I speak with no hyperbole when I say that at Multiversity Comics, Tradd Moore is one of our favorite people. We were excited to talk to him before “Luther Strode” had even hit stands, and we’re still excited to catch up with him now. And with the recent announcement that Tradd Moore would be the artist on a brand new Ghost Rider series at Marvel that will not only be the introduction of a brand new rider but also mark Tradd’s Marvel ongoing debut (after a series of great covers for “Young Avengers” and “Deadpool,” to name a few), it only seemed right to sit down with Tradd again.
Read on as we talk about Tradd’s rise to power in comics, the plans for the future and style of “All-New Ghost Rider” and more.
Oh, and gifs. For the first time ever on Multiversity, we accepted an answer that was just gifs.
So, Tradd, it feels like just yesterday we were excitedly talking to you about your upcoming book “The Strange Somethingorrather of Luther Vandrode.” Now that you find yourself front-running a Marvel book, how are you feeling?
Tradd Moore:
When looking at your rise in the comic field, how do you feel about the evolution of your art over the years?
TM: It’s crazy! Often times it’s easy to get so wrapped up in your immediate task, whatever that task may be, that you don’t take time to reflect upon and analyze what led you to the place you’re currently at. Going back through past work and seeing the decisions that you used to make, decisions you still make; cringing at the bad moments, and smiling at the good ones, is great. It’s all part of the process.
Artists are fortunate that, over time, they amass a linear visual display of their work and career that anyone can follow, but only the artist herself or himself can fully interpret. For me (and other artists, I presume), going back through my old work is like reading a personal journal. I see a panel and remember where I was at that point in my life. Sometimes it makes you think, “Why did anyone ever like this? How am I where I am?” and other times you think, “How could anyone not like this? I’m awesome.”
It’s a wonderful thing.
One thing I’ve noticed is that your art has certainly become a lot looser, with heavy use of motion lines. Was this a conscious element of your change in art, or just a natural development?
TM: Hmmm, it’s hard to say. I lean toward saying natural development, but I think that natural development comes from a never-ending series of small conscious decisions. I don’t go into a project or individual drawing with a definable artistic end goal in mind, per se, but I do take on projects that I know will force me into a position where I have to adapt and learn new things. As in, I don’t typically think, “You know, with Ghost Rider I’m going to push my artwork in this particular direction,” but, when I was offered Ghost Rider I did think, “Man, I’m not very comfortable or experienced with drawing cars… let’s see what I can learn and where that will take me.” I let my current position in life; my interests, obsessions, my collaborator(s), the books I’m reading, the games I’m playing, the stuff I’m watching, my relationships, my state of mind, and the project itself move and speak to me in whatever way it/they will.
I think a key component to producing interesting art is to be interested in it. Staying loose, flexible, and open keeps me interested. Every issue, every panel, every page is a new opportunity for an artist. Do whatever you want with it!
And yeah, in The Legend of Luther Strode my work got a lot looser, and in Ghost Rider it’s the tightest it’s ever been! It’s fun to go back and forth.
Continued belowYou’ve also put a great emphasis on scenery and setting, as the murder-mall scene in the last volume of Strode will attest. How do you find yourself going about the details of something like that, both in terms of design and then in just filling it in?
TM: Yeah, scenery and setting tends to be the stuff of many young artists’ nightmares, but you eventually have to come to the point in your artistic journey where you realize that the importance of depicting environments is more important than your distaste for wanting to learn how to draw them well. Environments are integral to storytelling, so skimping out on them may save you some time, but it will ultimately hurt the story you’re trying to tell. Most aspiring comic artists grow up drawing characters (because, come on, they’re the most fun to draw!), so you build experience and taste for drawing them over your lifetime. It’s often not until later in a comic artists’ career that they have to go through the growing pains all over again when approaching buildings, cities, landscapes, vehicles, various animals, or whatever it is you’re not comfortable with. It takes research, it takes time, it takes struggle, but it’s nice once you start figuring things out.
Side note: The growing pains. They never end!
So yeah, I essentially go into a page thinking, “What does this page need to most effectively tell the story in the way I feel it should be told?” That often involves drawing extensive backgrounds here and there, so I vomit, convulse, eat a senzu bean, go super saiyan, then draw whatever I think needs to be drawn at whatever level of detail I feel is necessary to the best of my ability. There will be parts that are cool, and there will be parts that suck. Learn from both, and move on to the next panel!
So now you’ve got this Ghost Rider book coming up, and big congrats on that by the way! How did the initial gig come about?
TM: Thanks! Regarding Ghost Rider, I’m not sure how it came about at the Marvel offices, but for me it more or less came out of nowhere. I finished The Legend of Luther Strode in the summer of 2013, then, as I was following that up with an issue of Zero (#2) with Ales Kot, various offers just kind of started coming out of the woodworks. One of them was Ghost Rider. To be completely transparent, I was hesitant at first. That said, as soon as editor Mark Paniccia let me know that Felipe Smith was writing it and shared the pitch and development of the comic to me, I was all in. This comic feels really fresh and vital to me, and I knew that I wanted to be a part of it.
And how is the working relationship like with Felipe Smith like? I understand you’re a couple issues in at this point.
TM: Felipe is awesome! It’s really cool working with a fellow artist, which is something I’ve never done before. (Not that writers, colorists, letters, and designers, aren’t artists themselves, but you know what I mean.) Felipe has a clear vision of where he’s going with All-New Ghost Rider and how he wants to develop Robbie Reyes as a character. This new GR is ultimately his brainchild, but there’s also a lot of freedom and input in it for me. There have been times where Felipe’s essentially said, “And then they race for a couple pages!” and I get to tell the story however I felt compelled to. There are other times where he’s very specific about facial expressions, panel size, shot placement, and that kind of stuff, and those are great moments to depict as well. I love that about working with him. The design phase, while initiated and built upon Felipe’s vision, was also very organic and collaborative.
Any time I get to work with a really talented creator I try to soak in whatever knowledge they throw my way, be it intentional direction or advice they give, or stuff that you simply pick from them along the way. I’m learning a lot while working with Felipe, and it’s making me a better artist.
Continued belowHave you long been a fan of the Ghost Rider?
TM: Yeah! I’m a long time fan of pretty much all things Marvel. I‘ve never consistently followed any long running Ghost Rider series, so I imagine hardcore GR fans may put me in the “fake geek girl” camp, but I was always in love with the look and idea of him. A flaming skull guy possessed by a demonic spirit who rides around murdering bad dudes? Yeah, gimme that shit all day.
I had a bunch of these Marvel Comics Presents issues in the 90s that were split between Ghost Rider and Wolverine that I was really into. Ghost Rider was fighting a bunch of ninjas, then he teamed up with some samurais, and then, at the end of the arc, he fought a buff, purple Blanka looking guy with a funky mustache. No joke. Comics are insane. I also had two Ghost Rider action figures (the third and fourth ones in this picture, to be precise), and, most importantly, I had this one Marvel Masterpiece trading card of him drawn by Bill Sienkiewicz that my brother and I used to redraw all the time. It was the coolest drawing I had ever seen in my life at that point, and it’s still one of my favorite depictions of Ghost Rider.
Oh, I also thought that Vengeance was SO cool! In my defense, I was seven. Counterproposal: I still think Vengeance is cool.
The new Ghost Rider will star a brand new character in the role. What can you tell me about this new Rider?
TM: Robbie Reyes, our new Ghost Rider, is a young Latino American from East LA with a passion for electronic music and all things motor vehicle related. He’s finishing up high school, he works at an auto shop, and the most important thing in the world to him is his little brother, Gabe. Robbie’s been burdened with more responsibility than you’d ever wish upon someone his age, but he carries the weight and foregoes the privilege of carefree, comfortable youth in attempt to make life good for his little brother. Parentless and living in the middle of gang territory, he just wants to stay focused on his job and get Gabe out of the dangerous environment they were born into.
What was your process like in designing the character?
TM: The Short Version: Felipe did the initial design work on Robbie, Ghost Rider, and Mr. Hyde, and then passed them along to me. From there, I took a pass on the characters to add some of my own flavor and sensibilities to the mix. After that, we went back and forth with various tweaks and alterations, and BOOM. It was Ghost Rider!
The Long Version: Okay, I hate to cop out here, but there’s a whole article over on some other comic website (Knews-a-rima? Naws-ah-rooma? Something like that) where Felipe and I discussed the design in detail. I’m just going to, you know… leave a link.
But finish reading this interview first, of course!
The idea of a racing book seems like a pretty natural fit for you, so how do you find the challenge of playing in the big Marvel sandbox?
TM: Since this initial arc is all about Robbie, and Robbie is a brand new character, the project has actually felt very free and open to me on the creative side. The challenge of playing within an established Marvel sandbox hasn’t been an issue. I haven’t really had to conform to any specific designs or environments or anything like that. It’s like Marvel found two feral children chilling at the foot of Mount Doom (Felipe and me), bought us a new sandbox, and was like, “GOOOO!”
The production side of things feels a different at Marvel than at Image, but creatively working on Ghost Rider hasn’t felt very different at all from doing Luther Strode. Given, I may have just lucked out with my fantastic collaborators (Writer Felipe Smith, Editors Mark Paniccia and Emily Shaw, colorists Laura Martin and Val Staples, and designer Manny Mederos).
Have you found yourself in need of any particular research in working on the book? Whether it be on the cars or the setting, or even the history of the Rider?
Continued belowTM: Oh, definitely. I’ve done much more research working on Ghost Rider than I’ve ever done on a book before. As I briefly mentioned before, I’m not terribly well versed on cars, so I’ve had to do a ton of research and image compilation there. I have image folders upon image folders of various cars, car parts, and stuff like that.
The setting was also hugely important. The East LA environment is integral to Robbie’s character, and Los Angeles has such a specific vibe to it, so I’m continuously doing research on the area. There’s no faking that stuff, specifically for readers who are from or familiar with the place, you know? I go on digital drives through LA using street view on Google maps, and I screen shot areas that I think may come in handy for reference along the way. I also go on a lot of real estate sites and check out homes in the area.
I started doing this kind of stuff while working on Zero. The issue of Zero I drew took place in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and I had no idea what the suburbia of Belfast looked like, so I scouted out a cool looking neighborhood and made it take place there. Moral of the story: technology is cool.
And yes, I also did some brushing up on Ghost Rider history, but nothing too extensive. I was already familiar with the character, so didn’t take much. I did go through all of his various designs and incarnations over the years, though, which was a lot of fun. Were adding to the cannon here, so obviously it’s important to have an understanding of how a character has developed and changed over the years.
One thing I’m curious about is that the Rider doesn’t have a bike in this book, but rather a muscle car – which, y’know, in hindsight seems pretty natural. How did the decision come about to change up the Rider’s normal mode of transport?
TM: Yeah, the idea of different Ghost Riders having different rides seems really natural to me. The property started with a cowboy on a horse, moved on to a stunt man a motorcycle, and so on and so forth. During Jason Aaron’s run on Ghost Rider, he introduced a bunch of different Ghost Riders, each one riding upon or driving a cool, unique vehicle or animal. When Marvel approached Felipe and asked him to write a pitch, they mentioned they were interested in having this new Ghost Rider drive a car, so Felipe had him do just that. That was all set in stone before I came on the book. From there, the decision was easy. I mentioned that I thought 60’s and 70’s Chargers, Challengers, and Camaros were some of the coolest looking cars, and the 69 Dodge Charger just so happens to be one of Felipe’s favorite car models! So yeah, we went with it.
Are there any other Marvel elements – people, places, things — you’re hoping you’ll get to work into the book?
TM: You know, it’d be awesome to have Robbie run into Johnny Blaze and Danny Ketch at some point and have them all exchange a mid air triple high-five or something. X-Games style. 3 Fast 3 Furious.
For real though, I like that we get to stay away from pretty much everything and everyone else in the Marvel Universe in this first arc. A character needs to be able to stand on her or his own two legs during their introduction, which Robbie absolutely does. I like that these opening issues are all about Robbie. Readers get to spend time in his world, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I think Marvel, especially in recent years, has done a good job of bringing in new talent to try and shake things up from the norm. Having come into comics straight out of school and having worked for Marvel, DC, Image and more, how are you feeling about comics in 2014?
TM: Feeling good! Yeah, I think that the comic industry is slowly but surely being shaken out of its comfort zone when it comes to a lot of things, which is exciting. I think the creative community is moving toward, if not already in the midst of, a massive paradigm shift regarding issues with diversity, gender equality, and whatnot. People are rocking boats and kicking down idols (as creative lots always have, and always will do), and it’s awesome. There are just sooooo many incredible talents out there from all over the world from a billion different walks of life, and, thanks to the internet, these creators are easier to find now than they ever have been in the history of humankind. Anyone with access to the internet can share her or his work on a global scale. Do you ever stop and think about how incredible that is? It’s straight out of sci-fi! So yeah, it’s important for publishers to take notice of such people and to print their work or hire them if they have any desire to remain relevant and interesting. I think Marvel is keenly aware of this and is making some bold strides in a positive direction.
Continued belowBringing in exciting talent to tell fresh stories and increasing diversity amongst creators and characters is absolutely vital. I know a lot of people are sick of hearing this kind of thing, but, if you happen to be one of those people, I encourage you to not be. Our world is vastly complex, diverse, and connected; modern stories should express that. Modern society should embrace that.
Last but not least – Nic Cage. Is he in the book? Please tell me he is.
TM:
“All-New Ghost Rider” #1 goes on sale in March.
