One of my earliest jobs drawing was 'Wonder Woman: Our Worlds At War,' with Phil Jimenez, which was a really cool jaunt through her history. I got to draw this two-page spread that was set in the Golden Age.
— Cliff Chiang
To be honest, my first instinct when I heard about the 'Greendale' project was that it was a licensing thing. As I learned more about the project, I saw how pure it was.
One of my favorite comics is 'Love and Rockets' by the Hernandez Brothers. They do such a wonderful job of showing you how the character of Maggie ages and really doesn't present that with any kind of judgment.
A lot of times we look at the past as something that was really great, but we ignore things that have actually gotten better since then.
There is a tendency for the New Gods to work best as guest stars.
Ditko isn't a direct influence, but I really admire his work and how his personality always comes through the drawing. There's a honest and quirky humanity to it, and you always feel the artist behind the comic. That's really rare.
Everybody has said or done the wrong thing and regretted it later, but at the time, you really couldn't help it! As you get older, you're more guarded, but that's a really tough process of learning, to be brutally honest, about some things and keeping your mouth shut about others.
'Paper Girls' in 1900 would be really cool. The girls could ride those old bicycles with the giant front wheel!
Each book requires a different look. Sometimes I get to take a personal direction that's appropriate for the story. I try to push things within a range. Some are rougher, some more expressionistic, some are slicker graphically and call for a prettier drawing style that I can do. Some have a more classical vibe, and some are in between.
Paul Smith's artwork was so elegant and so graphic, so I think that's always had a strong effect on me, especially starting out.
After a couple of years at Vertigo, I realized that if I was going to be a professional artist, I'd have to devote myself to it full time, so I ended up leaving my job there and went freelance.
What I've been trying to do with my art, which has been feeling very graphically sharp - to soften it up and make it feel more hand-done.
I'm really happy that more and more people are making their own comics. I remember how daunting it was for me to just put pen to paper, page by page, until you had a finished comic, but the way new creators are doing that and bravely bringing their unique voices and experiences to their work is really inspiring.
The '80s were a really different time for kids. Technology has changed so much of how we stay in touch and keep tabs on people. Back then, as a kid, you could really just do whatever you wanted until your parents got home.
One of the funny things about Wonder Woman is that everybody does love her. She does win everybody over at some point.
The New Gods really need to be larger than life. There's an operatic quality to them, and they need to be handled pretty carefully, or else you'll go too far and be almost like a caricature.
Wonder Woman feels like she's been put on a pedestal for so long, and it's hard to write that character because they're perfect and they can't do anything wrong.
I feel like we're always learning about ourselves, but at twelve, you're learning big things that shape your identity.
Really, subtlety is what is really important to me and my work.
I'm always changing my style.
Something like 'Dr. Thirteen,' which features no big characters, was probably the most fun thing I've worked on because the story was so great, and it was written so well.
Comics and music have historically had a pretty dicey relationship.
I guess you could blame it on being raised by comics and television, but I've always loved robots in any shape or size.
What I like about 'Paper Girls' in particular is that, because we're approaching it more from a female perspective, we're able to consider the emotional states of these characters a little bit more and think more of their interiority.
You want, whenever you're telling a story, to have a certain amount of range, and you want to be able to take the audience on that ride with you.
What impresses me the most about DC characters is how long a lot of them have been around.
I've always preferred comics that really rely on visual storytelling. It's what makes comics special. Otherwise, you're better off reading a novel.
If the reader doesn't care or relate to the characters, all that visual spectacle is pretty but feels empty.
I don't like to be pigeon-holed.
I do all my coloring on PhotoShop - it's good and bad: It helped refine my color, but I do miss the texture and organic quality of the traditional.
'Human Target' was probably one of the best projects I ever worked on - that and 'Dr.Thirteen.' I just appreciated how smart Peter Milligan's writing is. It was smart and entertaining.
