Greg Capullo | Batman

In this episode Greg talks about his legendary run on Batman and maybe a little X-Force, too.

Topics include sexy bearded Batman, ripped Jim Gordon, what comes next after his Batman run, spoilers maybe spoilers, working on X-Force in the 90s boom, Todd McFarlane saying he’s the best artist in the business, slowing down, and playing guitar!

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Transcription:

Matt: Hi, everybody. Welcome back to NYCC Live. We’re here at New York Comic Con. Kara and myself from Comixology, your one stop shop for digital comics, and we have a legend with us, in our midst, Greg Capullo. Batman. Or ou might remember, maybe, a little book called X-Force back in the day? Greg, welcome, welcome to the show.

Greg: Thanks very much for having me. You know, my brother Scott was supposed to be with us. True story, he left the oven on, so he had to drive all the way back home and now he’s trapped in traffic. He sends all his love. I’m going to stand in for him. Hi everybody! Scott’s not here, thanks. Hi. Thanks for coming. Love you. Thank you. That’s it.

Matt: That was an amazing Scott Snyder impression, first of all. Now, everyone, I think, currently knows you from your run on DC Comics Batman. It started the New 52. Now, you guys have kind of flipped the script, and in my opinion, to really put your mark on the book. Bruce Wayne doesn’t know he was Batman. He’s starting a life that maybe he would have started if he was never Batman. Was that kind of a conscious choice on your guys part to really, like, you know, let’s put our big mark on this book and have this be our moment where we change everything?

Greg: You know, I don’t think we ever thought about, you know, putting our mark on the book in those terms. I mean, Scott has always wanted to do big stories, no matter, you know, what they are. It’s like go big or go home, kind of thing, you know? It’s a like, by the way we left things in EndGame with Bruce possibly being dead and everything like that, there was kind of like a natural progression that took place there. It was like somebody’s got to take up the mantel and who would it be? It just seemed like Jim Gordon the natural guy to put him in. You couldn’t go with Al, right? He’s kind of missing an arm, kind of a little long in the tooth at this point, right? Yeah, we figured Gordon’d be the best choice, and you know what I’m real looking forward to is post-Gordon’s story, because it’s got a really affect the relationship Bruce/Batman and Gordon, who’s now walked in his shoes. It wasn’t like, hey, what can we do to literally, you know, stick out, you know? It wasn’t like that at all. There’s just like a natural progression.

Kara: The natural progression was to make Jim Gordon hot and wear a mech batsuit?

Greg: Yeah, yeah, but you know, Bruce is still catching all the heat with that nice beard. All the ladies and guys, they like that beard, man. Bruce has got the beard, rocking it.

Matt: I mean, Gordon has never looked better, period. Like, I want to take Gordon out on like an ice cream date, walk down the beach, and let’s just talk, you know? You look great.

Greg: I miss the mustache, man. I’ll tell you what, I was so- When I first started drawing Gordon without the mustache, it felt so alien, and without the glasses. I would draw him with the mustache and then erase the mustache so that the mouth would be in the right spot.

Kara: Oh wow. No, we talk about him all the time on our podcast. He’s a silver fox.

Matt: He is. He really is. He’s the new fox of the DCU.

Greg: Yeah, he’s all buffed up now and stuff like that. Yeah, he’s cool. He’s cool.

Matt: Now, when you guys were doing the New 52, when you first came on, Scott had been doing Detective for a little while at that point. What kind of expectations did you guys set for yourselves? Did you think you’d be on, like, for this long and have such a historic run in the book?

Greg: You know, no. Never thought any of that stuff. I mean, when I first started, I was scared, because I was relaunching Batman. It wasn’t like I was coming on at issue 733 or whatever, it was Batman number 1 and once that sunk in, what I was actually in charge of, that was a real nerve wracking thing. After like 2 or 3 issues, you just sort of, you do what you do, which is, I’m an illustrator. I illustrate the books. A lot of people, you know, say to us, you know, you’re having a historic run and all this. You know, for me, you know, I’m too busy working to really focus and think about it in those terms, you know? Maybe I’ll look back later on and go, “Wow,” you know? I definitely feel all the fan love. They show us all the time, every day. Grateful for that. They say the things you’re saying. Whether it’s true or not, you know, I guess history will be the judge of that. I’m just grateful. I’m just doing the best work I can all the time. That’s about it.

Matt: So humble. So humble.

Kara: Is there a character on that book that you really love to draw? Or one that like really frustrates you?

Greg: That frustrates me?

Kara: Yeah.

Greg: I don’t know about frustrates me. You know, there’s plenty of characters that I enjoy drawing and plenty that I wish I had. I really haven’t got my teeth into, you know, Catwoman. That’d be awesome. I don’t get to draw enough babes, man. Scott Snyder needs to write in a few more babes, you know what I mean? Come on, where the women at?

Matt: Maybe that will be the next arc. Babes. Babe-ville in Batman, stay tuned.

Greg: I mean, I’m going to get rusty.

Matt: Yeah, that could be. What’s after Bloom, you know? You guys are doing this run where Batman doesn’t have his memory, or Bruce Wayne rather. What’s next for you guys together? Is it Batman or is it something else?

Greg: Well, I can’t tell you what’s post-Bloom, because, you know, obviously be a surprise. What I will tell you, because, you know, people ask me all the time, “What am I going to do,” and everything like that, I’ll say this. Right? Even if I take a minute to go do something with somebody else, Scott and I have long range plans. It’s at DC. We were talking last night, we go, we used to always hit each other, you know, we relaunched Batman. It’s kind of, we’ve done the biggest thing we can do at DC, you know? What do we do next, together, you know? We both go, it’s kind of, no matter what we do, it’s just going to be kind of a lateral move. Then DC came to us with this idea that is in development right now, that they want Scott and I to kind of lead up and it will actually be a notch higher. We go, this one goes to 11. It’s actually going to go a little bit higher. Yeah, yeah.

Kara: That’s awesome.

Matt: Is it Catwoman? You can just tell us. It’s Catwoman?

Greg: I hope Catwoman’s involved.

Kara: Totally Catwoman.

Greg: It will involve a lot of characters, I will just say that, you know?

Matt: Oh boy, okay.

Greg: It’s going to- I’ll get to draw a lot of characters that I haven’t been able to touch before. I’m looking forward to that. That’ll be a lot of fun.

Kara: All right.

Matt: What about, let’s go back memory lane, X-Force, was, when I first started reading, was X-Cutioner’s Song.

Greg: Oh yeah, I remember those days.

Matt: It was polly-bagged. How different were comic books, for you as a monthly artist, to compare to now? It’s the early 90’s. Things were crazy. What are the differences, what are the similarities?

Greg: Well, I mean, for me, you know, I’m an illustrator no matter what decade you place me in, you know? I have a job to do and that’s the job. The thing about the 90’s was, you know, everything was so over the top, you know? I remember when I came on X-Force, you know, my style was more subdued. I was taking over for Rob Liefeld, who later made Extreme Studios, you know? They told me, you know, just make everything big and lots, as many guns as you can possibly put on them.

Matt: Shoulder pads.

Greg: Yeah. It was like …

Kara: Cargo pockets.

Greg: Yeah. It was all about excess. That was part of my job, to put forth all that excess. You know, but the sales were great, you know, back then, and comics were the most happening thing at the time. You know, we’ve rekindled some of that, but for me, the job is still the job. I get there, I sit down, I try and make it as cool and awesome as I can possibly make it for the fans, you know?

Kara: Mm-hmm. A true professional.

Greg: Through and through, absolutely.

Matt: We did an interview with Todd McFarland recently, and I think we might do another one here.

Greg: I’ve heard of that guy.

Matt: I was talking with him about who he thinks is the number one artist in the business right now. He said you are. He thinks you are the top notch artist in the business. You’ve been very humble so far, so you won’t admit to it, but do you feel that kind of, like, largeness now in the business, where people come up to you? Do you feel different than you did before?

Greg: Nah, you know, really, I don’t. I mean, I’m a small town guy getting up and, you know, poor and not the best neighborhood and everything like that. I don’t think in those terms at all, you know what I mean? People say nice things about me, that’s fantastic, but there’s something to be said for not believing your own press, too, you know what I mean? It’s like, the reason Todd says that, because he’s explained it to me, he goes, because a lot of guys could do this thing really well or they could do thing really well, but it’s hard to find a guy who could do so many of the things really well. In his estimation, I’m able to do all those different components equally well. Whether that’s true or not, you know, I’m too close to my own work. I do the best I can. If people like it, people say nice things, that’s fantastic.

Matt: Let’s say after your next secret project, whatever that may be, I won’t guess, but, you know, what do you see yourself doing in, maybe 5 or 10 years in the comic business? Would you want to then shift to kind of more create your own? Would you want to see what you could top the next project with or? What do you foresee maybe down the the line?

Greg: For me, it’s about slowing down. I mean, because, you know, 1 of the things about this business, if you want to do a monthly book, is you have to really give up all of the components of your life, you know? I used to be a guitar player. I have a band. Practice my guitar 4 hours a day, you know? My body, since I’ve been doing Batman, I’ve lost over an inch on my arms, gained inches on my waist, you know. You don’t get to see your buddies or anything like that, and get to hang out and do parties, whatever. I want to slow down so I can at least live some of my life before they take me out of the game, you know what I mean? I see myself as doing like, just high profile projects, you know? Doing cover art to keep myself, you know, in the public while I’m doing, you know, arcs that will be maybe, you know, 4 to 6 issues in length, but be big stories. That’s what I’m hoping. That’s the goal, right?

Kara: All right. You play guitar?

Greg: Yeah, yeah. I was always, you know, the 1 guitar player in the band, rhythm lead guitar, yeah.

Kara: If there’s a song that you could pick to describe your current run on Batman, what would it be?

Greg: Jesus, I don’t know man. I don’t know. I have no idea. Battering Ram by Black Label Society. I don’t know.

Kara: You knew. You knew.

Greg: Trying to try to come up with something with bat in the title.

Matt: Yeah, of course. It’s interesting you mentioned the kind of 4 to 6 issue run and then a break. I see that more now at Image with Saga, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples. They’ll do 6 issues and then take kind of like a break of like a few months to catch up and maybe take a little bit of a downtime. Is that similar to what you would want to do on the next title? Do you think something like that is even possible at the big 2 at this stage?

Greg: Well, I mean, at this point, companies, you know, they treat me pretty well. If I said this is all I want to do, you know, then they’d go, we’ll make that work, all right? The thing with Scott is going to be, as far as I know, it’s going to be planned for at least twelve issues. There’s a year’s worth of material to write there. Yeah, after that, like I said, it’d just give me a time to live my life, you know what I mean? A lot of guys do it because they can’t physically do the monthly book. That’s it. That’s why you see those short arcs, because a lot of people aren’t willing to go, okay, I won’t have any life outside of this thing. I’m like a mental patient, you know what I mean? A soldier that’s unstoppable. This is a mission. I’m going to do it. You know?

Kara: Is there a part of the, like what’s your process when you’re taking Scott’s script and then turning into a page in a comic book?

Greg: Right, when I get Scott’s script, the first thing I do is I read them. I read them multiple times, because what happens for me is like a movie rolls in my head while I’m reading this. Images pop in. Where the camera is, what angles, the action. Obviously I don’t have movie cameras and I don’t have all these cuts that I can string together. I have to really be picky and even figure out what will actually work in black and white art. I can see it as a movie, but will that translate. Then there’s the mechanical part of my process that goes, what can actually, physically work. Then when I put it together on a page, it’s just about making clear storytelling that doesn’t leave people going what just happened there. You know? That’s very important and to make it as exciting as possible and to milk as much emotion out of those characters. When I get Scott’s story, I just try and go, okay, it’s here. Here’s what he’s trying to say. My job now is to bring it to this level. It’s about elevating his work, you know?

Matt: Greg, I appreciate you coming on. I hope Scott’s oven is okay. I hope everything’s fine at the Snyder residence, but we really love the book. We love your work, we’re super fans.

Greg: Thank you.

Matt: Thanks for being here.