Talking With N. Steven Harris

I recently spoke with N. Steven Harris, an Eisner award-winning comic book illustrator that has worked for DC Comics, Marvel Comics and various publishers. Harris has worked on books such as Deadpool, Aztek, Michael Cray, Captain America, Black Lightning, Watson and Holmes ( with Brandon Easton), Octobriana, Ajala, Voltron, Solar Man, Robin, Generation X, X-Force, and more.

Interviewee : N Steven Harris

Interviewer: Anthony Andujar Jr

Q1 What started your journey into comics?

NSH: Star Wars, Star Blazers, and other anime, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, and The X-Men are the ones to blame. 

Q2. Who are your influences? 

NSH: Yo! My list is, or, may be long! Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez is the primary. He was not the first, but he later became my primary influence. But, when I made the decision to do comics, even before the decision to become a professional, there was the decision to move from drawing one-scene space battles to drawing a story in a comic book format. Those early influences were, Paul Smith, John Byrne, Arthur Adams, John Romita Jr., Barry Windsor-Smith, Michael Golden, Larry Stroman, Deny Cowan, Rick Leonardi, Mark Beachum, Walt Simonson, June Brigman, JC Leyendecker, and probably others that I can’t think right now.

Q3 Was illustrating comic books the intended career path? Or did you stumble into it?

NSH: Definitely intended. With all that goes into learning how to do this, I can’t see how someone would just fall into this. There is too much passion and love required for the amount of work that goes into this medium. I know there are people who may have fallen into the comic book industry, I just don’t know how. I can see artists who only draw covers because that is a part of illustration and the composition of a single image. 

Q4. What was it like pursuing illustration as an educational pursuit? How did those experiences and education shape your craft as an illustrator? 

NSH: I mean it might have been like any other college experience, but with the smell of turpenoid and turpentine, oil paint, and graphite. I leaned on my parents a lot. I had a part-time job, but it was challenging holding it while commuting to college in NYC from New Jersey. Then I got the opportunity to move to NYC in Harlem. That was an experience. That move created new opportunities, such as meeting 2 of the future founders of Milestone Media. They were Michael Davis and Denys Cowan, both professional, working illustrators and comic book artists. I met them because Micheal taught a comic class at a community art center called the Children’s Art Carnival. A friend of mine at college named Rick DaSilva recommended I should check it out. Denys Cowan, who is Mike’s best friend, happened to pop in on my first day at class. This led to me being his assistant, about a year later. In the meantime I was doing that class and my college work, at the School of Visuals Arts SVA), at the same time. This was a challenge and became more of a challenge during exam season. Going back to orientation day at SVA, speakers told us what it took to be a freelance illustrator. They said it required 11-hour days sitting at the table drawing every day, even weekends if necessary. 

It took dedication to the craft and that day I had to decide if I was prepared for that and If I wasn’t, I had better get myself prepared. At the time SVA didn’t have a great cartooning dept. Therefore I became an Illustration Major, but during my 3rd year is when Mike, Denys, and the Children’s Art Carnival came into play offering a free, weekly comic book class, taught by an industry professional. How could I pass this up? Listen, it was art or bust for me. I had to go all in to make this work. 

We had class twice a week. Friday and Saturday. Friday, somehow Mike arranged for a bunch of Black and Latino kids to meet at the offices of DC Comics on a Friday night, critique our classwork, and meet up again on Saturday morning. Again, all for free. The Importance of community. Artists you may know came out of this class, such as Shawn Martinbrough, Felix Serrano, Walter McDaniels, Brett Lewis, Kevin McCarthy, and later when the class became Bad Boy Studios and moved to Jersey City, artists like the late John Paul Leon, Adam Pollina, Bernard Chang, and so many others joined and benefited from that class. In that class, we learned the business of comics and how to be consistent. Our assignment was to choose a DC character, except Batman. Write, pencil, ink(if necessary), and color a 30-page story and turn in a page a week, with the goal of having an entire book to show to editors by the time convention season rolled around. 

Those experiences helped build a community for me to draw from, helped mold my talent, and build skills to better access my talent when the inspiration was lacking because deadlines don’t care about when my inspiration comes. I had some amazing teachers at SVA as well, like, the late Sam Martine, Bradford Brown, Sam Viviano, the late Mr. Karlin, the late Marshall Arisman, Marilyn Minter and Ms. Rosiland Jefferies. All of these teachers taught me skills that still benefit me to this day, and if I don’t use those skills, I still remember enough to get something started, because I remember the foundation of what some of them taught that could apply to other mediums of art and the art business. Also, there are people that continue education in the business and the art of comics. One person in particular was a man named Grey. So the education and learning and growth is ongoing. Man!! I typed a lot there!! This is why these interviews take so long for me to get back to people. I end giving an effing biography!!!

Q5. Early this year your work on Deadpool and Death Annual ‘98 has finally been collected into a Deadpool Epic Collection after some time. When you look back, are there any projects that you’ve worked on that you’d like to see be collected into a full comprehensive trade paperback? 

NSH: Actually, it was reprinted in another trade in 2020. The Joe Kelly Complete Collection Vol. 2. I have been blessed to have much of my work collected. Starting with Aztek, then Vampire Huntress (issue 4), Voltron: Ten Lions, an issue of X-Force (issue 99) in X-Men Powerless, an issue of Robin (73) from No Man’s Land, Birds of Prey 27 in Batman Officer Down, Michael Cray. I suppose there are 2 indie titles I would love to have traded or collected. There is Solarman, which was 3 issues that I did in 2016 and Indigo Clan which I worked on from 2019 to 2022 or ’23. Oh, one more thing. The Crush. That was a 5 issue series I worked on going back to 1995. Just before I worked on Aztek for DC Comics. The Crush was published by Image Comics and produced by Motown. Yes! That Motown. Also, Michael Davis was behind that as well. He went to Motown after leaving Milestone, but that is another story.

Q6. As an industry professional, how did you navigate projects that suited your interests? And how has that evolved from when you started to current? 

NSH: I don’t think that I did. I took the projects that came to me and as I became known through my art, panels, interviews, etc., the projects started being more varied. This also reflected the changing of the times and more publishers and, people in general, started becoming more interested in comics and graphic novels. Also, with the introduction of print-on-demand, self-publishing became more accessible to me. Self-publishing also increased my visibility because there were also more comic book conventions and more comic cons geared towards Black people and people of color in general. This eliminated the comic shop middleman and the need to be picked up by Diamond to be distributed. All I needed to do was to get an affordable amount of books printed per convention and go straight to the consumer and garner newcomers to comics as well.

Q7. When crafting stories visually, what challenges do you face when working on projects? Which is more difficult? The scripting? Thumbnailing? The final pencils?

NSH: Scripting. Because I don’t write a lot and I am not nearly as experienced as a writer.

Q8. Has there been any projects that you’ve wanted to helm as a writer? 

NSH: Not really. I would rather write stories for my own properties.

 Q9. I have a particular question, and this is in regards to your work on Michael Cray, which was a reimagining of Deathblow during the rebranding of the Wildstorm Universe under the DC Rebirth line of books at the time. What was the process like illustrating that book with Bryan Hill? Is it possible to explore more with that character should there be an opportunity?

NSH: Working with Bryan on Michael Cray was a joy. I loved his scripts. I just wish it could have gone a little longer. I was just getting comfortable with the character at issue 3, then I had to do issues 4, 5 and 6 in breakdowns to get back on schedule because we had tight deadlines at the start, so falling behind was going to be inevitable. I also had surgery at that time for prostate cancer. By the way, I am totally free and clear since 2017. So, by issue 7, I came back with a vengeance to put out some real stellar work and we had a new colorist (Ross Campbell) that really made the work Dexter Vines and I were doing, really pop. Also, I did not realize this was a reimagining of Deathblow until just before I started drawing issue 1. I didn’t follow Deathblow and certainly didn’t know his name. I would love to revisit the character again, but that would be up to DC/Wildstorm. I would have loved there to have been an opportunity to better explore his relationship with his father and find out who his mother was. I mean DC really did Michael Cray dirty by killing off the character the way they did, but since when did that stop a character from coming back in comics?

Q10. This fall, you’re going to have art featured in a contemporary comic book art exhibit showcased in the Hudson Guild Gallery. Your art is going to be displayed alongside Rob Prior, Raphael Tiberino, Vincent Zurzolo, Shawn Martinbrough, Eric Battle and the late Neal Adams. What is it like to see a retrospective of some of your works for all to see in a public space? You’ve had art showcased before, but what is it like sharing the same space with Neal Adams and your contemporaries?

NSH: To have my work featured in a gallery, or a public space is always cool. Meeting new people, people asking about my work and enjoying it, being asked about the process. All of that and more is a really great experience. Especially with group shows. Less pressure and more people to get to know. Regarding Neal Adams, I didn’t even think about it. This is not shade. It is more of an “Oh wow” moment. I have had a couple of positive experiences with the legend himself. Just leading up to the show, I have had projects to work on, getting ready for the show, etc. I just didn’t think that I would be sharing a space with Neal Adams’s art. That is pretty cool.

Q11. If you had the chance to work on a comic based on an album of your choosing, who would you choose, and why? What album has such an impact on you that you’d illustrate into a book?

NSH: Oh wow!!! What a question! I will give you 3 albums. KRS-1’s Return of the Boom Bap, Public Enemy’s, Return of the Terrordome or to the Terrordome, and Jeru the Damaja, The Prophet. That is off the top of my head. Maybe Kool G Rap’s Road to the Riches, Tribe Called Quest, Midnight Marauders. I could think of more but you said one, so I will chill.

Q12. Are there any projects down the pipeline that readers should keep an eye out for? 

NSH: Most definitely!!! I have a story coming out for Darryl Makes Comics Vol.4, soon. That is a book published by DMC of Run DMC. Also, I will be at New York Comic Con on his panel on Friday, Oct. 18th. Another book coming soon is Harriet Tubman Demon Slayer issue 7. Really looking forward to those books coming out.

Q13. Where can readers follow your work? 

NHS: Thanks for the interview man. I appreciate it! People can find me on:

@nstevenharris on Instagram and Twitter aka “X”.

My website is: www.nstevenworks.com

I am also on Facebook and LinkedIn under N Steven Harris