December 6th, 2007

Although I have written many times that I buy my comic books based on the writer instead of the artist, Dale Eaglesham is possibly one of the few exceptions to the rule.  In fact, each month I purchase two copies of Justice Society of America – one with the standard Alex Ross cover, and another of the hard to find, and very collectable, alternate cover by Dale, which I am very lucky to have saved for me each month by my local comic book store guy.  Yes, dear friends, it does pay to be nice to the man who runs your comic book shop.   So what is it about Dale Eaglesham that makes me seek out  his covers?  Well, not only is Dale one of the greatest artists in comics today, but on a personal level Dale Eaglesham is a really nice guy!

I first met Dale and his wife Louise at Toronto’s FanExpo in 2005.  I became familiar with his  art while he was working on Gail Simone's Villain’s United.  Introducing the world to the offbeat team of rouge villains known as the Secret Six, Villain's United was a hit for DC, and Gail and Dale had shocked DC readers by, somehow, managing to make Catman look cool.  I really enjoyed chatting with the Eaglesham’s as Dale drew me a sketch of a Veronica Lakish Black Canary.  The following year they remembered me when I ran into them again, this time at Toronto’s Paradise Convention.  Dale was about to hit a new milestone in his career by launching the new Justice Society of America book with  writer, Geoff Johns, and comic’s latest legend, artist Alex Ross.  It was at the Paradise Convention that I first approached Dale about talking with us as he drew me a sketch of Zatanna the magician.  Dale agreed, but as both his and my schedules grew more and more busy and complex, it was decided that we would save our interview for the next time we met at a convention.

In the time between Paradise Con, and the next time that we met in August 2007, once again at Toronto’s FanExpo, Dale Eaglesham had gone from being a working artist, to one of DC comics most prolific and popular superstars!  Now working at a large table separate from the artist alley which I met him years before, Dale had a sign up sheet that filled up quickly and I had to literally beat my way through a crowd looking for autographs, sketches and the opportunity to talk to Dale for a few minutes.  It was agreed that on the final day of the convention Dale would talk with me about his career and thoughts on the comic industry as he did another drawing for my collection.

As Louise dealt with the crowd, I sat next to Dale as he drew a sketch of the newest Justice Society member Maxine “Cyclone” Hunkel, the DCU’s most lovable blabbermouth, not to mention a character that Dale designed himself.  For the duration of the sketch he and I talked about the origins of his career in comics, the writers that he’s worked with, things to come and how a guy from small town Quebec found his way working beside some of the biggest talents in the comic book industry.  Come and sit in on our conversation and learn why Dale Eaglesham is one of my favorite people in the comic book industry as

CONFESSIONS OF A POP CULTURE PROUDLY PRESENTS

CONAN TO CATMAN: 

A CONVERSATION WITH DALE EAGLESHAM

I spoke to Dale in Toronto in August 2007:

Dale:  What am I drawing for you again?

Sam:  Maxine Hunkel…

Dale:  Right.  Okay. 

Sam:  Alright.  Now, where you always interested in comics, as far as a kid, and if so, what’s your personal history or your origins in the comic industry?

Dale: Origins in the comic …, well …

Sam: Well, not in the comic industry, but even as a fan.  More so as a fan?

Dale: Even beyond the fan, I mean, I knew from an early age that I loved to draw.  I always drew, and it was when I was nine years old that somebody introduced me to creating a story using pens, and that was a first for me, and by some miracle we managed to talk our art teacher at the time, we were in grade four, and this guy was really cool, his name was, Mr. Shatner (laughs), to let us do comics, instead of finger-painting, or whatever everybody else was doing.  So we put our stories together in there.

Sam: Now where was this where were you growing up at the time?

Dale: This was in Quebec

Sam: Quebec

Dale: Yeah I was in Quebec, and I think from that moment on I knew I was totally smitten with form, and just being able to commit your fantasies or the adventures, I think that stuff was already emanating from my brain, and I for the first time found a way to record it, you know.  You can’t really record that any other way.  Especially in those days.  We’re talking the 70s.  We didn’t have video cameras, and all that digital stuff that kids have today.  We didn’t have any of that.  We just had to go outside and you play and you imagine, and there I was learning to draw, and I think that set me on the path and I’ve been on that path ever since.

Sam: So were you collecting comics as a kid, or is the comic thing something that just came in later on.

Dale: I think those early attempts at comics were extensions of viewing animation and cartoons on TV, or Saturday morning funnies in the newspaper and it wasn’t really comics. The comics didn’t come in, uh, till late - , no actually, you know what. I have a big pile of comics from 1968.  All the comics that I bought then, and I guess I had those then, but I just read them, I didn’t really …

Sam: You weren’t a collector …

Dale: No, I wasn’t a collector, certainly not.

Sam: It wasn’t a part of your psyche.

Dale: I just read them, I didn’t have any opinions on them, or even think about them, you know? So I don’t think it had an influence on me doing it. I needed an outlet for my imagination and so I went with it.

Sam: So when did you start creating comics, or decide to start making a living in this field?

Dale: Actually that didn’t happen until around college, I think. I have binders full of stories that I wrote and drew for myself from grade nine on, and I just did it because I liked it and I never really thought that you could actually make a living doing it.  I wasn’t actually doing superheroes then, I was doing more cartoonier styles, like Archie, and things like that so I didn’t really look to superhero comics as a job, and when somebody told me I could make money doing it, well obviously I thought that was the most amazing thing in the world, you know?  That didn’t start till college, and that’s when I really started seriously taking a look at it.  Reading more comics, and studying them, and seeing what I had in me, because I’m completely self-taught.

Sam: And you started in the industry around 1986?

Dale: Uh, 85

Sam: 85, doing what?

Dale: I started doing pin-ups in Savage Sword of Conan because when I was in grade eight I went on a band field trip to Fairfield, Connecticut, and we had five minutes to go into a shopping mall and buy something, you know?  Whatever, a gift for the family, and I went to the shopping mall and I didn’t buy a gift for my family.  What I saw was a rack in a bookstore, of Robert E. Howard books, and on the cover of those books was paintings by Frank Frazetta, and I was sold.  From that moment, I said “That’s what I wanna do,” and that was my main reason for learning to draw.  So I could do Conan and I spent a long time, working my way towards the Conan books.  That’s how I started.

Sam: When you were growing up in Quebec, where in Quebec were you?  Were you in one of the big cities, were you a small-town boy?

Dale: A small town, called Châteauguay, in Quebec.

Sam: Okay.  So how does a small-town Quebec kid become working with some of the giants in the comic book industry?

Dale: (laughs)

Sam: How does that all come about?

Dale: It came about over a long period of time, 23 years (chuckles)

Sam: Were you doing submissions or were you hawking your work at conventions like this?

Dale: Well actually, I gave some art to a friend of mine who brought it to Montreal, and he knew somebody who owned a comic book store, and he put up some of my art on the wall, cause he liked it and he thought it was neat, and there was an artist working for Marvel at the time named Geof Isherwood and he frequented that particular shop.  He saw the work and it was Conan, and I think he was actually working on Conan at the time, and he said, “That looks really good.  Would you like me to bring some of your stuff to Marvel,” I said “Yeah!” (Laughs) and he did, and you know, they thought it was good, but it obviously wasn’t good enough, and I think he sort of left it at that.  So what I started doing was writing and producing my own pages.  A ten-page story, I would draw it, send it in, and they would say “Nyuh, it’s not good enough, not there yet,” and that went on for months, and maybe even a year, until finally one day I got a call from Larry Hamma, the editor of the book at the time, and he said, “You know what? That’s what I wanted to see. That’s what I’ve been waiting for” and then, they started buying pin-ups from me at that point, for the book, and then I got my very first story, which was a Kull story.  It was a backup feature in Savage Sword of Conan, it was in black and white …

Sam: Oh!  You mean Kull the Conquer!  Gotcha

Dale: Kull the Conqueror

Sam: Kevin Sorbo played him in the movie.

Dale: (laughs) Oh did he? Ok, I didn’t know they did a Kull movie.

Sam: Yeah they did a Kull the Conqueror movie in the 90s with Kevin Sorbo.

Dale: Oh man

Sam: Yeah, I’ve never seen it, uh … (laughs), Right, now currently with DC.

Dale: Yup

Sam: You’ve worked with two of my absolute favorite writers in the business, which is how I actually discovered YOUR work and became interested in your work in the first place.  One being Gail Simone and the other being Geoff Johns.  Now, what is your interaction with them, and what’s the difference of working with Gail and Geoff?

Dale: Well I think some of the difference is, well Geoff’s more focused on creating the story, and the big picture and the adventure,  and the sense of scope that he gets out of an issue is unbelievable.  He sees the big picture and he sees the big story arch.  Gail, well her strength is just the force of character. She defines character and she writes dialogue like nobody else.  She’s the best dialogue writer I’ve ever seen, and she, I mean, I would get scripts from he and I’d be in stitches, you know, just reading it, and it would be such a joy to draw.

Sam: I find that when I read some of her work I become very emotionally involved with the characters as well.

Dale: Geoff is also very good at the dialogue.  He works very hard on his characters and really, really works hard to get in their heads.  Geoff has the added advantage of really wanting to include me in the process of creating the stories, and getting my opinions about the characters, and what’s coming up and that’s probably the main differences, and I’m very lucky to have worked with both of them.

Sam: Okay, you’re now working on Justice Society of America and Alex Ross is involved in the book now, somehow or another.

Dale: Yup

Sam: Do you have any uh interaction with Alex Ross, or do you do any work with him, because I mean, he’s probably one of the biggest artistic icons in the business right now.

 Dale: Well the reason I’m on JSA is cause of Alex Ross.  He asked for me to be put on the book, cause he knew it was coming up, and he really insisted that I be brought into the project after he saw the work I did on Villains United, where I handled a very large cast of characters.  I think he just liked my approach which is more traditional and heroic and less cartoony or manga inspired, and that’s what he was really looking for.   And Alex, you know, he’s just a real dynamo when it comes to the project and so intense.  He looks at every single little angle.  He covers every little angle.  He’s very enthusiastic and it’s really cool to be working with two people, him and Geoff, who take the project so seriously.  Like its real, we’re really making something worthwhile here … and that really comes across with Alex …and of course as you know the Kingdom Come Superman is going to be appearing in the JSA

Sam:  Yes I do

Dale: That was pretty nerve-wracking, because I’m taking on Alex Ross’ Kingdom Come Superman.  I knew that the penciled pages would really go to him, and he’s gotta look at it, right, and say, “How am I doing on your Kingdom Come Superman?” (Laughs) and he’s such a talented artist …

Sam: So, will he be doing some art in that book as well, or …

Dale: Yeah, he’ll be contributing a few pages.  Yeah so, he’s truly great to work with.  Both of them are

Sam: Now, I know that you can’t give us a lot of clues, hints, spoilers, and I’m not even going to really ask about them, but is there anything that you are allowed to tell us about the upcoming stories?

Dale: Well for sure.  We already have a seventeen-strong cast of superheroes and they’re all full, active members of the JSA.  We’re going to be adding another bunch.  In issue 12 Jakeem Thunder is returning to the book.  He’s been absent for a little while.  We are also adding three new characters.

Sam:  Are they brand new characters?

Dale:  Their not the originals but they are based on originals.  One is a new Amazing Man.  One is a new Judo Master.  A female Judo Master.

Sam:  She’s already appeared over in Gail’s Birds of Prey.

Dale:  Oh that’s possible.  And the other one I don’t remember (laughs).  In this story arch coming up our young team members had a pretty easy indoctrination.  I mean aside from the murder of Mr. America they’ve had it pretty easy.  The arch coming up is ten issue length.  A lot of people are going to get hurt.  It’s going to be a real serious time and a lot of big things are going to be happening.

Sam:  Now for a more personal fanboy question, purely of personal interest.  Are we going to see more of Stargirl and Cyclone in the book?  They are my favorites.

Dale:  I hope so.

Sam:  They haven’t been doing much in the books lately.

Dale:  I know, and they are two favorites amongst a lot of people even though a lot of readers don’t like Cyclone’s costume very much.  But I agree with Geoff and her costume is just perfect for her and I said, “Y’know, I wouldn’t mind if they just put a Witchipoo hat on her head.”

Sam:  I would love it!

Dale:  Y’know, I would love it too and we might even do it, and I hope we see more of them too.  We’re looking to make space for all these characters because there are a lot of them.

Sam:  Now we are obviously at a convention right now.  How much does conventioning do for your popularity?

Dale:  I think very little.  It’s just in the hard work that we’ve done because we give it our all every month and we are really genuinely producing something that’s a little different from what you usually see in a team book and people are really responding to it.  Because you know what?  We have the power to do whatever we want and to create the book that we want to create and to put humor in it if we want.  We want to show these characters at their worst as well as at their best and they don’t have to be cool all the time.  We want to see wrinkles in their clothes and we want it to be an odd sort of animal and that’s totally where we’re going with this book and we love it.

Sam:  Now what’s the strangest commission you’ve ever done at a convention?

Dale:  I did a Green Lantern frog for somebody once. 

Sam:  A what?

Dale:  A Green Lantern frog.  They had a book of frogs, or toads as various  superheroes and I did a Green Lantern frog (laughs)

Sam:  Are you reading any books now, and if so what are you enjoying?

Dale:  I get all the books that DC puts out every month and I pretty much read everything.  I haven’t really gone into my box recently because I’ve been to busy but it’s hard to say.  I love comics and I read everything that comes out.  I’m partial to the Vertigo books.  Particularly Fables. 

Sam:  Now a lot of people have a very hard and cynical theory that the comic book industry is dying.  What is your opinion on this? 

Dale:  Well, you know what?  They’ve been predicting the demise of comics since the fifties when comics went through a several changes.  From heroes, and dropped that and it became western comics, and detective comics…

Sam:  And horror comics.

Dale:  Yeah.  It changes.  It will come back and it has come back.  Its strong now because of the emergence of the graphic novel format which is selling a lot.  You get people buying the monthly book but then they want the collection to and the sales may seem less but when you add on the sales of the graphic novel too, I think the industry is actually gaining it’s strength once again and it’s up to us to produce stories people want to read and remain interested in and I think that it’s happening.  I think the flexibility is coming into things and so we get DC, which is going with the big events coming out, well that makes it something unique and you can’t really make a movie of 52.  It would just be too long and be too expensive.  That makes it unique in comics and that means people have to come to comics to check it out.  You have a lot of superhero movies coming out and that doesn’t necessarily reflect on the sales of comics, but it’s still bringing superheroes into the public consciousness.

Sam:  That’s true.  If it wasn’t for the superhero movies and cartoons when I was growing up I wouldn’t be into it.  You want to know what got me to buy my first comic?  I saw the Batman movie with Adam West and Burt Ward on TV.    The next day I told my Dad I wanted a Batman comic.  This stuff does affect these kids psyche.

Dale:  Sure.  The Spiderman cartoon from the seventies.  Y’know?  It’s going to take time but I think if we keep at it and we keep working hard.  Y’know, Hollywood has taken notice of what we are doing in comics and it’s a start.  It’s only a start.  We gotta work though.

Sam:  So this is my last question.  What’s next for you?  I know you’ll be working on JSA in the future but are there any long term goals?

Dale:  Long term?  Well I want to be on JSA for a couple of years and I have my own project I’ve been writing for ten years now and I don’t want to say anything about it.

Sam:  Is it a comic book?  Is it a novel?

Dale:  It’s a comic book, although my wife thinks it should be a novel but I keep telling everybody that it’s going to be the greatest story ever told, and I mean it when I say it. 

Sam:  Is it your own characters?

Dale:  It’s something completely original.  You’ve never seen anything like it before in your life.  Trust me.

Sam:  Is DC interested in this project?

Dale:  I don’t know.  I don’t know if I’d want to approach someone like that. 

Sam:  So it’d be an independent book.

Dale:  it would definatly be independent, and I’ve put so much into it and I’ve cherished it for so long and I just got to get up the courage to actually go with it one day and say “I’m going to stop superheroes a break for a little while and give this a try.” I hope I have the guts to do it.  (Laughs)

Sam:  When do you think we’ll ever see it?

Dale:  I’m looking ahead at three or four years from now to actually having a go at it.

Sam:  When it happens let me know because I’d love to feature it on our web-site.

Dale:  I would really appreciate that.  Any promotion I can get I’d be very happy.  Especially for a project like that’s something completely different.  You never know what’s going to happen.

Sam:  Okay.  Well thanks for talking with us Dale.  I really appreciate this.

Dale:  Hey.  My pleasure.

Soon after the interview Dale finished the drawing of Maxine Hunkel that he was drawing for me and I said goodbye to him and Louise, knowing that I'll most likely see them again at another convention one day.  However, with his successful run on Justice Society of America, not to mention that mystery independent project he spoke of, I know that we'll be seeing a lot of Dale's art at our local comic book shop for years to come.  However, to see more of Dale's work, not to mention news and upcoming projects, make sure to check out Dale's web-site at www.daleeaglesham.com.

All content copyright Sam Tweedle 2006.