at the level of detail. If it's computer aided, it's computer aided stuff that rocks and I'm glad to see that at last.

[Redmond]

Originally Posted by Roy Batty

As much as I like Tommy Lee Edwards work, he's always seemed to me somewhat of a poor-man's version of J.P. Leon, who is the real deal.

Didn't they both debut at the same time? And what JP Leon are we talking about? The one in Statix or the one that got awesome in Challengers of the Unknown?

Tommy Lee has produced plenty, he did 7 books last year and he has more coming up now. I can dig a bi monthly output. I only get peeved at once a year projects or minis that never get completed. Though I fully understand this being side projects for many creative people.

[dalegon]

Tommy Lee Edwards and JP Leon are great guys, very pleasant, down to earth and really love talking to their fans.

I met them along with Sean Chen and Bernard Chang at Fanexpo in Toronto in Aug this year, they all share a "virtual studio" named the Blvd. and I would recommend you getting their Blvd Sketchbook if you are a fan of any of their works.

and YES, I did get Tommy to do a Question sketch for me and it is amazing, JP took one look at it and asked me "Tommy did this ? how much did he charge ??" I told him nothing, and he say "Sounds like Tommy" and proceeded to do a Batman sketch for me. When I took it home my 11 year old niece fell in love with it. She couldnt care about Sean's Iron Man or Cameron Stewart's Catwoman or Leonard Kirk's Supergirl, all she wanted to see was Tommy's Question.

[Paranoia]

Be on the lookout for an interview with Tommy Lee Edwards one of these upcoming days on the Bullpen Bulletins Podcast.