Jason Latour has been all over Multiversity lately: guesting on The Hour Cosmic, getting love for his upcoming “Wolverine In Japan” digital book with Jason Aaron, and even sketching our boy Abe for our 31 Days of Abe feature. He also sat down with us to talk about the release of “Sledgehammer ’44” #1 today from Mike Mignola, John Arcudi and himself, where he talks to us about what it is like to work with one of his favorite artists, what goes into researching a book, and what we can expect from this two-issue miniseries.
So, Jason, tell us a little about how you came to work in the Mignolaverse – did you have to pitch for it, did someone approach you, did you stalk Scott Allie for six months – how did it come about?
Jason Latour: I probably owe Mark Zuckerberg for having the wherewithal to create Facebook, as that was where Mignola contacted me. Mike had seen a short Captain America story I’d drawn in the 70th anniversary issue. I guess he’d picked it up to check up on some other artist and liked my work enough to see if I existed on the internet. I can pretty clearly remember coming home from the gym to some very excited messages from the girl I was dating at the time, who was very aware of the fact I’d loved Mike’s work my whole life. I think it almost geeked her out more than me. To have one of your favorite artists discover your work that way, it was very surreal. I mean in any other age it might have been a situation where the energy required to reach out might not have been worth it. At times the world’s so small now.
Anyway, from there we chatted a little and “Pickens County Horror” came together.
Let’s talk a bit about “Pickens County Horror.” Being your first foray into the Mignolaverse, what was the process of working on that mini like? What was it like collaborating with, as you put it, one of your favorite artists?
JL: It was like working on an episode of “The Twilight Zone” under Rod Serling, especially on that one because it was such a brilliantly off kilter idea. Mike and Scott were pretty open and accommodating as collaborators on that one. I had a few ideas about the setting and the cast and they allowed me to put my hands into it. I can’t say how much I added or subtracted from the mix in the end, that personal investment is very important. It always helps ease the jitters or the need to kind of show off too much when you feel like the work in front of you reflects a part of you.
How was the process on “Sledgehammer ’44” different than it was on “Pickens?” I know that you were stepping in for the late John Severin on this one – were there different expectations or processes because of John’s prior involvement?
JL: Well, the biggest expectations were probably the ones I heaped on my own shoulders. I have a touch of masochism, so that’s generally the case but knowing that it was to have been his last project, and knowing how much of an impact he’d made on comics did raise the stakes. I mean Severin was one of the great “War” comics artists ever. A WW2 period piece was already daunting without taking that into account. But in the end the fact that it was such an intensive amount of research and heavy lifting is probably what saved me from suffering too much stage fright. That and knowing that I’m just not the same kind of animal that John Severin or Mignola are as artists. Knowing and accepting that saved me a lot of sleep and allowed me to feel like it was okay to strike out, as long as I took some healthy swings.
But hell, just being asked to do the project was just such a huge vote of confidence. To help bring to life a new Mignola-verse character, that was a really big deal to me.
Continued belowWhat sort of research goes into a project like this? Are you trying to make sure that all the elements are authentic, or is it more of a case of simply trying to nail a tone?
JH: It’s kind of a multi pronged thing. From an American perspective, there’s a collective impression of WW2. A cultural narrative that’s been largely established through the movies. Now while the authenticity of that is really up for debate, the impact is pretty clear. We all have a pretty good idea what the era looked like, or we can at least tell you if something’s wrong. Sit us down and ask us how to assemble a 1940s G.I. uniform and it’s pretty difficult. But have a guy walk out in one that’s off and we know it.
So in order for the art to work, I felt it has to at, at bare minimum, click off all the major check marks we’d associate with that Spielberg-eque Glory trumpet soundtracked WW2 we carry around in our heads. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it has to pass the sniff test. So there was a lot of research just to assemble what was needed to even start. From there it was more about figuring out how to properly simplify things. The freedom to cartoon was necessary, so that the story felt more alive and the guys could act (which is really important when they’re all in the same clothes). Also because it’s not JUST a WW2 story. There are a lot of different things going on and notes that needed to be hit by the end. But too simple and the tone slips away. So every page was a bit of a wrestling match, I can’t say for sure I won. But that was some of my strategy.
You say that it isn’t “just a WW2 story” – give us a quick idea of what fans should expect from the book.
JL: Well it’s a Mignola comic, right? It’s really one of the great strengths of these comics that I could say something like “Oh they battle the Ten Hoofed Otter Spawn of Bu-betelgeuse” and it might just be possible right? In the first issue alone you’ve got a WW2 “mech” battle and as fun as I think that is, it’s relatively mild compared to where it heads. What comes later is pretty ingeniously crazy in it’s way. I find it very evocative of the spirit of another great “war comics” vet turned face on Comics Mount Rushmore. As cryptic as that is, it’s one of the highest compliments I know to give.
All that said it’s very much a character piece too. That’s what I think I enjoy most about the Mignolaverse. Mike and company rarely lose sight of the people caught up in the chaotic imagination of it all.
