I'm With The Churchill!

I’ve been a big fan of Ian Churchill’s work since the days of Cable and Avengers. He’s recently changed his style since then eschewing the detailed cross hatching which he’s become regarded for a more cartoony approach, it’s worked quite well as he’s set sail into the depths of creator owned material over at Image with Marineman a character he conceived as a child.

For those of you who haven’t read it, it’s about oceanographer Steve Ocean and part time superhero, Marineman, who uncovers a dark secret about himself. The charm of Churchill’s character is it’s fused with a silver age sensibility that stands at odds with the gloomy outlook on comics these days. It also bagged him an Eisner nomination not bad for a first time creator.

Ian’s wrapped up the first arc and I spoke to the artist at Birmingham Comic Con. He mentioned that he wants to work on DC’s Captain Marvel, a character that’s been over looked in DC’s new line up. With a posse of fan’s waiting for sketches, fortunately no Germans this time, I decided to ask some questions to the Churchill...

What kind of comics did you use to read when you were growing up?

I used to like Captain America John Romita senior’s run on Captain America, my favourite. Marvelman annuals are what got me into comics. My gran bought me that when I was a really small kid and there’s an old beaten up one from a jumble sale and that’s what made me get into superheroes, but generally it was the old Marvel black and white reprints that they used to do in the seventies. It was the Mighty World of Marvel and Super Spider-Man; it was the ones Stan Lee and John Romita did. I think they had a few Steve Ditko stories but it was mostly Stan and John’s stuff.

What was like being discovered by editor Bob Harras when you were young?

That was pretty amazing actually. It was really cool, I’d always wanted to draw comics anyway and I’d been a graphic designer for the best part of seven years I suppose and I went to London with my portfolio, this was in the early nineties where we had that recession so it was a good time as any to give it a shot and I thought about getting into comics for a while.

So I whipped out four pages of Captain America from a story I concocted, I pencilled it out, got to London and Bob Harras saw it and pretty much hired me on the spot. It was amazing; I was dancing on the spot and I ran across to the road to where the Student Union which is a college opposite to the convention. Back in those days, there were no cell phones, so I found a phone, put the money in and I phoned my brother and I said guess what? I’ve just been hired! He was ecstatic as well and it went from there and I haven’t looked back.

Do you have memories of your first gig?

My first gig was X Men annual and it was a Beast back up strip with Scott Lobdell. Looking back on it, it looks very cartoony. More like my recent work than the stuff I’ve become known for. I do have fond memories I’d love to work with Scott again, we got on really well and I’ve never worked with him since it was literally that one story. After that, I think it was another X Men annual actually. It had Caliban and Kitty Pryde and Sabretooth in it. I can’t remember which one the Beast story was in. That was only a six page story and then after that, I think it was Deadpool. I’m not sure it might have been Excalibur first and then DP. I get confused with the chronology of it!

When you started out do you reckon mainstream comic companies were afraid of Image?

I would imagine they were respectful of Image. Because Image is such a big player, I don’t think they were scared of them as such it’s all healthy competition isn’t it? If Image raises it’s game then Marvel and DC have to follow suit or fall by the way side. I think it’s good for the industry. And now even Image these days is not the big powerhouse it used to be when Marc Silvestri and Rob Liefeld, Todd Mac Farlane and Jim Valentino were ruling the roost back in the early nineties it was very art driven. These days it’s very writer-centric. I think Image’s real strength these days is it’s diversity it’s got something for everyone. It’s just that Image is in a position to try new things where as Marvel and DC haven’t got the luxury I guess.

When you worked on Cable, you made changes to the character’s appearance. Didn’t you like the Rob Liefeld look?

I did like the Rob stuff, I like Rob’s art actually, and he gets a bad rep. He’s a much better artist than anyone gives him credit for I used to hang out with him a lot and I’d seen some of the stuff he’s drawn that he hasn’t published. He’s a big basketball fan and he’d drawn these basketball players absolutely amazing stuff but he chooses not to show people this maybe because he’s quicker drawing the way he draws. He’s a very competent artist.

I loved what he did on Cable and X-Force, when get onto a project you want to give your own stamp and Cable had changed a fair bit since then I had people in editorial whispering in my ear, make him younger as well so I had to make him visually look young but it’s not something you could do in one hit otherwise people would go Huh?

I had to gradually make him look younger and younger, so by the time I finished drawing Cable, He looked the right age that editorial wanted him to look at the right time. As for the costume it went through a number of changes. During the time I was on but it evolved as the years went by, It wasn’t like a conscious decision to right I’m going to change the costume the pouches and all that sort of stuff became less fashionable so they were jettisoned and it become more streamlined. I have a lot of fond memories of Cable.

Cable marked your first collaboration with writer Jeph Loeb, how you describe Jeph Loeb’s storytelling technique?

I think it’s pretty amazing to be fair, I’m a big fan of Jeph as a person and as a writer. I like his stuff, he’s got a real knack of finding right beats in a story and constructing it in a way which leaves you wanting to come back for more.

I know he’s not everyone’s cup of tea. I think he’s really cool and I love working with him. Everyone says he plays to artist’s strengths. He talks to the artist before they start the project with him and finds out what the artist likes to draw and constructs the story around on what the artist likes to draw pretty much so everyone’s happy, Jeph’s happy because he’s writing some of the biggest characters in the world and the artist is happy because he’s drawing what he likes to draw and he’s drawing some of the biggest characters in the world. So it’s a win-win situation!

(A lot of people will either remember Ian for his work on Cable, but he drew a great Hulk for Avengers as part of the Heroes Reborn arc during the nineties)

Are you going to work with him again?

Yeah I’d love to, I’m doing a cover but I’m not allowed to say I don’t think... but it involves two characters I’ve drawn before! (Laughs)

Prior to settling on Image, did you pitch Marineman to any other companies?

No I didn’t, I knew I wanted to do it at Image. Richard Starkings has been working at Image for a long time doing Elephantmen and I was very inspired by what he’d achieved the title he had nothing but good things to say about Image. Paul Grist as well I picked his brain at Bristol and asked him how he got on with working at Image and he had no bad things to say. It felt very familiar at Image Comics, most of the people working there like Eric Stephenson. He was always around with when I was working with Rob and the boys over at Awesome so it felt really natural to work at Image. It’s like re-visiting an old friend really and it’s worked out really well.

Would you say Marineman is a character that goes back to simpler times in comics and that’s why it’s successful?

Possibly yes, it’s a lot more brighter and optimistic than a lot of comics you find these days. It’s a nod to Silver Age I guess. I’ve said it before grim and gritty has got it’s place but I think bright and shiny does as well and not a lot of people are doing bright and shiny these days unfortunately. The times we’re living in now with economic cutbacks it’s doom and gloom with bombs going off here and there and everywhere. You need something to lighten things up. Marineman is heroic and he’s superhero and I love superheroes.

It’s all the things I used to love when I was a kid and that’s basically it. I wanted to draw a comic and create a comic that I wanted to read when I was eight years old. I think I’ve managed to find the right line where it’s not too preachy or patronising, it just hits the mark all the way along and like you say it’s been received really well. I couldn’t be happier about that. It’s just amazing considering the fact that I’m a first time writer as well. Everyone’s been reviewing them like I’ve been writing them for twenty years. I was fully expecting to have knives to come out on the Internet “Oh Churchill can think he can write ha ha we’ll see about that on the internet”. But it’s been really positive and encouraging and I’m really happy about that.

With your new artistic style, what are the advantages and disadvantages?

It doesn’t suit every character, that’s for sure. The advantage is that people have seen me draw in a different style, in my head at least is that I’ve got the option to pick a style that I feel is appropriate for each character that I draw now. So I was to do a project with Marvel or DC, I feel more comfortable in breaking out from that house Marvel style that was in the nineties so that’s kind of an advantage.

I don’t think there’s a disadvantage at all really. I think more versatile as an artist you can be the better like I’ve said if I was to draw my Marineman style for Batman, it wouldn’t work because Batman’s a dark character. He needs all the spot blacks and cross hatches just to make him look grim and gritty because he is Batman. But for instance if I was to do Captain Marvel for DC, that style would work for him perfectly I think or a variation of it.

How’s the second story arc shaping up?

It’s going well, I’m working all the beats out and breaking it down into issues and I’m really looking forward to it. Now that the origin story is out of the way, it’s what they say in movies once it’s out of the way, you can start telling good stories but I think the origin is a good story! There will be a supernatural underwater menace that Marineman will face, stuff with Jake and his grandfather, oh and Marinegirl pops up but I’m not going to say anything about that!

What is it about the sea you most like?

I just love being underwater. When you’re a kid you get asked what kind of superpower would you like to have? For me it was always to fly or breathe underwater and I’ve always wanted to breathe underwater. When I go scuba diving, I do barrel rolls and looking at the surface and watch the bubbles go up. Just as much as I like looking at fish and going down deep and looking at wrecks and that’s what really appeals to me.