Q1. Firstly, could you tell us about the "comics history" of Leonard Kirk: When did you break into the business, what comics have you worked on, etc?
LK: I "officially" broke into the business in 1990 drawing some B&W books for Malibu Comics. My first published work was an Alien Nation mini-series called "The Skin Trade." I was actually very lucky. I got the job less than six months out of university. Granted it didn't pay that much but my main goal at that time was just to see my work in print. Malibu kept me going for most of my early years. I did a few other mini-series for them including Planet of the Apes, The Eliminator and Galaxina. Later, I started working on a couple of regular monthly titles for them. The first was Dinosaurs for Hire and the second was Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. DS9 is still one of my favorite assignments because I am a card-carrying Trekkie.
In between assignments with Malibu, I penciled books for other independent
publishers like Revolutionary, London Night and Brainstorm. After Malibu was
bought out by Marvel, work slowed down quite a bit. I only had a handful of
projects in 1996. Luckily, one of them was the UltraGirl mini-series, written by
Barbara Kesel. The project was only three issues but it was a hell of a lot of
fun. It also caught the attention of some editors at DC and led to my current
job, penciling Supergirl.
Q2. What comics do you currently work on, and what are your comic plans for the future/near-future?
Right now, Supergirl and JSA pretty much fill my bill. I don't know how much longer I will be working on both titles but, for now, I'm still having a blast with them. I will also be drawing a three-issue small press mini-series in the new year called Nature's Guard.
When time allows, I will definitely be open to other projects as well, like the
Captain Marvel fill-in I did that was just released this month.
Q3. About JSA, what led to you becoming the soon-to-be new JSA penciller? How did you get the job, once Steve Sadowski chose to step down?
Actually, for the past year, I have been looking for other projects that I could work on to help spread my name around. I love drawing Supergirl but I've grudgingly learned over the years that sticking with only one title in the comics business is not all that healthy, especially in this day and age. So, I asked my editor, Mike McAvennie, to let me know if anything else came up. He and Pete Tomasi called me up to let me know that there was a five issue arc available with the JSA. I gladly accepted the "Stealing Thunder" issues. Aside from the absolute delight of drawing the JSA characters, there was also the added benefit of getting two paychecks per month KA-CHING!! :) Just kidding. Actually, the extra money will come in handy since I want to buy a house next year.
At first, I was happy just getting the fill-in assignment. The offer to draw the
book full time didn't come until later, after I had turned in some of the pages
for my first issue. I was surprised as hell at the offer. I took a few days to
think about it but I called DC back pretty soon to let them know I was ready to
accept.
Q4. Have you been a JSA fan in the past? Do you follow the current monthly JSA comic?
I did read some JSA and All-Star Squadron books over the years. I don't know that I was a full blown "fan" but I did like a lot of the stuff I was reading. I know I loved the Flash, Spectre, Green Lantern (for our younger readers, that is what Alan Scott was called before he became Sentinel) and Hawkman. I also liked Power Girl and am pleased as punch to be drawing her in the current series.
To be honest, I didn't really follow the current JSA title until after I got the
offer to draw the book.
Q5. What do you think of the current JSA work?
I read a couple of issues here and there. One of the advantages of being a regular penciler with DC is receiving a big box full of complimentary DC titles every month. :) Once I was offered the initial five issue arc, I went through my back issues as well as some new copies that DC sent over and started reading. Now, I can't wait for the next issue each month. Of course, now that I'm drawing the book, I don't have to wait. :)
Q6. As a penciller, what are your favourite JSA characters to draw? And which are your least-favourite or hardest-to-work-with?
Since, I'm really still in the "getting started" phase, I don't know that I have a "favorite" character to draw. I know that I like drawing Power Girl, Sentinel and Captain Marvel a lot. I certainly don't have a least favorite. However, I would say that Sand was one of the hardest to draw when I started. His outfit looks pretty simple but it's tough trying to remember all of the little details with his holsters and belts and guns and stuff.
By the way, I have read some of the comments on the various JSA message boards
and would like to say something that I am hopeful will put a certain portion of
the JSA readership at ease:
Yes, I know that Alan Scott is left handed. :)
Q7. Character-wise, do you have favourite/least-favourite JSAers? If so, who/why?
Favorites:
Black Adam - I don't know what will be happening to him in the near future but I
have really enjoyed seeing him on the team. I love the fact that he still has
the evil personality of Theo Adam inside of him and has to struggle against it
and control his temper.
Mr. Terrific - I love his t-spheres and other gadgets. I am a gadget freak!! My
mother was visiting me one day and counted all of the buttons on my video and
stereo equipment and told me the total was 110. Of course, that was a few years
ago, before I got my DVD players, extra VCR, fax machine, walkman, photocopier,
notebook computer, palm pilot, cell phone, etc..... :)
Star Spangled Kid - I liked Geoff's take on her in the Stars and Stripe series.
I also like the idea of seeing younger heroes joining the ranks. I mean, these
guys can't live forever. (Well, except for Sentinel, Wildcat, Flash and Hawkman,
of course)
Least favorite:
Atom Smasher: The guy's a jerk. :).
Q8. How much involvement did you have in the character designs of the "all new, all different JSA", feat. Crimson Avenger, Hourman, Power Girl, etc?
I'll get around to Hourman in the next question. I wish I could take credit for
putting Power Girl back in her "Wally Wood" costume but that decision was made
before I came aboard. When I found out that she was going to be on the team, I
drew a wicked sketch of her and lined up a series of arguments for putting her
back in that outfit. Then, when I mentioned Power Girl to Pete Tomasi, before I
could say one more word, he blurted out, "Oh, by the way, Leonard. We want to
put Power Girl back in her old costume."
Crimson Avenger was my own design based on Geoff and David's description of the
character and her background. Visually, all I knew was that she was a woman and
that she was black. Her mask was meant to mimic the blindfold on the statue of
Lady Justice and I'm pretty proud of it. I also liked the idea of having a
character whose eyes are completely covered and not just "whited out" like
Batman's. The rest of the outfit was meant to be items that can be found almost
anywhere, not really a "costume" per se. The original Crimson Avenger was the
same way. He wore a suit, coat, Fedora and gloves.
Icicle of the Injustice League shows up in this arc as well and Geoff asked if
his costume could be redesigned again. I don't know if his image has been
released by DC yet, so I won't go into too much detail. However, I did try to
keep his outfit fairly simple and practical. I noticed in Iclicle's bio that he
is described as an albino. That gave me the idea of adding some dark polarized
goggles to his outfit since many albinos are very sensitive to light.
Q9. David Goyer recently mentioned that the new Hourman's costume isn't supposed to be green, as depicted on the cover to #34. Is there anything you can tell us about how the costume should look, or where the design was derived from?
I believe that the costume is supposed to be mostly black and yellow, like the original Hourman's. The new costume is a slightly modified design originally drawn by Scott Kollins.
Q10. Are you willing to provide any line-up or storyline hints about the upcoming "Stealing Thunder" arc?
After destroying all of the Earth's super heroes, the Ultra-Humanite decides to shift his focus to eliminating all organized law enforcement by purchasing all of the world's doughnut shops and then converting them into health food stores. In acts of sheer despondency, police officers around the globe quit their jobs and devote their remaining years to the pursuit of the ultimate doughnut substitute. The best they can come up with is a bagel sprinkled with cinnamon.
AND THAT'S JUST THE FIRST ISSUE FOLKS!!! :).
(Webmaster's note: ARRGGHHH!) :)
Q11. How has your workload been, since the addition of JSA? Are you worried about missing deadlines, or reduced quality of work?
I can handle drawing two pages a day. So, I'm not too worried. Unfortunately, in the past few months, I've dealt with a nasty bout of the flu as well as surgery for a detached retina. So things are running a little behind on my end. However, I'm hoping that I'll be caught up by the end of January. I've already skipped a couple of issues of Supergirl because of the surgery and Steve Sadowski is going to pencil JSA #38 and #39 so I'll have a bit of a break there as well.
Q12. Are you tentative about taking on the artistic reins of such a fan-favourite comic, especially following Steve Sadowski's work?
Not really. I know I have big shoes to fill and my feet are only size 8 1/2 D, but I look at drawing this series as a challenge. I do feel a bit nervous about how the fans will react to my work when they see it. However, because of this, I feel that I have become more conscious of my flaws and have been working very hard to to correct them.
Q13. Will your artistic approach to JSA, differ greatly from that of your other work, i.e. given that JSA is a team-book? If so, in what way?
I don't think so. The fact that it's a team book does mean that I am drawing a wider variety of more dynamic or "heroic" characters than I'm used to with Supergirl. However, I still focus the same amount of attention to storytelling and expression as I always did.
Q14. Who are your favourite writers and artists, throughout your comic-reading or pencilling history?
Anyone who doesn't put Jack Kirby on this list is a liar. :) Some of my other writer and artist favorites include Will Eisner, Wally Wood, Moebius, Berni Wrightson, Brian Bendis, Alan Moore, Tim Sale, Dave Gibbons, Colleen Doran, Terry Moore, Adam Hughes, Stuart Immonen, Peter David, Judd Winick, Greg Rucka, Steve Lieber, etc., etc., etc., I'm afraid there's not enough room for my entire list.
Q15. Finally, if you had one or two comics dream-projects, what would they be?
Drawing one comic book for one million dollars. :)
Actually, one dream project would be to work with Brian Bendis again. Another
would be to draw a Spider-Man book. I would also love to work on a Batman
project sometime.
Many thanks to Leonard Kirk for taking part in an interview for "JSA Returns!", and providing such detail and humour for our enjoyment. Best of luck with your upcoming JSA, Supergirl and other comics work, Leonard!
Petar
JSA Returns - http://zap.to/jsa