Today, we celebrate Artist August with one of our favorite artists: Robbi Rodriguez! After great guest spots in “Uncanny X-Force” and “Haunt,” Robbi does one of our favorite webcomics with Frankie Get Your Gun and will be doing the art for an upcoming Vertigo series called “Collider” with Simon Oliver.
Now, before we get into the interview, a spot of clarification for those unaware: in 2008 Robbi was diagnosed with keratoconus, an eye disease that causes continuous damage to the corneas, and Robbi is now considered legally blind. Despite that, however, he has not stopped doing what he loves, and all things considered that’s pretty amazing, especially when you look at the intricacies and nuance of his work, clearly filled to every curve with love and affection for the medium.
We are very proud to present to you the first part of a two-part interview with Robbi today for Artist August. For the first half, we chat with Robbi about his work so far, his thoughts on the industry and his webcomic Frankie Get Your Gun!
Can you look back on your life and recall the single moment or work that made you want to work in comics? Or was it more of a natural progression that led you here?
Robbi Rodriguez: It was more of a natural progression. My father was a collector and I had comics around me all my life and, well, I was drawing for as long as I can remember so it was a matter time before I considered it a real career path.
Who or what has influenced the development of your art the most?
RR: I was drawn to the real cartoonists of our time: Alex Toth, Jack Davis, Will Esiner, Joe Kubert, Wally Wood, David Mazzucchelli. But not just from our shores, I was also enthralled with guys like Katsuhiro Otomo, Akira Toriyama, Jean Giraud, Jordi Bernet. These guys had a life to their work. I hated most of the work that predominated the 90’s. I mean, it just didn’t have the charm, energy, personality, or charisma of that work. It just stuck with me that that’s what cartooning is. It’s not just drawings, it’s bringing that ink and those lines to life.
How does the experience of working on something like “Uncanny X-Force,” a for-hire, Big Two book, compare to working on a creator-owned title like “Collider” for Vertigo? Is there a significant change in that experience, or would you say both experiences are fairly comparable?
RR: Fairly comparable is a bit accurate. Even though they give me a small piece of the IP due to the changes and suggestions I made to the initial pitch Simon turned in, I still consider “Collider” a Big Two book. At the end of the day it’s a Time Warner/Simon Oliver Joint. I can get away with more as I’m building the world, whereas “X-Force” I was house sitting and didn’t want to break anything. It wasn’t out of fear of not getting the callback, but out of respect to Rick, Jerome and Dean on the book they built. It was fun and the highest paycheck I’ve ever gotten over my 9 or 10 years in the business, but it was a gig. I’m not a super fan where I was like “OH BOY, IM WORKING FOR MARVEL/DC,” I’m more of a fan of the medium than the IP’s those companies own. And, well, outside of “Frankie” and “Maintenance,” even what was advertised as creator-owned projects, were just gigs for little to no pay. Even if for some reason I decide to work on a “creator-owned” book again a writer, I would just look at it another gig.
Before we jump into “Collider,” how did working on “Uncanny X-Force” come together? You took the issue after the wrap of a modern classic X-Men story and managed to keep the momentum going.
RR: I think “FGYG” started to get around and I got an e-mail from then-Marvel editor Jody Lehemp and he started sending me over test work, and eventually offered the “X-Force” gig.
As far as keeping the momentum, it was just trying to keep the bridge up and sturdy to the next storyline the boys had planned. It was talking with Rick that kept the trains running on time. I mean, it was taking place during the Marvel editoral shake-up but that book is run like a Remender creator-owned at Image or Dark Horse.
Continued belowSo “Collider.” This book sounds pretty much amazing, and you’re working with Simon Oliver on it. How did the two of you pair up, and what was the creative process for it? Did you come up with the concept together, or did you stick mostly on the development of art and character design standpoint?
RR: Mark Doyle pitched me the book a year ago after NYCC. It sounded interesting but I said no the first time around because an ongoing is a very big commitment, especially since I was and still feel burnt out. But I talked to Mark and Simon and eventually said yes to the project. I added a few ideas too, but I stuck to the Art development. It’s a story Simon wants to tell and I’m just giving him a helping hand by trying to make it as cool as I can.
What is it that appealed to you the most about “Collider?”
RR: It was a chance to work out ideas I wanted to do in the Sci-Fi genre. I wanted to do a book that’s as if Bruce Springsteen and Kurt Vonnegut wrote something and Hideaki Anno was art directing it. This seemed like a project to work on these ideas.
For you as a creator, what part of you does your web project “Frankie Get Your Gun” hit for you? Also, what appeals to you about crafting a web comics?
RR: It hit’s for as — this was project that was going to happen. I need to do something that’s everything I wanted to do. Unlike most guys in the industry, I know I have a finite amount of time due to my eye condition. It’s the only project I will point to someone and say “Go look at that if you are interested in my work. Not my Marvel work, not DC, not Image or Oni, but that book.”
There is a langauge to web comics and I feel it shouldn’t be classified with those great and bad works. Before I got the “Collider” gig or “X-Force,” my plan was to just go away, find a real job and work on “FGYG” at night. I just left Oni Press as I felt I was going nowhere there on the indie scene and I just needed to hit the restart button. Internet publishing was a way to keep my overhead low and to still show it to the small audience I have acquired over the years. But now I think I have figured out that web comic language and when Book 3 is released on the site (frankiegetyourgun.com) it will hopefully show and present the book as nice, small, bite size meals rather than a chopped-up buffet.
Could you see pursuing bringing “Frankie” to print in some way? Maybe a Kickstarter in the future?
RR: It’s in print. I self-publish and you can order directly from the site. Every dollar I bring in, from commissions to my paychecks, goes into FGYG. Kickstarer is nice for some people, but I’d rather put my money where my mouth is and spend it on the work than putting together a pitch. I’m looking at the long term and not a sprint. With FGYG and the buzz it’s gotten, it’s turned my name into a brand and I would like to keep that going and later pay for my next 2 solo projects, which it’s close to doing. Despite how it ended over at Oni, working for Joe Nozemack was the best education I have ever gotten out of biz and how it works outside of sitting at the desk. I had to know every aspect from idea to publishing and I will always be thankful for that time as it truly gave me independence. So no, I dont expect a kickstart for it, nor do I see it going to any publishers outside of my own publishing house.
What would be a dream project for you? Any particular writers you’re dying to work with or titles you’d like to take a stab at? Perhaps a personal project you just want to see come to fruition?
RR: Frankie is one. I have a sci-fi project called Kate Ross I’m mulling over right now (could be a comic or a short film) and I have one more and then I’m calling it a day. I was told from my eye doctor that I may have to retire at 30 and I’m about to hit that in November, and I can feel it. My eyes hurt every morning, my body aches everyday, I can feel both ends of the candle right now. I never had a Batman or FF run in my back-pocket that I always wanted, nor do I have one now. My career is going to end sooner than most and I just would like to get my own dumb ideas out there for me and not someone else for once.
Continued belowDesert Island question: one book, one album, one film and one comic. What do you take with you?
RR: Book: SAS Survival Handbook
Comic: Weird Science Fantasy #29
Movie: The Apartment
Album: The Ramones – The Ramones
Who are your favorite artists working in comics today?
RR: Claire Wendling, Chris Brunner, Andrew Robinson.
Besides more “Frankie” and “Collider,” what projects do you have coming up?
RR: Thats all on concentrating on right now. Later this year Married with Sea Monsters will release “Destrudo,” the Frankie Get Your Gun concept album.
