Guy Davis (pictured above, right; w/John Arcudi & Mike Mignola) made his name in comics with stellar runs on such titles as SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATRE, BATMAN NEVERMORE, METAL HURLANT, FANTASTIC FOUR/UNSTABLE MOLECULES, DEADLINE, ALIENS: SURVIVAL, THE NEVERMEN and HELLBLAZER. He is the current illustrator for Mike Mignola’s and John Arcudi’s ongoing B.P.R.D. series (work which won him the 2009 Eisner Award as Best Penciller/Inker), along with his ongoing, creator-owned series The Marquis for Dark Horse Comics. My brother picked up an original page from B.P.R.D.: The Black Goddess by Guy at this years Heroes Convention in Charlotte, NC. Guy is also one of those really cool artists who try and get something into every fans hand by doing free quick sketches for all comers on neat little art pads. I had Davis draw me a nice head sketch of supporting character, Lobster Johnson.
With Halloween closing fast, I immediately thought of Guy Davis for someone interesting to approach for a short interview. The Catacombs is very grateful to Guy for taking the time to respond to a few quick questions. All of his work is highly recommended for fans of comic book art with a twinge of eerie atmosphere and adept visual storytelling.
*********************************************************************************************************
Q) What was your original motivation for doing The Marquis (pictured at the top of this post & a very interesting looking work that I’m trying to catch up on)?
Mainly it was just wanting to get to draw a lot of the types of things that I wasn’t getting hired for on “work-for-hire” type books. I always wanted to do a period action/horror type story and have an excuse to draw a bunch of weird devils so that’s where it started. I always loved the feel and mood of winter and that seemed like a different setting for a horror story too, so in the end all these things just sort of fit together into the Marquis. I'm really happy it found a home at Dark Horse, and look forward to telling the rest of the story as original graphic novels.
Q) I would appreciate any comment on how you were approached to do The Zombies That Ate the World. I love me some zombie movies and was pleasantly surprised to find this listed at your webpage, now I’ve got to quickly track down a copy!
Jerry has a hilarious and sick imagination which makes drawing it great fun. Basically Humanoides approached me to illustrate the first Zombie short for the US “Metal Hurlant”, at the time I thought it was a stand alone story but hoped it might spin off to more. And it did~ readers and Humanoides both liked what me and Jerry were doing so the Zombies kept running as serial in Metal Hurlant and then as stand alone books published in France.
Q) Among your published works including Sandman Mystery Theatre, B.P.R.D., The Nevermen, Hellblazer, etc., is there a particular emotional favorite and why?
Sandman Mystery Theatre really opened a lot of doors for me and also was a great project to work on with Matt Wagner and Steve Seagle. I look back on the work I was doing and cringe a bit since it looks pretty rough compared to what I’m doing now~ but I have really good memories of working on it. B.P.R.D is definitely a favorite though, it’s a great collaboration with both Mike Mignola and John Arcudi. And I think we all have a common love for the type of stories were doing in that series~ I always tell them that this is the book I’d be happy to retire working on, and I hope to keep working for awhile. Getting to draw Mike’s roster of characters is wonderful!
Q) Let me offer belated congratulations on winning the 2009 Eisner Award for Best Penciller / Inker this year. How does that type of recognition feel?
Thanks, that was a great surprise and an amazing honor. I still find it hard to believe I won, but couldn’t be happier.
Q) Since Halloween falls this month, do you like to settle in and watch old horror films, stay in and just hand out tricks or treats or do you generally attend a seasonal party?
Usually I just stay in and watch old films and hand out candy, but we rarely get kids coming by the house. This year we’re having friends over for dinner and a party~ and of course lots of horror movies!
No comments:
Post a Comment