by Vaneta Rogers
As announced at the DC Nation panel at Comic-Con International Friday, J.G. Jones will be drawing the seven-issue Final Crisis mini-series by writer Grant Morrison next year.
Most recently lauded for his work on the all the covers of the weekly DC series 52, Jones hasn't worked as an interior artist since doing the Wanted mini-series with Mark Millar for Top Cow in 2004. But after his 52 covers were treasured by fans enough to prompt DC to collect them in a hardcover to be released this October, the artist is now tapped to draw what is being promoted as the company's next major event.
Although the artist couldn't comment about the content of Final Crisis, Newsarama talked to him this morning before the Comic-Con kicked into high gear to find out what we could about the series, as well as catching up on the status of the Wanted movie and looking back at his experience on 52.
Newsarama: Final Crisis. That's a pretty big announcement. How'd you get this gig?
J.G. Jones: Just like the 52 covers, I got a call out of the blue from Dan Didio. I didn't know what I was going to do next. My contract was up. I was thinking about going to work for another company. And Dan brought me this huge, juicy piece of pie I couldn't say no to.
I've never done a big event book. I haven't drawn a book since Wanted, which I guess is three years now. So I thought I was ready.
NRAMA: You've worked with Grant before, right?
JGJ: We worked together over at Marvel years ago on Marvel Boy. And I loved that book so much and loved working with Grant. And he's also one of my favorite writers. I loved all of the Seven Soldiers stuff he's been doing. Pretty much all the books he's written in the last four or five years, I think are amazing. He's one of those writers where I try to pick up everything and read.
So the chance to work with Grant was a selling point for me, more than anything else. I knew I'd get fun stuff to draw and an interesting story and a different point of view.
NRAMA: Have the two of you talked about the story in any detail?
JGJ: Yeah. DC actually sent me over to Scotland for the better part of a week. I stayed at Grant's for a few days and we just worked on character designs and the whole story. He laid the story out for me.
NRAMA: Do you feel good about the story?
JGJ: Absolutely. I think it's seven issues. They'll probably all be oversized issues, which is terrifying, but I've already started drawing. I'm about eight or nine pages in, so far. The first script's terrific. The story really hits the ground running.
NRAMA: You mentioned before that this will be your first "event" book. Is that intimidating? You know, if you thought people were picky about your work before, just wait.
JGJ: [laughs] That's true. At the end of the day, though, you can't really worry about that. You just try to do the best work you can. What's that Aesop's Fable about the little boy and the old man and the donkey?
NRAMA: Hmmm... I don't think I know that one.
JGJ: It's a little kid, his grandfather and a donkey, and they go into town. And how's the story go? The little kid's riding on the donkey, and somebody stops them and says, "Why are you making the old man walk? The kid's young. He can walk!" So they trade and the next person says ...
NRAMA: "Why are you making the kid walk?"
JGJ: Yeah! "You're a grown man!"
NRAMA: OK, and now I can't remember -- what was the point of this?
JGJ: You can never please everybody. So you just do the best you can.
continued...
NRAMA: Switching gears a little, the hardcover collection of all your covers for 52 will be coming out soon. We never got a chance to talk after 52 wrapped up. What was that experience like, doing all those covers for a weekly comic like that?
JGJ: It was the best single gig I've ever had in comics. It was pure fun every week. I figured out pretty early on that I could do almost anything I wanted -- as far as style and technique. I didn't want to just draw the big punch-up of the week because I would have gotten bored pretty fast. So I would just go out and try to find a new approach for every cover and use a wide range of influences -- everything from 14th Century Catholic altarpiece paintings to modern design to 1940s horror movie posters to Doc Savage covers. So it was just all fun.
NRAMA: How did you know what the story was going to be? You were in on those early meetings, right?
JGJ: Yeah. I sat in on the plotting sessions. They did two major get-togethers, about three days each, before and in the middle of 52. I sat in on those and actually just drew a lot of cover ideas sitting in the room. Some of those had to be scrapped because things would change as they worked out details. But I probably used about 10 of those covers I did in the room with them.
NRAMA: When things got switched around, would you find out from the editor what the story was going to be and what they wanted on the cover or did you get scripts?
JGJ: I would usually try to get scripts. I like to work from the script, because even if I don't illustrate exactly what's in the script and do something with a theme, the script gives me an idea what not to do as much as what to do.
NRAMA: Were you doing a cover a week?
JGJ: Yep.
NRAMA: I wasn't sure if you had a long enough lead time to give you some space.
JGJ: Well, I got a jump on it. So I was well out ahead.
NRAMA: What did you think of the story?
JGJ: I thought it was fun. It was great. I liked all the different intertwining storylines. It gave me plenty to play with. And we all know, it's about me. [laughs]
NRAMA: [laughs] Everything's always about you, huh?
JGJ: Well, I'm on the West Coast now, so I have to thing that way. I'm thinking of getting a DUI tonight just to fit in.
NRAMA: Or one of those little purse puppies.
JGJ: Oh yeah! A dog in a bag. And giant Chanel sunglasses.
NRAMA: [laughs] What was your favorite 52 cover?
JGJ: I think ... was it Issue #22? With Doc Magnus running from the big, giant red robot shape. I was kind of thinking North by Northwest and the old Hitchcock stuff.
NRAMA: Did you know it would end up being a hardcover collection?
JGJ: Well, Dan told me early on that he'd like to do that. And they followed through, so that was great.
NRAMA: You mentioned Wanted earlier -- it's being made into a movie, right?
JGJ: Universal Pictures. They're shooting right now.
NRAMA: It's already shooting?
JGJ: Mark Millar actually visited the set in Prague, and I think they're opening the set in Chicago soon. I hope to visit. That would be fun.
NRAMA: We were talking a little before starting this interview -- with names like Morgan Freeman and Angelina Jolie involved, it's pretty exciting. Is this the first time anything you've done has been picked up as a movie?
JGJ: Yeah. It was all pretty unexpected. Ken Levin and Top Cow did a great job, and pretty much got the deal done in a hurry. So many people have things drawn out forever. But this just went click, click, click. I feel lucky.
NRAMA: I know it's a long way away, but do you have any idea what's next after Final Crisis?
JGJ: I do. I'm actually doing some writing. I'd like to do creator-owned stuff.
NRAMA: You're writing?
JGJ: I've been wanting to write for years, but I've always had to pay the mortgage. I don't have a publisher lined up yet, but I'm talking to different people.
NRAMA: You know, we didn't talk about the title of Final Crisis. I think a lot of people who heard that word "crisis" rolled their eyes. [laughs]
JGJ: [laughs] The best part of this crisis is that it has "final" in front of it.
NRAMA: No more crises!
JGJ: I guess they'll call the next one something else.
NRAMA: Well, I think people are afraid it's just an event for the sake of an event. A "crisis" just to have a "crisis." You know?
JGJ: Well, I don't think I would draw this book if it was like that. I pick my projects very carefully. I only draw things I'm interested in. I only draw a book every few years. And I don't think I would be interested in doing just another giant every-superhero-gets-involved-makes-a-cameo-smackdown" kind of thing.
And this is why having Grant write the book was so important, 'cause Grant has a real clear idea what he wants to do with this story. He told me that if they couldn't work out any potential continuity problems, he would just rather do it as an All-Star so he could tell this
story. It's a story he wants to tell, and not company event. So we're just going to tell our story and see what happens.
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