EP01 - Joe Quesada
JOE QUESADA - INTERVIEW 2024
Hi Joe, first of all, thank you for taking the time to do this, it’s a real pleasure to be able to talk with you. (albeit remotely, hopefully face-to-face one day at a Con or someplace).
I’m Gyorgy Bartos (but feel free to call me George) from Transylvania, Romania, working in the entertainment industry as a freelance Graphic Designer & Digital Artist.
Ever since I had a cognitive thought, I remember being a lover of comics. The very first issue I reckon getting from my mom was probably Amazing Spider-Man #389 by J.M. DeMatteis & Mark Bagley. This was around 1999, comics got released a bit late here, compared to the US. Then I got into collecting Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate X-Men and later Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimates. I remember seeing your name for the first time there, as the Editor-In-Chief.
The first artwork that I saw by you, was the cover for Ultimate Spider-Man #1 and Ultimate X-Men #1. I have to confess, being just a kid, I thought they were made by Mark Bagley and Adam Kubert respectively. To my ignorance, I believed that whoever did the interiors also had to create the covers, as a rule. Your cover for New Avengers #1 was what sparked my interest to get to know your work better. This was around 2005-2006. I was 12-13 at the time and consumed comics on a regular basis, from wherever I could get, be it in Hungarian, Romanian, even Italian, I just had to get my hands on them and study it. The artwork, the storytelling, coloring, all of it. It was my escapism from the mundaneness of everyday life. They got me through some dark times and I will always be grateful for this medium. One thing we can all agree on, is that comics are meant to be for all ages. They can be fun and light, heavy and dark, more mature, educational, serving as cautionary tales or inspiring. There’s something for everyone, if one looks.
With that out of the way let’s dive deep into it. I will start by asking when was the first time you knew you wanted to work in comics? I know you previously mentioned that you kind of gave up on them for a while until you saw Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, so what was in it, that re-ignited your passion for the medium, can you elaborate on that?
You’re partially correct. I had picked up DKR #1 just days before picking up Watchmen #2. Prior to reading those books, the last comics I read were in 1974, so my memory of the stories was one I had great affection for, but not the kind of artwork and stories I wanted to tell. After picking up those two industry-changing titles, my perception of comics and what was possible changed overnight. I had been to the mountain.
You majored in illustration at the School of Visual Arts (New York CIty), how much did that help with finding your footing in the industry? I guess what I’m trying to ask is, if that was something that pushed you into that direction or was a stepping stone?
Yes, I majored in illustration. Comics was something I didn’t see as a serious path, certainly not one I was interested in. I guess you can say I was a snob. I took two comic book courses at SVA, one taught by Will Eisner and the other by Harvey Kurtzman. I didn’t take them seriously, so much so that I failed both because all you needed to do to pass was hand in a final assignment, which I didn’t. In case you’re wondering, yes, I regret it.
We touched on this briefly on your Substack, (Drawing the Line Somewhere) but when was the first time you came in contact with the works of Norman Rockwell or Maxfield Parrish? You mentioned they influenced you greatly and one can clearly see the effect they had on your gorgeously created artworks, alongside Alphonse Mucha (who is also one of my all time favorites).
My father introduced me to them at a very early age. He would point them out to me and buy old reprints of the magazines with their covers. I was very fortunate in that way. My father saw that I had talent and wanted me to be exposed to the world's best illustrators. One of my most cherished possessions is a book he bought me of the 100 greatest paintings in history. I can’t remember exactly how old I was, but that greatly affected me.
You’re creating the cover for Wolverine: Origins # 5, what is your process, can you take me through the steps, from the inception of the piece, through research, the layouts, the pencil you use and the polished final composition? What are your resources and tools, references? As someone who also wants to incorporate more art into his posters, I would love to know more details about your process.
The process begins with the story and, if anything within it, may make for a striking image, literally or metaphorically. This cover was a little of both. Being a fan of Alphonse Mucha (my favorite illustrator along with Rockwell), I felt that his romantic, fluid style would complement the bitter-sweet image of Logan with a blade to Emma Frost’s neck. It’s both violent and sexual, and I think if you take the Mucha out of that illustration, it would just read as violent and submissive. To create a cover like this, I research as much of Mucha’s work as possible, mix and match ideas, and make sure that the balance works and that the reader’s eye focuses on the essential parts of the cover. The parts that tell the story or emote the feeling I’m hoping to get across. My tools are simple: an illustration board and a 4H pencil. The inks were by Danny Miki, and the colors were by Richard Isanove. If it’s of any interest, I’ve switched to an HB pencil these days.
Wolverine: Origins #5 - Art by: Joe Quesada, Danny Miki and Richard Isanove
As a follow up question to that, and I have to emphasize this that the cover you created for Amazing Spider-Man #593, is probably my personal favorite, how involved are you with the coloring process? Do you give guidelines or notes, in this case to Morry Hollowell?
Every piece is different. Sometimes, I have a particular color scheme in mind, but most of the time, I have the privilege of working with the best colorists in the industry. So, I like to see how they see it, and outside of stating what time of day it is, I like seeing what comes back. Sometimes, I’ll have minor tweaks, but more often than not, I’m blown away by what comes back.
Amazing Spider-Man #593 - Art by: Joe Quesada, Danny Miki and Morry Hollowell
Richard Isanove (with whom I had the pleasure to interact a few times on his Instagram regarding his work), is a long time collaborator of yours. How did you come to know him and what is the process of your workflow, can you take me through the creation of a piece, for example?
As my wife likes to say, Richard is my French mistress. We’ve been working together since I was married. I first worked with Richard on my original Daredevil run. He wasn’t the original colorist on the book, but when he took over, I knew I had found my creative twin brother from a different mother. Richard is always in tune with what I want to accomplish, and he’s always experimenting. He’ll call me up to ask if he can try a new technique, or sometimes we’re starting a new project, and he’ll ask what I’m looking for. More often than not, the answer is, “Surprise me. Invent something new.” To which his answer is always, “Oh, so no pressure. Thanks for nothing."
What would you say are some of your favorite pieces that you’ve created so far?
This is impossible for me to answer because I find that I never look back. Even during this interview, when you pointed out past covers, I didn't recall them until I checked the links. That said, I don’t keep a lot of my art, but I try to keep certain pieces, not because I think they’re the best things I’ve ever done, but because they mark a milestone in my career. For example, I have the tryptic from Sword of Azrael #1 and the cover of Daredevil #1. So, concerning my favorite pieces, I have yet to do them, and if you ask me after I do, the answer will probably be the same. I have to keep moving forward to keep my sanity and interest high.
Sword of Azrael #1 - Art by: Joe Quesada and Kevin Nowlan
With the rise of AI now making the headlines, I want to take this opportunity to ask you, since we’re well into the digital age, what are, for you, the pros and cons of working traditionally versus digitally? How does the process differ and what would you recommend watching out for in this regard? I mainly work digitally, creating digital paintings and/or using stock photos for the movie posters and my own work.
I enjoy traditionally more than digital, but I can do many more visually interesting things digitally. I thought digital would make me faster, but it hasn’t because I have many more options at my disposal now. But I would say my biggest downfall when it comes to digital is the ability to zoom and not realize how much larger I’m working than the traditional page size. I’m working with my buddies on the Sketchbook team (my drawing app of choice) to see if a lock can be added to the zoom tool, but at the moment, my one solution is keeping my brush size locked so that if I zoom in too tightly, I’ll be aware of it because I won’t be able to get the fine feathering work I’m accustomed to.
Totally nerd questions, what does your sketchbook look like?
It’s a mess. A mishmash of unfinished pieces, scribbles, and ideas.
One More Day is still talked about a lot, and I’m sure you’ve already said all there was to say about it, my question would be more on the technical side, if that’s alright. Since status quo-s both on the Marvel and DC side are frequently changed or reset, I would be interested in knowing what’s the behind-the-scenes process of a task like this, can you take me through the steps? I’m fascinated, just as with movies, how a project like this comes together.
At this point, it was so long ago. What I do remember is that we didn't take this story lightly, and there were many creators involved at the onset. JMS, Brian Bendis, Ed Brubaker, myself, and several other creators and editors took part in several story summits over the phone (Zoom didn’t exist). The key to the story was that we wanted to erase the marriage but find a methodology that didn’t discount decades of comics. A story where only one thing was retconned, and that was the wedding, which in this altered timeline, Peter missed and left MJ at the altar. After that, every story stays the same, with a tiny retcon; instead of Peter and MJ being married, they’re living together.
Amazing Spider-Man #544 - Art by: Joe Quesada, Danny Miki and Richard Isanove
On a closing note, your artwork in those issues is extraordinary. The tone, vibe, use of contrast, the almost noir-ish edge, is simply inspiring and gorgeous.
Thanks; that means a lot. Also, thank you to all the fans who come up to me at conventions, lean in, and whisper to me, “I really liked the story.” It happens all the time, and it’s funny that they whisper it as if the internet is listening because, you know, it wasn’t cool to like that story, or maybe more appropriately, it was fun not to like that story.
I think it has to do with more of the fact that different generations and readers are probably impacted differently by the story. When I read it first, it hit harder than probably anything I’ve read before in comics. Took me a long time accept the fact. Personal feelings aside, I believe stories should be impactful and reach you at a deeper level and make you feel things. As another side note, when O.M.I.T. came out, it was one of my most studied comics. The use from previous issues of the Amazing Spider-Man Annual# 21 intertwined with the new artwork by the super talented Paolo Rivera was stunning. And those covers by both of you, just fuel for inspiration.
You ventured into filmmaking with your first ever short movie FLY, which is making the festival rounds, so please allow me to congratulate you! How did that come together, can you talk about that?
I’ve always wanted to direct. I got my first taste of it when I directed the first episode of an Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. web series called “Slingshot.” It won a Webby Award, which I thought silly at the time, but now I hear it’s a much sought-after prestigious honor, so you’re looking at a Webby Award winner here. During our summer of COVID, I had this short story idea and decided to make the world’s most expensive home movie. I shot it with friends, most of whom never worked on a film before. It was a blast. The surprise was seeing it get accepted into film festivals, and it won several awards. That was awesome, but it was no Webby!
Hah that’s really awesome, congrats on the Webby!
‘FLY’ a short film by Joe Quesada
You previously mentioned signing a deal with Amazon, do you plan on directing more, and if so, and it’s not something you can’t talk about, what would your dream project be?
would love to direct something again, but to be honest, I have such crazy time constraints with all the projects I’m working on that I just don’t see how I could take the time off to do it. I might do another short someday, but I have nothing planned at the moment.
Do you have plans to publish creator owned comic books in the near future?
It’s a definite possibility, but I’m currently finishing a really cool project for Marvel, so we’ll see.
Thank you Joe, for answering my questions. I know you’re really busy these days, so you interacting with your fans on Substack or just simply taking the time to do this is much appreciated.
Hope you’re having a great day and can’t wait to see what’s next for you!
You can follow Joe Quesada on Substack, X(Twitter) and Instagram.
