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-

Al n' Ann's Collectibles

Store Hours:
Mon-Thurs
11:00am - 7:00pm
Friday
11:00am - 7:00pm
Saturday
10:00am - 5:00pm
Sunday
Closed

Location
3819 W. Main St.
McHenry,IL 60050

Phone
(815)344-9696

© Al n' Anns Collectibles All Rights Reserved