“Too English”: Interview to Frazer Irving
by Antonio Solinas

 

     Hi Frazer. As far as I know, your work has not been published in Italy yet. Do you want to introduce yourself to the Italian fans?

     Hello. My name’s Frazer, and I live in Essex, which is a big suburban mess just on the edge of London, UK. I’ve been drawing comics professionally since 2000, with the majority of my output being published in Brit mag 2000AD, though I also drew the Authority for DC and a 4 parter for Dark Horse called Fort! Prophet of the Unexplained. Beyond that I’ve drawn pix for Wizards of the Coast, the BBC, and I published my own 200 page graphic novel in my pre-pro days. I also play guitar and make my own music on my Powerbook, which takes up far too much of my working time...

     When did you decide that you wanted to become a comic artist?

     Well, I know I wanted to do it since I was about 7 years old, but the idea never occurred to me to try it properly until I was about 14. I made the choice after reading articles in Marvel Age about submitting work and I figured I’d give myself 4 years to get good and then I’d send stuff in.

     What are your influences, even outside the comic field?

     Influences... hmmm. Well, as far as comics go, the ones that had the most impact would have been chaps like Barry Windsor-Smith (I went to the same art school as him, 30 years later), John Byrne, Steranko, Alan Moore, Alfredo Alcala, Rudy Nebres... Gah, each time I try to answer this question I just start listing everyone who’s great:) And that list can go on... Outside of comics my greatest influences are the Beatles and King Crimson.

     One of the comics you are known for is the Judge Death story, which was very well received. How did you get the assignment? Which of the stories you drew for 2000AD is your favorite?

    I got the Death gig because I’d been talking to then 2000AD editor Andy Diggle about how I’d like to do it, and when John Wagner suddenly turned in 3 scripts for a new series Andy thought of me. A clear case of “who you know” not “what you know”. As for favorite gigs in 2000AD, I’d say that the current strip the Simping Detective is the most fun, most probably due to the fact that the more comics I draw, the better I get at it and the more fun it all becomes:) .

     Recently, DC Comics reached an agreement for distributing the 2000AD comics in North America. Do you think this is going to be beneficial for the British comic movement? If yes, how?

     I dunno, the business side of comics and stuff is a mystery to me. What seems to be a sure thing often flops, and the most useless shite on earth can become a huge success for reasons that are beyond my comprehension, so I’d say that anything like this can only be good for the British comics scene, although I have no idea how or in what way.

     You have mostly worked for British publishers. Would you be interested in a gig for either French or American publishers?

     It depends on the gig :D I’ve done a few things for the yanks, and right now I’m doing another with Grant Morrison for DC Comics and this one’s been the most fun so far.  I dunno about the French market...I didn’t get a very good response when I went to Angoulême last year, with comments like “too English” or “not very French” being used to describe my work, so I’ll probably give that a miss until someone decides they like me.

     Generally, from my point of view, the standards for British comic artists seem higher than for American comic artists. Do you agree? What do you think you learnt working mostly for the British market?

     I dunno about the standards thing... Certainly we’re forced to be more dense in our pages and storytelling, which can seem to be more skilled, but I’ve seen how incredible some of the yanks are at just knocking out perfectly formed drawings in seconds...clearly they learn different things to us, and the best thing is when we share ideas, stealing from each other:) In the UK, what with it being a market driven almost exclusively by Anthologies, we have to learn how to cram in lots of art in fewer pages, and to be clearer, more concise with out panels. What this also does (especially these days) is to allow individual artists to control all aspects of the art, unlike the penciller-inker-colourist system still used in the states. I think the British way is best, though I grew up reading comics made by teams of people all together producing something which was way better than the output of the individuals separately.

     Your style is very refined, but I suspect it may be a bit difficult to understand for the average superhero fan. Have you ever been penalised by your style, do you think?

     Nah, not really. No one’s ever told me “that sucks”, but sales may have sagged in a few places. Ideally I get to use whatever style I think is best, and the cases where the style has been dictated to me are the cases where the project failed to meet expectations. With 2000AD I generally have total freedom to do what makes it look good, and with this current DC gig I get to do the colours too so I have a better chance of making it work. As for superheroes... Well I did Storming Heaven in 2000AD and the superhero fans that saw that liked it a lot, so I figure if I HAVE to draw them, then I should be able to tap into what it is about superheroes that makes them so cool, and bring it out in the art.

      Your style shows a lot of attention to the storytelling and page composition. How did you develop your style? Do you prefer to work on a tighter script or when you are allowed more freedom?

     I developed my style the natural way, i.e. by drawing lots and lots of really bad pages till they started looking less-bad. It’s been an unconscious mutation for sure, as I tend to focus just on the job at hand and how to make it work, that I take new funky ideas over from project to project without really noticing it. When I was a kid, I was all about the style, and how to get it. Now I see that it’s better to let style come to u, rather than go chasing it forever in endless circles. Scripts: I like both, as long as they’re good. So far I’ve done 90% of my work from full scripts... some less good that others... and the one where I had the Marvel style was when I adapted Frankenstein earlier this winter...all I had then was a page count and the novel to work with. If I had to choose I go for the looser script, because the more I get to grips with my chops as a storyteller I think the more room I’ll need to play around and stretch that envelope a tiny bit.

     You have done some work for Dark Horse and Wildstorm. Which differences did you find between the American and British publishers?

     Well I think I mentioned above about the stylistic differences, but the main one for me was the way 2000AD will take more risks in terms of content as there is less investment in a 5-parter compared to a mini series for the US. The 2 gigs I had with the yanks before were rather controlled in the respect that I couldn’t try a crazy and left-field approach to the art, although that didn’t really matter at the time.
Also, American editors hassle artists when we lag behind, which is good. The Brits just don’t have time to nag:) .

     I heard some speculations about your involvement with the X-books. Can you shed some light on the subject?

     'Tis but a callous rumour I must say. I was chatting to a guy who writes some X-stuff at a festival, and a Journo overheard us chatting with the words “secret new project” amongst the mix and he just came to the wrong conclusions:) .

     How are you going to tackle the X-Men series? What are you going to bring to the table, from the artistic point of view?

     Well I ain’t doing it:) BUT, the secret project was Grant Morrison’s Seven Soldiers gig from DC, and I was reluctant to expose this at the time. I suppose I can shift the question over to my take on Klarion the Witch Boy instead. I got the gig I think due to Grant wanting to work with me on something and this being a really good opportunity to use a “no-name” working on a “no-name-character” to make something new and funky. I got the full color gig as well (this is essential to me) so this meant I could try out some new ways of mixing the line and color to create dramatic moments and develop a visual set of hooks with which to unify the whole project.

     Are you a big fan of comics? What do you read?

     Sort of. I love comics, the artform as well as the product, but I don’t read as much as I did when I was a kid, mainly because I have other interests, which act as a counterpoint to my daily job, and comic reading has become more of a research activity than it used to be. Having said that, I always spend a fortune at the comic shop whenever i visit, like today I bought the latest issues of Sleeper, Green Lantern: Rebirth, Solo (by Richard Corben), Black Hole, The Losers, as well as an Alan Davis book, and a hardcover edition of Button Man, ironically published by 2000AD (ironic in that I should have been able to get a free copy before now...).
My tastes are as varied as can be, though it all depends on the creative team moreso than the genre. For instance, I shy away from most superheroes these days because I just don’t like the art. Simple as that. And the writing can be very dodgy too. But when I see a good one (Alan Davis’ the Nail, anything Alan Moore does, this new Green Lantern thing etc) then it’s great fun indeed:) .

     Do you know anything about the European comics scene? Is there anyone you like? What about Italy? Do you know anything about Italian comics?

     I know almost nothing. I know the name “Bonelli” and I know some of my Croatian artist buddies do work on Dylan Dog, but that’s about it. It’s down to accessibility basically. European comics have never been widely available in English over here (and when they have been translated, many times the translation was utter rubbish) and to cap that there is a strong sense of anti-snobbery towards European comics. Many folks I know here who talk very loudly about the virtues of European style over American style are incredibly pretentious and sadly their attitude taints anything that comes from Europe. I’ve been put off much of the French output by being shown the wrong stuff. Only the new Metabarons reprints from DC are actually having an effect, as it’s a good product and there’s no one ramming it down my throat.

     What are your current projects?

     Currently I have only 1 gig on (ah, the luxury) which is the Seven Soldiers 4 parter for DC, which is due to see print in April I think. I do the Simping Detective strip in the Judge Dredd Megazine every year, though that’s only 3-6 episodes long, so I may actually get some time to myself this year... Maybe get a chance to finish recording that album of insect singing...

     Here's the trademark Comics Code question: name three comics that a fan should absolutely read...

     Weapon X by Barry Smith, V for Vendetta and Sin City. You do realise this is an unfair question, right?