PD: You had great love for Daredevil as you
had worked on it for a few years before Frank joined
it.
KJ: I have a tremendous amount of affection for the
character, ever since DD # 1. To get to work on
the book was a geek dream come true. And to have the
amount of artistic freedom that Frank and I had was
unique. I am very happy to have been part of that run.
I think it’s every bit as good now as it was 20
years ago. It was a high water mark for both of us.
PD: You’ve worked quite a bit with John Romita,
Jr. as well.
KJ: Yes, we did Spiderman: The Lost Years,
the first Batman/Punisher team-up, Punisher: War
Zone and then Thor. Lots of good work in
those comics. I would be hard pressed to pick my
favorite, but I think it might be Thor. I enjoy
the hell out of inking John’s pencils. Great fun.
PD: What did you think of the Elektra book?
KJ: I thought it wasn’t very good. I felt Bendis,
who is a wonderful writer, didn’t get the character
right. And Chuck Austen was miscast. Elektra is a
beautiful woman with graceful and fluid moves. The art
was a bit too stiff to capture that part of her.
PD: I had an off-the-record conversation with one
of the biggest artists in comics. I don’t want to
say his name. He said that the biggest problem with
comic art right now is that the coloring is better
than the art. How do you feel about that?
KJ: I understand his point. The recent
technological advances in comics has increased the
influence that coloring has over the art. A bad
coloring job, no matter what reproductive process is
used, will kill a good art job. In some ways, I think
the use of computer coloring has made it easier to
kill a job. Having said that, though, it’s also made
it easier to save a bad art job. So it cuts both ways.
My fear is that artists will rely more on the coloring
to tell a story than working harder on their own
craft.
PD: What was it like on Stan Lee Just Imagine
Aquaman inking over Scott McDaniel’s pencils?
KJ: Lotsa’ fun. He’s a fun penciler to ink. I
love the way he creates eye movement within the
readers through his layouts. He’s real good.
PD: You illustrated Ray Bradbury’s Frost and
Fire. What was it like doing such a classic story?
Did you get to meet with Bradbury?
KJ: Oh no, the deal was between DC and myself. I do
still have his name on my rolodex, though [laughs].
PD: When I was reading The DC Comics Guide to
Penciling Comics, I didn’t think you would
mention one of my favorite works of yours, but you did
- The Batman Gothic by Grant Morrison
[reprinting Legends of the Dark Knight #6 to
10]. You had said that was one of your favorites or
one of the most satisfying. What is your favorite work
you’ve done?
KJ: Usually it’s the work where I’ve had the
most input. Gothic I penciled and inked. In
addition I had Steve Buccellato coloring the pages on
a page next to me so I had a great deal of input into
that aspect of the book. The Batman Black and White
I wrote, penciled and inked and so on. I find as the
level of involvement increases so does my enthusiasm
and commitment. And I have to say the Batman series I’m
working on now with Greg Rucka is probably my favorite
at the moment.
PD: Did you and Grant work together while you were
in New York and he was overseas?
KJ: Yes. Lucky for me I found out quickly that he
was a very good writer. I don’t think I changed
anything in the script. He has a keenly developed
sense of visual storytelling. It’s not uncommon to
get a script that needs some tweaking in the
storytelling. Not everything that works in words and
sentences works visually. But he never needed any of
that.
PD: I think the first book I read of yours that I
remember you drew anyway was Daredevil #196
with the Wolverine appearance. What was it like taking
over Daredevil after such a popular run with
Frank Miller?
KJ: It wasn’t a smart thing to do. I thought I
had more to say but I found out I didn’t. I was
burnt out anyway and after a certain point, each issue
was worse than the last. There was no way anyone was
going to look after the run Frank and I had. I should’ve
left at the same time.
PD: What do you think of everything that’s
going on at Marvel?
KJ: I’m watching it from a distance right now,
but I think they’ve accomplished some very
impressive changes in the company. The majority of the
books they’ve been publishing have been very
entertaining. Within all of that there are probably
some policy and editorial decisions that I wouldn’t
have made, but, hey, I’m not in those shoes. I give
them a lot of credit for the energy they’ve brought
to the comics. I think The Ultimates is just
about the best super hero book being published right
now. I’ve been involved with several long projects
at DC so I feel a bit like the outsider looking in.
PD: What else are you working on?
KJ: Well, there’s one thing I’d like to
mention. I’m on the Board of Directors of the Museum
of Cartoon and Comic Art, or MOCCA for short. We’re
approaching our first year anniversary and things have
been going very well. We held our first convention in
the Puck Building a few weeks ago, and it was a big
success. There’s a very, very good chance that we
may soon be able to establish a permanent space for
the museum here in New York. Hopefully we can be part
of the redevelopment of downtown New York. So I work
with the President of the Board, Lawrence Klein, and
the rest of the Board to get to the point when NY will
have a permanent cartoon and comic book museum.
I want to develop some educational programs using
comics. We’d love to initiate some outreach programs
in the five boroughs. It would be great to get kids
involved in something that gets them excited about
reading. And as we all are aware, when educational
funding gets cut, it’s the arts programs that get
cut. It would be great to expose students to the
possibilities of artistic and visual expression.
