I had the chance to briefly interview Top Cow and Image founder, Marc Silvestri about his career and craft as an illustrator. In addition, I chatted with him about his upcoming project at DC, Batman: Deadly Duo.
Q1. How did this book, Batman: Deadly Duo come about?
MS: Well, I’ve known Jim Lee for years and every year he would stop by and ask “When are you going to draw Batman?” And I would tell him I have a business to run. Finally, I was like, okay, I’ll pitch this idea I know I’d done a million times, so that’s my out. I pitched it to bob harris 7 years ago, That I want to do a Batman/ Joker team up and they have to fight a new common enemy. How many times have we done that? “Oh that’s a great idea!”, and I’m like, what are you talking about? Batman is 80 years old, we haven’t done that a million times already? “No we haven’t!”, alright I guess I’m doing it. It’s a story I’ve wanted to tell, they get together and fight someone new. It’s a Black Label book, so I describe it as a buddy horror story. There’s still a lot of fun in there too because It’s the Joker, he’s having the time of his life. And it’s not in continuity, which is very freeing.
Q2: As an Illustrator, how do you keep your craft consistent? What’s your Regiment as practice that you do that others should take advice and suggestions from as an illustrator?
MS: Rule number 1 is you have to love it. Especially if you want to be in the comics business. It’s not easy, it’s a lot of work. The good thing is we’re not athletes, so there’s no real expiration date, as long as you’re healthy, you’ll get better. It’s yo to you. You just keep working at it and reinvent yourself. I’ve been working on it for 40 years now. So hopefully I’ve gotten better over time. It’s really about dedicating yourself to the art and loving it. And learning as you can from everything. Study life! Draw from your life. It’s much better than drawing refs. Don’t kill yourself using refs, be wise it can suck the life out of it. There’s nothing wrong with drawing reference but don’t rely on it too much. I see that a lot and it takes the energy out of the art. That’s what we have to convey as comic book artists. Keep working at it and you gotta love it.
Q3. When is Batman: Deadly Duo releasing?
MS: November 1st!
Thank you for your time Marc Silvestri!