TOXIC TALK: AN INTERVIEW WITH DARICK ROBERTSON

[Alex Groff]

<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/marvel/0405/TOXIN001COV.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/marvel/0405/TOXIN001COV_T.jpg" align=left alt="Toxin #1"></a>By James Groves, Comix-Fan Assistant Reviews Editor

Darick Robertson has worked on a variety of comic books, ranging from Wolverine, Nightcrawler and Spider-Man, to The Justice League and The New Warriors. His dark and twisted artistic style, keen sense of humour and hard work ethic has made him a popular figure within comicdom. He helped launch Marvel's Max line with the ultra-violent title Fury and co-created the immensely popular Transmetropolitan series with Warren Ellis for the Vertigo imprint. Currently providing the artwork on Nightcrawler, Darick moves onto the much anticipated Toxin series with writer Peter Milligan in the Spring, to showcase his abilities in the Spiderverse. Comix-Fan got in touch with Darick to discuss his life within comics, as well as to talk in-depth about his new title: Toxin.

Comix-Fan: So how’s the guitaring going? Any possibility of seeing Darick Robertson’s face on an album cover soon?

Darick Robertson: Only my family album! I still play from time to time, but nothing worth discussing. Truly.

<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/marvel/spiderman/2005/toxin/WOLVERINE.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/marvel/spiderman/2005/toxin/WOLVERINE_T.jpg" align=right alt="Wolverine Sketch"></a> CXF: When did you make the transition from not only realizing you could draw competently, but realizing you could draw some beautiful pictures as well?

DR: In that regard, I haven't! I was once told by an editor "When you feel you can draw as well as your favorite artist, then you're ready to break in." Well, my favorite artist is Brian Bolland, and I can't draw anywhere near as well as he does. However I felt back in 1988 that I was as good as some of the people I saw being published, so I started putting myself out there taking any job I could get.

CXF: You created, wrote, drew and painted the covers of Space Beaver--a comic book which enabled you to learn the ropes of the comic book business. How would you sum up your time on this Ten Buck Comics comic book?

DR: Well, Ten Buck Comics was entirely Space Beaver. There were no other titles and it died with the Beave. My time there was a learning experience. I made very little money, called in many favors from friends.

CXF: Which artists did you admire whilst you were growing up?

DR: Too many to list, but the short list would be Neal Adams, Brian Bolland, Frank Frazetta, Jose Garcia Lopez, Dave Gibbons, Ross Andru, Joe Kubert, John Byrne, Paul Smith, John Buscema, John Romita Jr., Will Eisner, Gil Kane...

<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/marvel/spiderman/2005/toxin/SKETCH.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/marvel/spiderman/2005/toxin/SKETCH_T.jpg" align=left alt="Wolverine Sketch"></a> CXF: And leading on from that, are there any artists that you base your style on? Are there any artists you enjoy and/or respect the work of today?

DR: All of the above still have definitely had influence on my style. I am a big fan of the work of people whom I'm friendly with like Frank Quitely, Kevin Maguire, Adam Hughes, John Cassaday, Bryan Hitch...

CXF: As an admirer of talented and gifted artists, I have always wondered how you manage to transfer the images in your mind, into the beautiful pictures that we see in the comic books. Is there anyway you can put into words this process?

DR: I suppose if I could do that I would be a writer.

Sometimes, when I'm really tired and have been working many hours I will close my eyes and let my hand move around on the page to rough out what I see in my mind. I do imagine my work as a finished drawing most of the time not a reality somewhere that I try to interpret.

Most of my work is done by drawing it wrong and correcting it as many times as I can before having to give it up to move on. Most of my work is not the final piece I want it to be.

CXF: What feelings do you experience when you draw?

DR: A lot of anxiousness and frustration. I'm nowhere near the artist I want to be and my work doesn't look too good to me, but I know what I can deliver. I'm rarely happy with my own artwork.

<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/marvel/spiderman/2005/toxin/LEAPING.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/marvel/spiderman/2005/toxin/LEAPING_T.jpg" align=right alt="Wolverine Sketch"></a> CXF: In your artwork, we often see you drawing oddballs, villains, sociopaths and anti-heroes. Are you drawn to these character types, or is that what you tend to be offered?

DR: More the latter. I think Transmet really established me as someone who draws dark and twisted stuff well. I also work well with people who have that flavor to their work like Garth Ennis and Warren Ellis.

I tend to try and bring out what the writer gives me and what I read into the project. I'd like to believe I can do a straight up adventure just as well.

CXF: Can you describe to us what your daily routine is like, when you are working on a comic book project?

DR: Every day is sort of the same as far as my routine for work goes. I'm always working.

I have two young sons, one 3 1/2 and the other a new born, so I usually wake up with them and spend some time with them and my wife, having coffee and then I head out to my studio where I answer e-mails and work on my forum. I settle my mind into what I'm doing and get to drawing. Then I draw as much as I can get done before my voucher deadline.

CXF: Do certain projects or characters change your working pattern, or is it pretty much a standard working schedule for yourself each day?

DR: The latter. Some days will be spent just looking up reference for a project I'm on, doing sketches and layouts.

<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/marvel/spiderman/2005/toxin/NIGHTCRAWLER.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/marvel/spiderman/2005/toxin/NIGHTCRAWLER_T.jpg" align=left alt="Nightcrawler Sketch"></a> CXF: There are many artists around today, (such as Bryan Hitch, Frank Quitely and Jim Lee to name but a few) who are generally regarded to be superb pencilers, but are slow producers in terms of their output and find it hard to keep to a strict monthly deadline. What are your thoughts and feelings regarding the perception that slow working artists can damage the impact of a comic book--both in terms of sales figures and storyline intensity--but reader interest too?

DR: I have ambivalent feelings about it. I admire those guys and their work. I've always been a go-to guy to keep a book on time, but my work never looks as good as those guys that take all the time they need.

In the end, the monthly deadline seems sort of stupid to me, since only approximately 150,000+ people end up reading the monthly book at best, but the collections are inevitably going to be where the work gets the largest audience, so it should be the best it can be, but monthly schedules won't permit it. So the small audience is sated and the big audience sees a lesser product.

I've never had the confidence that I was one of those artists that editors would wait for me to get my work in. I spent most of the 90's being the guy they came to when some other artist had slacked off and they needed a book done in a week. I believe my career has been built on my ability to produce.

CXF: As co-creator of Transmetropolitan and Nightman, what was it like to have input in not only the designs of the characters involved, but an input into the storylines as well?

DR: In regards to Transmetropolitan, it was great. In regards to Nightman, I had the unfortunate experience of working with a dishonest person who took credit for my ideas.

<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/marvel/spiderman/2005/toxin/RAGE.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/marvel/spiderman/2005/toxin/RAGE_T.jpg" align=right alt="Wolverine Sketch"></a>CXF: Ripfire was a comic that you wrote and created for Malibu comics. What is it like to make the transition from artist to writer when creating a comic book?

DR: Well, Ripfire was supposed to be my consolation for Nightman. I never got to explore the ideas I had for that series. All I was able to do was lay groundwork and then the company fell into chaos and eventually folded.
I was very excited about writing my own series and only wish I could have taken the project all the way to the conclusion I imagined. Ripfire was going to be a vigilante like Daredevil or Batman, but a nomad as a well, one step ahead of the Government, living in squat houses and burnt out buildings. He was to become something of an Urban Legend. Ultraforce would have word that he was dangerous and be after him as well (They stupidly had him join the team after taking the character away from me) and the Government itself had been infiltrated by the species that his alien guest had escaped.

I never got to go into any of that. I barely got to tell his origin. There were a lot of surprises and twists that I think people would have enjoyed. C'est la vie.

CXF: Do you prefer drawing the interiors of a comic book, or the exteriors (covers) of a comic book instead? How do you approach the two formats?

DR: Ideally, I like to do the covers and interiors, pencils and inks and supervise colors.

<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/marvel/spiderman/2005/toxin/BOMBER.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/marvel/spiderman/2005/toxin/BOMBER_T.jpg" align=left alt="Nightcrawler Sketch"></a> CXF: How would you sum up your time on Transmetropolitan?

DR: A great but chaotic 5 years.

CXF: What was it like to work with Warren Ellis--someone who described you as having the same sick sensibilities as himself?

DR: Wonderful and grueling. A brilliant mind and an impossible schedule to keep. We changed editors at least 8 times but kept the whole creative team together for 55+ issues! Every editor thought that they'd be getting us back on schedule but with Warren's career exploding as we did the series, he was more and more strapped for time. I'd get as little as a week sometimes to get the whole issue penciled. Rodney Ramos and Nathan Eyering got even less time each issue than I did. I'd take on other work to fill in the gaps in time between scripts and have to side line those deadlines to get the most recent issue of Transmet in on time. It was the situation where the book was being widely read in trades but yet we rushed it all the time to keep the editors happy. We needed a hiatus.

I wish we could do that book over again with me holding my ground about inking it myself. Not because Rodney did a bad job by any means, but because time wise I could have devoted more to the book. It was such a great story that I am proud I helped create.

CXF: What’s the possibility of seeing you on a New Warriors related project in the future—a title you worked on with Fabian Nicieza?

DR: We're talking about it. We just don't know what Marvel's interest in that would be. Fabe and I are still good friends and want to find something to do together.

<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/marvel/spiderman/2005/toxin/CROUCH.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/marvel/spiderman/2005/toxin/CROUCH_T.jpg" align=right alt="Nightcrawler Sketch"></a> CXF: You’ve worked on a plethora of comic book characters from Wolverine to Spider-Man and from the Justice League to New Warriors. Which character would you say you enjoyed drawing the most?

DR: I really enjoyed the Justice League when they were funny. Wolverine was my dream book. Those first 5 issues were great to draw, especially issue 5 when I inked myself and he went berserk.

Nightcrawler, my current title has been another dream book. I would like to do something significant with Rogue or the entire X-Men for the official Uncanny title.

CXF: Are there any characters you would like to draw in the future?

DR: Beyond that, I just want to draw the Fantastic Four.

CXF: Coming up soon you have a new mini-series entitled Toxin with Peter Milligan. What is the premise of this new limited series?

DR: It's about Pat Mulligan coming to grips with this thing he's become and his struggle to reign in his symbiote and become a hero. In many ways this change has ruined his life.

CXF: How did you mange to get the art duties for this series?

DR: I was picked by the team putting the book together. Editor Jennifer Lee was the assistant editor on Transmet for almost 2 years and for a while the editor in charge when Axel Alonso left Vertigo for Marvel.

This is her project and she wanted to work with me for my dark sense of humor and my ability to go from drama to bizarre action.

<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/marvel/spiderman/2005/toxin/TOXIN0101.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/marvel/spiderman/2005/toxin/TOXIN0101_T.jpg" align=left alt="Toxin #1"></a> CXF: From an artistic perspective, what is it about Toxin that will make readers buy this book?

DR: I'm really getting to know him myself right now, so it's hard for me to say. I like it because there's a little bit of The Incredible Hulk and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to the story.

I took the job to work with Peter Milligan. I was a big fan of his Tangled Webs stories and especially X-Statix.

CXF: What characters will we see you draw in this series?

DR: Some rare and fringe super villains like Mister Hyde. Spider-man is making appearances as well.

CXF: How have you approached drawing Toxin—a relatively new character in the Marvel Universe?

DR: I like to make him very flexible, almost like he's morphing all the time. His face takes on extreme expressions as he reflects what his human host who's maintaining control is feeling. I remembered that when Peter Parker was first wearing the symbiote suit, he didn't know the difference, and he just looked like Spider-man in a different costume. He didn't look like Eddie Brock in the big extreme Venom gator-mouthed behemoth form. I figure with Pat Mulligan, a former NY cop, he's struggling between these two forms. So depending on how out of control Pat is getting, it will reflect in his form as Toxin. Of course Clayton Crain has laid all the ground work for Toxin's look with his debut in Venom/Carnage, so I'm also implementing his designs.

CXF: Finally, have you got any new projects or comic books coming up in the future, aside from Toxin?

DR: Nightcrawler is continuing on and between that and Toxin I'll be pretty busy!

Toxin #1 is due out from Marvel comics this April.

'Buy Toxin online now from X-WORLD and save!’

[evilomar]

Great interview. Been a fan of Robertson since he was a regular artist on New Warriors.

[jota]

Great interview! I really love that Wolverine leaping image! Darick is a great artist, one of my favorites!

[KenB3]

That's cool, I really like Robertson on Nightcrawler. I'm not a big Milligan fan, though, so I don't know about Toxin. Another symbiote? But Robertson is someone I'll watch.

[Mitch Brown]

Without trying to take away anything from JRJR, I really, really miss Robertson and Rucka's Wolverine and seeing Darick's sketches only remind me of that fact

[jota]

Originally Posted by Mitch Brown

Without trying to take away anything from JRJR, I really, really miss Robertson and Rucka's Wolverine and seeing Darick's sketches only remind me of that fact

Me too.

[Hotknife86]

A class act. And he's a Rogue fan. I always had a feeling... He managed to even work her into and issue of NEW WARRIORS waaaaaaaay back when.

[*Diablo*]

Excellent interview.

Darick is an inspired artist and his current take on Nightcrawler leaves me breathless.
I'm not a big Spidey's-evil-symbiotes-nemesis's fan, but with him and Milligan aboard, I'm sure it's worth a try.
I really enjoyed his sketches, here.

[MercWithaMouth]

Great interview, greats pics.

[Dermie]

Originally Posted by Hotknife86

A class act. And he's a Rogue fan. I always had a feeling... He managed to even work her into and issue of NEW WARRIORS waaaaaaaay back when.

Well, to be fair, he didn't exactly "work her in"--it was an Infinity War tie-in, with cameos by all of the X-Men, X-Factor, Avengers (East and West), Fantastic Four, Alpha Flight, etc. But I suppose it might say something that with that large gathering of heroes, she was one of the ones to squeeze her way on panel.

Anyway, I would LOVE to see Darick and Fabian back together on a Warriors project!! I know that there is supposed to be a Zeb Wells/Skottie Young NEW WARRIORS book coming later this year....but hopefully they could find a way to do the Niceiza/Robertson project too!!!

[James Groves]

I think the design for TOXIN is really cool, i love it. Looks gorgeous the artwork. Lets hope the story is as good--although with Milligan there's every chance it will be. Have been slightly disapointed with Milligan's mainstream stuff recently though, but will definitely pick TOXIN up.

[Vyns]

Well Toxin is PM's own character, I might even goes as far as creator owned. So he can pretty much do whatever he wants with him without any fanboys saying "He would never say anything like that", "He only doesn't eat fish" or "Man, he's got that accent all wrong". So in that sense, it'll be good if no one has these preconceived views on the character.

Mr. Robertson's art is awsome, but I wonder if esad ribic will do all the covers. God, I love that man's paintings.