Throwback Thursday: Walter Simonson

♦Back in Tripwire #55 which was published back in July 2011, we spoke to writer-artist Walter Simonson about his original graphic novel for DC The Judas Coin…

Turning The Other Cheek

WALT SIMONSON gives TRIPWIRE a sneak peek of his forthcoming DC hardcover, THE JUDAS COIN, in his words. The book features his interpretation of some of his favourite DC characters…

The Judas Coin began life originally as an idea for DC’s series from a few years ago called Solo, edited by Mark Chiarello.  Eventually, the book was expanded to its present form and became a graphic novel.
The Judas Coin consists of an introduction and series of six short stories, chronologically arranged, and bound together by a common theme.  I’ve written and drawn the stories using mostly lesser-known DC characters.  The tales are scattered across about 2000 years of history, from the time of the Roman Empire to Earth’s near future.
Because of the lengthy timeline involved across the book, and the characters I’ve chosen to write about, I’ve drawn each of the stories in a different style.  The various styles are derived from my notions about the nature of the various characters, their historical periods, my own artistic influences, and a special consideration for the romance of each narrative.

The Two Face page seemed to demand a harder, more precise edge with a modern flavor, and is mostly pen work on plate finish Bristol. I was inspired by the newspaper strips of Jim Holdaway and Yaroslav Horak, both long-time influences in my work.  Their art is a lovely mix of realistic proportions and abstract drawing, with sharply defined black, whites, and textures.  In their mastery of the form, they each included the occasional grotesquery, something I thought a perfect fit for a story involving Two Face.  And by using a modified strip format for the art, I was able to include a series of newspaper clippings on each page, amplifying the story a little and suggesting a wider world beyond the comic.

The Bat Lash page pencils shown here and the inked page opposite was inspired by the beautiful work of Nick Cardy, the original artist on the series back in the 1960s. I have also emulated his wide gutters between panels, and rounded panel corners.  It gives the pages a slightly old-fashioned look, appropriate for the time period. The pencils were inked largely with a brush on a rough-surfaced vellum Bristol in an effort to create a series of rather loose calligraphic drawings, which I hope will evoke a sense of the rugged Old West.

JOEL MEADOWS

Judas Coin TP