Perky Posts.

Ok big apologies for the week long hiatus as our American cousins would say. I’m going to get straight into the action. Whether you know artist Mike Perkins from 2000AD, Captain America, Union Jack, The Stand or even Ruse, he’s one of Marvel’s top artists right now as well as a columnist on comic mag, Comic Heroes.

Born in Wolverhampton he’s now based in Florida. Mike came back to his old stomping grounds for a holiday. The artist came down for a signing at Nostalgia and Comics. We had a chat about super soldiers, working in comic shops and dealing with Randall Flagg.

Prior to working as an artist, do you have fond memories of working at the Wolverhampton comic shop, the Place?

Yeah I do. I was fifteen; I was doing a Saturday job. When I first got there they asked me if I wanted to work Saturdays and I said, “yeah, that’ll be great!” So I was very excited and when I went home, I told my mum and she said “how much are they paying you?” and I said “I don’t know!” (Laughs) I was so excited to be working in a comic shop that I didn’t even ask about money.

How you would best describe your approach to comics?

It’s all about storytelling I think. If the artist isn’t telling a story then they’re not doing their job properly. If the layouts are confusing – if they’re just to serve their own ego, then it’s not comics. Comics are all about the storytelling for me – I guess that’s my approach. My approach artistically is to put as much as I can onto the page and still follow the storytelling rule. You can always put too much onto a page and the storytelling disappears, so I guess an illustrative storytelling approach is what I go for.

What are thoughts on the British comic book scene?

I’ve lived in America for ten years, so I don’t really know the British scene that well. I go into WHSmith It’s a lot better than it was ten years ago because you’ve got all the Marvel and DC comics on the racks reprinted. I don’t know how long that’s going to continue though, what with Marvel and DC taking away the licences from Panini and all that kind of stuff. But 2000AD seems to be going strong – I still read that.

Recently, there seem to be more ongoing characters, which can sustain a strip for a long time. You’ve got Nicolai Dante, Zombo and Shakara. There are all these characters that are new, and can carry on, so there have been so many runs. I think that with the British scene, most of the British guys work for American companies. As an artist it’s great, but as a reader you want a bit more.

How do you think American artists see British comic artists?

I think they respect us in a way. In America, it’s changing. It was always pencils, then inks, then colours. In England though we did everything – the whole thing – and that’s why I prefer to ink myself, because it’s one part of the whole illustrating process. If I’m just pencilling, or just inking, then I’m missing something. I think the Americans can see that, and so a lot do prefer to ink themselves because they like that aspect.

Do you get to choose your own inker when you’re working on a project?

Yeah, you do – but not all the time, and not when you’re starting out. As you get more work, you can state preferences. I always prefer to ink myself but, saying that, I like inking other artists because you learn so much as well from studying their pencils when you’re inking. I learnt so much from George Perez, and I learnt so much from Jackson Guice. You learn their process.

Aren’t Perez’s pencils and backgrounds quite tight in terms of detail?

He does leave a lot for the inker to do as well. Not as much as some artists, but everything’s there. You can really tighten things up. I always enjoying inking George – it’s good fun. With Jackson, he’s a lot looser. Everything is there that you need and he wants you to add a bit more to it sometimes; put more shadow in there. It’s when he’s inking other people – when he was inking Bryan Hitch on Captain America, he would add the blacks and put a bit more shading into it and leaves that open for the pencilling. We’ve got a good working relationship because we’re in the same studio. After CrossGen folded we shared a studio as well – so, we could be in touch with other and we could say to each other, “I like that but do this a bit more”.

How does working at Marvel compare to CrossGen?

Well CrossGen was a totally different thing in the sense that everyone was there in the office and we worked under the same roof. With Marvel, it’s freelance – you’re working at home and you’re sending it in. So it’s a totally different environment. At CrossGen we didn’t have editors and we edited ourselves. At Marvel it’s all editors.

Do you get to go to Marvel creative summits?

I don’t get to go. It’s mostly the writers who set them up, because that’s where the basis of the idea comes from. A lot of these artists stay at home. It’s a shame – I’d like to go to one and see everyone shout at each other!

These days, colourists are almost as big as the artists. Do you have to work alongside the colourist to achieve what you want? Or after you’ve pencilled and inked a comic, do you leave it with the colourist?

Yes, you have to work with them. I’m very lucky to work with Laura Martin – she’s just brilliant. She understands moods and atmosphere, which I prefer with my colours. I don’t want “Captain America is blue and he must be blue” – that sort of thing – I want the atmosphere to be there. I don’t mind if the whole page is red, I don’t mind if the whole page is blue.

For me it’s all about the atmosphere. Frank D'Armata was the colourist on Captain America and he held the book together between the artists. Frank colours very dark, and in a way he adds to the atmosphere. Sometimes you have to have a dialogue with the colourist – “no don’t do this, don’t do that…” It’s difficult sometimes as it’s your work. You want your artwork to be seen, and I tend to always put a lot into my work. I put grey tones and things like that in there. A lot of colourists will disregard that, but Frank’s not one of those. He’ll work with the grey tones, and it’s the same with Laura – she’ll work with the tones. I prefer to my artwork to be finished piece of artwork so you can sell it afterwards as a finished piece.

How did you get the gig of working on Captain America?

I was looking around for what was next and I just finished Spellbinders with Mike Carey, and Steve Epting was going through a difficult patch personally and he needed some help with the inking on Cap so I stepped in – as I had worked with him at CrossGen – and I began inking. He requested me to ink it, and then they asked if I wanted to ink it permanently. I spent so much time inking over Ruse at CrossGen, and before that I was pencilling and inking my own stuff on 2000AD and Games Workshop – but the American perception of me was as an inker because of the two years spent on Ruse.

I wanted to reinforce the fact that I could pencil, so they asked I wanted to ink, and I said thank you but no – I wanted to re-stablish myself as a penciller. Then they came back to me saying, “would you like to pencil and ink on alternate arcs and help Steve out on inks when he needs the help?” and I’m like “yeah I’ll do that”. And that’s was how it happened really. It was really a determination to pencil.

When Marvel killed off Captain America, how did it go down with you?

It was actually a strange situation, because issue 25 was delayed because it had to tie in with Civil War and Civil War was delayed by three months. So 25 couldn’t be released until the last issue of CW was released. Steve Epting drew 25 himself, and I was working on 26, so I get the script in and there’s this emaciated Captain America on the autopsy table. I’m like “What the hell happened here? I didn’t know anything about the death of Captain America What’s going on?” That was very bizarre, and then we had to shut up about it for three months – we couldn’t tell anyone about it. It was very difficult, and I’m surprised that Marvel kept the lid on it for so long because of the delays on Civil War the issues were finished so many months before and Marvel said, “Nobody say anything!!”

With The Stand, have you had good feedback from Stephen King fans?

Yeah, but the important thing for me is to have feedback from Mr King himself. He sends emails and he tells me he loves what I’m doing. Every time an issue comes out he’s like a kid in a candy shop – he’s loving it.

Do you reckon adapting from another medium especially from novels can be difficult?

Definitely, because you’re dealing with the perception of millions of other readers who have read The Stand before. So everyone has a character in their head, and everyone has their own individual imaginations, so it’s very difficult. The only way you can get around it is to follow what was originally on the page. So when I first read the novel, the second time I went through it I made indexes of characters. Whenever there was a character description, I put a page number in the back of the book so I could refer back to it and see what Mr King said about the characters. So it’s very difficult because of people’s perceptions.

Do you think it’s liberating to work on The Stand as opposed to working on superhero fare?

I grew up on those comics anyway, being in England, and 2000AD was a more down-to-earth based comic, and superhero comics were more ethereal. I’ve grown up on the English and European market so, for me, The Stand is an extension of that rather the American market. So I enjoy drawing it. I’ve got three issues left to finish – I can see the end in sight and that’s exciting for me as I’m ready to move onto something else. I’ve got some ideas… I’d like to do some more Captain America, and I’d like to do a Wolverine run with Ed Brubaker. I think that’d be fantastic.

I’d like to do Black Widow – I meant illustrate Black Widow, sorry!

I favour a lot of the down-to-earth based superheroes like Punisher and Captain America. I’m more of a writer person, and there are so many writers I’d love to work with: Brubaker, Greg Rucka and Garth Ennis. Ed’s a fantastic writer and an artist as well so he’s very visual in his writing, and he knows what he want to put into those panels when’s he writing it. He allows you to be able to stretch within that. You can say, “I want to add this”, and he’ll be ok with it. I think that’s why it’s so successful.

Comics have moved into a digital format – but do you think they should stay as print?

I think they should. I also think that the digital format could possibly bring people into stores. There’s a bigger audience out there for comics, and they may not like the superhero aspect of it. I think people are making efforts to diversify the comics they do.

Marvel have tried it, with pushing Ruse again. They are trying but, sales in comic shops – those sales aren’t that great because they want superheroes. There is a wider audience which digital will probably reach. I tend to think that monthly issues might come out digitally and, after six issues, it’ll come out hardbound and be sold that way. That’s the way I see it – but I wouldn’t want comics to disappear.

(Mike Perkins at Birmingham's Nostalgia and Comics.)

Special thanks to Dave Hopkins and Mike Perkins.

Images Marvel

Posted: 23/8/2011
Categories: Artists / Comics

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