BY JENNIFER M. CONTINO
Although he's known to most people for the funny comics he's done, there's a lot more to Kyle Baker than his semi-autobiographical works and his fan-favorite Plastic Man series. One of his upcoming projects includes a realistic Hawkman adventure, that begins with a plane hijacking and, as Baker told THE PULSE, "... leads to a mystery involving an alien invasion from space." Baker, whose busy working on Special Forces, a Barack Obama project, and the animated The Bakers series, took time away from his drawing table to give us a few teasers about the high-flying Hawkman.

THE PULSE: Most people know you for your amazing work with Plastic Man -- at least DC wise -- and the rest of us know you for your fantastic comics about life, love and your family! You've added a lot of humor to the world of comics, but Hawkman is anything BUT the funny man. What made you want to take on a character like this?

KYLE BAKER: In the five years since I finished Plastic Man, Most of my work has been very realistic and violent. SPECIAL FORCES and NAT TURNER were both very dark unhappy stories with lots of bloodshed. I’ve also done numerous serious superhero stories for DC and Marvel for 25 years, including Spider-Man and the Avengers. You may be right that my humor work’s more popular, but the majority of my comic book output for the last 25 years has been serious.

For this job, DC editor Mark Chiarello invited me to be part of an exciting project, and said I could do any character I wanted, so I picked Hawkman, because he’s great. He’s one of the top members of the JLA.

THE PULSE: When you think Hawkman, what ideas immediately came to your mind about what a story featuring this hero HAD to be about?

BAKER: In most of his adventures, Hawkman usually defends Earth from space alien invasion, so that’s what my story’s about. There’s also action on Dinosaur Island, because dinosaurs are always cool. Hawkman carries a mace, so it’s important for a writer to create dilemmas which can be resolved with a mace. A guy with a mace fighting a T-Rex is a good fight to watch.


THE PULSE: Your artwork is so highly detailed and fluid, it felt like you captured so much on those preview pages you posted on your blog. How long has it typically taken you to illustrate each page?

BAKER: Not long. I’ve already finished the job. I have a lot of jobs right now, so I need to keep the traffic flowing. I try not to spend more than four hours on a page. Photo-realism is much easier than humor.

THE PULSE: How did you decide your art style?


BAKER: The terrific response I’ve gotten to Nat Turner and Special Forces led me to the decision to continue doing realistic-style art. Also, Mark Chiarello was very specific about the art style he wanted. He sent me detailed e-mails describing how much linework he wanted and how it should be rendered.

THE PULSE: What factors influenced your art the most as you brought these pages to life? I see a tiny bit Joe Kubert in there and a little Walter Simonson as well ...

BAKER: I’ve been trying to make the art look like photographs, while using the line art technique the editor requested. I’ve been using Murphy Anderson Hawkman art for reference. Mostly, I’m just using the same techniques I used inking Spider-Man comics back in the eighties. High-contrast art with lots of tiny lines. Lots of photo reference.


THE PULSE: I'm sure you probably could have asked about working on just about any DC character, so why Hawkman come about? What's your story about?

BAKER: Hawkman’s a great character, and I hadn’t done a Hawkman story before. I e-mailed Mark a story outline. The story begins with a plane hijacking, because there aren’t very many other crimes committed in the sky, and Hawkman has to fight crime in the sky. The hijacking leads to a mystery involving an alien invasion from space.


THE PULSE: It sounds quite intriguing. Who, if anyone, is working on this story with you and where is this tale going to appear?

BAKER: I did the story alone as usual. It’s for a book called “Wednesday Comics”, I think. I finished it a month early, so I don’t really know when it’ll be released, exactly. There are other features in the book, and I’m not sure who’s on schedule.


THE PULSE: How is working on subject matter like this different than comedy or slice-of-life?

BAKER: Kurt Vonnegut said the big difference between comedy and drama is that a good comedy needs lots of story ideas while a drama can basically stretch a single idea out over hundreds of pages. Plastic Man typically had about twelve jokes and about two plot twists on each page. A page of Hawkman has no jokes and advances the story forward one step per page. Also, drawing funny is a lot harder than drawing realistically, because realistic drawing requires less creative thought. Realistic drawing depends on faithful copying of reference material, while cartoony style drawings have to be created out of my imagination.

Also, since I’m using a decades-old inking technique, I don’t have to come up with any new design concepts. I figured everything out back in the eighties, when I used to do a book in four days. The whole Hawkman job was done very fast in about two weeks, including colors. It’s always easier to move backward than forward.

When dealing with established properties like DC superheroes, most of the creative work has already been done in advance. DC superheroes already have a successful format, and plenty of characters and locales to choose from. It’s important to stay true to what makes DC so popular. Hawkman fans want to see high-flying action-adventure with science-fiction elements like space aliens and rocketships. My goal was to maintain the high standards of an already successful property by sticking with what works.

THE PULSE: Who do you think are the writers and artists who defined this character?


BAKER: Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson did a lot of wonderful Hawkman comics. Dick Dillin is a favorite, too.

THE PULSE: What have you enjoyed the most about working on Hawkman?


BAKER: It’s always fun to work on DC’s terrific characters, and it’s a great excuse to read some classic Hawkman stories for research. Everybody loves the Justice League, right?

THE PULSE: What other projects are you working on?

BAKER: I’m producing, directing, and starring in an animated version of THE BAKERS for Fox. I recently finished the first SPECIAL FORCES arc, and it’s at the printer, due to ship in a couple of weeks. I’m doing a biography of President Obama for . Also, I’m creating two new series this year for Image. I also need to do a new BAKERS book to capitalize on the Fox release.

See why I can’t spend too much time on a page?

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THE PULSE will reveal more details about this project when we have them. PULSE readers can learn more about Kyle Baker and order some of his amazing books here: http://www.kylebaker.com

Ha! Take that, Dave Sim!

I think the art looks amazing!
Jen

Agreed! Sorry if that wasn't clear!

(See, Dave Sim is struggling to perfect a realistic art style, abandoning his older cartoony style. Meanwhile, Kyle Baker can bat out realistic art in two weeks that looks way better than stuff Sim has labored for months on. And Baker says the realistic stuff is easy! So I was making fun of Sim, not Baker. Again, sorry if that wasn't clear, which I see now it wasn't.)

Well I think the best artists can do any style and genre.

Jen

Kyle seems to be insulting current trends in comicbook art.

I'd hardly call the hawkman or special forces stuff photo realism, it's way to cool. But I get the impression he's offended by the positive response he get's for working in this style as opposed to Plastic man.