The Fabler

- Interview by Kevin de Vlaming

Vancouver comic artist Steve Rolston is a man of many hats.

Originally trained in classical animation, Rolston’s career has seen him as a storyboard artist for children’s cartoons, an art consultant/designer for Electronic Arts Canada, a part-time teacher at Van Arts, and a comic book illustrator who has worked alongside some of the biggest names in comics today.

In fact, his very first professional gig in comics (way back in 2000) was penciling the series Queen & Country for highly celebrated writer Greg Rucka.  He’s also worked alongside such names as Warren Ellis (on Mek), Brian K. Vaughan (on The Escapists), and  Brian Wood (on Pounded).

All of this comes in addition to writing and illustrating his own graphic novel for Oni Press, the critically lauded pulp adventure story One Bad Day.

Rolston’s most recent major work has been on the graphic novel Emiko Superstar, which he penciled for writer Mariko Tamaki. Emiko Superstar was released in October of 2008 under  DC Comics’ Minx imprint, as part of their lineup of titles designed exclusively for teenage girls. The book revolves around the transformation of Emiko, a teenage girl living in the suburbs, from shy  babysitter to underground performance artist extraordinaire.

The Fabler interviewed Rolston about Emiko Superstar, his early inspirations, and his upcoming comic Ghost Projekt (with Joe Harris). He also shared some insight on his experiences teaching a course on comic book production at Van Arts, along with a few words of wisdom that he imparts to his students each semester.

The interview is below:

KD: What are the earliest comics you can remember taking an interest in?

SR: I used to read a lot of Archie when I was a little kid. I also used to read Alf comics, and Madballs – stuff like that. That’s the earliest stuff I can remember. Then of course, like a lot of kids, I stopped reading comics for a few years until I was a teenager. That’s when I really got into it. But Archie definitely planted the seeds.

KD: When you got back into comics, what were the titles that would inspire you to pursue the medium as a career choice?

SR: I remember the first one that happened to perk my interest in comics again was this random issue of Spider-Man. I wasn’t actually really intrigued by the story, but it did clue me in to the possibilities of telling stories visually with artwork.  The problem with Spider-Man comics at the time was that this issue was in the middle of those title-spanning story arcs where you have to buy all five different Spider-Man titles to know what’s going on.

That really turned me off. Luckily, Image Comics was starting up around that time, so I wound up picking up Gen 13 # 1, Spawn # 1, the Maxx # 1 – to start at the beginning with those was really a great thing for me.  The Maxx had a pretty big impact, and J. Scott Campbell’s art on Gen 13 probably had a certain impact on my drawing style. Then Spawn had a Cerebus guest appearance, which led me to look up Dave Sim. That then led me into more black and white independent comics, which is probably where my interest really took hold.

KD: In addition to your own indie work, you’ve worked alongside some huge names in the industry, such as Warren Ellis, Greg Rucka, Brian K.Vaughn… What has it been like for you to work alongside those writers?

SR: I consider myself quite lucky to have worked with those guys. I don’t know, I mean once you start your first gig working with Greg Rucka, it sets the bar pretty high. It was great as a learning experience, since they all have the ability to tell great stories. Even just reading a script from Greg Rucka or Brian K. Vaughan, I could totally see the way things would work playing out in my head. Those guys really understand the form of comics.

KD: Do you have a favorite project that you’ve worked on to date?

SR: My favorite project at this point would probably have to be Emiko Superstar.

KD: Let’s talk about that title. What were your first impressions when you were approached to do Emiko Superstar?

SR: I was excited. I had contacted Shelly Bond, the editor, and told her that I wanted to be involved with something on the Minx imprint. She looked at what writers she had and what stories they were submitting, trying to find what would be a good fit for me. Emiko was what she sent to me, and I read it, the pitch, and said ‘yes, this is the story I want to draw. This is totally my kind of thing.’

Once I got to talk to Mariko it was even better, ’cause I could tell we were on the same wavelength with everything. It was a great experience, and the best fit between me and a writer that I’ve experienced so far.

KD: What was it about Minx that made you want to approach them about getting involved yourself?

SR: The idea of a concentrated effort to get more teenage girls reading comics, and to try and put out graphic novels that are rooted more in drama as opposed to superheroes. I just thought that was a very worthy project. I’d love to see more genres available, and I’d love to see more teenagers, especially girls, reading North American comics.

Also, I gotta admit, I have a tendency towards enjoying teen drama myself. Before this, I’d drawn a Degrassi graphic novel, and I grew up on Degrassi and I still enjoy shows like that sometimes. My inner sixteen year old brain still enjoys that kind of stuff, so it works for me.

KD: Since doing Emiko Superstar, have you noticed a different demographic of fans approaching you at conventions, or otherwise contacting you?

SR: Not too much yet at conventions. I’m not sure that the type of people who read Emiko Superstar are the type yet to go to comic conventions. I have had more contact from librarians and schoolteachers who have told me how much their students enjoy Emiko Superstar.

Actually, Emiko just got nominated for the Joe Shuster Awards ‘Comics for Kids’ award. The nominations for that award are picked by schoolteachers, so that was pretty sweet to get that kind of endorsement.

KD: Moving forward a bit, can you talk at all about the upcoming project you’re doing with Joe Harris, Ghost Projekt?

SR: The book is a five-issue miniseries coming out from Oni Press whenever I come a little further along on the artwork. I think we’re probably going to be looking at early next year for the first issue to drop. The writer, Joe Harris, is going to have a few black-and-white copies of the first issue art down in San Diego this weekend. The actual comic will be colored by Dean Trippe, and I’m looking forward to seeing what he does with my stuff.

It’s a horror/mystery/supernatural fantasy set in Russia, dealing with the after-effects of a secret Cold War project that the Russians were involved with.

KD: What’s your relationship with Joe Harris like?

SR: We actually came up with the idea for Ghost Projekt about five years ago. I first met Joe on some message boards, and we got along well, and bounced some ideas back and forth. I actually even drew some art for the project, but our schedules just didn’t work together at that time. It wound up on the shelf for a long while, so it’s good to finally be working on it now.

KD: You also teach a course on an Introduction to Comic Book Production over at Van Arts. How do you find the time for that in your already busy schedule?

SR: It’s only one night a week, for three hours. So it’s not too much of a commitment, and it’s worth it, in the end. They’ve asked me if I could expand it, but that would take too much time away from actually drawing comics.

I’ve been teaching for about four years now, minus a few semesters where the registration numbers weren’t quite high enough. It can be a fun class to teach, depending on how enthusiastic the students are. We’ve got a good group right now.

KD: How has teaching a course like that influenced how you feel about the next generation of Canadian indie comic artists?

SR: It gives me some promise and hope, just to see people wanting to turn to comic books to tell their stories. It’s also good to see a nice range of interest comics out of students who are interested in manga, or superheroes, or indie stuff. We also get a lot of animation students who want to tell stories, and realize that comics is a more affordable way tell them than animation.

KD: What do you think is the most important advice that you can impart to your students?

SR: Well, there’s a couple of key pieces. I tell them, “don’t be a dick”. And then the other most important thing is I tell them to start small. A lot of artists when they start out, they want to tell their 500 page epic. They usually don’t realize not only how hard it is to sell something like that, but also how hard it is to even complete it.

In my class, I walk them through the steps to doing a four page comic. Four pages doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you’re new to it four pages is really a fair amount. So you typically start with your first four pages, then move on to your first twenty pages, and so on. You really improve so much at each stage. After you do four pages, you’ll hate that first page. After you do twenty, you’ll hate the first four.

That’s why I tell people to pick small projects to start with. You don’t really want to have all the trial stuff you’ll hate later as part of your 500 page epic. Plus I think there’s also the sense of accomplishment of actually finishing something, wrapping it up and having it done. That accomplishment can motivate you onto the next thing, so you don’t get dragged down by having too much weight on your shoulders.

For more from Steve Rolston, you can check out his website and livejournal.