Flashback February: Kyle Baker

♦2016 is an anniversary for Tripwire. It marks the 24th anniversary of the magazine, which began back in February 1992. So for the rest of February, we shall be representing some of our classic moments over the past 23 years.  In TRIPWIRE Volume 4#10, published in Mar/ April 2002 we spoke to Kyle Baker about his graphic novel King David so here is part one of that interview…

Biblical Proportions

KYLE BAKER has built up a reputation as an artist specialising in graphic novels. As his latest book, KING DAVID, hits the shelves, TRIPWIRE caught up with him to find out more about the book, his work (present and future)…

TRIPWIRE: There was quite a controversy a few years ago about the Superman’s Babysitter story in the DC Elseworlds oneshot. Obviously the story was reprinted in last year’s Bizarro Comics hardcover. Would you have come back to do King David if an agreement hadn’t been reached over that short story?

KYLE BAKER: There wasn’t any disagreement between me and DC. A large percentage of the work I do never sees daylight.

I’ve done work for movies, advertising, and magazines and it is common for work to be commissioned, paid for and not used. As long as I’m paid for the work I’ve done, I don’t really care whether it is published or not. I was paid for the Superbaby story which they commissioned, and since it was a work made for hire, I have no legal claim to the work once I’ve been paid.

I also think that DC has the right to determine how their characters are portrayed in their own books. If someone besides me were to write a “Cowboy Wally” story, I would make sure that they produced a version of my character that I approved of. If I found the story offensive in any way, I would prevent it from being published.

It was actually comic book fans that felt I was treated unfairly by DC and demanded to see the story. Fans published it on the internet. Frank Miller and other fans nominated it for an Eisner award, which it won. I think “Superman’s Babysitter” is a nifty cartoon, and I’m glad it was finally published, and I’m very happy with the way everything turned out.

By concentrating on my own creations, such as King David and I Die At Midnight (which was published after Superman’s Babysitter), I avoid the risks involved when doing a work for hire version of DC characters. When I do a DC character, all I’m really interested in is the money. Whatever they do with it after they buy it is up to them.

TW: Your style has been getting more and more cartoony and the influence of classic Mad artist Jack Davis can be seen more prominently in your illustrations and composition. Is this something that’s always been there in your work but you’ve just chosen to bring it out more in recent years?

KB: I love MAD. I’m one of the “Usual Gang Of Idiots”.

As far as being cartoony, I’m a cartoonist. I’m practicing every day to become a better cartoonist. To this end, I emulate the work of the best cartoonists, including Davis, Aragoñes, Eisner, Drucker, Elder, Kurtzman, Wood, Schulz, Ketcham, Hart, Foster, Caniff, Kirby, Capp, Kelly, Gibbons, Miller, Spiegelman, Feiffer, Bellamy, Gould, and all the rest.

TW: You’ve also been playing with computer colour a lot. Have you reached a stage with it where you’re happy that it’s as versatile and you’re as adept with it as you were/ are with hand painted work?

KB: I like the predictability of computer colouring. When I do a painting for publication, I’m never sure how it will look once it’s been photographed, scanned, reduced, separated, and printed. A computer bypasses all the intermediate stages, producing separated colour. If the computer tells me the colour is 50% Magenta, then that’s what will be published.

TW: Of the original graphic novels you’ve produced (Cowboy Wally Show, Why I Hate Saturn, You Are Here and I Die At Midnight), King David is the first adaptation you’ve produced. Is it a story that you’ve felt an affinity for for some time or did

you hit upon it almost by accident?

KB: I’ve always loved the story since I was a child, and wanted to wait until I was technically able to pull it off convincingly. You gotta be a pretty good cartoonist to pull off a Bible epic.

I’ve also done graphic novel adaptations of Through The Looking Glass and Cyrano De Bergerac for First/Berkely’s Classics Illustrated line. Cyrano…was scripted by Peter David.

TW: As well as Jack Davis, animation seems to be more of an influence on your current work than it was before. Do you follow a lot of modern animators, people like Tartovsky, and do you find a lot of contemporary animators that get you fired up?

KB: I’m an animator. I do all the animation on KyleBaker.com, and have done designs and storyboards for Disney, Dreamworks, Imagine, Fox and Warner Brothers. In my spare time I’ve been writing and designing a “Noah’s Ark” feature.

Most corporate animation is done primarily for an audience of children, so I can’t really say I’m too impressed by any of it. I do cartoons for adults. I enjoy Pixar movies with my kids. I like old MGM Tom ‘n’ Jerrys. And Bugs Bunny used to be funny. Yellow Submarine is pretty cool.

TW: 160 pages is a big undertaking but you’ve become known for the longer, more ambitious projects. What is it that appeals to you about such work?

KB: If I land a contract for a 160 page book, I don’t have to look for another job for six months. Most freelance art jobs only last a few days, then you’re back on the street trying to hustle up another job.

Also, longer books appeal to the mainstream bookstore market; Places like Virgin Megastore, Borders, and Barnes&Noble all stock Graphic Novels these days.

TW: Apart from studying the source (ie the Old Testament), what other research did you have to carry out before you could begin King David? Did you find the research side more arduous than for your other, some might say more lowkey work?

KB: I researched that historical period, the cultural context, the land, geography, and the people. In order to understand the Bible, it’s necessary to understand the culture that produced it. For example, the idea that all human life is equal and valuable is relatively new. In King David’s time, such things as slavery, infanticide and selling one’s children were culturally acceptable, while adultery was punishable by death, as it still is in parts of the Middle East. I enjoyed doing the research. When I embark upon a book it is necessary that I choose a subject that will hold my interest for the months it will take to execute. You Are Here was written as an excuse to spend weeks sketching in Central Park and observing sunsets on the Hudson River. King David was an excuse to spend a year researching the Bible. I always try to get paid to do what I like.

JOEL MEADOWS

Part 2 to follow tomorrow…

King David