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Interview with IDW Artist Stephen Mooney

In late May I got the chance to chat with Stephen Mooney, one of the top Irish artists most known for his work on CSI: Dying In The Gutters, Angel: After The Fall and The Mummy all from IDW. He was very gracious in giving me time for an interview so for your reading pleasure...Stephen Mooney.

David O'Leary: I'll start with my first exposure to your work, which was Freakshow. No other Irish comic has lasted as long as Freakshow as far as I know. That book saw work from yourself, Steve Thompson, Shalvey, Bob Byrne and more. Does Rob Curley have an eye for talent or was it something else that got you involved in the book?

Stephen Mooney: It was timing more than anything, I think. I was working in animation at the time and used to stick my head in to Rob's Comic shop every week to pick up my books. Rob knew that myself and Thompson were into drawing comics, and he'd recently come up with the concept for Freakshow. He just put the idea to us one week about maybe collaborating on this new book, and that was it. It ended up being my first pro-work, Thompson's too and then a couple years down the line Dec Shalvey got his start in professional comics when I was leaving the book. A lot of credit has to go to Rob for putting a really solid foundation behind the book. He paid a decent page rate and was very open to collaboration. I look back on my time on Freakshow very fondly, even if some of the earlier stuff does make me cringe a tad when I see it now...

DO'L: Now that you can look back on that book, how do you compare your art today versus that time?

SM: You know, I've never really sat down and made a real comparison... but I gotta assume that its much, much better now than it was! Some of the earlier stuff is fairly terrible, but sure that's par for the course really, isn't it? It was my first professional work and I was learning as I went, so it's all there on the page, warts and all. But I mean that's how you learn, you gotta land on your feet. I still like the odd bit of the earlier stuff, but not much. Bits that show that I was learning something or, dare I say it, 'growing' as an artist still elicit the odd smile, but not a lot of it. I'm one of those dopes that dislikes nearly everything I've done though, so I'm bound to be especially hard on the older stuff. I think around 3 years in, when I was working on the Mummy book, that my stuff started to get halfway decent. I was pretty happy with the storytelling on that book, and it was a blast to work on. I've been on Angel-related books almost exclusively for the last couple of years, and I guess I'm pretty satisfied with some of it, but I'd be lying if I said I was really happy with anything I've done. The odd cover here or there maybe, some standout sequences dotted about.

Decent stuff, but must do better.

DO'L: Can you describe how you managed to choose this line of work as a career?

SM: Well it's the only thing that I can remember seriously thinking about as a possible career-choice (save the always ambitious hopes I harboured of playing professional football...the fact that I wasn't very good was probably the biggest hurdle there). I actually started drawing seriously at a relatively late age, my early teens. I don't think I drew a huge amount as a young child, but I could be wrong. I mean I definitely drew a good bit back then, but it wasn't every minute of every day until myself, Thompson and another mate of ours formed our own little pseudo-studio and really got the heads down. I studied animation in college purely because it was the only course I could find that offered pure drawing training all day every day. We got to study things like storytelling, layout and loads of life-drawing every week. Invaluable stuff. I never really intended being an animator, although I did work in that profession on some pretty big shows for Cartoon Network and the BBC for around 3 years before getting my start in comics.

DO'L: I have a good bit of your work in my own collection. You have done a good bit of licensed books. How bound do you feel in what you can do by having to stick to a somewhat already established likeness of the characters?

SM: There's no getting around it, it can be pretty limiting but that said, it also breeds discipline. Many ultra-established artists have told me that they feel working in licensed books gives an excellent grounding in the nuts and bolts of becoming a monthly artist, and they all did it at some point. It's certainly tougher in some ways on a licensed book, most obviously in the sense that the characters have to look to an extent like their real-life counterparts, and this can dictate the style you employ in that you can't really go as cartooney or exaggerated as you'd like. But I don't mind it at all. The fact is that I plagued Chris Ryall at IDW to let me have a crack at Angel, because it's my favourite show of all time. I'm exceedingly happy to continue to work on the character, especially with the writers that I've gotten to work with on the book.

Something like The Mummy was great to work on, as it only had the one likeness (Brendan Fraser, and he looks like a cartoon anyway!), because I could push the other character designs an awful lot more, and inject a lot more of my own personality into it. But to answer your question, I don't feel particularly bound by it, you've just gotta be that much more creative in your choices

DO'L: I had a conversation with you a couple of years ago in Dublin not long after CSI: Lying in the Gutters came out. (Not that I expect you to remember!) You mentioned that you had some problems from Grissom's side about his likeness. How frustrating was it, having to go back and redraw something you thought done in a situation like that?

SM: Ah, it wasn't so bad. I probably made it sound worse than it was! Yeah a few drawings had to be amended, but it was nothing that I wasn't happy to do, as I was delighted to be working on my first American book. At the end of the day I hadn't done a good enough job at nailing the likeness and I had to suck it up and go back and just do it properly. Like I say, it breeds discipline and I certainly gained invaluable experience from the situation. I'm a better artist for it. I hope.

DO'L: How have fans of the licenses reacted each time a book has come out? Do you find them as passionate about the books as they would be about the shows/films?

SM: So, so passionate. I love it, because I AM a fan. I'm right there with them. I only really know the Angel fan-base intimately, and they certainly dissect the comics as eagerly as the shows from what I can tell. But that's great, cos it shows how much they love the property and how dear to their hearts they hold it.

DO'L: The tone of CSI was that of a humorous and mysterious episode of the show. Angel was a good bit darker than the show and the Mummy was just about all out action. You have shown yourself to be quite diversified in your work. Do you have a favourite genre of comic you like to draw?

SM: Ummm.... not sure. I certainly love working on Angel, but I enjoyed The Mummy a bit more in other ways. I think that just about any genre can be made to kick ass if you make whatever it is you're bringing to the table count. My favourite genre to READ is probably the more Noirish stuff, anything Brubaker writes. But I love it all, I wouldn't be satisfied if I ended my career without trying my hand at 'em all!

DO'L: I wanted to ask about the big Irish presence at IDW. How did you along with (Steve Thompson, Nick Roche, Len O'Grady) get involved at the company? It appeared that you all got work there around the same time.

SM: Just weird timing, really. I didn't know Nick or Len before I joined IDW. I introduced Thompson to Chris (IDW head-honcho), but that's it. How I got in the door was by sending Chris some Freakshow stuff when I was about to leave that book, and I guess he liked what he saw enough to take a crack on me. I think he just realises that us Micks just lend the joint a little class!

DO'L: Have you a property you would like to get your hands on in the future?

SM: I have a huge soft spot for some of the old-skool WildStorm characters. I'd give my left nut for a crack at Grifter, Daredevil, [or] Batman. Biggest mainstream character I'd kill for a run on would be the Hal Jordan Green Lantern written by Geoff Johns.

DO'L: You are a member of the Eclectic Micks as many know. I have heard your interviews on Comic Cast and you come across as a close knit group. How important is that closeness with your fellow professionals when you work in what is perceived as a lonely profession? Is there a sense of rivalry with you and the other big Irish artists?

SM: So, so important. Working in comics is such an inherently lonely pursuit, I literally talk to myself on occasion. It's invaluable to have that sounding board of peers to bounce ideas and drawings off. So often they'll point out mistakes that have passed you by. It's also great from a social stand point, some of these guys are my best mates. as for rivalry, I don't know... there seems to be space out there for all of us. I guess myself and Thompson upon occasion back in the day had a puny rivalry going, but he's too apathetic and disinterested to really get a cool feud going. We always end up working in the same companies, so maybe someday when we're on different teams we can really get some venom flowing. Truth is we're all just really good mates so rivalry doesn't really come into it... although that said Dec Shalvey and Will Sliney do have a pretty hilarious over-competitiveness going, god bless 'em.

DO'L: Have you anything in the pipeline you can tease our readers with?

SM: Some big Angel news coming soon, but nothing I can go into....

DO'L: Would you ever consider a creator owned book? Do you have any ideas for a book of your own?

SM: I sure would, myself and Brian Lynch (Angel uber-scribe and all-round swell guy) are currently working on a pitch together, and by gum it's a doosey. It's called One Bad Mother and is a stone-cold tale of revenge sprinkled with some pitch-black comedy. It's really rather good, watch this space.

DO'L: Cool. Finally, Describe Declan Shalvey in one sentence. I get the feeling you take the piss out of him something wicked from listening to interviews.

SM: Nicest guy in Irish comics, seriously. I give him an awful time to be sure. I think he's improving as an artist faster than any of us, and I love his style. Not his dress style obviously, I mean, Jesus... Hugely competitive. Sullen. A ferocious lover. All things to all men, and some day, to one lucky lady. So no, I guess I can't describe him in one sentence. Shalvey is greater than any single puny sentence can contain.

I want to thank Stephen for his time for this piece. You can check him out right now with his work on Angel: Not Fade Away from IDW. You can check out his blog at www.moondog.cc and also check out his regular contribution to the Electic Micks art blog at eclecticmicks.blogspot.com for his and the other Micks pieces.

Name: David O' Leary
email: idwfan@yahoo.co.uk

Been reading comics: for about 12 years now.

Review Bio: I am a 26-year-old Hotel Manager from the west coast of the Republic of Ireland and think this is a great way to talk to others about this cool medium. I am a husband to one wife and father to one girl (so far).

Favorites: ONI's Whiteout, Vertigo's Scalped and Garth Ennis Preacher and Punisher in Trades. In comic form I am reading a lot of Marvel and a bit of IDW, Dark Horse & WildStorm among others.

Website: Sorry, I don't have one!

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