ZRC Exclusive Interview with Guy Davis

ZRC: Last year you celebrated your 20th year as a professional comic book artist. How has the business differed for you between then and now?
Guy: Well, being freelance it’s always been feast or famine over the years with trying to get work for hire or make a living from your artwork~ I just try to stick with it through the good and bad and make it a point to constantly keep working.
Right now I’m at a really comfortable point in my career where I’m doing the projects that I’m really inspired by and enjoy as opposed to taking on any jobs I can find to pay the bills. So life and work is good~ no complaints here.

ZRC: You’re currently illustrating a lengthy run on the Hellboy spin-off B.P.R.D. with writers Mike Mignola and John Arcudi. What is it like working on a book that mixes so many elements of horror, folklore, mystery, action and…weirdness?
Guy: It’s great fun! Really, working on BPRD with Mike and John has been one of my favorite projects in my career. And that mix of different elements and weirdness is what makes it the most fun~ each storyline I’ve had on BPRD so far has been different in tone and feel from the last for me. It keeps it all inspirinig to work on and there’s lots more weirdness coming up that I can’t wait to draw!

ZRC: You’ve also been illustrating The Zombies That Ate the World, which was originally published in the U.S. as part of the anthology Metal Hurlant, for around five years now. Being that it’s only published in Europe now, what’s it like working on a title that no longer sees print in your own language?
Guy: I really need to try and learn French~ luckily the scripts I get from Gerry Frissen are in english (and hilarious), so at least I know what the characters are saying when I draw it. It’s odd to get the printed books back and only have a vague memory of what they’re talking about~ but it’s great to have the stories printed in different languages and finding new audiences. Not only with Zombies but with BPRD, Sandman Mystery Theatre and the Marquis too!
ZRC: Are there any plans for that book to be published here, and in English, again?Â
Guy: Well, there’s definitely some plans for an english edition~ but nothing definite yet. Hopefully we’ll have some news in 2008 though.

ZRC: For Volume 3 of The Zombies That Ate the World, you received a quote from one of the ZRC’s favorite directors, George A. Romero.Who else would you really like to get a quote from for one of your books… be it living , dead or undead?
Guy: You know…I don’t know, I’m going to cop out of naming anyone~ I guess for fear of jinxing it.

ZRC: Your creator-owned books, The Marquis and Baker Street, that you both write and illustrate, are darker in nature than much of your for-hire work and deal with issues that are very horrific; both psychically, including murder and torture, and mentally, including religious persecution and abuse from authority. What draws you to this subject matter for your more personal work?
Guy: I don’t know, I think I’m a pretty happy guy. You know me (Guy’s a good friend of the ZRC -ed.), I’m always fucking laughing~ but we all have those dark thoughts inside, I guess I like to embrace that part or at least the ideas and make entertainment out of it.
I think it’s also really hard to make something scary these days, people are too jaded. So I try to get across the disturbing and unsettle the reader with ideas that are horrific as opposed to intentionally scary.

ZRC: You’ve worked on a eclecitc mix of titles/ genres over the years. What have been some of your personal favorites?
Guy: Personal projects like The Marquis are always a favorite to work on. BPRD is constantly a favorite to work on and something I’m very proud of. I did a short story for a Metal Hurlant called The Phototaker~ that was based on a Jacques Tardi cover he did for them. I’m a huge Tardi fan, so that was great fun to get to do.

ZRC: What’s your all-time favorite zombie film?
Guy: I would still pick Return of the Living Dead~ I still laugh alot when I see that. After that I’d pick I Walked with a Zombie, the old Val Lewton films are great!
ZRC: And lastly…what projects can we look forward to in 2008?
Guy: More BPRD with Mike and John~ I’m also working on some side projects with Mike and Dark Horse Presents. Hopefully we will see some Zombies that Ate the World in english and the new Marquis book finally!
Comments(1)



Heheheeeee……
I’ll tell you what SCARY is. Scary is when a girl innocently and gently grabs a guy’s rear-view mirror in a Royal Oak parking lot- and the damned thing FALLS OFF.
THAT’s what scary is….
Damn zombie cars…. parts fallin’ off all over the place.
;)
That said-
I haven’t seen Guy in YEARS… too long, but it warms my heart to know that he is still doing what he loves and that it loves him right back. Thanks for interviewing him!