A RINGO ATE MY BABY!
Mike Wieringo Talks Tellos, by Christopher Butcher.

Mike Wieringo is a talented creator who rose to fame after working on titles such as THE FLASH, and ROBIN for DC, and SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN and ROGUE for Marvel Comics. In 1999 Mike left Marvel to produce TELLOS with his writing partner Todd Dezago. Published through Image Comics, TELLOS is an exciting cross between epic fantasy, and contemporary animation styles that leaps off of the printed page. It was recently announced that Mike would become one of the founding members of GORILLA COMICS, a new company that will be publishing all of their projects through Image as well. Sounds like a natural fit, huh? We caught up with Mike and talked to him about his past work, what's happening with TELLOS, and what being a part of GORILLA means to him.

PopImage: What was your first professional work in comics?

Mike Wieringo: My first professional work was a two-issue DOC SAVAGE mini-series for a small company called Millennium Publications back in 1992.

PI: Why did you choose the comic industry as your vocation?

MW: Drawing comic books is something that I've dreamed of since I was around 10 years old or so. I'd been drawing my own comic book stories for many years as a child and I wanted to do it professionally as well when I got old enough to actually start thinking of GETTING a profession going. It just seemed natural to keep drawing since I loved it so much-- and also try to make a living at it. I feel very fortunate to be able to actually do what I love and have always loved as a vocation.

PI: So how did you move from aspiring amateur to professional? What kind of art schooling did you have?

MW: Actually, I got out of drawing for a while before I decided to go to college. I gained entrance to Virginia Commonwealth University when I graduated High school back in 1981, but my parents couldn't afford to send me and I had no money. So I went to work in the grocery business as a bag-boy and eventually a stock clerk, and then into produce as an assistant manager of the department. I kind of got disheartened and stopped drawing and thought that I'd be stuck in the rut that I'd made for myself forever.
But after SIX years of that, I got so fed up with that kind of work, I started drawing again with the serious intent of getting into comics. But I knew I needed to get some art training because I had learned to draw by learning from comics like most kids do.
So I applied to VCU again in '86-'87 and was accepted. That was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. I learned a lot and did 4 years of intensive life drawing that taught me more than I could have ever learned on my own.

PI: You became very well-known for your work at Marvel Comics, particularly on Spider-Man. But then you just sorta seemed to disappear from their books. What happened?

MW: When Marvel decided to revamp/retool the Spider-Man books, part of that plan was to cancel SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN, the book Todd Dezago and I were working on. So when that ended, Marvel just didn't seem to know what to do with us. They kept asking for us to propose things, but everything we'd come up with, they'd reject. They also tried to shove us on to THE INCREDIBLE HULK, and shove Peter David off, and that created a VERY uncomfortable situation/power play in the offices that caused Todd and myself to pull out of that as well. This all served to create some bad blood between Marvel and myself and so I decided to quit my contract and try another avenue for my comic book career.

PI: You designed the "Stinger" armor that Spiderman used as part of his multiple personality storyline. That outfit was later used in the book SLINGERS. Do you see any kind of royalties for that creation? Either for the Slingers book, or if that outfit was made into an action figure or what have you?

MW: I'm not really sure. Marvel's policy on those things are nebulous on purpose. If they made an action figure out of it, I probably would see some fee, but it'd be nominal. Marvel traditionally doesn't deal very fairly with their creators as far as character creations go. They don't even give royalties on Foreign Reprints. DC does but Marvel does not.

PI: It doesn't really sound like you're ever going back to Marvel...

MW: I'm still doing little thing for them here or there. I'm doing the covers for their MARVEL SELECTS: SPIDER-MAN 12 issue series. I'm also doing a 1-page piece for an upcoming FANTASTIC FOUR book for Tom Breevort's office. I still dabble there, but it'd take something really fantastic for me to do a big project there again. I've been offered various things; one-shots and stuff over the past year or so, but none of it's interested me. It would have to be fairly monumental...

PI: The industry has really changed hasn't it? There was a time when being vocally critical of a company would pretty much ensure that you'd be blackballed from that company forever, if not the industry.

MW: Well, one thing that I've learned from this industry if I've learned ANYTHING is that folks in this business have short memories. How long did it take for the Image guys to do more work for Marvel after they left, and with all the negative stuff flying back and forth? The playing field is a lot more level now than it's ever been. Image is a wonderful example of that.

PI: Which brings us to Image Comics, and your book TELLOS. What made you decide to move in a more Japanese/fantasy direction with your work, as opposed to sticking with the superheroes you'd become so well-known for?

MW: Hmm...well, fantasy and sword and sorcery is something that I've always been interested in, going way back into my early childhood. I devoured the Tolkien Middle Earth books and I fell in love with all the trappings of the fantasy genre. As far as the fantasy that Todd and I are doing in TELLOS, I don't think of it as Japanese very much at all. Our influences and roots of origin for TELLOS and everything it conveys comes from the Tolkien stuff and all of the European fantasy archetypes that Todd and I both grew up reading. That's why when we get the Battle Chasers comparison I guess I can understand it because there are some obvious surface similarities, but I come from a more traditional/old school animation type of approach than the totally obvious influences that show in Joe Madureira's work. I feel like my work reflects my love of Disney more than any Japanese influence. I also feel that my sense of design is more in that direction as well.

PI: The fantasy genre seems to be exploding, recently. Besides TELLOS, WARLANDS, BATTLE CHASERS, and the various independently produced fantasy books, CrossGen comics recently announced their slate of new books, all 6 of which take place in the industrial/fantasy, Final Fantasy-ish sort of genre. Do you ever feel a little crowded out by all of these books?

MW: Actually, yeah, I do now. It's diminished my enthusiasm more than a little for what we're doing now. It makes me want to try another genre now to try to do something a little different. I'd like to do a crime-noir book to go in a completely opposite direction. Or maybe a western. That'd be cool.

PI: Does a "diminished enthusiasm" explain the... err... lateness of the TELLOS then? ;).

MW: Not really. I think the lateness of the books hasn't been that bad, actually. A couple of weeks here or there. I'm just simply not able to produce the kind of work that I need to for TELLOS to maintain the level of quality I think it needs to maintain incredibly quickly. I'm definitely working on it regularly. I'm not into playing video games and chasing movie and toy deals. I've had to deal with a lot more business stuff associated with publishing the book than I thought I would as well. Not to mention having a house and having to deal with everything that goes with that, mowing the lawn, fixing roof problems, etc...

PI: There was a rumour going around that TELLOS, was originally supposed to be debuting under the Gorilla banner, but that your book was ready to go to press long before the rest of the Gorilla gang were ready to become the Gorilla gang.

MW: That rumor is incredibly accurate. Kurt called me when we were two issues into the series but hadn't had one published yet. Todd and I have actually been discussing moving to Gorilla with TELLOS for months now.

PI: And have you come to a decision yet? Last I heard you weren't quite sure whether or not TELLOS would be with Gorilla, or if you'd be doing another project there.

MW: Yeah, we're going to be publishing TELLOS with Gorilla Comics. We've been cautioned against letting that information out, but I think it's time to start letting that be known. We're going to be re-launching TELLOS in July with another first issue, which I'm hoping won't piss too many folks off. Our readership isn't huge, but they're very vocal, so I hope we don't lose anyone with that.

PI: To be honest, I would think launching the book with a new number one would gain far more readers than you might lose. TELLOS has been successful, especially considering the state of the industry. The first few issues are totally sold out, and have already been reprinted as a "Collected Edition". Aside from the new series, what's next for TELLOS? The toys, the animated movies, the novelization?

MW: Actually, I'd love to take a crack at the novelization myself, but we do have some stuff in the works. We're close to finalizing an action figure deal with Dynamic Forces, the folks who produced the Crimson action figures, and they're hoping to have them out by next summer. But I just concentrate on the book. All the ancillary stuff is fantastic, but the real bread and butter for the long run is the comic book. There's great financial benefit to these kind of things, but it's very short term. I like to concentrate on what I feel is going to pay dividends for me into my old age (providing the comic book industry survives in some form or another) and that's producing comic books that can be kept in print in perpetuity.

PI: What a fantastic point of view!

MW: Well, just look at the guys who have created great bodies of work in the past years-- guys like Frank Miller and Matt Wagner. They've created, and continue to create, books that they can keep in print forever. Miller with SIN CITY and Wagner with GRENDEL and MAGE. S'pretty cool.

PI: Can you tell me what being a part of Gorilla means to you?

MW: What Gorilla means to me...hmm..... I think that it means a place where I can be relatively guaranteed that I'll have a home for whatever kind of comic book I want to do for years to come. We're working out a 5-year initial plan that allows us to dissolve the company after that time if we feel it's not working out mutually (which is something I can't imagine happening). I have a lot of stuff I'd like to try out as I said earlier; westerns, crime fiction, even more superhero stuff, and it's a wonderful place to have the support to do so.

PI: What other work can we look forward to from you?

MW: Not much beyond TELLOS for the near future. We've really set TELLOS up to be something that can be released as maxi-series; mini-series and one-shots. It's open enough to go in any direction. I'm committed to telling the story that Todd and I are in the middle of until it's reached its particular conclusion. As I said earlier, there's lot of other stuff I'd like to explore and I'm developing stuff now for future use.

PI: How many issues is the current TELLOS storyline going to run...?

MW: Well, we're going to end the Image Central TELLOS vol. 1 with issue number 7 in April. Then in July, TELLOS V2 #1 will debut and that will run anywhere from 8 to 12 issues. So the story as a whole could run from 15 to 19 issues. Pretty long.

PI: There's been some public discourse (that got a little heated in some places) about who was chosen to become a part of Gorilla and who wasn't. Your TELLOS partner, Todd Dezago, isn't a member. The big question is "Why?". Why were some people chosen, and others (who would seem to be perfect fits for the line) not asked to join?

MW: There were several partners that were already involved in an earlier incarnation of Gorilla that didn't happen, and they were mainly the writer folks. Kurt's focus was on keeping the group relatively small and to bring in more artists to round out the mix. I actually am surprised that more groups don't do this kind of thing.

PI: I don't follow, more groups?

MW: I mean that more INDIVIDUALS should form groups like Gorilla. Imprints, that sort of thing. There's strength in numbers.

We'd like to thank Mike Wieringo for participating in this interview. Check out Mike's work on TELLOS, and visit the official TELLOS web-site at http://www.tellos.com.

All characters, titles, images mentioned or shown are copyright and trademark their respective creators.

Christopher Butcher is columns editor of PopImage.

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