Eric Canete, flying to the top.

Eric Canete is one of the incredible talents discovered first by VEROTIK PRESS and has been snapped up by DC and is now on the brink of greatness. After two trial runs on short stories from DC he is now ready to bring his skills to MR MAJESTIC starting with issue #7 out January 19. At the age of 25, Eric Canete has a great future in front of him and with a shyness almost unheard of in a pro he talks to PopImage about how he got to where he is, and speculates on where he is going.

Before being chosen as the new artist on MAJESTIC what had you done in the industry?

The first thing I ever did was for Glenn Danzig's 'VEROTIK' publication, although I must admit that wasn´t a very good highpoint in my career. For VEROTIK I did several books, IGRAT, SATANIKA, and ALBINO SPIDER, again, nothing I can be too proud of.
My more mainstream work came from DC COMICS, when I was asked to do a secret files book with a villain named 'The Word' for DC COMICS I did SECRET FILES: Villains #2, SUPERMAN 80 page annual #2, did a couple of fill-ins on DEATHLOK that were written by Joe Casey and finally MR MAJESTIC.
It was on that SUPERMAN book that I finally got the nod to do the MAJESTIC book. I guess they liked my rendition of the character or something, and they gave me the go.

What has been the greatest difference for you between your previous jobs and MR MAJESTIC?

The most obvious differences are the fact that the MAJESTIC gig is more long term and not a oneshot. Workwise, I have found that MAJESTIC allows me to have full autonomy visually.
I got to pick my inker and now I´m giving direction to Digital Chameleon as far as how I want the book to be coloured.
The folks at WILDSTORM have really greeted me with open arms and have given me more opportunities to make the book my own. That´s how this differs from the others.

And how has the transition from oneshots to monthlies been?

It takes some time to get used to. With oneshots I can take a break between issues, with a monthly I have to put the first one in the bag and before I can exhale I´m on to the next one, which is fine for me. I figure more work is better than no work, and I dont want it to sound like I´m slaving away at it. I love what I´m doing, but it certainly takes time to get accustomed to it schedulewise.

After having seen some of your artwork online, I would like to know how long you have been doing comics.

Personally, with everything going so fast, I´m so paranoid I´m waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Comics have been relatively new to me. I mean, visually my work now looks nothing like what I did for Danzig, so I have to say, without that work in mind, I´ve only been at this for about 2 years give or take a few months. I know I couldn´t have gotten the work I have now based on the style I was using for VEROTIK back in those days, so that cancels out any legitimacy I had back then as a 'comic book artist'.

So, discounting the years at VEROTIK, it would seem your rise has been fairly fast, not many artists have such high profiled books as MR MAJESTIC after 2 years.

I agree. It has been quite a ride thus far, due in no small part to people who have helped along the way. I have had many powerhouses in my corner who have given me the time of day, everyone from Joe Casey to Jeph Loeb, to Mark Chiarello, to Paul Smith, to Dave Johnson. All these guys are responsible for me getting to where I am. They all called or recommended me to people they knew. They believed in my work and they felt strongly about the fact that I should be working in the industry.
Personally, with everything going so fast, I´m so paranoid I´m waiting for the other shoe to drop. Like on one day I´ll get a call and hear: "Sorry Mr Canete, we were wrong about you. We made a mistake. We were trying to hire the guy behind you when you were standing in the portfolio review line."

That´s a scary thought.

Isn´t it, though?

So it is all about getting noticed today, isn´t it?

You´re right, it is about getting recognized...partially. It´s also about doing good work. I mean, getting recognised can only take you so far, afterwards you gotta back up all that talk with some good work.

So what inspired you to do comics?

Comics, lessee....
I had cousins who had every issue of SUPERMAN when I was a kid. They were all bound in this folder and every now and again they´d let me read them. I always thought those were the greatest books on earth- and SUPERMAN the best character ever.
That´s how it started. Every now and again throughout my teenage years people would bring comic books to school and I´d realise how cool everything was. Then some guy named Jim Lee decides he wants to draw X-MEN, from there on down I was hooked.

So you were like many introduced to comics via the superhero?

Yep. SUPERMAN being the first one.

Is the superhero comic your favorite today?

Yes. People say that superheroes are worn out and tired. That may be so, but I feel a bit cheated, 'cause I haven´t had a chance to do any of them yet. So the spark is still there for me. Maybe 20 years from now when I´ve drawn my limit of guys in capes I will tire of them, but for now I think they´re tops.

So what is your favorite superhero book today?

I dig MAJESTIC, 'cause it harkens back to oldschool stories from when I grew up reading SUPERMAN books, but I have to say, if you had to make me choose one that I wasn´t working on, 'THE AUTHORITY' has got to be the biggest monster of a superhero book I´ve read in years. Warren [Ellis] and Brian [Hitch] are just doing a bang up job of that whole thing.

How long do you think it will take you to adjust to the monthlies and perhaps start doing more than one a month?

MORE THAN ONE THING A MONTH!?! Geez man, I like Superman, but I´m not him. Heh, no, seriously.

Hahahaha

Continuing on that track then, how long does it take you to produce one issue?

I wanna focus on one thing at a time. I´ll try to get ahead of the schedule for Majestic, then hopefully something will come along that someone will want to work with me on. There are no plans to do anything more than the MAJESTIC book as of yet. I need every last day of a 4 week schedule for a book, sometimes I´ll go over that by a week but I try my best to meet that deadline if not just satisfy my curiosity of whether I can do a monthly or not. I take 4-5 weeks on MAJESTIC. The #7 book took longer, because I was designing everything from the ground up.
I had asked WS, Joe Casey and Brian Holgiun if I had to follow everything Ed had established visually. They were so accommodating, they asked me to make the book my own and I felt I could do that. I redesigned the majority of the spaces that were in the first few books.
That was a headache because of the amount of work, but it was a good headache.

What about the writers on MAJESTIC, do you talk about each issue a lot or do you just get a script?

Script, because they knew what the story arc is going to be about, and since I came in late in the game, they had the stories pretty much laid out. When I can suggest a better shot than they mentioned in the script, I can call Joe and say whatever I have in mind. They are that open, as long as I don´t stray too far from the story they are trying to tell.

If you don´t mind me jumping ahead now, what do think the new millenium will bring into comics?

The one thing I´ve recognised these days is that being a clone and drawing like someone else - those days are numbered. It´s a lot harder to get into the field with mediocre skill, unlike earlier in the nineties when everyone was getting a nod to do something.
In a portfolio orientation for DC, I heard Mark Chiarello say: "If your work looks like Jim Lee's or Mike Mignola's or whomever, please keep in mind that I know Mike Mignola. I can call Jim Lee. What we´re looking for is something new, something good, and something we can bank on for the future." So in turn, as far as the new millenium stuff goes, I hope what this means is that we'll be introduced to new styles and visuals that we´re not normally accustomed to.

And what do you see as far as you yourself are concerned?

I hope to still be working. I hope to garner enough work and respect that I can approach someone about working on something without being laughed at. Not that I´ve ever been laughed at, but I just want to be doing enough good work to be taken seriously as a longterm comic book illustrator. Bottomline, I just want to be working in the comic book field come the turn of the century.

If MAJESTIC looks anything what it promises to be, then I am sure you will be.

Oh god, tell everyone that for me, will you? Tell my editor I´m a catch.

Be on the lookout for Eric´s debut on MR MAJESTIC this January, in stores on the 19th.

	ProFile: Matt Wagner Pi Comics: Boondoggle Pop Preview - Grendel: Past Prime First Impressions Talkback: Visit our message boards

Relevant Links
hyperterminal.3