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THE 2004 CHICAGO WIZARD WORLD GAVE ME THE OPPORTUNITY
TO INTERVIEW SOME OF TODAYS UP AND COMING GREATS, ONE OF WHICH IS
ERIC POWELL (CREATER, WRITTER, ARTIST) OF “THE GOON”.
DESPITE BEING OVERRUN WITH SKETCH REQUESTS HE WAS GRACIOUS ENOUGH
TO GIVE ME AN INTERVIEW.
ERIC POWELL INTERVIEW
DANIEL:
What inspired the creation of “The Goon”? Old monster
movies...horror comic books?
ERIC:
Yeah, old monster movies and the fact that their the kind of things
that I like to draw, ya know and that's always been monsters and kind
of weird things, stuff like that. I just wanted to do something that
I would have fun drawing all the time, I don’t like drawing
the typical pretty people in pretty places kind of thing, I like a
kind of murky kind of atmosphere, like in the old Universal movies
and things like that….and BIG monsters and BIG ugly people,
ya know…it just kind of came from all the stuff I like to draw
and I kind of mushed it together to make the “The Goon”.
DANIEL: Have you had any kind
of formal art training?
ERIC:
No, it’s all just been self taught. I was thinking about going
to art college, just didn’t go. I have a pretty good eye on
picking up technique and experimenting and things like that and working
at it
DANIEL: What were you doing
before “The Goon”?
ERIC: I was actually
working in comics for quite a while, I was doing odds and ends kind
of stuff. I did some work on the “Buffy the vampire slayer”
comics for “Dark Horse”, did “Star Wars”,
I did some inking for “Marvel”. It was pretty much odds
and ends kind of stuff and I would do any kind of art, I would paint
motor cycle helmets and any kind of side jobs…designing t-shirts…any
kind of side jobs that would allow me to keep doing some kind of art
to made a living.
DANIEL: Has “The Goon”
been well received?
ERIC: Oh Yeah,
I’m shocked at how well it’s been received. I’ve
been getting just a continuous flow of positive feed back and I’m
so scared that there’s going to be this backlash of everyone’s
going to realize how it sucks…heh, it’s just my paranoia,
ya know. It’s been in “Entertainment Weekly”, “The
Hollywood Reporter” and all this mainstream kind of stuff as
well as “Wizard” and all the comic web sites and everything
and I’m just really shocked at the response it’s gotten.
I would have never thought that this book would be received the way
it has.
DANIEL: You’re with “Dark
Horse” now, but you were self publishing before........
ERIC:
Yeah, I was self publishing before we went to “Dark Horse”,
I had a good working relationship with Scott Ally, because I worked
with him on the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” book and he
kind of got it pushed through “Dark Horse”, kind of started
putting it under peoples noses and Mike Richardson really liked it
and said “we gotta do this book”, and then they pick it
up, it’s been really good working with those guys.
DANIEL: Do you have any kind
of overall story that you want to progress through or is it more of
a stand alone, one after another?
ERIC: I have ideas
in mind that are going to continue like a “China Town”
story that I hint at A LOT in the book, it’s defiantly building
towards that, but at the same time I want “The Goon” to
be anything that I want to do at that moment, because that’s
the way it’s going to stay fun, so I have ideas that I’m
building towards, but at the same time in between I’m like “well
I want to do this story” and then I can throw it in there. It’s
a mixture of the two.
DANIEL: How was working with
Mike Mignola on the “Hellboy/Goon” crossover?
ERIC: It was great.
He’s a really neat guy. We didn’t have too much interaction,
it was kind of like he came up with an idea and said “hey what
do ya think about this” for them to get together kind of thing
and then I’m like “yeah, that would be a good way to do
it” and then we kind of like went off in our separate directions
and did our own thing. The body of the story is mine, but he added
dialog for “Hellboy”, and all of the intro and ending
is all his. We were kind of like this is a good way to get them together
and then we did our own thing. I was really flattered that he liked
the book enough to just go “o.k., yeah throw Hellboy in there
and do whatever the hell you want”. It was really flattering
to be able to work with him like that.
DANIEL: Has “The Goon”
been optioned for a movie yet?
ERIC: No, but
Dark Horse’s entertainment division is representing it for me
and that’s about all there is to that, they are shopping it
around. There’s been some interest, but there’s nothing
to speak of yet.
DANIEL: You’re dream
cast…who would you have for the movie?
ERIC: Umm….every
time I hear his voice I’m thinking “God, it’s The
Goon”,….. Brad Garrett from “Everybody Loves Raymond”
….and he’s a big guy too, I’m like put a little
make-up on him and he would be “The Goon”!
DANIEL: Any other projects
besides “The Goon” coming up?
ERIC: I’m
just focusing on this; I might do some cover work here and there.
I just want to keep “The Goon” out there because I don’t
think that there’s anything else that would really be as much
fun to do. I could try to do some work for hire, but I just want to
do “The Goon”, I’m having too much fun to stop and
go do something else.
AND WITH THAT FINAL ANSWER A SEAL
WEARING ONLY A FEZ CAP ESCORTED ME TO DOOR. -DANIEL-
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Al n'
Ann's Collectibles
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McHenry,IL 60050
Phone
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