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Backstage - Interviews - Kelsey Shannon
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Interview Directory
• Shannon Brings His Style to Batman Adventures #15
Shannon Brings His Style to Batman Adventures #15 - by
Jim Harvey
Kelsey Shannon joined the animation industry when it called him
away from his career in the comic business. After working on
such popular series as Jimmy Neutron and G.I. Joe,
Shannon felt confined working under the limited vision of
various projects, and, with a little help from his friends,
found himself back in the world of comics. With his most recent
project, Batman Adventures #15, on the way, he talked to
Toon Zone on how he got back into the comic book business.
"I ran across Mike Oeming's email address and sent him some of
my work, and he liked it," says Shannon. "So Mike and I, along
with the visionary talent of Miles Gunter, created Bastard
Samurai. After that I did an X-Men thing, and I've
been the cover artist for Batman Adventures since issue
#5. It’s been a real dream come true for me."
Not only is Shannon a major fan of the animated comics, but Mr.
Freeze is one of his favorite characters from the animated
series.
"My favorite episode is ‘Heart of Ice,’" he says. "The way they
portrayed Freeze was very moving. I felt his pain. That sounds
really goofy, but that just shows you they were on the right
track with that show.
"Brian Stelfreeze says often that Batman Adventures is
the only true Batman worth a damn, and I would have to agree,"
says Shannon. "Now I think it's great that the one issue I get
to draw is a Mr. Freeze story."
Luck played a hand in Shannon getting the assignment. He didn’t
request a Freeze story, he says, he just happened to be offered
the tale.
But doing the interior artwork wasn’t as easy as he thought it’d
be. The animated series' popular designs and styles aren’t the
easiest to translate onto page.
"Man, I got to tell ya, if anyone thinks drawing in that style
is easy, then they're either truly gifted or full of crap," he
says. "It's really only good for conservative angles because
once you start going nuts with the camera, the style starts to
break down. The hardest part was staying consistent throughout
the whole issue."
Shannon was thankful the style featured in the comics was
similar to the work he did with Oeming years ago on the
Bastard Samurai comic. Shannon says he had to make sure to
stay on model, and though he’s not entirely sure he pulled it
off, he believes fans will be pleased with his artwork.
"Fans probably expect to see what I've been doing on the
covers," says Shannon. "But since the covers are a solo effort
and the interiors are a collaboration with another artist, it
will look closer to what the reader has come to expect from
Batman Adventures."
And now, with Batman Adventures coming to an end, Shannon
plans to spread out.
"I've moved on to do covers for H-E-R-O, following Jason
Pearson and John Van Fleet," he reveals. "I'm working on a
five-issue series for Wildstorm due out sometime next year. You
can also see random covers I do for creators over at Image."
Interview
originally appeared on Toon Zone News on
June 17th, 2004.
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