INTERVIEW: MIKE ALLRED!

JERSEY GODS COVERS 1,4,6,7,8,9,10,and 12

One of the perks of being a comic book writer and an art collector is sometimes you get to combine your passions.  I was thrilled to have one of my very favorite artists, Mike Allred, doing covers on my Image series JERSEY GODS which ran for 12 issues during 2009-2010. If you missed out on all the hoopla and are now kicking yourself after checking out Allred's fancy window dressing, you can get your digital copy...http://tinyurl.com/cg3nte8 

Or your hard copy...http://tinyurl.com/chguetj

Mike was able to capture that classic 60's Kirby feel and at the same time give it a contemporary look of today--no easy feat!  Mike was kind enough to let me have the covers he did, for my personal collection, after they were published.  I present them here along with a short interview I did with Mike the other day...

BRUNSWICK: One of the things I love about your work is your ability to channel a classic 60's look while at the same time never sacrificing the vibrancy that makes your art look contemporary. How do you strike that balance between the two? How heavily do you research the 60's designs when you begin on a new title with 60's origins?

ALLRED: Not at all.  Sincerly, I try really really hard to make my stuff contemporary.  And no matter how hard I try, it's still called "retro" and "pop art".  I can only guess that, because the 60's stuff surrounded me in stacks from the day I was born, it's in my blood.  And my biggest contemporary influences going into my career, like the Hernandez Brothers, Charles Burns and Dan Clowes, share similar influences.  It's doubled up on me.

BRUNSWICK: We had a lot of fun riffing on classic covers while doing the JERSEY GODS series that clearly derives a great deal of inspiration from Jack Kirby's work.  What is it about Kirby's stuff, do you think, that still has resonance today?

ALLRED: Power is power.  No other artist exudes power like Kirby's work.  Some come close, like Moebius, for instance.  Moebius could be elegant and powerful at the same time.  Some artists have energy leaping off the page.  Kirby's energy just blows everything else away before or since.

BRUNSWICK: Why are collectors paying such ungodly sums for Kirby's originals?

ALLRED: Because it's all so "godly".

BRUNSWICK: Do you own or collect any original art other then your own work?

ALLRED: Absolutely.  And for the record, I don't collect my own work (nudge nudge wink wink).  I've been keeping the entire first issues of most of my series for posterity.  But I have at least one piece of most of my favorites.  And I'm especially thrilled with all the greats that have done Madman pieces for me.  Most of which can be seen in the gigantic "Madman Monster" hard cover.

BRUNSWICK: If in 20 years one of your Madman covers fetches 100k at auction would you be flattered by the amount or disappointed that the windfall might be going to a collector instead of lining your well deserving pockets?

ALLRED: I would be flattered.  Right now my newest Marvel originals are getting more demand than anything I've ever done.  If I'm progressing, I don't feel I would ever be disappointed to see anything of mine reach that kind of demand and appreciation.

BRUNSWICK: If you could write and draw any Marvel character, who would you pick?  What unusual thing would you like to do with him/her?

ALLRED: I'm doing it right now!  Just pick up Daredevil 17, Wolverine & the X-Men 17, my Ant-Man story in Point One, and FF no. 1 to see!  Having the time of my life!

Thanks big time for contributing to my blog, Mike!  Below is the original cover art to Mike's new FF series written by Matt Fraction.  Can't wait to pick up my copy.  This one really looks like it's gonna rock!

More Allred news and awesome art can be found at http://www.aaapop.com/