ME: Can you tell us a little about
the Black Book project your worked on in 1970? It marked your first
collaboration with Syd Jacobson as writer, isn't it?
ERNIE: Yes, Sid wrote it. When at Harvey, he
once got a letter from a soldier in Korea asking why African
Americans were never represented in our comics--or just about any
other.
Sid took that letter to heart and
immediately introduced an African American friend of Richie Rich.
He then wrote the Black Book as a
parody of comics in general, with all the famous characters as
African Americans.
-After that, you had a strange
encounter with a french publisher on a one shot called...the
Sexorcist ! I have not been able to find a copy of this.
-I'm glad. I disliked that project and
did not do well on it.
-I know from one interview you gave
to Comic Book Artist that it seemed like the guy begged you several
times before you accepted to do it and that years later, you found
out that he seemed to have some connection to...what, the mob?
-He began writing a large check. That
put to rest my reluctance.
What mob was that? I think that was
icing on the interview--not based on fact.
-After that, have you ever been
approached again by a french publisher?
-No. But I inked Mauricet at Crossgen.
Momo is one of the best in the business--it was a privilege to work
with him.
-Your first works for
Marvel were on John Carter Warlord of Mars and Battlestar Galactica.
You referred to Battlestar Galactica (in a Comic book artist
interview) as your worst working experience ever! Why was is so?
-John Carter was fun. Galactica wasn't,
because the studio wouldn't supply us with reference photos. This was
long before Google, so I had to hustle to get them, with a deadline
looming--as usual.
-You drew in 1979 a nice
science-fiction turning quickly into an heroic-fantasy" story
called "To sleep, perchance to Die", scirpted by somebody
called Marc Dacy. Was this Marc Dacy a friend of yours, a pseudonym?
I haven't been able to find anything on him and it seems he hasn't
written anything else.
-It sounds vaguely familiar, but I'm
sorry, Xavier, I don't remember it. If you have a copy and want to
send me a panel or two to refresh my memory, that would be fine. I
also have no idea who Marc Dacy was. My firend Nick Cuti was working
at Warren Publications at the time--he has an absorptive memory.
Chances are he would remember that kind of detail. I'll ask him.
[ after sending the panelks to Ernie]
Studying those panels was like being in a S/F story myself. I can see I drew them, but have no memory of for whom I did the story or even what approximate year it was.
I'm either in the Twilight Zone, or in the twilight years--I sure hope not.
-You were the penciller of a
Red Sonja title that was launched in 1983. The title seemw rather
chaotic: a weird 36p format, lots of inkers and pencillers credited,
and only 2 issues published. Do you have any memories of what was the
deal with that?
None whatever.
With all the bouncing around I was
doing at that time, my memory of particular assignments is cloudy, at
best. My pal and partner Sid Jacobson once described me as a "utility
infielder"--a term he had to explain, since I know next to
nothing about sports. Apparently, in baseball, it means a player who
can fill almost any position...adequately.
-Your only incursion to Comico, was an
issue of Johnny Quest. (n°18, scripted by William Messner-Loebs),
which was I suppose a nice way to return to kid-friendly comics, but
keeping a more mature drawing style. Did William Messner-Loebs ask
you to help him with his artist deadline?
-Don't recall. I do remember it was a
very pleasant gig. William did not ask for help with his
deadline--but I think I did.
- At Marvel, you drew the second issue
of Nightmask (a creation of Archie Goddwin for the New Universe,
which had 10 different pencillers over its 12 issues-run!). It was
mostly dream sequences or talk scenes, probably a nice change from
usual super-heroes comics. You seemed quite at ease with it,
especially the dream sequences (see scan attached), didn't you?
-Yes, dream sequences are fun.
Freewheeling, unconstrained by "normal" considerations.
- One of your rare ongoing assignments
will be Airboy at Eclipse (Airboy 46 to 49 in 1989). Were you a fan
of the old golden age Airboy serie?
-Yes, I liked Airboy very much. It
always had humor and adventure. It's the kind of Gunga Din
storytelling I always favored.
- Airboy would stop with issue 50,
drawn by the Kubert brothers. Now, this came as a shock to me: on the
letter page, Catherine Yronwode (the Airboy editor) will explain why
Airboy is cancelled and one of the reasons given was the lateness of
the book schedule. She'll write what I found were some harsh words
about you. Here is the text:
"LATENESS: Ernie Colon, who
promised to be a fast (and popular) replacement for Stan [ Woch],
proved to be the slowest, most dilatory artist this series has ever
been made to endure. The work looked fine when he turned it in, but
we all know how the book fell behind schedule during his four-issue
tenure. The entire 40-page story you have just read was completly
pencilled, inked, lettered and coloured by the Kuberts, in the time
it took Ernie to do one of his 18-page episodes. Issue 50 has been
sitting in the Eclipse offices waiting for his turn to get printed
since shortly after Ernie turned in the atwork for Airboy 47. That's
no way to run a railroad. Fans lose interest, retailers get angry,
and distributor cut their orders."
I don't think you have the
reputation of being a slow penciller. What happened there and were
you angry reading those unusual comments to the Airboy readers?
-Cat was exactly right in writing
those comments. I didn't make any excuses, because the deadline was
my responsibility. Here is what happened; my best friend since high
school was and is, a gifted artist. He won awards and was a well
known and busy illustrator.
He always had a curiosity about
comics work and asked me to give him a try at inking my work. In
spite of his reputation for lateness, I thought he would be extra
conscientious about my work, my deadline and my reputation.
I sent him all the pages penciled,
ready for inking. Time passed, with him reassuring me he was making
progress. As the deadline approached, my calls to him became more
frequent, more desperate. He pleaded that it was difficult to make
the transition and to give him more time. I was reduced to begging,
then threatening. I demanded the pages back, ready to take up the
inking wherever he left off.
He finally sent the pages back to
me.
I was stunned to find he had inked
exactly one panel on one page. When I confronted him on this
unforgivable lapse, he mumbled something incoherent--which may have
been an apology. The deadline was long gone. My completing the work
and sending it in was useless. The people at Eclipse swore they would
never work with me again.
And they didn't.
-Damage Control would be your first
collaboration with Dwayne Mc Duffie, one of the writer who will most
work with. Did you know each other before working on Damage Control
and did you feel right from the start that you "clicked"
well together?
-Dwayne picked me for the series. He's a
very talented writer and the "Damage Control" premise was
wonderful. Cause and effect were never a staple of comics before
Dwayne's concept.
- Damage Control is an unusual
serie, making fun of some rules of the super-heroes genre. You are
credited as its co-creator. Was the creation of Damage Control a
mixed effort, or did Dwayne provide the concept and you the character
designs?
-The concept was completely Dwayne's.
The character designs were mine.
- The first issue of the 3rd Damage
Control serie was drawn by Kyle Baker. You would draw the other
issues. Your style on this 3rd serie went a little more toward
something raw and caricatural, which suited the serie quite well. Was
it seeing the Kyle Baker pages that you fell that you could go a
little more toward this approach ?
-Kyle is a fearless artist. When I saw
his version Of "Damage", I was stopped. I thought his
approach--light, irreverent--was exactly what the series needed. I
was so impressed, I followed in his footsteps.
-There is one specific fill-in issue you
draw for Power Pack (n°53, January 1990) that really stands out. It
was an issue writen by Terry Austin using delightfully the Typhoid
Mary character. I don't think you ever worked with Terry Austin
before, yet I think he really is a big fan of your work (he provided
a lot of original art for your interviews to Comic Book Artist). The
plot played delightfully with the sexual urges of the Power family
father to young fragile/manipulative Mary, the jalousy the Power
children feel toward her, and the own crazyness of the Typhoid Mary
character. What can you tell us about this one-in-a-kind assignment?
-Terry Austin is one of my favorite
people in comics. I was very happy to work with him on Power Pack and
am sorry not to have had the opportunity to work with him again. PP
was a good assignment, but only one of many that I did where it was
for one or two issues. Sid Jacobson once called me a utility
infielder. Not being familiar with sports, he had to explain to me
that it meant I could go with many styles.
-Another of your 90's assignments
that probably fell off the radar of most people was Mighty Mouse.
Marvel choosed to make it a parody of classic comics storylines
(Mices on Infinity Earths...) with some funny "swipe"
covers. Did you enjoy this assignment and what did you think of Marie
Severin inking over your pencils? It was like the meeting of two
giants, frigtening yet exciting!
- Ah, Mighty Mouse was great fun and
Marie Severin was a fine inker and a skilled penciller in her own
right. She and I worked on Star Wars and I was so happy with her work
I gave her all the originals.
-You drew and wrote 3 fill-in issues for
the title Doom 2099 (whith one published in the 2099 unlimited
anthology). It was an ankward title... I suppose it wasn't easy to
find a story to tell for this character. It seems like those fill-in
issues were mostly an opportunity for you to play with computerized
backgrounds and to draw historic/legendary figures. Why did you at
last write those issues as well as drawing them, seeing that you
never wrote anything for Marvel (except Ax)?
-Did I write them? Don't recall. But
Doom was fun to draw. Great character. I didn't use a computer on
that one. I did do Mighty Mouse completely on computer. It was so
limited, I had to draw two panels at a time, then print them out and
paste them together into a page.
- In 1994, you also drew a Dreadstar
mini-serie with Peter David at Malibu. What memories do you have of
this assignment?
-Dreadstar was fun to draw and Peter was
an excellent writer with a broad imagination. I was able to
experiment with the characters--something I've always enjoyed.
- The "Ernie Colon: death of a
bad inker" book was released in 1995. What is the genesis and
content of this book (I was unable to find a copy, you
self-published, didn't you?)
-How in the world did you know about
that? I've never published it. It was a satire based on my
experiences at DC. I held on to it for years, fearing It was too
offensive. Now, with Dick Giordano's death it's even less
appropriate.
-
With Wendy and the Golem, you provided a comics series aimed primarly at young jewish people. Do you think it's important to give to « minorities » heroes to identify to ? (something Dwayne Mc Duffie seemed to belive in, with Milestone)
In today's media, ethnic people have many
representatives. TV, movies, whatever, generally have quite
a diversity. Sometimes it's a little off-putting--as when a team is
gathered for--say--a new crime show. There will be the handsome hero, the
pretty gal assistant, the African American, the Asian lab tech, the funny
computer nerd, etc. Doesn't always happen that way, but that seems to be the
formula.
TO BE CONTINUED...
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