Green Lantern Spotlight Episode #24
Join the guys as they talk with Blackest Night: Titans writer JT Krul! Covering plenty of topics from Black Lantern babies, Red Arrow & Tempest, Geoff Johns and the University of Michigan, Seinfeld and effects of solicitations and more!
Green Lantern Spotlight Episode #21
Join West, Andrew, Kuhan and Mew as talk with “R.E.B.E.L.S.” writer Tony Bedard. The guys discuss what’s to come of the series, how it connects to Blackest Night, sales, future projects and Tony even hints at exclusive big news.
Green Lantern Spotlight Episode #20
Join Ryan, West, Andrew, and Mew as they welcome back the “Batman and Robin” artist Philip Tan! The guys talk about pressures from following Frank Quietly, hectic Green Lantern schedules, secret upcoming projects and more!
Green Lantern Spotlight: Let us start with your previous works. After being with Marvel Comics for so long, what was it like to come over to DC Comics and work on such icons like Superman and the JLA?
Kurt Busiek: Well, I’d sold my first script to DC, back in 1982, and I’d written for them off and on — I’d even written four issues of JLA, back in the 1980s. So it wasn’t a complete shock. But it was energizing, coming over to a different universe and getting to play with their characters, their history, their little obscure back-corners and forgotten wonders. That’s always fun.
GLS: You recently finished up Trinity with your old Thunderbolts partner, Mark Bagley. What was it like working together again?
Kurt: I had a great time. He may have quit cursing my name by now.
By the end of TRINITY, there was so much going on, with so many characters, and Mark had to bear the brunt of that weekly deadline, so it was rough on him. But he’s a complete professional, and made the pages look great, even under huge pressure. There’d be times I’d tell him, “Look, I’m telling you all this stuff that’s going on so you don’t contradict it, but you don’t have to show it all. As long as we see a piece of it in this panel, we can then just do three more panels showing this, that, and this.” And then he’d draw the page and it’d have eight panels with 42 characters total in it, and it’d look wonderful.
I’m sure it was exhausting. But one of the great things about working with Mark on THUNDERBOLTS was the way he could take anything in stride and make it look great, and with TRINITY, it was just like coming home to that. But with bigger characters, and more of them. It was great.
GLS: We found it a bit amusing and interesting that you still had more Trinity in you after 52 weeks. Trinity was a fantastic comic, any chance of a sequel or connected series later on down the road, another entry in the Krona saga, perhaps?
Kurt: Glad you liked it. I think I’m probably done with Krona at this point, and happy to leave him to whoever wants to pick him up next. More with the Trinity themselves would be a blast, but I’d rather it be a new story than a follow-up to this one. I kind of view JLA/AVENGERS, JLA: SYNDICATE RULES and TRINITY as a massive trilogy, but I don’t think it needs a fourth part.
GLS: Moving onto your work in Wednesday comics. What liberties do you have to take when writing for it? Does the format strain you when plotting at all?
Kurt: The format’s very tight — you can’t waste any space at all — but I knew that going in, so I plotted the story with that in mind. Whenever I’d be working on the scripts, I’d have a pile of early 1960s Leonard Starr ON STAGE Sunday strips scattered around me on the floor, as examples of how to make a single-page chapter work well, and I’d use them as reference for pacing and scene changes and such.
So sure, it was a strain, but that was part of the fun.
GLS: Wednesday Comics seems to be pretty successful both critically and commercially. Would you be interested in coming back to the format if DC wants to continue after the initial 12 weeks?
Kurt: Yeah, I’d be glad to.
GLS: Joe Quinoes art has stunned the masses. His art is consistently the first thing readers will mention after reading. Do you tailor your writing to fit his style or just leave it to him to capture your script?
Kurt: Definitely tailored the script to his work. That’s why we decided to do an early 1960s “Atomic Age” Green Lantern series, because he’s so good with setting, with very charming human characters, that I wanted to give him a very specific setting and time period he could go to town on.
And while he started out strongest on the “real world” stuff, he got better and better at the superhero action as he went along. In the first two strips, Mark Chiarello and I had a ton of suggestions for how to adjust his layouts, make the action more dynamic. By the time we hit the big action finalé, we just got he layout in and went, “Whoa. Fantastic.” So I wrote to his strengths, but at the same time, his strengths grew and blossomed as we were working on the book.
I can’t wait to see what he does on his next project.
GLS: Do you find it easier to write a monthly series or a weekly series?
Kurt: Oh, a monthly’s easier just because there’s more time to think, more breathing space. But we don’t do this to do the easy stuff. Being challenged, trying new things, that’s half the fun of it.
GLS: Can you tell us about any upcoming projects you’re working on?
Kurt: I’m looking forward to everything! I’m going to be doing more ASTRO CITY, and a new creator-owned book called AMERICAN GOTHIC, that’s all about magic all around us in the real world, and I’m having a great time with both. I’m working on an ARROWSMITH novel, and a very strange Batman-related story as well, and enjoying all of it. That’s the great part about having reached the point I have in my career — I don’t have to do projects just because I need the work. I only take on work I really want to do. It’s always fun to spend the day writing, but having it all be stuff I love doing makes it that much more so.
GLS: Thanks again for taking the time!
Kurt: My pleasure!
Green Lantern Spotlight Episode #16
Join Ryan, West, Andrew, Kuhan, Mew and Ray as they talk to special guests Darryl Banks and Ron Marz! Featuring special guest host bOB Spelled Backwards (http://www.bobspelledbackwards.com)! We talk about heir history, and hints at the future!
Green Lantern Spotlight Episode #14.5
Join Ryan, West, Andrew, Mew and Ray as they talk with acclaimed writer BEAU SMITH! Listen as they talk about everything Guy Gardner, Fringe, the industry in the 90s, Geoff Johns, Tony Daniel, DC Editorial, and of course stay tuned to the end for the latest news on the long rumored Green Lantern Corps Annual issue! All that and more on this very special episode!
West: Well, first off let me say that I am a new but huge fan of your work. I believe I first saw your art when buying Green Lantern Corps #34. I’d like to know if there were strict guidelines that your editors or Peter Tomasi/Geoff Johns lay down before you get to start a cover. What’s the process like from a cover artist point of view?
Rodolfo Migliari: Thanks man!
I work directly with the editors and they usually send me a brief description of what has to be shown on the cover and character references. To give you and example, in the case of the GL Coprs #34 cover they asked me to show Voz vs. Vice with the Sciencells in the background, and Vice spitting fire onto Voz burning his hair. I made a rough sketch and once approved they asked me to add Lyssa Drak, Schlagg-Man and Quintet in the Sciencells that were visible. And I painted the final cover. Usually is a very smooth process and working with Adam and Eddie is honestly a pleasure, they are very patient with me 
West: So were you recruited by Eddie or Adam to the Green Lantern titles, or was this a project you had your eyes on? Its perfectly fine if you don’t care about GL, by the way. lol
RM: haha! No, I love to be able to draw and paint the GL universe. Specially now with so many wonderfully design new characters and old ones coming back 
it’s a lot of fun. I got to work with Eddie and Adam through a very good friend of mine Sebastian Fiumara, he sent Adam some samples of my work and a few days later I was painting my first cover ever for DC Comics, the GL Corps #22 cover the one with Alpha Lantern Boodikka in it. I had worked for all the other companies but never for DC so thank you Adam and Sebastian!
West: So how did you originally get into the industry? I can only imagine how strenuous that must have been. We hear year’s worth of tales before getting that “break”. Is it any harder coming from Argentina?
RM: Well, I can’t say it was hard to break in for me, I guess I was lucky to be at the right place and at the right time. I got my first job during a comic convention here in Argentina in 2000, John Cassaday was a guest there and I got to meet him (one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet) he showed my work to two editors that were also attending the convention: Bobbie Chase from Marvel Comics and Chris Warner from Dark Horse they both liked my work and probably a week after that Bobbie Chase hire me to paint a cover for a Captain America annual. Unfortunately, after that project she no longer worked for Marvel…hopefully it had nothing to do with my cover 
So, after that I just started to shamelessly send e-mails to all the companies looking for more work, eventually I got more work form Marvel and later on thanks to Chris Warner I did some Star Wars covers for Dark Horse as well. Internet is an invaluable tool for us foreign comic book artist
West: Just as valuable to us fans looking to track down our favorite creators. I’d hate to draw comparisons, but Alex Ross is one of the industry’s most acclaimed painters. Any chance we see a Migliari painted story like Ross/Waid’s “Kingdom Come” or any other issues? I know there’s a lot of Green Lantern fans that would love to see more of your art.
RM: There is no comparison between Alex Ross and me..he is just too awesome! I’ve tried to do fully painted interiors a few times but it takes me too long to finish a page. I can’t see it happening again anytime soon but you never know. For anyone interested there are a few painted interiors in the last DC Universe Holiday special in a Doctor Light short story written by Adam Schlagman and drawn and painted by me with a collaboration of another great friend and artist Max Fiumara.
West: Well how long is too long, we’ve waited months in between issues for George Perez’s art. Is it the painting in your work that seems time consuming or your initial sketching? Do you or have you felt that editorial mandated hand coming down upon you for tardiness?
RM: Probably a little more than a week per page…which is ridiculous I know! haha! That’s why I do covers! It’s the drawing, the painting and the gathering of reference material. When you are trying to achieve a realistic look especially when you are dealing with color, it’s always good idea to use photo reference, 3d renders or anything else that helps you get closer to the result you are looking for. Honestly, editors have been extremely patience with me. I have no complaints
West: Ha, neither do we. If you don’t mind me asking, are you DC Comics exclusive? I only ask to know if there’s a chance to see you doing covers for other heroes in the DCU. Is there a title or project out there that you would love to take?
RM: I’m not DC exclusive. But I’m really happy where I am
Yes, hopefully there is I’ve already painted a cover for Superman # 682 a while ago and maybe there will be more. It’s just a matter of schedule now.
I think every character presents interesting visual challenges. Batman has always been a favorite of mine.
West: That was a great Superman cover by the way. I love the different people, and of course the Green Lantern shirt in Metropolis. Wrapping things up with Green Lantern, can you give our readers a hint at the next cover on your table? Your latest work was a great John Stewart portrait, I believe.
RM: Thanks! The GL Corps #41 the John Stewart cover has some interesting characters in the background that you’ll see once the comic is out The next cover I’m working on is related to Blackest Night and is really cool who’s in it. I wish I could say more.
It’s been a pleasure! Thank you!
West: Thank you for your time, it was well spent.
RM: Any time man!
LittleKuriboh!?
We’re here with a special episode having almost nothing to do with Green Lantern featuring the famous Mr. LittleKuriboh, creator of Yu-Gi-Oh The Abridged Series! Check it out!
Green Lantern Spotlight Episode #10
Green Lantern/The Flash: Rebirth artist Ethan Van Sciver joins the gang to talk about the industry, delays, casting, continuity, and…puppets? Enjoy the laughs, the history, and the greatness of Ethan Van Sciver.
Green Lantern Spotlight Episode #5
Andrew, West, Ray, Mewzard and myself interview current Agent Orange Green Lantern artist, Philip Tan. We talk about how he got into the business. What it’s like working with various writers on his books. His dream projects and answering everyone’s questions. Also, Andrew breaks out his new game for Philip to play. It was a great time and we hope to have Philip on again later this year. Enjoy