CANVASSING THE COSMOS

Interview With Wes Craig

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #24
WES CRAIG ART

Readers were introduced to Wes Craig with Guardians of the Galaxy #11 and 12, two issues that took place within Oblivion's realm. Craig would continue to do the universe-hopping, time-spanning issues of Guardians with events culminating in Guardians of the Galaxy #19, arguably the best and most controversial issue of the series.

With the recently announced Thanos Imperative set to explode this May, Cosmic Book News caught up with Wes Craig as he recently told us about himself, discussed his work on Guardians, DnA, and what he has in store for the future.

Cosmic Book News: Thanks for taking the time out to answer our questions, Wes!

No problem.

Cosmic Book News: Can you tell us about yourself? How did you get involved in drawing comics and with the industry?

This is the most adorable story you'll ever hear. But, I was born and raised in Montreal and I've been reading and drawing comics since I was a little kid. I always loved them. It's what I've always wanted to do; when I was in elementary school I wrote a report about what I would do when I grew up and I wrote that I'd draw comics for DC and Marvel.

In college, I entered a program in illustration and design and soon I first started sending away samples to the major comic companies by mail.

I know that makes me sound like an old geezer, but this was just before the internet. Now the internet is a major tool for getting people to look at your stuff.

From there, I began to see a progression in the response. First, I received form letters telling me I wasn't good enough, and later I would receive personally written notes from some editors telling me "You aren't quite there yet but you are on the right track." And finally, I would stand in line-ups, with my portfolio at the San Diego Comic-Con. I just kept at it, y'know?

Then after a few years of that, out of the blue, I got an email from Matt Idelson at DC Comics and he offered me a job from the samples he's seen of my work. So my first job ever professionally was for a major publisher, I was really lucky with that, but it still took a lot more work before I was on solid ground in this industry.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #24
WES CRAIG ART

So many, and they change as I go, but there are some that are always on the list. Such as, Mike Mignola, Will Eisner, Frank Miller, Moebius, Walt Simonson, Jeff Smith, I'm currently discovering Harvey Kurtzman's old war comics which are starting to be a big influence.

Outside of comics I'm influenced by early commercial illustrators like J.C. Leyendecker and Norman Rockwell, and by Art Nouveau; Gustav Klimpt, Egon Scheille, Alphonsa Mucha.

Cosmic Book News: Do you enjoy working on the more cosmic space-type books such as Guardians of the Galaxy and even Timestorm? Issue #19 was absolutely fabulous by the way and you got to kill off half the team!

Yeah, I have a few genres that I feel really comfortable drawing and one of them is Sci-fi. I love being able to create whole planets from my imagination.

As for killing off half the cast in #19, I have to admit, I took some kind of sick pleasure in that.

I knew it would shock the audience because when I read the script I thought, "Damn, that's a whole lotta death right there!"

Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, those guys are crazy.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #24
WES CRAIG ART

Cosmic Book News: Speaking of which, your art depicting the real fate of the "dead" members in Guardians of the Galaxy #23 was beautiful. How did you feel about these characters springing back to life in this manner? Did you know this was in the works by DnA when Cosmo, et al were "killed" by Magus, a story you also illustrated?

I didn't know this was in the works and at first I was a bit disappointed because I like when the dead stay dead.

But when I read the rest of the story, I saw it was all part of a bigger plan and it made sense within the story.

Also, let's be honest, DnA killed half the team. That was pretty drastic. So it was probably a good idea to bring them back!

Cosmic Book News: That double spread of Magus' torture chamber and final page with a savage Phyla and leering Gamora were fantastic. As a comic book artist, does the script influence your mapping out of a story, do you work with writers like DnA on such powerful scenes or are we seeing a totally Wes Craig interpretation?

No, it's all about taking the story Dan and Andy give me and trying to deliver the actions and the emotions as clearly as possible. I come up with the visuals for the settings in the script but again, hopefully those setting serve the purpose of the story.

Cosmic Book News: You have been working on Guardians awhile now. Any favorite characters and/or scenes (an outside view of Knowhere, Starlin's, the Fault, etc.) you particularly like and why?

I really like Martyr, I like her design, and I like her as a character. Also, I have a soft spot for the original Captain Marvel. (I still have a sticker of him from when I was a little kid which I keep hanging on to for some reason.)

I love Rocket Raccoon. I don't really love drawing animals but I love drawing Rocket for some reason.

As for scenes, I think my favorite was the scene in the future with Killraven; classic post-apocalyptic New York City.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #24
WES CRAIG ART

You've done your research, my friend! And yeah, I redesigned Maelstrom, and I did the little tweaks on the original Guardians,

As for the freedom Marvel gave me, I tried to stick close to the original feel of the characters, nothing too drastic, and Marvel was pretty cool with what I gave them. I did one or two versions on each. Redesigns are always fun.

Cosmic Book News: Do you have any particular favorite character or book that you want to work on that you haven't? What about a favorite comic character or story in general?

There are a few characters that I've always wanted to work on such as Thor, the Hulk, Superman, the Flash and Hellboy are a few that come to mind.

And I love Jack Kirby's New Gods, especially Mister Miracle.

Cosmic Book News: With Guardians of the Galaxy going on hiatus to make way for The Thanos Imperative: Ignition this May, what's next for Wes Craig?

I just finished Guardians #24 a little while ago and since then I've been working on my creator-owned series for Wildstorm and I'll be completely focused on that for the foreseeable future. It takes me out of the spotlight for a while but it's a labor-intensive labor of love so I need to put my nose to the grindstone and get it done.

Cosmic Book News: Can you share with us any details about your creator owned project with Wildstorm?

It's a fantasy series, demons, magic, stuff like that. I can't really talk about the central story of it all until it's closer to coming out but I can say that I'm writing it, drawing it, coloring and lettering it and I created it. And I'm putting my blood, sweat and tears into this thing, so I hope people takes a chance on it.

I'd like to get it out for very end of 2010 but no guarantees; I've got a little ways to go! [LAUGHS]

Cosmic Book News: Can you tell us what happens at the end of LOST? [laughs]

Jack wakes up from a dream and he's on the set of "Dallas."

Cosmic Book News: Thanks for your time, Wes!

Head on over http://mojoblender.blogspot.com/ where Wes has up exclusive Guardians of the Galaxy roughs, pencils, inks, colors, character designs and more!

Be sure to pick up Guardians of the Galaxy #24 on sale March 17th!