POLISHING THE KNIGHTS ARMOR: SIMONE BIANCHI

**MattBrady** · 03-09-2005, 12:40 PM

Of all the artists joining Grant Morrison on his Seven Soldiers project, the name attached to the Shining Knights miniseries perhaps raises the eyebrow the highest. Perhaps the only readers who’ve heard the name Simone Bianchi are those familiar with comics on the eastern side of the Atlantic.

That’s not to say he’s any kind of newcomer. “I started doing and publish comics when I was 14 years old,” Bianchi told Newsarama. “My dad is a famous painter in Italy and I’ve been drawing basically since I can remember. I quit for a short while due to my passion for music and played and studied drums for three years. I’ve approached realistic comics and anatomy studies again when I was around my twenties. I’ve worked for several publishers in Italy, like Comic Art, Bonelli, Phoneix enterprise, Marvel Italy – for a black and white one-shot of Conan the Barbarian - to name just a few. Then I spent four years in the fantasy illustration field and music business: illustrations for Fantasy Flight games, many painted covers for Marvel Italy and did a bunch of Heavy Metal band CD covers - Labyrinth, Vision Divine - for Metal Blade records and some others labels. At the same time I painted a huge number of big size painting on commission for private collections all over the Europe and taught at International Comics School in Florence and Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara where I took care of Anatomy and Comics courses along all these years.

“I also did a lot of conceptual art for Direct to Brain in Rome, one of the greatest studios of 3D animation in Europe for TV commercial and mostly for musical videoclips for band and musician such as 99 Posse, Tiro Mancino and Eros Ramazzotti. All this art has been gathered in two Art books: Echi, from Calvin Publishing and The Art of Simone Bianchi from Vittorio Pavesio Productions, an international version both released and distributed in the states by Bud Plant.”

Getting a fair idea of Bianchi’s curriculum vitae? As for more comics, he also wrote and painted the first two volumes of Ego Sum for the European comics market via Vittorio Pavesio Productions. “The second book is coming out this year at the beginning of April - I’ve finished the last pages two days ago, just few weeks after the first issue of Shining Knight.

“If anyone wants to learn more about my work so far, my suggestion is to surf a little bit on my website: simply www.simonebianchi.com .

As for how Bianchi landed the Shining Knight gig…connections, connections, connections. The artist lived in New York last summer, and that got him talking to Seven Soldiers editor Pete Tomasi. “I showed the pencils from Ego Sum 2 that I was working on to Peter one day when we were grabbing lunch together with him and my closest friend Mike Bair,” Bianchi said. “There’re no words to express my gratitude to Mike for tracking me down at the DC comics offices and to Peter for giving me the chance. I was actually looking for some painted covers to do, and I didn’t think that Pete gave me something else.

“I still can recall the first time I saw Pete…the first thing I said was, ‘If you’re gonna gimme some gigs for some covers I promise you I am gonna give you a trip for a week in Italy for free for all the support and the trust he had for me. Right now I’m afraid next year he’s gonna move in Italy for 6 or 7 months. And I can’t forget to mention my closest friend Sal Abbinanti - his first issue book Atomika will debut in the stores the same day of mine (and I still have to paint the cover I’ve promised him – it’s on the way Sal), who encouraged and support me like anyone else since the first day I met him in Angouleme last year. If I am working for a major publisher like DC comics part of it is due to him.”

For Bianchi, working with Morrison ranks as something he can now check off his list of “Things to do in My Career Before I Die.” That is, he’s been a fan of the writer for years.

“Grant is a genius, beyond any possible doubts……first time I read Arkham Asylum, I was shocked !!! So When I read the whole outline for what Seven Soldiers would be like, I just thought, ‘Great! When can I start?’ I’d really, really love to have the chance to work with him again, hopefully on a mainstream DC character.”

But even that didn’t quite prepare him for Morrison’s script. “It’s strange…when I first read his script I thought, ‘What the hell!?! How am I going to put all of this into some drawings and have people still be able to understand everything? But than the magic of the script and the drawing board come across and everything become easy and fluid. There’s no way to describe this process in words. All I have to do is just let it go…”

As with other Seven Soldiers miniseries, Shining Knight is based on one of DC’s older characters, that is, Sir Justin, who first appeared in 1941. A knight of King Arthur’s Round Table, the original Sir Justin was frozen – literally…ice and all that – and thawed out just prior to World War II. Sir Justin was one of the original Seven Soldiers of Victory at DC, and lasted 101 issues in Adventure Comics. Yes, fate is fickle and no, it is not kind – another guy at another company who was frozen circa World War II and thawed later goes on to worldwide fame, while Sir Justin gets, at best, membership in the All-Star Squadron. Yay.

Anyway, that was then, and this is now. In Shinking Knight, Sir Justin is 16 years old, and wearing some new togs, courtesy of Bianchi and Seven Soldiers #0 artist, J.H. Williams. Props are given to the history of the character though, as the first issue is set in both Camelot and modern-day, two costume sets were needed, and, as Bianchi explained, readers with keen eyes will note that the Camelot costumes bear a strong resemblance to the original costume worn by Sir Justin.

As for the modern day…that is, once Sir Justin is sent to the future along with his flying horse, his outfits becomes a little more…functional. “With the present time version, I remained pretty much close to the J.H. Williams sketch Pete gave me,” Bianchi said. “I’ve had 100% freedom on the helmet design, and the sneakers Justin wears – they’re mine. The same pair I’ve worn for the last three years, and that my mother really, really wants me to change.”

As for the larger picture, Bianchi said he didn’t rely heavily on any particular reference – aside from his imagination to illustrate both the past glory of Camelot or the Justin’s current world.

The toughest part of the entire process for Bianchi has been accurately depicting Sir Justin. True, he’s a 16 year old, but he comes from a world where 16 wasn’t a boy, it was a man. In the days of King Arthur, 16 was headed toward middle age, and therein laid Bianchi’s challenge – how do you show a 16 year old, but make him more mature in appearance and body posture than any contemporary 16 year old? That is, how do you show that, while he’s still what we would consider a kid, he’s got a certain “hardness” to him, thanks to living in an age that had no time for childhood?

A challenging process resulted in an equally unique solution: Bianchi’s sister.

“I thought of what I wanted to put into Justin, and I found that my sister has everything I was looking for, personality-wise,” Bianchi said. “She’s young, but at the same time, tough enough for resolving the problem in a rush! Though everybody still busting my balls about how beautiful and kind and gentle she is, but my answer is: just try to have a fist fighting with her and then maybe you’d change your mind (love you Gloria, much and much love…). Jokes aside, the key trick to give Justin the tough look is all about the way you draw his eyes. They are the window, after all. Do it right, and you can show in his eyes what he’s seen.”

The enemies Sir Justin finds himself fighting against in the miniseries are the pervasive and growing threat of the larger storyline – the Sheeda. “I had some of J.H.’s drawings for the Sheeda troops, but as usual I enjoy myself adding stuff and details here and there,” Bianchi said. “Those pages have been a lot of fun! Trust me.”

The fun of illustrating the pages is all Bianchi’s, as well. “I ink myself 100%,” the artist said. “Actually it’s not only about ink because I add a lot of halftones and black watercolors on the original pages. And what can I say about the coloring? Nathan Eyring did an amazing job on the pages. I loved the final version and my greatest thanks go to Nathan.”

And after the Knight stops shining?

“I got a couple of mainstream characters graphic novels proposals, but I’ve got to keep my mouth shut about all of them,” Bianchi said. “The only things I am allowed to talk about, without being shot by some snipers from the roofs, are the covers I am going to do for Green Lantern and Hawkman. Overall, I just want keep working for this company as long as possible and, most of all, improve my storytelling, drawings and imagination as much as I can.”

mike616 · 03-09-2005, 01:11 PM

Cool stuff can not wait to see the art for the other books.

jasinmartin · 03-09-2005, 01:19 PM

Wow.
That's some amazing looking art!
Looks like a merging of classic Perez and Travis Charest (quite a combo)!

buddyfett · 03-09-2005, 01:26 PM

His pencils have a real nice Barry Windsor Smith/ Travis Charest vibe. Can't wait.

kingofcities · 03-09-2005, 01:52 PM

Gorgeous art. This book can not get here fast enough.

Bakema NL · 03-09-2005, 02:17 PM

Very very cool stuff. I'm glad I'm picking up this whole project. It would have been so easy passing up on almost unknown characters.

FIG · 03-09-2005, 02:57 PM

The art is amazing, the coloring is too simplistic and doesn't do the penciling or inking justice. They should have brought in some digital painter from Udon.

Alfonso · 03-09-2005, 04:15 PM

This series and the art is UNBELIEVABLE! Everyone needs to get on board. This stuff is going to set new standards for the industry (oh, and I can't believe I'm reading, much less enjoying the hell out of, a book called Shining Knight!)

COREMARK · 03-09-2005, 07:10 PM

Wow, those are some amazing visuals, cannot wait to pick this book up.

BillReed · 03-09-2005, 07:32 PM

I thought the art was fantastic; Gil Kane and Barry Windor-Smith having a glorious European love child.

A really good opening ish.

L'Zoril · 03-09-2005, 08:05 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by FIG
The art is amazing, the coloring is too simplistic and doesn't do the penciling or inking justice. They should have brought in some digital painter from Udon.

just what I was thinking

midnighter03 · 03-09-2005, 08:09 PM

Morrison and crew could not be off to a more wonderful start. This stuff looks fantastic. And the bookend primer was just as great. I can only hope everything holds out like this.

As for the coloring, I think it looks great. I honestly would have been happy if it was black and white, but the coloring gives it a nice European contemporary flair. IMHO, Udon would have made it too . . . washed out. Some of their stuff looses the sublety of pencils, especially if there are grey tones or watercolors. Isanove could have done some genius work here but I imagine he only works for the marvelous competition.

Royal Nonesuch · 03-09-2005, 10:29 PM

Holy hell that art is incredible!

kossori · 03-09-2005, 11:22 PM

The links to the pencil art aren't working.

Great preview, however. Man, I can't wait til I get this Friday!

Poolboy · 03-10-2005, 12:11 AM

Must say that I enjoyed the Hell out of this issue.

Best Issue This Week!

Art looks real good, I mean real good. Hope to see more of Bianchi in the furture.

Seven Soldiers is definitley looking to be the event of this year. Trumping anything Marvel could put out. Coming from a Marvel Zombie, that means a lot!!

TCJohnson · 03-10-2005, 12:33 AM

The art in this issue is absolutely beautiful!

theprimedreamer · 03-10-2005, 02:20 AM

Yup the art is fantastic. I wasn't originally going to pick this us but after seeing how there was only one more copy left and flipping through the pages showed me great art, I had to pick it up. And after reading it once over, I'm glad that I did and I hate to say it, but I think Morrison's got me hooked into getting the whole series. It's surprising to where Sir Justin lands to, I would have thought it would have been where all the other heroes are.

B Buchanan · 03-10-2005, 11:25 AM

Man, this series, or I should say series of series is gonna make me break my
covet of only buying tradepaper backs. Now I'm going with the floppies
on this "little" endeavor.

WESTERN GOTHIC: The Ballad of Utopia is in APRIL Previews under
the Antimatter-Hoffman Intl. section-
In stores JUNE 2005!!!!

Noreikas · 03-10-2005, 11:48 AM

this was a great book - story and art were brilliant.

I loved how one of the knights was called "The Silent Knight" and was surrounded by hawks, since the old DC character Silent Knight has been retroactively made one of Hawkman's resurrections.

Really well done so far, and I love that Winged Victory...I mean Vanguard.... is now a talking horse.

Still looking to see how it all fits, since we saw the "original" version of Shining Knight briefly in SEVEN SOLDIERS OF VICTORY #0 last week, but so far the story is great.

shifty · 03-10-2005, 01:33 PM

I'm not really a Grant Morrison kinda guy but that art is just too hot to pass on.

PopCultureComix · 03-10-2005, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by kingofcities
Gorgeous art. This book can not get here fast enough.

This book is in comic stores this week!

Positive Boy · 03-10-2005, 03:41 PM

Can't wait!!

When does this come out!

Definitely going on the pull list, guys!

kingofcities · 03-10-2005, 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by PopCultureComix
This book is in comic stores this week!

I didn't realize that at the time.

Stiil though, glad there's no wait. I'm off to get it after work.

samnoir · 03-10-2005, 03:45 PM

It's great seeing a European style on a mainstream DCU book.

Hopefully with the DCU/Humanoid co-publishing venture, and the increasing amounts of US talent on European books, we'll also see a great many more European creators and European influenced artists in the same way Manga style has entered into the mainstream comics.

I was always suprised that the popularity of Moebius at Epic/Marvel in the eighties didn't pave the way for more European talent to cross-over.

_)______________________________________ __________

GRANT MORRISON AVENGERS GRAPHIC NOVEL (STEED AND MRS PEEL) FOR SALE ON EBAY!

SMALLVILLE, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER and CHARMED MAGAZINES FOR SALE ON EBAY!

shifty · 03-11-2005, 05:07 AM

"It also merits note how this character is somewhat in synch with one created by the Wachowski Brothers' and Geof Darrow. Like Justin, the Shaolin Cowboy rides a talking mount and is a warrior who's out of his normal element. I'm not alleging that one property is stealing from the other at all. The timeframe between the publication of the two books is too narrow for that. Just an interesting and weird coincidence."

from a review by Don MacPherson at www.thefourthrail.com.

Didn't Morrison allege that the idea for the Matrix was stolen from him? Anybody else remember that?