Tripwire Speaks To Artist Dan Lawlis

Lawlis Attitude

Tripwire’s contributing editor Scott Braden talks to artist Dan Lawlis, whose CV includes Savage Sword Of Conan for Marvel and work for DC and Wildstorm, about his long career in comics…

How did you break into comics? What is the secret origin of comic book artist-extraordinaire Dan Lawlis?

I don’t know about that extraordinaire part, but I can tell you that I had the perfect storm of artistic formation. In case these young readers don’t know, comics were everywhere when we were kids. Every kid had ‘em, and piles of them at every friend’s house that you went to.

There were spinner racks everywhere, including the camp store at campgrounds! Reading a comic book with the fresh outdoor air in a camper is about the highest state of kid nirvana that I can think of. I still remember sitting in our popup camper reading one of my very first comics, Daredevil 154 with Gene Colan art.

Thinking of my first comics that I bought myself with my paper route money constitutes a stellar artistic collection! How about Silver Surfer 4, Black Panther 15, Spider-Man 229, Hulk 226, Captain America 263, Thing Annual 7, to name a few. The local newspaper at the time had the Starhawks comic strip with Gil Kane art. I even had a small paperback reprint of Steve Ditko’s Spider-Man. Talk about exposure to all the greats!

And then there was Frank Frazetta. I saw my first Frazetta Conan paperback cover in the school library of my Catholic grade school, and I lost my mind with joy! It was Conan The Usurper. I read all the (Robert E.) Howard Conans and fell in love with that character. That was probably it for me. That was what I was gonna do for a living even though I didn’t know it then.

Being number seven of eight kids in our family, by the time I showed up my mom (an artist herself) was more than happy to put some paper in front of me to keep me occupied. My dad was a salesman so we had giant stacks of paper that we could plow through. My brother and I would sit on the steps and draw for hours. He drew cars and I drew super-heroes. Today, he’s an auto designer and I illustrate comics. We just never stopped drawing on the steps.

In high school, I had two major influences: The Frazetta art books, and the “How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way” book. I was drawing super-heroes on all of my high school folders, and a classmate saw that and said, I got a book for you. The next day and $5 later I bought from him the book that I only dreamed existed. That was an amazing book, and is still the definitive book for drawing comics (in my opinion).

Then, I went to art school, getting exposed to good design and classic art, and started to go to comic book conventions. I even bought a plane ticket and went to the offices of both Marvel and DC Comics, without an appointment, with my art portfolio in tow (that’s how committed and determined I was to be a comic book artist). I finally got my samples in front of Archie Goodwin at another convention, and he immediately said that he wanted to hire me. I got a call from Carl Potts, and that was it. Strange Tales 11 featuring Cloak and Dagger was my first comic!

After more than proving yourself at Majestic Entertainment, you did work for DC and Marvel Comics. A highlight of this period was your time on Conan.  Have you always been Robert E. Howard fan all your life, or just lucked into the assignment? 

The order was first Marvel, then a one shot at DC, then Majestic, Dark Horse, and finally Starlord at Marvel (roughly in that order, I think?). I also did painted pinups, like Spider-Man vs Hobgoblin, and a bunch of painted collector cards featuring great characters like The Hulk, Wolverine, Cable, Magento, etc…. I really wanted to work on Conan so bad (still do) but my timing wasn’t quite right. The timing was right enough to land my one and only Savage Sword of Conan cover for issue 231, but not right enough to get any more covers, since they shortly after discontinued publishing that title.

What was the appeal of working on Conan during the 1990s? What do you think you brought to the character? 

My attraction was all about Frazetta! I’m pretty much a Frazetta mega fan, and I wanted to do that type of art. I also loved Howards stories as so many did. I didn’t get to do much on Conan, just that Savage Sword of Conan cover, and some pinup interiors in Conan Saga 81. My Conan is a big, powerful dude, and very intense. I always thought he had to be a guy that would effortlessly wield and axe that most would struggle to pick up. I draw Conan as a complete and total badass!

I would love to draw a Conan comic today, but I’m finding that being a former Marvel Conan artist isn’t even a foot in the door. I’m gonna keep trying though, because I feel Conan fans deserve my best efforts to bring them a definitive Conan!  Although I must say, I’ve seen some mighty fine Conan artists lately on the title that I’m very satisfied with. Still, just a back issue 10 pager or something would be so much fun, and I’d really give the folks something ripping cool!!

Speaking  of Conan fans, I’ve been running a Conan Facebook fan group for over a year now with 11,000 members from all over the whole world, and we all love Conan. I hear the praise and I hear the complaints directly from the fandom. I’m closely connected to the Conan fans and I feel I’m dialed into what Conan fans really want to see.

Soon after you landed plum assignments at Dark Horse Comics. You worked on Barb Wire when the Pamela Anderson-starring film was burning up theaters, as well as Keith Giffen’s contribution to the “Dark Horse Heroes” imprint, Agents of Law. Which assignment did you prefer? Was there another book you wanted to tackle at Dark Horse while you were there? 

I loved working on Barb Wire and Agents of Law. That was when my art finally came together and I started to do really consistently good work. I also loved the whole Dark Horse universe that they were creating. I would have worked on any of those titles since I liked them all!

What are you working on now? What exactly are you doing on YouTube?

I regularly work in advertising storyboards which pays the bills, but YouTube is about promoting my own art as well as passing on what I’ve learned to the next generation. I’m at the stage in my career where I’m ready to teach and train the new kids. I want to give the comic artists their own How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way book that I had as a young artist, but in the far more advanced tech today of easily assessable YouTube videos!

I got great stuff coming soon, too: A Hulk, an Iron Man, Wolverine, and many more. If you know some young budding artist that needs good free tutorials, direct them to my YouTube channel. You can ask me questions too, in the comments section, and I’ll happily reply!

I’ve also been attempting to get back into comics, but it’s not that easy. There’s so many talented artists out there today! I created both a Vampirella and a Lady Death cover that I’m attempting to get published with no luck so far. That’s the way it goes, though. Every time you don’t get a response, you need to keep improving and getting better to lock down assignments.

You are finishing the cover for the upcoming Kent Menace Spring 2022 release. What do you like about the character and would you consider doing future work with Braden and Malbrough’s “Mysterious Mariner?”

I instantly loved Kent Menace, and am having a blast working on this cover! I’d love to do more! He’s a badass fighter of any sea monster you can imagine, and it doesn’t get much better than that for an artist. He also has a super hipster look, as well as a rich and fantastic origin story. What more could you want?! I’m excited to see his stories unfold.

What current titles would you enjoy working on if you had the chance? Anything you might bring back from the four-color dead? 

Besides Conan, I think a Superman comic would be totally fun to do. The interesting thing is that Superman is the one character that I’ve never been able to get right until recent years. I have many Superman sketches throughout the years that are embarrassingly bad, so I always saw him as my greatest challenge artistically.  He’s so tough to get just right. I think I finally got him down though, and would love a chance to prove it.

If I can’t get a Conan or Superman story, there’s always crowdfunding which has really taken off recently. Thankfully, there’s lots of emerging options for artists today, and it’s really a great time to do comics.