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with Barry Kitson
Interview
with: Troy
Brownfield
Thanks
for joining us again in the Big Question! Our guest this time
should be no stranger to fans of the JLA . . . or DC Comics
in general. He’s been plying his trade around 12 years, working
on icons like Batman, Superman and the aforementioned JLA.
He did a memorable stint on L.E.G.I.O.N. as well.
However,
it’s hard not to mention his name without thinking of his association
with Mark Waid. Together, they produced the fantastic JLA:
Year One, The Flash and Green Lantern Brave and the Bold
mini-series, and are currently doing great things with Empire
for Gorilla Comics.
Ladies
and gentlemen, a man that really knows how to draw Black
Canary, Barry Kitson!
THE BIG Q&A
Q1.
Please give us a little insight into the sheer volume of credits
that you’ve accumulated.
A1. My
first professional work was Spiderman for Marvel UK - two episodes
inked by Mark Farmer circa 1988. Then I moved to 2000AD drawing
JUDGE DREDD and JUDGE ANDERSON strips, also a few FUTURE SHOCKS
My
first DC work was BATGIRL SPECIAL #1 (1989)
Then
LEGION OF SUPERHEROES ANNUAL # 4
Four
weekly episodes of CATWOMAN in Action Comics Weekly
L.E.G.I.O.N
'89 #1 through #17 and #23 through #60 - Covers #61 through
#67
WOLVERINE
# 31 & 32
IRON
MAN ANNUAL #(?)
 DETECTIVE
COMICS # 670
BATMAN/PUNISHER
LAKE OF FIRE #1
ADVENTURES
OF SUPERMAN #502 - 520
LEGENDS
OF THE DARK KNIGHT #63
ALPHA
FLIGHT (two back up stories circa issues 123/4 I THINK)
AZRAEL
#1 - 28 covers 29 & 30
SHADOW
OF THE BAT # 35 -39
JLA
Year One #1 through 12
BRAVE
& BOLD #1 through 6
Flash
# (?) layouts
EMPIRE
#1 & 2
Batman:Book
of the Dead #1 & 2
Currently
working on a six part Legends of the Dark Knight arc and Empire.
Future works include an Elseworlds project with Howard Chaykin
and David Tischman.
Q2.
I've admired your work for awhile, but one of my favorite things
that you've worked on is L.E.G.I.O.N. Could you describe that
experience for us?
A2.
It was a joy really from start to finish - my first regular
US work and I got a chance to learn from Keith Giffen's breakdowns
and storytelling while doing my best to improve my drawing and
writing skills. By the time I left the book I had pencilled,
inked and written several issues. All with the incredible support
of a large and very loyal readership. I was incredibly fortunate
to have had L.E.G.I.O.N. as a vehicle as it was full of great
characters and character driven stories. It still amazes me
today how many people have such a strong regard for those stories.
I'm always saying how I'd love to bring the characters back
one day, so who knows it might just happen. I still look back
on the L.E.G.I.O.N. days as some of the best I've enjoyed as
a professional artist - it was a great learning curve and a
wonderful group of people to work with. Sorry if this sounds
gushing, but it is how I feel about it.
Q3.
Your profile increased with your work on JLA:Year One. How
did it feel to help re-write (or in your case, re-draw) the
history of some great comics icons?
A3.
That was a dream come true for me! An opportunity to work
with all the characters that had originally got me hooked on
comics - in their original forms. I think of it as maybe how
a contemporary actor might feel if he were given the chance
to work with all the greats that had inspired his career, but
not as the older men and women they would be, but actually in
their prime! It felt about as good as it could get I think!
Q4. How did you become involved with the Gorilla Comics project?
A4.
Well that was pretty straight forward - Mark Waid rang me
up one night and told me he and some very talented people were
interested in starting a creator owned imprint and wanted to
know if I'd like to be part of it. I'd always enjoyed working
with Mark in the past - and I had a huge respect for the other
creators in the group - so I hopped on board!
 Q5.
Tell us about "Empire" and your role as far as plotting
and character designs.
A5.
Well as far as the character designs went I pretty much
had carte blanche. Mark
and I would discuss the nature of each character and them I'd
just begin sketching away until we had something we were both
pleased with. In fact the designs came pretty quickly , most
characters only took a couple of tries before we had them nailed.
Probably Golgoth took the longest, I was very conscious of trying
to create something unique and powerful. To get the mask right
took maybe a dozen attempts, we wanted it to be both impassive
and yet imposing.. I think we just about got there! :)
Q6.
This is the obligatory "what art tools do you use?"
question.
A6.
I use a vast array of tools from straight forward pencils,
retractable pencils 0.3 or 0.5 usually HB for rough sketching.
Brushpens and felt tips for high contrast roughs. A PC for image
manipulation. Pencils and retractable pencils B or 2B for final
drawings. I use Canson Bristol Board to draw and ink on. I ink
using mostly Rowney S.40 #5 kolinsky sable brushes, dip pens
usually with Joseph Guillot 303 or 170 nibs and a variety of
Rotring technical pens. I usually use Rotring or Pelikan India
ink.
Q7.
Finally, what's your dream project? Any characters out there
that you'd like to redesign or take over?
A7. There's hardly a character that I wouldn't like a shot
at taking over and/or redesigning! :) I still love all the classic
superhero characters and to be given free reign on any of them
would be a dream project. To be more specific I do have a property
of my own that I've been working on over some years that I'd
love to see print one day - that features entirely new characters.
I have another dream project using established characters, but
don't actually want to talk about it as I've just learnt there's
a chance it might
actually come about so I wouldn't want to jinx anything!
We’d
like to thank Mr. Kitson for taking the time to be our guest
in the Big Question! Go check out Empire and the JLA:
Year One trade paperback and keep an eye out for his upcoming
projects. Also, drop by the Gorilla Comics site at www.apenation.com.
As
always, if you have someone you’d like to suggest as a Big Question
guest, let Troy know at psikotyk@aol.com.
Troy
Brownfield is the Editor-in-Chief of Shotgun Reviews. He also
recommends that you pick up some L.E.G.I.O.N. back issues, especially
#50 where Dox fights for his child. That one kicks ass.
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