‘Need an Indian industry that is uninterested in whatever is happening in America’: Comic book artist Rick Leonardi

American comic book artist Rick Leonardi called it the “best weekend of the year”.

The 65-year-old, who has worked on many popular series and storylines for Marvel and DC Comics, like ‘The Uncanny X-Men‘, ‘Spider-Man 2099‘, ‘Green Lantern Versus Aliens‘ and ‘Superman‘ to name a few, had a ‘nerdy’ interaction with indianexpress.com on the sidelines of the convention — where he even had a special session on day 2 — wherein he talked about, among other things, his experience being a part of it all, his process of making art, working for both Marvel Comics and DC Comics and the myths and fundamental rules that all comic book artists ought to know about.

Heartened to see the “turnout”, the artist said, “I think, there is a lot of pent-up demand, long delays, and a lot of anticipation on the part of the fans. I am glad to see everybody turning up and having a good time.” He added that Comic Con Delhi has been “terrific”. “I [was] pleased with the venue, the presentation, the fans have been great and the questions have been really penetrating, and well-informed. [I am] happy to see everybody.”

Leonardi, whose interest in becoming an artist germinated fairly early on in his life, when he was in school, shared that in the process of creating a comic book, his job is to “take in the words of the writer”. “…to try to figure out how to tell the story the writer has in mind, in pictures, to the extent that the writer’s vision is sound and it is relatively easy to tell the story. Sometimes, I need to pay special attention to the reader though, who does not understand what the writer had in mind, who wasn’t there when the writer had his moment of inspiration. I have to think about what the reader needs to see to understand what the writer envisioned in the first place. In a lot of ways, I stand between the writer and the reader.”

He added that his job is to make the reader’s experience “as seamless and effortless as possible”.

Leonardi’s published works in Marvel and DC Comics are not too different from each other. The artist, however, admitted that there is one difference: that in the “field between the two sets of characters”. “DC has a longer heritage than Marvel. It, therefore, feels like an older, more mature place. Now that I think of it, it’s interesting how in my mind, the world breaks down into two camps — there is the Superman camp and the Batman camp. Superman is somebody who is given a power and must decide whether to be moral about it. Batman is somebody who had a terrible thing happen to him, accepts the responsibility to do something about it, and has powers conferred upon him as a result of having taken that responsibility.”

The artist says his job is to stand between the writer and the reader to make stories come alive. (Photo: PR handout)

He drew a parallel with Stan Lee’s Spider-Man (Marvel) and its famous adage, “With great power comes great responsibility”. “It is the opposite [of DC], where with accepting great responsibility, great powers will come your way.”

He said that the readership gets divided between these two themes of Marvel and DC, often touted as ‘rivals’.

According to the celebrated artist, the character of Richard John “Dick” Grayson, or ‘Nightwing’ is pretty interesting and perhaps his favourite. “…because he can go all the way from Robin to the successor of Bruce Wayne as the brooding knight. He can span that entire range; he has got a lot of unexplored richness still. In the same way, Cassandra Cain as ‘Batgirl’ is a character that DC needs to go back to and re-examine, because there is a lot of potential there.”

Elsewhere in the conversation, Leonardi said it is crucial for comic book artists to remember they are “not in the business of drawing pictures for [their] own pleasure”. “It is a job, not an exercise in self-actualisation. It is not something you are doing just for fun. You actually have a role to play,” he told this outlet.

“There is a myth that you can draw whatever you want [as a comic book artist] — you cannot.”

About his inspiration, the artist went back to some of the first comic books that he ever saw in his life — Neal Adams’ “Deadman”; and “Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D”. He stated that these were the two books that made him “deliberately conscious” to know who the penciler was. “I think that was the beginning of the penciler as an individual, with his own personality and name. That was the beginning of the idea that I could become somebody with a name, a look, a presence,” he shared.

Comic book characters, when they are adapted on the big screen in a live-action format, assume a new personality. On which actor he thinks has done justice to a comic book role they depicted in a film or show, Leonardi said: “It takes us back to Batman. He is a character that supports a lot of interpretations. You have got the Batman from the original comic books, the Batman from the ’60s comic books, Batman from the TV series, and so on. In each interpretation, he is sound in his own way. It is a testament to the richness of that character. So, I will take Batman, a character been played so many times.”

The artist said he has enjoyed both Michael Keaton’s Batman as well as Robert Pattinson‘s, calling them both “valid”.

On India-centric characters, he said he needs to get out and see what Raj Comics are all about. Leonardi debunked the myth that breaking into comics means working for big names like Marvel and DC. “You need to get an Indian industry going that is completely separate, autonomous and uninterested in whatever is happening in America,” the artist concluded.

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