Mike Deodato: Enjoying His Work
By Dave Wallace
Silverbulletcomicbooks.com

After a fan-favourite stint with the Hulk, a well-received run on Amazing Spider-Man with J. Michael Straczynski and an arc with Brian Michael Bendis on New Avengers, penciller Mike Deodato is currently two issues into his new project: the re-imagined Thunderbolts, with writer Warren Ellis. Recently, I was given the opportunity to speak with Deodato about his life, career and plans for the future.

Dave Wallace (DW): For those readers who don't know, you're Brazilian - Mike Deodato is actually a pseudonym, right?

Mike Deodato (MD): Yup! I'm from Campina Grande, PB, a small city in the northeast of Brazil -- and my real name is Deodato Taumaturgo Borges Filho. I just wanted to make it easy for the readers to pronounce my name, and "Mike Deodato" trips more easily off the tongue.

DW: What first got you interested in comics? And how did you first break into the comics scene?

MD: My father is an artist himself, and he's directly responsible for my fondness for comics. Besides teaching me to draw, he also introduced me to the work of masters like Will Eisner, Hal Foster, Alex Raymond, Burne Hogarth, and many others.

He sponsored most of my early independent projects in Brazil, and we worked together in dozens of stories published in small Brazilian companies in the '80s. For completists, by the way, a lot of that material was reprinted about a decade ago in the U.S. I finally got a break into the American comic book market in 1992, when I drew Santa Claws for Malibu Comics. The gig was offered me by a newly formed agency interested in representing Brazilian artists in the American market. The editors liked my work... and I haven't stop working since then.

DW: You’ve changed your style quite considerably since the early days of your career, notably when you moved to Marvel (gaining widespread acclaim for your work on the Hulk). Was that a conscious decision?

MD: Kind of. My art reflects in a big deal what is going on my life and my state of mind. When I started doing Wonder Woman in 1994, I had this young raw energy dammed up -- which was released with full force in that book and in most of the material I produced in the '90s.

My immaturity paid its price on my career, though: I believed that I shouldn't refuse any work that was offered to me and the result was that at some point I was doing what seemed like four titles per month! I had no life, as you may imagine... after years working so much, under so many pressures, my personal life and my art suffered. A broken marriage, a little infarction, and a career in decline. It was time to change. A new healthy way of life, with more time for me and my family, paid off: I regained my love for comics again. One comic per month was my goal and I was choosing the projects I wanted to do. Money wasn't important, but the pleasure of doing it. Every decision -- and indecision -- has its own consequences, and the consequences of these life decisions are on the shelves right now.

DW: I've been interested by some of your pencils and breakdowns which have appeared as extra material in recent trades and online. Whilst you do seem to use photographic references for some aspects of your work, you seem careful not to rely exclusively on photo-reference to create your art. Do you think there's a danger that artists can become too reliant on photo-reference as a technique? Can you describe your working methods?

MD: The layouts are the most important part of my whole process. I use a lot of photo-references, yes, but keep in mind that I have to maintain the energy of the layouts, not the contrary. Too many artists have photo references in hand then create the layouts to fit the photo references. I do the opposite.

My first reading of the script is very important. Since I'm gonna read it several times, I have to remember what I felt in the first reading and translate those emotions to the paper. I do little thumbnails in the script to give me an idea of how many panels per page I'm gonna need. Sometimes I follow what's determined, sometimes I have to add something else to mark a pace or to make it clearer or to make it more dramatic. Then I do the layouts, and then I look for references on the internet and in my personal files (weapons, cars, whatever) and take some pictures with my digital camera using myself and whoever is around as a model. I print out all the references and then I start drawing the pages.

DW: How far ahead do you tend to work on a book?

MD: It depends on the writer's speed. On one of my books I was this close to being only a month ahead of the next issue.

DW: And how much communication do you have with your writers whilst working from their script? Have there ever been instances where writers have been particularly pleased with the way you've interpreted a scene, and on the flipside, have they ever requested significant changes?

MD: Almost none. I rarely interact with the writers I work with. On the other hand, they are usually pleased with what I do. Quesada once told me that was nice to see that all the top writers in the business want to work with me, so I might be doing something right in spite of the little communication between them and me.

DW: How did you get the gig on Amazing Spider-Man? It seems that this was the book (after Hulk) which really got people talking about you as an artist.

MD: Axel and Joe Q wanted to "juice up" the title and boost sales as well -- and they thought I could do that. They said: "Straczynski likes your work. He would be very happy to work with you"... I said yes.

DW: As simple as that! And was the move to Brian Bendis' New Avengers a pretty natural continuation of that? After all, you handled the team's first appearance in the Spider-Man books, in Joe Stracynzski's New Avengers arc...

MD: I think so. I was invited to be the regular artist of the series, but then they learned that Gary Frank was going to be relinquishing the pencilling duties on Squadron Supreme, and JMS made a personal request to Joe Q that I replace him (Frank) on that project if at all possible, as he really enjoyed working with me on Spider-Man. I am a team player and I also enjoyed working with JMS on Spider-Man, so I said yes again.

DW: So are plans still in place for you to take over from Gary Frank as penciller on Stracynzski's Squadron Supreme? That book seems to have stopped shipping recently - is that a result of you moving over to Thunderbolts? Is that something that you can talk about?

MD: Can't say much, sorry. You'll have to ask Marvel about that.

DW: How have you found working with Warren Ellis again on Thunderbolts? (Mike worked with Ellis previously on some issues of The Mighty Thor.)

MD: I got an email from Tom Brevoort saying that Warren Ellis was going to be relaunching Thunderbolts, populating it with some of the worst villains in the Marvel Universe. And in discussing the artistic approach on the series, Tom told me that Warren was very enthusiastic about the notion of working with me on it. I loved to work with him on Thor years ago so, I jumped on the project right away.

DW: How do Ellis' strengths as a writer play into your strengths as an artist? He's got a great talent for unique dialogue between his characters, and I feel that some of the most successful aspects of your artwork are the more intimate, character-based moments...

MD: You got it. That's a perfect match. The last time I felt so comfortable working on a script was when I was doing Hulk with Bruce Jones.

DW: So do you have long-term plans to remain as artist on Thunderbolts, or will this be a limited run?

MD: As you may have realized by my previous answers it is kind of unpredictable what I'm gonna do next. I can't complain, though. It's been a blast to work with such a stellar team of writers: JMS, Jones, Ellis, Bendis, Fraction, Huston... I'm a lucky guy. :)

DW: Talking of Matt Fraction, the most recent issue of Punisher War Journal (#4) took me by surprise – I hadn’t even heard you were going to be working on that one! It looked like a blast to be working with all those classic (and some not-so classic) Marvel villains. Did you enjoy getting the chance to play with a slightly more fun and light story than we’ve maybe seen you work on recently? I can’t believe I’m describing a Punisher story as fun and light, but anyway…

MD: I've been drawing Punisher covers for quite some time and it was really fun to finally have the chance to draw a whole story. I almost got crazy drawing so many characters but it was worthy every second.

DW: I also got that fun vibe from your work on the second Ultimates Annual – were those scenes with Cap and the Falcon in their firebird a blast to work on?

MD: Yeah! It was eye-candy, man. It was also great to be able to work again with Ralph Macchio after 10 years we worked together in Avengers.

DW: One of my all-time favourite Joker illustrations is your black-and-white portrait. Could you ever see yourself tackling Batman? It seems to me that your style would suit the character quite well…

MD: I drew about five issues of Batman during the No Man's Land saga and I felt very comfortable with, but I think I'd do much better nowadays.

DW: Ah, I didn’t know that. Are there any dream projects (characters, or collaborations with particular writers) that you'd love to take on in future?

MD: I would love to do a barbarian/fantasy book or something X-Men related: Cable, X-Force, Mystique, Professor X. It would be perfect if Warren Ellis were involved, as well.

DW: Finally is there any advice that you would give to budding young artists hoping to break into comics?

MD: YES, go visit www.glasshousegraphics.com You're gonna some very good tips there in the Breaking In section.

DW: Before we wrap up, is there anything else you'd like to say?

MD: Thanks for listening, man. It was a pleasure. :)

 

CREDITS :

INTERVIEW and REVIEW

Mike Deodato Interview - Marvel.com News

Mike Deodato: Enjoying His Work

Warren Ellis & Mike Deodato Jr - comic review - Warren Ellis ...

COMICON.com: DEODATO'S THUNDERBOLTS

NEWSARAMA.COM: TALKING WITH MIKE DEODATO Jr.

ComicBoards Interview

Comic creator: Mike Deodato

F.A.C.T.S. 2007 - The Biggest festival in the Benelux

Thunderbolts #113 :: Reviews :: SPYDER-25 ::

Thunderbolts #110 Review - Silver Bullet Comics

Ellis and Deodato on All New "Thunderbolts"

 

 

 

 

 
MIKE DEODATO
 
 

Name: Mike Deodato
Position/Job Description: Penciler / Inker

Portfolio Update : January 25, 2007

     
FEATURED ARTWORKS
 
 
 

INTERVIEW  



IMAGES  

Below are works done by the artist. 

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