The World's Finest Presents
MAIN • CHARACTERS • GUIDES • MEDIA • REVIEWS • BACKSTAGE • RELEASES • DISCUSSION
BACKSTAGE - INTERVIEWS
No stranger to the "animated comics" line of DC Comics, now dubbed
Johnny DC, Christopher Jones has become a recognized name in the
industry. The current artist for The Batman Strikes!, the comic based on the hit
series The Batman, Jones returns for his fourth Q & A session where he talks about how he has
evolved as an artist, his work on The Batman Strikes, and much more!.
The
World's Finest (WF): The Batman Strikes #44 brings us the first
appearance of Superman in the comic, and he'll be the first of many
superheroes dropping by to visit Batman. What's your thoughts on Superman
and how did you approach the character for this issue?
Christopher Jones (CJ): I love Superman, and it's certainly a thrill to
put the two big icons into action together. It's really not hard to contrast
Batman and Superman visually. I see Batman as all crouching and stealthy -
very panther-like. Superman is very upright and is just a column of power.
He leads with his chest.
WF: The fifth season of The Batman brought a host of heroes to
his universe. Do you think that Batman operates better by himself (or just
with his immediate sidekicks), or is it necessary to bring in all of these
super (and not-so-super) powered characters like Green Lantern and The
Flash?
CJ:I love teaming Batman up with other characters. One of my favorite
comic series growing up was the Batman team-up era of Brave and the
Bold, primarily by Bob Haney and Jim Aparo. But those stories don't
leave as much room for the rest of Batman's supporting cast, so you don't
want to do team-ups all the time. From what I'm seeing, the team-ups in the
comic will only be occasional, so I don't think there are any worries there.
I'm just looking forward to getting to draw new characters!
WF: I can only imagine you're thrilled at the chance to draw more of
DC's big heroes in the The Batman style, including both heroes we've
seen on the series and characters who haven't popped in yet. Is this
intimidating, as an artist, to have all these new characters coming in?
CJ: I don't think it's intimidating - it's fun! Especially drawing the
characters who haven't already appeared on the TV show, as I get to do my
own design for them.
WF: Now, to get back to Superman, you've drawn in him, among other
heroes, in a host of different styles - your own, the DCAU-style, and
the The Batman style. Is it difficult to have to master these
different types of styles, staying true to them yet keeping a hint of your
own personal style?
CJ: One of the big challenges with a book like this is to keep the
characters "on model" with the animation deigns, but still make the book
your own and put enough of your own style into so that it has some life and
doesn't look like you were just robotically copying model sheets. I think
I've been more and more successful with that as The Batman Strikes
has progressed. The challenge of doing that for the Superman cast of
characters isn't really any different than any of
the Batman characters I deal with month in and month out, but it certainly
made for an enjoyable change of pace!
WF: In the past few months, your artwork has popped up in Justice
League Unlimited as the title finally printed a host of stories you
pencilled meant for Justice League Adventures nearly five years ago.
When you look at those issues and your new issues of The Batman Strikes,
do you notice an evolution in your style, how you draw, and an overall
improvement? Have you noticed mistakes you used to make then that you no
longer make now?
CJ:I think my work has improved after going on four years of drawing
The Batman Strikes every month, but a direct comparison between my Justice
League Adventures work and The Batman Strikes is difficult not
only because of story content but because of the fact than in each book I'm
trying to work with very different styles of character design. I'm just
happy to have two issues of work finally see print, especially the
Beetle/Booster issue which was my favorite issue of the book I ever worked
on - just slightly beating out the Phantom Stranger story I did.
WF: Naturally, you've heard of The Batman coming to an end
this past season. Any comments on the impression the series left on you and
why you'll miss it?
CJ: The economics of animation makes it very unlikely for any
animated series to go past five seasons these days, so it wasn't a shock
that season five was the last. It was in a very difficult position to be the
first Batman animated series after the Alan Burnett/Bruce Timm version (with
all it's sequels and spin-offs), which means it was being compared directly
to what is arguably the best animated adventure series of all time. Between
that and the fact that it was intentionally designed to reach a younger
audience, it never got looked at objectively by a lot of fans. If it had
come on in the years following the Superfriends, Bat-fans would have
been doing cartwheels. I think it will be interesting to see how perception
of the series changes as more time goes by.
WF: And, of course, out with the old, in with the new, Batman: The
Brave and The Bold was officially announced last week, and initial
artwork was also released. Any thoughts on the early design work and
comments on the general approach the series will be taking?
CJ:I haven't seen any more on this than what's on line, and it's hard
to judge from the early press release and an early promotional image. It
looks like a less dark take on the character, but I'm curious to see what
the actual tone will be.
WF: As we wrap this up, can you tell us why fans should pick up The
Batman Strikes #44? Also, any hints to keep the fans coming back in the
coming months as The Batman Strikes works its way to the landmark
50th issue?
CJ: The Batman Strikes #44 dramatically expands Batman's world
from what we've previously seen, and there's tons of iconic moments in a
great adventure story. Bruce Wayne meets the staff of the Daily Planet!
Batman confronts Bruno Mannheim and Intergang! Jimmy Olson's signal watch!
The two greatest icons in comics together!
Coming in future issues:
#45 - Batgirl teams up with Catwoman and Harley Quinn to save Poison
Ivy!
#46 - Killer Croc in love!
#47 - Batman has 20 minutes and 20 pages to stop Black Mask and the
Joker!
#48 - Batman and Green Lantern vs Mr. Freeze!
The World's Finest would like to thank Christopher Jones for his
participation in this Q & A. To check out more of the pages that
Christopher Jones provided, check out our Backstage. Past works include Justice League
Adventures, Young Heroes In Love, Kolchak, and a host
of DC specials.To find out more about Christopher Jones, please
visit his official website.
[Back to Backstage]
Check out much more at The World's Finest.
The Batman and all characters and related indicia are (c) and TM of their respective owners. Original content, copyright The World's Finest. Contact us.
Follow The World's Finest on
Twitter - Facebook - YouTube
|