WEBS & WONDER: MARK BAGLEY (Part 2)

By: JENNIFER M. CONTINO
Date: Friday, September 22, 2006

If you missed part one you can find it here. Now let's get back to the interview with Mark Bagley, one of the most well-known Spider-Man artists in the industry!

CINESCAPE: I know you worked on a lot of different characters since you "broke in" to the industry, but it seems as if you've become most associated with your work on the multitude of Spider-Man titles, including the series you're currently on, Ultimate Spider-Man. When you first did that Spidey story in the Marvel Try Out book, were your thoughts of getting a chance to draw Spider-Man on a permanent basis? Was he like one of your goals as a comicbook artist?

BAGLEY: Spider-Man was always one of my favorite characters. That was always my goal: to break into comics, and draw Amazing Spider-Man full time. So when Danny Fingeroth got the job editing the Spider-Man books, and I heard that Erik Larsen was leaving, he knew I would kill him if I didn't get the gig drawing Amazing Spider-Man.

Actually I thought Amazing Spider-Man should have been mine after Todd McFarlane left, but Erik got it. Thank God, I didn't get it, though. I wasn't ready. I didn't have the right work ethic at the time. I was doing too much work too fast. When Erik got Amazing Spider-Man over me, I thought I needed to slow down and spend more time on my drawing, and lower my output by a third. Financially it might have been rough for a little while, but I decided to spend much more time on the pages and the drawings. My work was immediately better, and it got me some choice jobs I wanted, and led me into the New Warriors series. It was all a matter of looking at things from a business aspect.

CINESCAPE: I loved your work on the New Warriors. It was one of my favorite Marvel series at the time.

BAGLEY: Thanks! It was a fun book to work on. It was sort of ours. No one paid much attention to it, so we could do what we wanted. [Writer] Fabian Nicieza was really able to do some fun stories and we were out of the "Mainstream Marvel Universe," so we didn't have to worry about crossovers or all the nonsense associated with those. I really got to hate the "Big Events" and "Major Crossovers" and all the nonsense that ran through the Spider-Man titles. They were a big pain in the but after a while.


We told some fun stories in New Warriors. With that series I got the chance to not be intimidated by other artists work. I didn't take over Superman or Spider-Man or any other high profile comic after another "legendary" creator. I got to just do what I wanted.

Plus it was a team book and team books are a great tool for training and storytelling. I did a lot of them before Amazing Spider-Man. I worked on Strikeforce Morituri and a toy tie-in called Visionaries. When you're working on a team book, you have to do so much choreography and figure out the angles and way to tell a story without showing every single character in every panel all the time. It improved my storytelling ability very fast and quickly. Plus, doing a team book, you have the chance to draw everything. There are different kinds of characters here, male bodies, female bodies, faces, cosmic stuff, etc.,. I mean we even had the Inhumans in the book. I think I did 25 issues before Darick Robertson took over for me.

CINESCAPE: Today, 25 issues is a long run for any one artist! How tough was it for you to go to Amazing Spider-Man over New Warriors. I mean, of course Spider-Man is an icon and one of your favorites, but the New Warriors was kind of your baby ....

BAGLEY: Well, I was doing both book for a while, and it was too much work for me. As much as I loved Fabian and the New Warriors, it was an easy decision to pick Amazing Spider-Man. The profile of doing something like Spider-Man and the royalties for that matter were fantastic - that was when comicbooks were really exploding and selling well. It wasn't a hard choice from a financial aspect. Fabian is still one of my best friends in the business. But I'd done 25 issues and felt it was time to move on.

CINESCAPE: What do you remember about that first issue of your run that you did on Amazing Spider-Man?

BAGLEY: The first issue of my run on Amazing Spider-Man was very intimidating. It took me a while to really get a handle on it. Luckily, I'd done a fill-in issue the issue before I took over and drew a few annuals - that sort of thing. The good thing about it was that Erik got the shit for taking over from Todd. Fans all said he wasn't Todd McFarlane and that he was trying to be just like him. I never thought he was or that he drew like that. When I took over, all that energy was gone. It was like, just another artist is taking over. That took a lot of the pressure off of me.

I just remember really trying to do the best job I could. I thought the first three-quarter page shot of Spidey swinging at you that I did was an awful drawing. It's why I'll never get a tattoo of my own work, because, a few weeks later, I'll find something wrong with the art. I'll think, that head is too small, that eye is off kilter, that arm is too short or something. I look back at Amazing Spider-Man and I did the best I could with what I had at the time, but I think I'm better now. I worked on about 50 issues of Amazing Spider-Man.

CINESCAPE: You worked on so many issues of that series, do you have any kind of highpoint from the run? I mean, I'm sure you enjoyed working on each issue, but does anything stand out in your mind?

BAGLEY: I think a lot of the fans like the Carnage arc that introduced him. I really thought I did some fun stuff with J. M. DeMatteis. The funny thing is, I was kind of getting tired of Amazing Spider-Man at that point in time. I was getting ready to move on, but J. M. gave me some interesting things to draw like the Scier stuff that, maybe, story wise wasn't all that interesting to me, but visually I could do a lot with it. I think my drawings improved over the years if you look at my work beginning on Amazing Spider-Man to the end, some five or so years later.

Just like if you look at the beginning of Ultimate Spider-Man until now, it's like night and day.

In fact, Brian Michael Bendis recently e-mailed me about some of my older work. He was rereading the Atlantis Attacks storyline for something, and some of my early artwork is in there - it's really awful stuff. He just e-mailed me and said, "I'm reading this, and you've come a long way, baby!"

It's been twenty years and I never rest on my laurels. Once you do that, you're stuck.

CINESCAPE: I think that's the problem with a lot of people, they kind of get comfortable doing something, and just don't push themselves anymore ...

BAGLEY: There are a lot of guys who have that problem. They figure out what they are doing and then they are in trouble. Every day, I go to the table with a few things I know I am doing, but still realize there are things I need to do better. I know there are problems here and I try to get better.

My fans probably don't see it. They look at Amazing Spider-Man and say, "this is what got me into comics and I love it!" It's their favorite stuff. They don't see anything wrong with it. I won't argue with them, because everyone has a right to enjoy what they enjoy.

But as an artist, you see your own mistakes more than anyone else. Sometimes I draw something and stare at it for hours - I know something isn't right, but I have to let it go, because I have other pages to draw and an inker and colorist are waiting for this page. I see that something isn't right some times, but I'm the only one who can see it. To so many people, it will be a perfectly fine image, but to me it is what it is.

CINESCAPE: Well I like your work. It's why I tried Ultimate Spider-Man in the beginning. I wasn't going to read this series, because I thought, "I've read all this before, what is this going to offer? Aren't these just the same old, same old stories?" At least that's what I thought in the beginning ...

BAGLEY: But these weren't the same-old same-old stories. From early on, we took a right turn where we uses the same names of villains, but made something different about them. They are NOT the same characters, and it's such a different experience.

I don't think the book gets that rap anymore, but I heard from a number of people that Ultimate Spider-Man is what got them back into comics. I think it's a combination of Brian being such a terrific writer and my work being very commercial.

I think my style is approachable. A kid can look at it and know what's going on and an adult can look at it and feel he's not being "drawn down" to. I'm not hacking it out. I'm not someone here with an "indie attitude." I just try to do a good, professional job. I know Brian appreciates it and I hope the fans do, too. Brian likes to have his stories done well.

CINESCAPE: I know it's tough to pick a favorite, but what would be your highlight from Ultimate Spider-Man?

BAGLEY: Thematically, Brian's writing so many different things that I'm just glad to be a part of and be able to draw them. I really enjoyed a number of the arcs we did. Wizard [issue # 180] just did a big thing where we deconstructed all the arcs and did our "Director's Commentary" on them. There's a lot of details about our work there. Some of the highlights for me were things like Gwen Stacy showing up, issue # 13 where Peter tells Mary Jane that he's Spider-Man -- artistically, I'm doing some of the best stuff I've ever done in the book.

It makes me sad that I'm leaving at issue # 110. We have really good inkers and colorists on this book. When it comes off the shelf, I'm like, "this is exactly HOW I wanted the book to look!" It's a really nice feeling.

CINESCAPE: Also nice to break that record of longest consecutive issues by the same creative team, right?

BAGLEY: Yes. We'll have broken that record, and it's funny that it seems like it's time to leave. Brian called me and told me that issue # 100 had the highest orders Ultimate Spider-Man has ever had. He told me I'm going out on top. I wondered, "what the hell am I thinking?"

But I think I need to work with other people and get my name on something else. Brian is lucky he can work with five different artists in a month, I'm limited. There are a lot of guys I'd like to work with and characters I'd like to work on, so I think it's a good thing for my career to do this.

CINESCAPE: I know Marvel frowns on their creators spoiling anything, but what will you tell us about what's coming up in your last issues of Ultimate Spider-Man?

BAGLEY: After this Clone storyline, I'm not even sure what we are doing next. The Clone story ends about issue # 104. I think there is one more arc and I don't know what we're doing after that. The Clone storyline turns Peter Parker's universe on its head. Aunt May now knows he's Spider-Man, Gwen Stacy is back from the dead, this is just messing with poor Peter so bad - it's unbelievable!

I was proud of the messed up face on the "Pete" that is holding MJ hostage. The nice thing about this Clone storyline is its so compact and cohesive, compared to the old one. The original one was among four books and four writers and became a mess for a whole lot of reasons - none of which you can blame on any one person. This is just OUR baby. Yeah, we're doing a clone story like they did in Amazing Spider-Man, but it is SO not what that was. It stands on its own. I'm pretty happy with it. Brian is throwing everything in here but the kitchen sink. Even as we speak, I'm scanning in a new character with an old name! And, I just got done drawing a scene with him collapsed on his knees crying with Nick Fury holding a gun to his head. It's really powerful stuff.

CINESCAPE: I'm glad Gwen is back ... I was upset how she died in the US-M.

BAGLEY: I was upset that she died so quickly. Gwen was fun to draw. She had a distinctive face and I had a really clear image of what she should look like right off the bat when I began drawing her. I was thinking a really young Madonna, before she got all skanky - kind of a long face, long nose, good looking, but not "pretty" pretty. That was what I tried to nail and I guess I did. Not in the Biblical sense of course, but in the artistic sense. In fact, I just drew her naked in the clouds - it was all part of the story - but her naughty bits are covered up by clouds.

CINESCAPE: I know we talked about your style a little, but how important do you think it is for new artists, and those just breaking into the industry, to draw in their own style, NOT ape another person's art?

BAGLEY: It's absolutely key. Everyone has his or her influences, my stuff is still influenced by Gil Kane and Alan Davis. Alan draws like I would love to be able to draw. If I could draw like any one person, it would be him. You have to take influenced though and figure out how to do them yourself and BE yourself.

There are only like two guys I can think of who started as a clone of another artist and made something of themselves: Bryan Hitch and Bill Sienkiewicz. I can't think of anyone else. The thing about comicbooks now is there are so many different styles that are acceptable. There is such a range of guys being published now from Michael Lark to me to Ed McGuinness - we all have different styles. But you have to find your own way, otherwise you just are a shadow of someone else and it's tough to make a career out of that.

The one thing you shouldn't do is encourage anyone else to draw like you. I think that was a mistake at Image. They had 14 guys drawing alike. It weakens the franchise. There should be only one guy who draws like Jim Lee, Jim Lee! You shouldn't give a guy work because he does something like that. For a while at Image, there were like four books with art that just looked like a weaker Jim Lee. I don't think it's good to encourage that. You have to find your own thing.

I feel bad about the guys I hear say they want to draw like Todd McFarlane. Todd's smart and talented, but a lot of what he does comes from inside. You won't learn a lot of skills trying to draw like him. He doesn't have a lot of structure or technique. For years there were so many horrible clones of him and I don't think any are still in the business today.

CINESCAPE: Speaking of "in the business" how long are you exclusive to the House of Ideas?

BAGLEY: I'm exclusive for another year and change - 'til the end of 2007. Then we will see what happens. I still don't know what I'm doing after Ultimate Spider-Man. I do know who is replacing me, though. I can't say, but I don't think fans will be disappointed. The book will go monthly then. There are only a handful of guys who can do more than one monthly book. I won't say who is replacing me, but I will say it isn't John Romita, Jr. or John Byrne.

I think it's important that Ultimate Spider-Man comes out monthly. Part of the catch of the book is the fact that it's been the same consistent team. As much as everyone loves the hot artists who can do four or six issues a year, people really like and appreciate an ongoing, committed team.

I think it hurt the JLA that they had one story arc by one team and then another team did something different. I think that hurts any book. That's my opinion, and I'm sticking to it.

---

Ultimate Spider-Man is in stores monthly. Bagley's only sticking to that until issue # 110. But, after 100 or so issues, anyone would want a change. You can learn more about his work at Marvel Comics on their official website: http://www.marvelcomics.com, and we'd love to know what series or Marvel character you'd like to see the artist tackle next.

---

Jennifer M. Contino is a lifelong comic book fan who writes every weekday about the medium at THE PULSE.