Ryan Ottley is a man that probably doesn’t get enough credit in comics. For twelve years now he’s been drawing the same book and keeping to a mostly monthly schedule. “Invincible” may not have the TV show that “The Walking Dead” does, but it’s remained a well-selling creator-owned book for over a decade, something not many other comics can really say, and that’s thanks, at least in part, to Ryan Ottley and his art.
During ECCC we had a chance to sit down with Ottley to talk about “Invincible”, working on the same book for twelve years, his new “Grizzly Shark” comic, and “manga method”. If you haven’t read “Invincible”, you’re late to the game, but there’s over 100 issues to catch up on. If you haven’t read “Grizzly Shark”, the book is exactly what the title promises, so enjoy.
You’ve been doing Invincible, what, twelve years now?
Ryan Ottley: Yeah, twelve years. The beginning of 2004 was when I started.
Doing any book for twelve years is astounding, much less an Image book at this point in the game.
RO: It’s a pretty rare thing, I’ve heard.
How is that is as an artist and creator, doing that for so long?
RO: It’s a good feeling. It’s pretty normal to me, though. I don’t really know anything different. This is kind of my first book. I mean, I did a couple small things before that, short stories and a few other single comics. But “Invincible” is pretty much my first job. It wasn’t always going to be. I was planning to leave and do something else, but it’s just a fun book with a lot of variety. I love the writer. It’s just something that naturally happened. You know, what’s the point of leaving? I really enjoy this book.
At the same time, that monthly schedule is a grind for any book, much less one that you’ve been doing for 12 years. How do you keep the pace up, how do you keep from getting worn out?
RO: I still get worn out, that definitely happens sometimes. Over the years, I’ve learned to do all these different shortcuts. I’ll try anything to speed things up. Drawing smaller on the page, messing with the composition so that it’s a little bit easier, that kind of thing. I enjoy when Kirkman does a double page splash of just a head talking, so then I can just draw small and it takes me a half hour. It’s like a con sketch! It’s like, “thanks, Robert, you saved me two pages!” It normally takes me two days and we got it done in twenty minutes.
Now you’ve got “Grizzly Shark” coming out. It started out as part of a one shot that you did with Jason Howard, right? “Grizzly Shark and Sea Bear”, right?
RO: “Sea Bear and Grizzly Shark”! Close!
Ah, so close! Like you said, “Invincible” is pretty much your first job. So how is it now doing something different?
RO: It’s weird. Normally, I just draw. They send me the script, I draw it, then everyone else does all the background comic book stuff. Now I’m writing and drawing and I have to deal with Image and all the production stuff. I have to follow all the rules of where to put the pages on the FTP and figure out a front inside cover and back cover and all that stuff. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. I had to figure it out as I go and I’m emailing people saying, “Can you help me out with this? This is my first time doing all this.” It’s definitely been an experience, but it’s been a fun one.
How have you found the time to do that with “Invincible”? Is that kind of why Cory Walker is coming back for an arc?
RO: I wanted Cory to come back and do like two issues a year. My normal output is like ten a year. I always thought it would be so cool for him to come back for two issues a year, and now he’s coming back for this whole trade, the whole six issues. It’s totally cool. I’m still doing future issues right now, it’s not like I’m taking a huge break. But it does allow me to spend a little more time on the future issues that I’m working on. It’s a blast. The “Grizzly Shark” stuff is already done, it’s not something I’m working on right now. That’s what a lot of people think, I’m taking a break from “Invincible” so I can do “Grizzly Shark”.
Continued belowOh yeah? How long have you had it done?
RO: Over a year. I was basically waiting for Jason Howard because Jason was going to do his “Sea Bear” stuff and we were going to release at the same time so people could pick them both up, but he does everything. For “Trees” and whatever else he’s working on, he does pencils, inks, and he colors, so he’s just really busy. All of his side work is his main work as well. But me, I can find a little time here and there, a page a week, a page a month. It just depends on the time I have.
You’re writing too. How’s that been? Are you plotting full script or something more like Marvel method?
RO: I’m doing manga method. Do you know how they make manga?
No, not really.
RO: Well, there’s a bunch of different ways they make it, but a lot of times the writer is also the artist. So it’s just one guy and the way he writes is he does layouts and he’ll do a little line and put the dialogue. It’s friggin’ awesome. It’s so fun to write that way because you’re getting it all done at once – the thumbnails, the layouts, the dialogue. These guys will do the thumbnails and then do the layout pages and give them to their assistants who do all the work and they take all the credit. But for me, I have to do all the work. It’s fun. I just have this sketchbook where I just write little bits of stuff here and there and then I’ll make layouts out of it. It’s all very quick and very rushed, a lot of people have no idea what it is. I’m the only one that can really decipher the scratches. It’s a fun way to write.
I’ve never really heard of that style, but that’s pretty interesting.
Like you’ve said, “Grizzly Shark” is your first real new thing. What are you hoping to do with that? Something that’s pretty much one and done or more miniseries later?
RO: I don’t know if I’d want to do more of that, but I definitely want to do more writing because it’s very fun to write. There are some people who did survive the shark attacks, but I don’t know. I guess I could if I wanted to.
Maybe do some one-shots or something?
RO: Well, one-shots don’t do that great. But then miniseries don’t do that great either. Me doing this is just me doing it for me. I want to do it for fun and I needed some kind of side project, some kind of release of insanity from my brain.
That’s ultimately what it’s all about I guess.
RO: Yeah, it’s going good. It’s pretty awesome to wake up to all these reviews and tweets and people who really enjoy the book. It’s totally strange, but it’s nice.
