About David Hopkins
Location: Arlington, TX
Occupation: comic book writer, essayist, teacher
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Posts: 35
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This month, my column will feature a series of interviews with comic book artists and creators going to STAPLE! THE INDEPENDENT MEDIA EXPO (Saturday, March 3rd). Staple is an annual event in Austin Texas to promote independent creative media: comics, art, animation, and self-published literature. In its third year, Staple is the must-attend convention for any self-respecting fan of indie comics.
David Crosland is the artist/creator of Puffed, his personal anthology/art book Slop: Analecta, co-artist (along with Jim Mahfood) on Bad Ideas, and the artist for the new IDW series Scarface. David is a pure artist. His work has an energy sorely missing from the panels and pages of most comics. This will be his second year at STAPLE!
Tell us about Scarface. Seriously, I couldn’t think of a better artist to do this series.
CROSLAND: Scarface: Scarred for Life is a fun-filled romp! It’s full of adventure, romance, and good-natured humor. Ya know, for the kids.
Naw, seriously, SFL is a vulgar, graphic, drug-induced sequel to the original film by Brian DePalma (a remake of a 1932 flick, actually). In the same vein as the video game that came out last October, it starts with the premise that drug czar, Tony Montana, didn’t die at the end of the movie. His body was so hopped up on cocaine, that it literally didn’t know to die. And it takes off from there. It’s a revenge tale that doesn’t take itself too seriously. John Layman has written a beautiful story, with all sorts of grit, gunplay, and Miami tough-guy talk. He takes Tony from all new lows, back up to the top, by some pretty gruesome means.
And the whole thing is colored by Len O’Grady. The guy’s a chroma genius. He’s dipped the entire miniseries into this pop pastel/lethal neon glaze that totally captures the funshine and madness of the 1980’s Miami drug scene. I can tell because I was there, obviously.
How’s life in San Francisco? Does your setting affect how you work?
CROSLAND: Life in San Francisco is amazing. There are lots of parks, the weather is great, and I’m surrounded by awesome, affordable eateries and bars.
My setting totally affects how I work. The energy of the town, the people I associate with, the creative scene around me… that all plays into it. I’m
constantly absorbing influences and inspiration, processing it, then churning it out into my own creations. San Francisco is an extremely progressive town, and that’s great. There’s a ton of history here, hell, in the whole Bay Area. And, even though parts of SF are painfully gentrified, there’s such a great amount of cultural diversity to be appreciated.
And, oh my word, the access to fresh seafood… unbelievable.
Any other projects coming up?
CROSLAND: After Scarface, I’m taking a break from comics-for-hire. I have a few of my own comic stories that I’m going to finally move up from the backburner, and start working on in earnest. And I have a bunch of gallery things coming up—a solo show at an SF boutique called The Seventh Heart. That’s in April, along with a group show of robot-themed art at the 540 Club, that I’m doing a piece for. Gallery 1988 in SF is having a show related to the Alternative Press Expo in April, and I’m a part of that. Lastly, my boys Jim Mahfood and Bill Shag are organizing a show called Soul Melt at Meltdown Comics in Los Angeles. Myself and a few other artists will each be doing two collaborative pieces with Mr. Shag, a photographer. That’s going down in March, to coincide with Wizard World LA. Booya!
Still watching Lost? What’s on your current media menu?
Oh, sweet YES, I’m still watching Lost. Just caught the first episode after the hiatus, and I was very impressed. Besides that, I’m all about 30 Rock and the US version of The Office. On the film tip, I loved Pan’s Labyrinth and Children of Men. On the music tip, I’m all about the new Subtitle album, “Terrain to Roam”, the new TV On The Radio, “Return To Cookie Mountain”, and the new Deerhoof, “Friend Opportunity”. Realize, these are a few selections out of PILES of stuff I have in the studio all day, every day.
Second year at Staple, what do you enjoy most about small press conventions like this?
Small press shows are to giganticons what indie record stores are to The Virgin Megastore. Beyond the obvious size stuff, I really enjoy the types of
fans that attend the smaller cons. They come out looking for something different than the standard Doctor Strange Underoos crowd goes for. They aren’t there to stand in line for four hours, to get their Boba Fett glossy autographed. And the small press crowd is usually waaay more diverse, on both sides of the table. I dig that.
For more on David Crosland, check out his website at www.hiredmeat.com
