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STEVE CUMMINGS FILLING IN ON EXCALIBUR
by Jennifer Contino (Pulse)
Steve Cummings filled in on a pair of New Excalibur issues and is busy working on a TOKYOPOP Original English Language Manga, but he managed to spend a little time answering these questions for us on all that and more.
THE PULSE: What interested you in drawing a pair of issues for New Excalibur? Had you followed any incarnation of this super team? If so, what stood out in your mind the most about this particular group of characters from the Marvel Universe?
STEVE CUMMINGS: When Marvel called and asked if I would be interested in working on this book with them, my interest was definitely piqued when I heard Excalibur; it was one of the books I really enjoyed as a kid and was thrilled with the chance to work on something from my past. When I moved overseas I couldn't really keep up with the goings on in the Marvel Universe though (American comics at the time cost about 1200yen. Contrast that to a can of coke costing about 105yen and you should understand why I quit reading) and so some of the things that happened since then are a mystery to me. Fortunately I have obsessive friends who are more than willing to either lone me long boxes or give me very long winded explanations about what happened when to whom. I think the thing that stood out to me the most was the great pencils that my editor Nick Lowe sent me to work from as drawn by Michael Ryan. I think they are a great take on the classic team. I really look forward to seeing how my two issues turn out.
THE PULSE: Was this you first work for Marvel? If so, what was that like? If not what other work had you done for The House and how did this compare?
CUMMINGS: No, this wasn't my first work for Marvel. A year or two back I did a few issues of Elektra. Back then working on the books was fine, but this time around it was somehow a lot more involving and fun. I don't know why. Maybe because these were characters I have really read as a kid. It was a real treat to get a chance to bring them to life with my own spin on them. Definitely something I am happy to have had a chance to do.
THE PULSE: How is filling in on a few issues different than being the regular artist like you were with the Deadshot limited series?
CUMMINGS: It's definitely less stress, because I am following someone else's examples/following their lead, but it was still a challenging job. Plus on the Deadshot job I was responsible for all the design work, the look, and for keeping things straight for the entire five issues. I only did issues 4 and 5 of New Excalibur, so there was much less to worry about.
THE PULSE: Speaking of worry, what were some of the challenges of jumping into those issues?
CUMMINGS: I came to New Excalibur #4 from just having finished a chapter of a TOKYOPOP book I was working on. Moving from a Manga book to an American book was a huge change in art and storytelling styles and at the time I thought it difficult. In fact, some of the early pages I did ended up with a very manga look that I ended up having to go back to change (I don't think I was able to completely rid myself of that manga influence throughout the two issues actually).
THE PULSE: Did editorial make you redraw or touch up any panels? If so, why?
CUMMINGS: Oh yeah. As I mentioned before, I had a few panels where the effects of my (just) prior work on a book for TOKYOPOP (Pantheon High, written by Paul Benjamin) were very apparent and I had to go back and rework things. But that didn't happen more than two or three times. It wasn't like Deadshot where even though I drew the script as Chris Gage had written, there was a touch too much T&A and we had to tone things down. This was just a case where the characters might have had a "big eye" look going on. It was easily fixed with a little time and putting all my Pantheon High pages away until after I was done with New Excalibur!
THE PULSE: Speaking of art, did you consciously try to make your art look like the Michael Ryan's or did you just draw in your own style and stick with your own art technique?
CUMMINGS: I definitely have my own look; all artists do, and I think that the way I drew the characters will partially reflect that. But I tried to put a little of his look into the way I approached the art to these two issues. His is the look of the book after all and I think it was the most appropriate thing to do, sticking to the style he had established in the first two issues.
THE PULSE: Which of the members of this group were the toughest for you to draw? Why?
CUMMINGS: I had a hard time with Juggernaut. His large size is in proportion to himself isn't very intuitive (as in he is SO big), and I had to consciously try to not make him look like just any old body builder; he has a special size that was hard to get right away.
THE PULSE: How did you get it right? Was it just practice, practice, practice - or did you have some other art tricks that helped you accomplish the look?
CUMMINGS: A little mix of practice, a lot of reference of big people, and a little time spent thinking on how to get it right. In this case I realized that I was keeping his head in proportion to his body, so that no matter how large I made him he was just a big man. I had to ignore the normal proportions of normal people and just make him BIG!
THE PULSE: Had you ever worked with Rick Ketchum before? What was the collaboration like on these issues?
CUMMINGS: No, this was my first work with Rick, and it has turned out beautifully. He brings a lot to the lines as I drew them and really brings it all to life. I think he was one of the best inkers I have worked with over the years. I would really like to work with him again in the future.
THE PULSE: How is penciling a team different than a title starring mainly one character?
CUMMINGS: Simply put there are more people to keep track of and the panels are much more crowded. I think it added a fair amount of time to how long it took for me to get each page done. Plus, the story takes place in London, and that added a lot of potentially very complicated background to the book. Also, each character has his or her own personality and with more characters in the book, it meant having to keep all of those differences in mind as I laid out each page.
THE PULSE: Did you ever get confused when you were contemplating layouts or other pieces of the sequential art? How did you keep things straight?
CUMMINGS: I like to label my thumbnails so that everything is clear in instances when I have a lot going on in the panel. The characters get named and I make special notes as to what they are doing. Up to this point I have been doing mostly books with single lead characters so there was no real problem with the page layout/panel construction. New Excalibur required that I learn to think in a new way.
THE PULSE: What was the collaboration with Chris Claremont like? Were you a fan of his work?
CUMMINGS: I read mostly books written by Chris Claremont as a kid, so getting the chance to work on something he wrote was incredible. Reading the script and the dialog really took me back, it really reminded me of the kind of books I read as a kid! Plus his writing style is very clear and straight forward. In most respects, he is an artists dream to work with.
THE PULSE: You mentioned living in Japan to me before, why did you move to Japan?
CUMMINGS: I went on a one year exchange that ended up lasting four years. I went to just study the Japanese language but I was allowed into normal college level (later Graduate School) classes.
THE PULSE: How was living in Japan different than your life Stateside?
CUMMINGS: The winters were colder, the summers were hotter and more humid (than Atlanta) and the ground would periodically start shaking and things would fall over. I loved every minute of my time there and my wife and I on a daily basis talk about moving back and setting up the comics shop there. Thank God for the internet...
THE PULSE: How is the comics scene in Japan different than in the US?
CUMMINGS: It is amazing. There is almost no comparison. Unlike the comics industry here which tends to be mainly composed of books of certain genres, books over there are on every subject imaginable. I have read comic books on cooking sushi, playing pachinko, giant robots and high school sports. I think the best comic series I ever read was Rookies by Morita Masanori, which is about a high school baseball team (that gets into fights a lot). I think that the influence Japanese comics have here is a reflection of all that variety.
THE PULSE: What did you find the most creatively stimulating about drawing these two issues?
CUMMINGS: I didn't find any one thing more interesting or stimulating about the two issues than any other thing; I know this will probably sound a little lame, but it was all interesting, it was all stimulating. Most of the characters were ones I saw as a kid when I was reading nothing but X books and were a real treat to draw. Those that were new to me or had a drastically new look were equally stimulating because the new designs Michael Ryan did for them were great. It was all in all a very satisfying pair of books to work on, and I really thank Marvel and my Editors, Mike Marts, Nick Lowe and Sean Ryan for giving me the chance to work on this book with them and Chris Claremont. Everyone was very supportive and saw to it I had all the reference I needed/asked for. That kind of support really made it possible for me to throw myself into the books in a way I never was able to before. In fact, I had references and resources I didn't even ask for. At one point I started receiving emails from an X-fan who saw my name in a press release (I am guessing) and who wanted to make sure that I got his favorite character right. He even supplied me with hundreds of reference pictures he was so concerned!
THE PULSE: What other projects are you working on?
CUMMINGS: I am currently working on a book for TOKYOPOP called Pantheon High. The writer is Paul Benjamin (Texan Supermodel), and it is the first of three digest sized books in a series about ... well, here is the description in Paul's own words:
In a world where the gods are still very much involved in our day to day lives, Pantheon High is a Los Angeles magnet school for demigods. Kids from the Greek, Norse, Japanese and Egyptian pantheons attend Pantheon High, where they learn about everything from algebra and chemistry to combat and mythological studies. When the children of evil gods follow in their parents footsteps, a group of kids from different cliques must band together to prevent Armageddon. It's just an average day at Pantheon High.
I am penciling and toning the book while my oh-so-cute wife Megumi handles the inks. It is a real treat to be able to use the Manga skills I learned while living in Japan in the American comic industry. Right now as I write this I am about a quarter of the way through the book. Only 120 pages to go. As to other projects, I have some personal projects I am working on and I am also in talks with a few creators, but right now nothing is really at a stage where I make any announcements. But cute ninja girls might be involved!
You can see more of Cummings' work at
www.paperfilms.invisionzone.com
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