In addition to the previous Artist August-centric interview with Robbi, we’ve also got a look behind the scenes of one of our favorite Image books, “Haunt,” of which Robbi recently did a guest spot on with issue #25. Bringing Mirage back into the game and featuring the debut of the Insect King, the issue is a great entry to Joe Casey and Nate Fox’s run on the book.
Today we chat about bugs, character design and yes, that scene.
Haunt #22 saw John Lucas hopping in for a Still Harvey Tubman story, and now with #25 you come in to bring Mirage back into the fray. How did the opportunity come about for you to join Joe and Nate in their run?
Robbi Rodriguez: Nathan was a fan of my work and contacted me about the fill-in solo stories they where doing on the book. He told what they where doing with the book as a whole and I thought it was a fun take on the title. Then they mentioned that John Lucas was doing one before mine and that just sealed the deal. John is one of the most underrated cartoonist working today, nad was also the first pro I met one-on-one who placed my foot in the door back in 2001/2002.
What was your experience, if any, with the book previous to your issue?
RR: I never read the book, but I just don’t read much at all anymore really. That’s just due to how bad my eyes are and they take a pounding with my day to day work schedule. Reading for enjoyment has gone the way of dodo bird and my night-driving. I just knew it was a Kirkman/McFarlane project and he looked like Spawn crossed with spiderman, but I also knew if Nathan and Joe were hyped to work on the book, then there has to be something more to it then just that.
Series regular Nate Fox did the bookends, offering up a segue between this issue and the regular story and delivering a good mesh between both of your particular artistic sensibilities. Was there any artistic collaboration between you and him at all for the visual aesthetics of the issue?
RR: Outside of a “Hey I’m doing the 1st few pages and the last” from Fox, none at all. We both were working on such tight deadlines. I turned in my X-Force issue and started on Haunt the following hour. Nathan and Joe knew what I brought to the table, and I feel the trust was there from those cats that a more detailed chat was not needed. Also, Nathan and I have a similar taste, aesthetic and storytelling education, so we knew it would not be a styles clash at all.
Joe Casey often talks about his collaboration with artists being similar to a jam band session, utilizing “the Mighty Marvel Method” on books like Godland and Officer Downe. For this particular issue, what was the collaboration for you two like?
RR: Much like with X-Force, I couldn’t change that much into the collaboration on a fill-in as I feel like I’m house sitting. I don’t want to be the guy who breaks the toilet and then jets. The “Jam band” analogy is a great one to use (I use it frequently as well) as that’s what a comic should be. One guy has to play rhythm while the other takes the lead. Joe writes for the illustrator. He shot me an email asking how I like to work and what I like to do, so he gave a few spots to solo while the tale he and Fox are telling keeps beat.
Getting more into the specifics of the issue, lets talk the heroine: Mirage. She was one of the original characters to the book, but has been missing for sometime. Now she’s back with a vengeance, a less T&A approach to her design and a sleeker, more realistic spy outfit. When re-imagining Mirage for your issue, what did you use as inspiration for this redesign?
RR: Yeah, her design was a bit too much T&A for my taste so when I designed the jump suit, I think more practical than realistic. Realism is a bit dull for a capes book. The suit was influenced by the ones in Neon Genesis Evangelion and Metal Gear Solid. I also practice combat sports to get a break from the Cintiq and no matter what’s between your legs, when you’re about to be in a fight, you want to be covered and padded. But at the same time its a comic, so it has to look cool as well.
Continued belowA hot topic right now in comics is the representation of women in comics, but nothing about this issue features Mirage in any kind of exploitative light. You pretty much nail the perfect balance for her. For you as an artist, how do you toe that line between having a character who is ostensibly sexy versus some kind of plastic figure?
RR: Thats more of actually studying the human figure and studying what each type of figure can and can not do. Let’s be honest here, the plastic Barbie look is a remnant of a time when 12 year old boys were using the books as jerk martial and that was a call from the higher ups to sell more books. Now that they have the internet for that and that audience is finally dying out, I feel artists should show what a combat ready look for a female should look like. They look like athletes. Not body builders, athletes. A 120-30 lbs athlete could kick the shit out of a body builder any time of the day. My Jiu Jitsu gym is co-ed. They are very gorgeous women when they are walking down the street, but they are athletes. I tap out quick when I spar with them.
I wanted to show that strength and confidence on the page as I feel thats a whole lot more sexier than a costume with butt cleave and a neck line that goes down to the navel.
An interesting aspect of the issue is its setting and (non-bug) antagonists, all of it reminding me of the “Hermanos” episode of Breaking Bad. In terms of the overall architecture, did the environment and the gangsters come from anywhere in particular for you?
RR: HA! Yeah, i just saw that not too long ago. I think we just did the same research. That look is based out of the Tejano scene that’s huge in the central Texas to border towns where the drug trade goes on. It’s all a rip-off of these 80 to mid 90’s low budget Mexican crime movies my grandparents used to watch when I was kid. All that was missing from the issue was a Ford Bronco.
The issue seems largely inspired by spy thrillers, with Mirage herself coming off as sort of an Emma Peel-esque character here. In terms of visualizing the action, how do you approach the page to get such a sleek vibe throughout?
RR: I look at it as a fight choreographer would work on the action of a film. Joe asks for a few spots for me to hit and I can make up the rest to get connected to the spots he wants me to hit, like the scene where she beats the crap out of the three goons before the 1st bug comes out. Joe asked for the exposition, the high heel to the head and to incapacitate them for the reveal on the page flip. I need to flow the page and figure out how to get them to that spot I need them in, so I added in the face punch and sidekick to get the hatchet on the ground for the next page in a way that reader would not know I was setting up props. I’m a big fan of japans comics action and they are great at this sort of thing, and it’s a lesson I try to take from them.
Obviously the big crux of the issue is the attack of the “bug monsters.” What sort of nightmare are you pulling theses grandiose monstrosities from, and how difficult is it to form this many unique creatures throughout the main sequence?
RR: Thankfully, Nathan sent me a big photo bug book to pick and choose from. They are weird looking creatures.
One thing that’s always fascinated me with comic book art is the use of sound effects. Personally, I love it when artists integrate the sounds into the art directly, as is the case with this particular issue. What is it about direct integration of the “audio” that you find adds to the overall aesthetic of the story?
RR: Typography is part one of the design elements that make the medium so great. It emerges readers in a way that slapped on SFX can’t because its not really organic, thus the reader just passes it by with no effort. I love seeing it in Japanese and European comics and how it bring the drawings to life, and not just still captures of actions.
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So, I’ve gotta ask: the one scene on the sixth page in which Mirage confronts Whisper. How awkward, and/or fun, if at all, was it to illustrate a sequence with “pony play,” and what did you look to for “inspiration”?
RR: That was so fun ’cause it was a scene I knew would never, never have a chance to do again. It’s so Italian 70’s exploitation. Joe asked for the horse get-up and one Google search lead me down the rabbit hole of that scene…
Now that the issue is done and on stands, what would you say were the learning experiences from working on this issue, if any?
RR: I can draw a dung beetle with out reference now.
