Post by Mark Caringer on Jul 28, 2007 23:20:16 GMT -5
You know i have to say it, I TOLD YOU SO, if you check the message boards you will see that i stated this info on wednesday before comic-con started, antways who cares, here is the news.
With Simone Bianchi just announced as the new artist on Astonishing X-Men with writer Warren Ellis, we checked in to hear his thoughts on the upcoming project, and find out what was up with the "X" shaved into his hair at San Diego Comic-Con. Even without a script in hand yet, Bianchi still had plenty to say about his upcoming run.
Newsarama: Congratulations on the new gig, Simone! How did you find out about it?
Simone Bianchi: Well, when I found out through Newsarama (have you ever heard about this site? Should check it out, trust me….(laughs)) that Axel Alonso, my senior editor on Wolverine was going to become the senior editor responsible for all the major X titles I'll call him up right away and go something like, "So what are we gonna do together for an X-book?"
And again…I heard that John Cassaday was gonna be done after this last story arc with the book….what if I was gonna take over after him? Surprisingly enough, Axel had already spoken with Joe (Quesada) a few days before about the possibility to put me on Astonishing. So basically, I asked for the gig ….but the gig somehow was been given to me already! I was floored!
NRAMA: What's it like working with Warren Ellis?
SB: Well I didn't get the first script yet so I don't know how to answer this……
NRAMA: Okay. In the past, Ellis has stated in the past that he prefers to tailor his scripts to a specific artist. From your perspective, what aspects of his writing play to your strengths as an artist?
SB: (He is) just an amazing storytelling and the skill to exploit every artists skills he writes for at their best….in the same way like Jeph Loeb does. Most importantly, I saw Warren's writing matching very, very well with realistic painter artists, like what he did with Adi Granov on that amazing Iron Man six-issue story arc they did together, "Extremis."
NRAMA: Now, this is the first time you've worked on a superhero team book. What's the difference on working on one of those, as opposed to a solo book like Wolverine?
SB: Again ….. I didn't start working on the scripts yet so I can't properly answer, but it's a challenge I was looking forward for a long time!
I think it's gonna be a lot of fun and a hell of a lot of work too……but in the end I happened to handle a lot of characters in the Wolverine story arc I did on Jeph's script, too (like Black Panther, Storm, Psyloke, Feral , Thorn , Sabretooth and so on……)
So my guess is that I should be prepared enough to takle this one too, even though a whole group might hide some new, challenging, and unknown, at least for me, aspects to face. A new experience, of course but my enthusiasm never been higher or bigger before.
NRAMA: No one can ever accuse you of not being enthusiastic, Simone. Are you a longtime X-fan?
SB: Absolutely yes!!!
NRAMA: So who are your favorite characters, and what are your favorite storylines?
SB: I fell absolutely in love with the outstanding run Jim Lee and Chris Claremont put togheter in the early nineties and from that moment on I have been always in love with those characters……Wolvie (of course) ,. Cyclops, Pyslocke, Storm, Magneto, Gambit and so on…..I was a big fan of the old Sabretooth costume ( back in those days) as you can see (in Wolverine #55) but something tells me I won't be able to handle the character for quite a long while now...
I kind of liked a lot Omega Red too, still from that story arc. As much as I loved JRJR's run on Uncanny, paired with the beautiful runs Whilce Portacio and Mark Silvestri had done in the 1990s…I think those have been great years for the artistic developments of the whole group!
What else?…I loved all the projects and stories connected to (the) Apocalypse saga and of course the first amazing run Joss and John had on astonishing before us…..I am just done reading all those trade paperbacks in these very days…..great , fantastic stuff from both point of views: writing and artistically.
Of course Bishop, Cable and Phoenix (whatever version of her) would be great characters to draw too!
As usual, (there are) to many to name them all!
NRAMA: How long will your run on the book? Also, how does your artistic approach differ from John's?
SB: We're still trying to figure that out…at least a six-issue story arc, but we're open for a 12 or even 18-issue story arcs too…it all depends (on) a lot of different factors…
Again, as I said, I think Whedon and John did an iconic work on the title so we'll have to do our very best to keep the standard that high…John has an amazing storytelling skill and a great sense of the definition of every single characters….he did a great, excellent job, really...but, needless to say, I'll have to find my own way to decipt those characters with my own style, though I can assure every Astonishing X-Men fan out there that I am going to do all my best for not going too far from his characterization of the group, trying to respect the look he gave them all, the (closest) I can.
NRAMA: It seems like you're heading into this pretty quickly after doing Wolverine. Has that been stressful?
SB: Man……it's been a monster work year! Sometimes I found myself and I disagreeistant Andrea Silvestri working from a minimum of 10 to a top of 14 hours a day (every weekends included) for a year and two weeks (for a total of 167 painted pieces, among interiors pages, covers and some projects on the side we've had handle)…
So let me say it loud….I was in a desperate need of a longer break indeed, but we are too excited to start and can't wait to see what we're gonna come up with…..so I said to myself, "Forget it…. just a few days with my fiancè and all my family on this beautiful island we were in the early July, the San Diego con and just get back to work!"
I hope I'll have time to rest longer and quieter when I'll be older……If I'll survive working at this speed!
NRAMA: There's a "welcome to the X-Men...hope you survive the experience" joke in there somewhere...now, you shaved an "X" into your hair for SDCC. Why did you decide to do this?
SB: It's all started last year for this huge, outstanding con we have here in Italy, in Lucca (not by chance, the city where I was born and raised )…..I decided to cut my hair as a spider web to celebrate my exclusivity at Marvel….then just for the fun of it I did something different for the NY con (something like three Wolverine claws sketched on top of my head).
When Joe and I finally had the chance to spend a little spare time together, we decided that it would have been cool to do something like that to promote and fool around a little for the announcement of the Astonishing X-Men gig…..we said to ourself that it would have been something never done before, so that's how the whole haircut idea was originally born.
NRAMA: Any final thoughts?
SB: Yes, of course…..message to the whole Newsarama comunity…though I am not logged as a member to your boards I always (and I mean it) check out all the threads regarding my work so thanks to all of you for the kind words (thank God the majority of it) and to the most critics too, I always take in great consideration all those comments trying to get better every single day…and , please log and check my web site at www.simonebianchi.com (constantly kept updated thanks to the amazing job of the great guys at IWS group!).
If you have a little spare time please try to take a deeper look also at my European project too (Ego Sum, the science fiction trilogy I wrote and painted few years ago and supposed to come out in the States too, soon) and all the painting work and projects I did before start working in the American comic book business…..keep posting, guys!
Then....let me spread a billion and half thanks to all the guys who helped and supported me and Jeph throughout the whole Wolverine run….Joe Q, Dan Buckley, David Bogart (thanks for those calls a year and half ago man), Michael O'Connor first and Aubrey Sitterson (hey man, don't forget about those toys you promised) right after him, Daniel Ketchum, my unsubstituable and priceless assistant Andrea Silvestri (and Riccardo Pieruccini for the help in the last two issues), my sister Gloria (whose work and love is precious beyond words!)
All the colorists whose work has added the perfect final touch to my pages Mounts, Hollowell, D'armata and the new kid on the block of the business Simone Peruzzi! The production guys for the excellent printed final version of it, both color and black and white, my art dealer and best friend Sal Abbinanti, and Chris Rupp and all the great guy at alexrossart.com company, and last, but of course not least, all the thousands of great guys who bought the book and allow me to have the chance to tackle this amazing new project……and Greta……my gratitude for all your patience and support (and the sleepless night spent right next to me at the drawing board ) from the first page all the way down to the very last one is beyond words!
With Simone Bianchi just announced as the new artist on Astonishing X-Men with writer Warren Ellis, we checked in to hear his thoughts on the upcoming project, and find out what was up with the "X" shaved into his hair at San Diego Comic-Con. Even without a script in hand yet, Bianchi still had plenty to say about his upcoming run.
Newsarama: Congratulations on the new gig, Simone! How did you find out about it?
Simone Bianchi: Well, when I found out through Newsarama (have you ever heard about this site? Should check it out, trust me….(laughs)) that Axel Alonso, my senior editor on Wolverine was going to become the senior editor responsible for all the major X titles I'll call him up right away and go something like, "So what are we gonna do together for an X-book?"
And again…I heard that John Cassaday was gonna be done after this last story arc with the book….what if I was gonna take over after him? Surprisingly enough, Axel had already spoken with Joe (Quesada) a few days before about the possibility to put me on Astonishing. So basically, I asked for the gig ….but the gig somehow was been given to me already! I was floored!
NRAMA: What's it like working with Warren Ellis?
SB: Well I didn't get the first script yet so I don't know how to answer this……
NRAMA: Okay. In the past, Ellis has stated in the past that he prefers to tailor his scripts to a specific artist. From your perspective, what aspects of his writing play to your strengths as an artist?
SB: (He is) just an amazing storytelling and the skill to exploit every artists skills he writes for at their best….in the same way like Jeph Loeb does. Most importantly, I saw Warren's writing matching very, very well with realistic painter artists, like what he did with Adi Granov on that amazing Iron Man six-issue story arc they did together, "Extremis."
NRAMA: Now, this is the first time you've worked on a superhero team book. What's the difference on working on one of those, as opposed to a solo book like Wolverine?
SB: Again ….. I didn't start working on the scripts yet so I can't properly answer, but it's a challenge I was looking forward for a long time!
I think it's gonna be a lot of fun and a hell of a lot of work too……but in the end I happened to handle a lot of characters in the Wolverine story arc I did on Jeph's script, too (like Black Panther, Storm, Psyloke, Feral , Thorn , Sabretooth and so on……)
So my guess is that I should be prepared enough to takle this one too, even though a whole group might hide some new, challenging, and unknown, at least for me, aspects to face. A new experience, of course but my enthusiasm never been higher or bigger before.
NRAMA: No one can ever accuse you of not being enthusiastic, Simone. Are you a longtime X-fan?
SB: Absolutely yes!!!
NRAMA: So who are your favorite characters, and what are your favorite storylines?
SB: I fell absolutely in love with the outstanding run Jim Lee and Chris Claremont put togheter in the early nineties and from that moment on I have been always in love with those characters……Wolvie (of course) ,. Cyclops, Pyslocke, Storm, Magneto, Gambit and so on…..I was a big fan of the old Sabretooth costume ( back in those days) as you can see (in Wolverine #55) but something tells me I won't be able to handle the character for quite a long while now...
I kind of liked a lot Omega Red too, still from that story arc. As much as I loved JRJR's run on Uncanny, paired with the beautiful runs Whilce Portacio and Mark Silvestri had done in the 1990s…I think those have been great years for the artistic developments of the whole group!
What else?…I loved all the projects and stories connected to (the) Apocalypse saga and of course the first amazing run Joss and John had on astonishing before us…..I am just done reading all those trade paperbacks in these very days…..great , fantastic stuff from both point of views: writing and artistically.
Of course Bishop, Cable and Phoenix (whatever version of her) would be great characters to draw too!
As usual, (there are) to many to name them all!
NRAMA: How long will your run on the book? Also, how does your artistic approach differ from John's?
SB: We're still trying to figure that out…at least a six-issue story arc, but we're open for a 12 or even 18-issue story arcs too…it all depends (on) a lot of different factors…
Again, as I said, I think Whedon and John did an iconic work on the title so we'll have to do our very best to keep the standard that high…John has an amazing storytelling skill and a great sense of the definition of every single characters….he did a great, excellent job, really...but, needless to say, I'll have to find my own way to decipt those characters with my own style, though I can assure every Astonishing X-Men fan out there that I am going to do all my best for not going too far from his characterization of the group, trying to respect the look he gave them all, the (closest) I can.
NRAMA: It seems like you're heading into this pretty quickly after doing Wolverine. Has that been stressful?
SB: Man……it's been a monster work year! Sometimes I found myself and I disagreeistant Andrea Silvestri working from a minimum of 10 to a top of 14 hours a day (every weekends included) for a year and two weeks (for a total of 167 painted pieces, among interiors pages, covers and some projects on the side we've had handle)…
So let me say it loud….I was in a desperate need of a longer break indeed, but we are too excited to start and can't wait to see what we're gonna come up with…..so I said to myself, "Forget it…. just a few days with my fiancè and all my family on this beautiful island we were in the early July, the San Diego con and just get back to work!"
I hope I'll have time to rest longer and quieter when I'll be older……If I'll survive working at this speed!
NRAMA: There's a "welcome to the X-Men...hope you survive the experience" joke in there somewhere...now, you shaved an "X" into your hair for SDCC. Why did you decide to do this?
SB: It's all started last year for this huge, outstanding con we have here in Italy, in Lucca (not by chance, the city where I was born and raised )…..I decided to cut my hair as a spider web to celebrate my exclusivity at Marvel….then just for the fun of it I did something different for the NY con (something like three Wolverine claws sketched on top of my head).
When Joe and I finally had the chance to spend a little spare time together, we decided that it would have been cool to do something like that to promote and fool around a little for the announcement of the Astonishing X-Men gig…..we said to ourself that it would have been something never done before, so that's how the whole haircut idea was originally born.
NRAMA: Any final thoughts?
SB: Yes, of course…..message to the whole Newsarama comunity…though I am not logged as a member to your boards I always (and I mean it) check out all the threads regarding my work so thanks to all of you for the kind words (thank God the majority of it) and to the most critics too, I always take in great consideration all those comments trying to get better every single day…and , please log and check my web site at www.simonebianchi.com (constantly kept updated thanks to the amazing job of the great guys at IWS group!).
If you have a little spare time please try to take a deeper look also at my European project too (Ego Sum, the science fiction trilogy I wrote and painted few years ago and supposed to come out in the States too, soon) and all the painting work and projects I did before start working in the American comic book business…..keep posting, guys!
Then....let me spread a billion and half thanks to all the guys who helped and supported me and Jeph throughout the whole Wolverine run….Joe Q, Dan Buckley, David Bogart (thanks for those calls a year and half ago man), Michael O'Connor first and Aubrey Sitterson (hey man, don't forget about those toys you promised) right after him, Daniel Ketchum, my unsubstituable and priceless assistant Andrea Silvestri (and Riccardo Pieruccini for the help in the last two issues), my sister Gloria (whose work and love is precious beyond words!)
All the colorists whose work has added the perfect final touch to my pages Mounts, Hollowell, D'armata and the new kid on the block of the business Simone Peruzzi! The production guys for the excellent printed final version of it, both color and black and white, my art dealer and best friend Sal Abbinanti, and Chris Rupp and all the great guy at alexrossart.com company, and last, but of course not least, all the thousands of great guys who bought the book and allow me to have the chance to tackle this amazing new project……and Greta……my gratitude for all your patience and support (and the sleepless night spent right next to me at the drawing board ) from the first page all the way down to the very last one is beyond words!
