Can you imagine what it’s like being responsible for bringing characters fans have come to know and love over seven seasons of television to the comic page? That’s the duty Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 artist Georges Jeanty shouldered when Joss Whedon handpicked him for the gig. Fazed? Hardly. Jeanty was too busy enjoying his comics, sci-fi and horror to notice the pressure. I got to chat with the hard-working illustrator about his love of the Slayer and what’s coming up in the series now that Season 8 is coming to a head. And will there be a Season 9? Read on to find out!
GEN: Hey Georges! It’s nice getting to chat with you again. It’s not often comic book artists must draw likenesses of real people, yet that’s what you’re asked to do each month in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and do so brilliantly I might add. Is it a challenge having to depict certain people rather than creating them from scratch? Which actor has been most difficult to capture? The easiest? The most fun?
Thanks for all the kind words first off! I don’t know if I was exactly peg for this project for my likeness ability. I’ve always wanted to tackle drawing some sort of franchise like Star Trek or Star Wars for years, and then along came Buffy. I am so thankful that Joss and Company wanted me for Season 8. In fact, the hardest thing to do each month is the likenesses. I will be the first to say I don’t always get them right, but I am there every month trying! It has been challenging drawing all the characters because they are real. People reading this book may not have picked up a comic before but they sure as heck know what the characters are supposed to look like! I’m sure I’m not doing it to everyone’s satisfaction, but thankfully most people have been very kind about the way the characters look.
The girls have been the hardest to draw because when you draw women you should use as few lines as possible so that they can come across as pretty. That’s the rule when drawing women the more lines you put in the less attractive they tend to look. I’ve really enjoyed drawing Giles. For some reason I’ve been able to get him right more often than not. Buffy has been the one I’ve drawn with the most expression and practice. The poor thing has drama following her constantly as you well know.
GEN: The Scoobies are a real jet-setting crew since they’ve made the jump to comics. What’s it like illustrating the various locales?
That has been a lot of fun. I am a stickler about locations, so when I get a script and some of the gang is in, lets say Tibet, where they are now, I will go out and either get books on the subject or Google pictures. The Scoobies have kept me quite busy with all their globetrotting! They’ve been to Scotland, London, Italy, China, all over the place. Even Sunnydale for an issue, well, what’s left of it anyway.
GEN: You normally do the alternates for Buffy while Jo Chen does the main covers. Chen’s are normally very literal and serious but you tend to have a certain theme or a more humorous approach to yours. Is it usually you who comes up with the idea or do you collaborate with each particular writer on a case-by-case basis?
It’s a case-by-case thing, but the 2 covers a month came about more organic. Originally it was that there would be an alternate cover for the first issue to celebrate Buffy’s return to comics. Then it became a retailer incentive thing, where if the comic shop ordered a certain number of books they got a certain number of the ‘other cover’ and then it became an alternate cover. Because it was always considered as the 2nd cover, me and the Editorial staff wanted to have fun with it. I’m a huge comic fan so doing homage covers was something I was itching to do. Not all the time, mind you, just where it seem to fit like the cover to Action Comics with Superman’s first appearance. There have also been gag covers that weren’t taken from a comic book but film. Like the cover with Faith and Giles as the British characters the Avengers. So when we can do something cheeky with the alternate cover, we try to. It’s a lot of fun going back and forth with Joss and the Editorial staff about what we should do every month, let me tell you!
GEN: Karl Moline has taken on the artistic duties for the Willow one-shot (Check out WITA’s interview with Moline!). You’re providing an alternate cover for the issue, but #31 of the main Buffy series is also a one-shot, this time with Joss Whedon. What’s your experience been like working with him in the past and for this latest collaboration? Also, your cover is very pop-art inspired this time around, what’s that all about?
Again, I look at the covers I do as experimenting. Changing the style of the art is something I love to do because it breaks me out of how I draw the interiors. It’s great to draw in a different style form time to time. Working with Joss has always been deceptively easy. Given his position and popularity you’d think you’d get this Monarch type of a person to work with, always shouting orders like “do this!” Or “that’s wrong!” Nothing could be further from the truth. Joss has always been very giving. He has been there when I’ve need clarification on something. It has been an absolute joy to work with him because he expects you to contribute and ad your two cents. He wants the involvement of his collaborators.
GEN: Speaking of amazingly talented writers, Brad Meltzer jumps onboard to write the Scoobies’ adventures from issues 32-35. What was it like working with him? Did he approach things differently than the others? What can you tell us about his issues?
I wouldn’t say I approached anything differently, I think the reason Dark Horse wanted one main artist on Season 8 was to give it a uniform look knowing that they were going to have several different writers. So while the writers are all vastly different in style, I was charged to make sure the book had a ‘look’ for continuity’s sake. I would imagine writing a script for comics isn’t that much different than doing a teleplay. Some writers were more into the dialog and others into the action. Joss looks at all the scripts that are turned in and gives notes as they pertain to the Buffyverse. I would think if you’re a writer and you love Buffy, it’s a great opportunity to get Joss Whedon to read your script.
Joss had a wish list of writers he wanted to work with when we started and I’m sure it’s just as much fun for him to read what someone he admires does with his concept. Brad Meltzer agreed to do his arc when the book started, so he waited two years to come on board. From what I can tell he’s loving his tour. And it says a lot How Joss feels about Brad’s work that he has probably one of the most anticipated arcs!
GEN: During Meltzer’s arc our Big Bad of Season 8, Twilight, will be revealed. Your cover of that particular issue was recently posted online and revealed our very own President Barack Obama as the villain. I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that’s a joke. Who started it?
It was a joke, yes. Editor Scott Allie and I have been working on the book from the beginning and after a while you tend to get very loose with people you work with on a daily basis and that Obama reveal was thrown in there as a joke more just for the Editor and Assistant Editors to laugh about. Scott then thought y’know the one question we get more than any other is who is Twilight. Wouldn’t it be funny if this Obama image got out there and the fans were given a ‘reveal’? And the rest you know. It was all in fun.
GEN: Speaking of Twilight, who is he? You can tell me. I swear, I won’t speak a word of this to anyone…
Oh, that’s an easy question… it’s Barack Obama. Oh, wait, we did that already.
It’s so close, wouldn’t you want to just wait a little longer to find out than to spoil the big reveal months before it happens? You’ve all been so good about eating your meats and vegetables, don’t rush the dessert. I promise you, you’ll be hungry all over again once the reveal happens!
GEN: Besides your normal duties on the book you throw in little extra for fans of the show or genre fans in general (like the Doctor Who/Rose cameo or the Faith/Angel tattoos) Any in-jokes or quirky imagery you’ve stuck in your art for Buffy that fans haven’t picked upon?
That’s something that I do, throwing stuff on the wall and seeing what sticks. I normally put in all this little stuff here and there, never thinking ‘oh, once the fans see this they are going to flip.’ Most times I don’t think anyone will get the little references I throw in. I am surprised that a great number of people have picked up on those little ‘Easter eggs!’ I’m a huge Sci-Fi and Horror fan as well as comics, so most of my references tend to come from that. I never read a script and tell myself ‘I can put a cheeky reference here!’ It always happens organically when I’m drawing. Like that Rose and the Doctor one. The script called for an establishing shot of Giles’ flat in England and I was looking at references for London and one of the things you always see are those red phone booths, and I thought wouldn’t it be funny if I put the TARDIS instead? I thought that was too obvious but then I thought what if I just put Rose and the Doctor? No will catch it but it would be a nice little thing that makes me laugh when I see it. Who knew!
GEN: Buffy/Satsu. Was it as shocking to you as it was the rest of the world? What was the fan reaction to your illustration of the famous scene?
The hardest thing about that Buffy/Satsu tryst was keeping quiet. I knew about it a year in advance and Joss himself told me when we had Lunch with Editors Scott Allie and Sierra Hahn at the San Diego Comic Con. This was at the begining of the book and I was so excited at meeting Joss for the first time and I really did want to talk to him about where he saw the series going so that I could get prepared for the type of things I would have to draw. He told me this and that, they’ll go here for a while, this will blow up blah blah and Buffy will sleep with Satsu and I was like what? Wait! Everyone at the table busted out laughing. I did one of those classic double takes you see in black and white movies. I was shocked. I told Joss you can’t do this. The fans are going to revolt! He just smiled that knowing smile of his and nodded. Y’see, this was all planned. Remember this is Season 8. Had the show gone another season we would have probably seen this on TV. I’m sure it shook up a lot of people.
A friend of mine in London Crystal Shand, when she found out, she was simply outraged. She couldn’t believe Joss could do this. I mean she was pissed. And as we talked I realized that this was someone who identified with Buffy growing up like Buffy was a role model for her or something, and when this happened she felt betrayed in some way. I realized then that she and I’m sure thousands of girls, identified with Buffy on a much more personal level and what Buffy did they could justify themselves doing, but Crystal kept saying Buffy would never sleep with a woman! And then it started to dawn on me. I told her I think you mean you would never sleep with a woman and therefore felt that Buffy wouldn’t. So many years identifying with Buffy I think she got complaisant with what she would do and what Buffy would do as being relatively the same. And that’s Joss true gift. He has this way of creating characters that you not only like but identify with so much so that you feel you ‘know’ them. I think that’s such a gift and a curse, because when you do deviate and have a character like Buffy do something totally left of center for her fans tend to be thrown for a loop. I find it all fascinating.
GEN: You weren’t a fan of the television series before you got this gig but you are now. If you had the chance to go back and illustrate a particular episode or scene from the show, which would it be and why?
Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever been asked that question. I don’t know that I would want to go back and re-illustrate stories, but I would love to peruse the in between stuff. Like more of Spike’s story before Sunnydale or what Willow went through when Giles took her to England between Season 6 and 7. Stuff like that. I have become friendly with Juliet Landau these last couple of years doing Buffy cons, and she loved the idea of Buffy in comics and we sat one night and talked and she said there was so much of Drusilla’s story that she wish got out there, and I was like yeah! I would love to hear more about that! So I would love to see comics that maybe filled in the blanks of the TV show, wouldn’t that be cool?
GEN: You recently worked on the Manhunter second feature in DC’s Batman: Streets of Gotham, got a thing for the tough chicks Georges?
You have to blame Buffy for that one! I was at a Con and met with some of the DC editors and one of them, Janelle Siegel, came up to me and said she was a huge Buffy fan and that she was loving what I was doing on the book. I thanked her and mentioned how I didn’t want to loose my DC connections and she said I have this backup feature I think you’d be great for. She’s a lot like Buffy…or maybe Faith. And that’s how that happened!
GEN: Outside of the Buffyverse, what character would you most like to get a chance to illustrate in the future?
Like in comics or media? I’m such a pop-culture freak, I would love to do an X-Files book, or an Indiana Jones or a Planet of the Apes thing. Lots of stuff. Comic wise, I would love to tackle the big guys like Spider-man or the X-men or Superman or Batman, but also older 70’s characters like Luke Cage or Blade the Vampire Hunter…hey…
GEN: What comics will you be illustrating in the future? I heard something about a possible collaboration with the aforementioned Buffy cast member Juliet Landau.
Having stayed in touch these last couple of years, Juliet, we have just developed such a respect for each other that we kept ending our conversations with ‘we really have to do something together!’ I would love to work with her on a project! Who knows? I certainly would be up for it! She’s good peoples.
GEN: Tell us as much as you can about Buffy Season 9.
Oohhh, aren’t you a cheeky monkey?! While I have heard Joss say he wants to do a Season 9 I don’t know much about it beyond that. I know there would certainly be material for it. Once the Twilight fall out happens there will be a lot of material to go on. I heard Season 9 would probably not be as long as Season 8, but that’s all I know. I swear!
GEN: What comics are you reading and enjoying right now?
I read something every day if I can help it. I’m reading tons of stuff. Someone just turned me on to The Walking Dead and I’ve been reading Thor, and the New Avengers, along with DC’s Rebels, Superman Secret Origin, Stephen King’s The Stand (I read the book years ago and I’m impressed that Marvel is making it a big story instead of just telling it in 6 issues!) I was rereading some old Defenders issues also.
Comics are such a rich medium for storytelling! Those of you who are reading Buffy but have never read any other comics I encourage you to go to your local Comic store and pick up some other books, I’m confident you wont be disappointed! And for all of you who might be curious what I might be up to or want to see some art work as it’s coming out, please visit my site or join me on Twitter.
Thanks so much for your time Jill, it was a pleasure to talk with you!
December 23rd, 2009 at 10:49 am
I really love Georges for his genuine love of what he does. He’s got that “fan” type of excitement for his work. Jill, you asked some great questions I would never have thought of - I’ll have to save it in my drafts for future interviews
I completely agree with his friend’s take on the Buffy/Satsu thing. As I said in my review of it, Buffy was always with guys. She never showed any inclination to even be interested in “experimenting” or finding comfort in any other girl. It just didn’t feel right for me yet Willow & Tara are one of my favorite couples of all time (as is Willow & Oz).
December 23rd, 2009 at 11:05 am
Amazing interview, Jill! Hahaha “cheeky monkey.”
December 24th, 2009 at 9:10 am
Thats an interesting article – your blog is really good i keep coming back here all the time keep it up!