This is the first Dan Dare collection I've edited for Titan Books, comprising work by Frank Hampson, Frank Bellamy and Don Harley.
Superb World War 1 strip first published in Battle and another collection edited by me for Titan
Rok Comics Creators: Mychailo Kazybrid First Published: 8 March 2008
Mychailo has been involved in the cartoon/comic book
industry since 1975, mainly producing artwork on various licensed
characters, plus promotional cartoons. His strips include Comic
Cuts,
(for Comics International), The
Tick, Wallace & Gromit, Shaun
The Sheep, Rattus Holmes (UN
comic strip), Aachan
Solvitz (a DVD series for World
Vision), Do-Do
Man (self-published), Duckula, Dangermouse, Bash
St. Kids,
Dennis and Matt & the
Cat,
to name but a few. He has also produced cartoons for broadcast
television.
Questions compiled by David Hailwood
How did you discover Rok Comics?
Good ol' Mike Conroy, editor of Comics
International, passed on the information.
How do you feel about Digital comics over Print based
comics?
I firmly believe that there's room for both.
What's your greatest achievement in the comics field?
Whilst I'd like to think that I've not got to that point
yet, I've worked on a number of strips that each in their own way have offered
a sense of achievement. (Dear God, that was a good answer, if I may say
so myself!)
What projects (both Rok Comics and non Rok Comics related)
are you working on at the moment?
On Rok Comics, I'm really enjoying putting together the
Do-Do Man strips. As for other work, one of my projects
involves the second book on a character, Rattus Holmes. These are being
produced for the UN.
What advice would you offer to new cartoonists?
Two things. Consider going to university/college to
do a good art foundation course. This way, whilst working on getting into
the cartoon/comic industry, they can equally spend their time learning,
However, if they want to or not, the main thing is to practice
100 per cent. That means evenings and weekends too! It doesn't matter what
I'm working on or if I'm in a quiet period, I still keep on practicing.
I guess that the other thing is to say, look to the best.
If they're into adventure, check out and study the best artists on the market.
Likewise, this would go for such as humour or manga strips. I know that
I'm going to provide Lew with a red face again, but I've always been proud
of the fact that I've shared comic pages with Lew
Stringer.
Where to begin... I did three years with DC Thomson, drawing
various characters. The first strip I did was Minnie
The Minx, but I spent
most of the time working on Bash St. Kids,
either for the comic or for summer specials and a number of the pocket library
books. I enjoyed my time with Brian Clarke as my editor at London Editions,
this covered Masters Of The Universe, Duckula and Dangermouse,
to name but a small few.
I
also had a good time with Marvel UK on Transformers producing
humour strips, i.e. Matt & the Cat [right],
plus other titles. I produced strips for a pre-school type comic called
Plus for 11 years. I enjoyed doing pencils
on 11 books of The Tick. I've drawn Comic
Cuts for Comics International for the
last 101 issues and did four years producing cartoons for broadcast television.
This was mainly for the YTV Calendar show.
I've also done Promotional artwork
for various companies, such as Frankie & Benny' and drawn daily cartoon
strips for newspapers for six years.
What was the question?...
Where/when did you get your first comics break?
My first real comics break was back in 1984 with Marvel UK.
I was lucky enough to get the chance to produce a new humour strip on their Transformers UK
comic. What really added to the fun was that my editor allowed the strip
to be based on characters that appeared in my daily cartoon strip with the
Bradford Telegraph & Argus and The
Manchester Evening News. It was great to take characters that I'd
already drawn for a number of years and place them in a new setting. The
original daily was simply called, Matt, however, once the artwork had been
put together for the new series, for some reason, Matt & the Cat seem
to fit much better.
What comics are you reading at the moment (both web and
print based)?
I tend to buy Essential X-Men and The
Avengers United, published in the UK by Panini Comics. Also
from time to time, I pick up the Marvel Essential Books.
Whose work do you most admire in the comics field and
why?
Where to begin? Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, David Finch, Ken
Reid, Frank Bellamy, Leo Baxendale, Ron Embleton, Mike Noble... Yep, I could
keep on going!
As to the reason I admire their work, these people are giants
and it provokes me to keep on practicing!
