ERNIE COLON INTERVIEW in SCARCE 77 (2011) Part 8: AMETHYST

ERNIE:Amethyst was one of the most enjoyable projects I ever worked on. The partnership of myself, and the writers Gary Cohn and Dan Mishkin was fun and produced a series that appealed to girls as well as boys--something the field has always needed. Girls--making up a potential 50% of readership, have been ignored for years, while the industry almost exclusively catered to snarling superheroes.

ME: The maxi-serie Amethyst was quite long in the works. We first heard of it in 1981, but it will not be released before early 1983. A preview of it was released inside Legion of Super-Heroes 298 (April 1983). Why did it you so long to produce it? Was it because you began using scratchboard for all the 16p preview?

-You're very well informed. I only used scratchboard for an ad promoting Amethyst. Not sure why it took so long to produce the series, but it was 12 issues.

-Have you ever use scratchboard after Amethyst?

-Never. A demanding medium without much commercial value.

-Gemworld is supposed to have 12 kingdoms, each based on a gemstone. During the course of the series, we will see a lot of them, some more than others. Each had its own architecture, clothing, mood... Did you work intensivly on all of the 12 different gemstone kingdoms (and so, some your work was not really used because it was not possible to show all of the 12 kindgoms in details) or did you make it as need goes by, when the story asked for it?

-I always try to let the script dictate my approach. In Amethyst's case, I sometimes would insert a scene out of my own fevered brain. The writers--Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn, would call me and ask, "what the heck do we do with this scene/" I would laugh and tell them, "how do I know? You're the writers!"

We had great fun with Amy and I think it was one of the best series DC ever produced. Too bad they didn't know what to do with it subsequently.

-On Amethyst, you would draw some very daring sequences and shots, that would stay in people minds once they saw it (I'm thinking, among others, to Granch death at the hands of Lord Opal, or to this amazing reflection in an eye shot. Before that, people would mostly have seen you only on Casper, Richie Rich or on Arak (with an inking that would hide your style). Did you notice a change in the way people at DC or Marvel treated you after they saw Amethyst?

-Amethyst lent itself to audacity and improvisation. When a major toy company paid to option Amy as a toy, we--the writers and me--were sudden celebrities--with our peers and especially with management.

The company even made prototypes. Then, for whatever reason, they lost interest and dropped the project.

Gary, Dan and I suddenly had an infectious disease and were given lots of room when passed in hallways.

As for me personally, or reaction to my work, no one knew what to expect--from my work, my arrogance, or my bad temper.

I've changed.

-When DC launched the ongoing Amethyst right after the maxi-series, you were not its penciller. Did you have to turned down the job so that you would be able to work on your DC graphic novel Medusa chain and did you propose Medusa Chain to DC or did they ask for it?

-Neither Gary, Dan or I were asked to further participate in the continuing Amethyst stories. Nor were we asked our opinion as to the direction those stories were taking. As far as we were, and are, concerned, that direction was ill-conceived, even grotesque, considering what a popular series that had been--especially among girls--a sadly ignored audience.

I presented "Medusa Chain" to Dick Giordano and he approved it.

TO BE CONTINUED...