Benjamin Ong
Nov 8, 2002, 04:40 pm
<a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/Eden001_cov.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/Eden001_covt.jpg" align=left alt="Eden's Trail #1"></a>X-Fan Correspondent Benjamin Ong Pang Kean recently sat down with Eden's Trail creator Steve Uy for a conversation about his past and current Marvel work, as well as his upcoming creator-owned project Feather.
X-FAN: First up Steve, could you tell us a little about yourself?
UY: Well, lessee… I'm Chinese by blood, born in the Philippines, moved to America when I was five, suffered a bout of depression when Transformers ended its TV run and sought a worthy collection to take my mind off my first love’s cancellation (which lasted years) which came in the form of Jim Lee’s X-Men stint. From there I… crap, that period beat me to it.
X-FAN: You did two pin-ups for Marvel Universe: Millennial Visions 2001 and then drew the covers for the Iceman mini-series fresh out of college. How did it feel to be one of the youngest working for Marvel without any published works prior to that?
UY: Is that a fact? I was 22 when I got my first gig in Marvel, so why do I feel so damn old? Marvel does something to young aspiring artist, man. And all I felt when I got my first gig was a lot of pressure. It’s one thing to get your foot in the door, another to actually make a home for yourself there. The first gig is always the worst. You’re left completely unsure of yourself and artists block starts kicking in. The rest of your career rides on the one or two pieces you have to do in the next few days. The pressure to make them count is murder, man. And sure, doing pinups and covers is good pocket change, but you can’t expect to live off them completely. Not until I got a regular paycheck in Eden did I consider myself an actual Marvel employee, and that only lasts a year or so.
<a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/Eden001page4.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/Eden001page4t.jpg" align=right alt="Eden's Trail #1 Page 4 preview"></a>X-FAN: Speaking of Eden's Trail, congratulations on your first regular work! Can you tell us some more about the origins of the sci-fi project?
UY: Well, for starters, I’d hate to call it sci-fi. I think we all know by now how silly that solicitation really was. Fantasy allows me full range of creation, since I can make up just about anything I want, and the main gimmick of this series is the design work I put into the creation of the world. Hopefully people will see something they’ve never seen before in a comic book through Eden’s Trail, or find some kind of inspiration in some of the settings I created. Then screw the plot, the book’s already succeeded! Oh… who am I kidding? The plot and storytelling’s always the most important part of any comic book, don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise. Coming up with the story took a bit more brainstorming than I’m used to, what with all the requirements I had to meet for Marvel and all. Usually if I needed to come up with an original story it’d usually just take me a couple hours lying awake on a bed on a good night, but for Eden, it took a couple, and I allowed the project to develop more as I was producing the pages.
X-FAN: Before Eden's Trail, you did cover work for Uncanny X-Men. How many covers did you draw, and how did you end up with that gig?
UY: I did 8 Uncanny covers, I believe 5 of them have already been published. I have no idea how I got the gig; I was just sitting on the can one day and Mike {Marts, Uncanny X-Men editor} calls me up asking for some extra covers while I was already in the middle of issue #3 of Eden. Mike knows how {to} haggle. He knows my weaknesses, and exactly when to call me at my most vulnerable.
X-FAN: How did you approach the design for each Uncanny cover?
UY: For the first Nightcrawler one, Mike wanted something exactly like the Iceman #4 cover I did. Barren and cheesy, easy money. For the second, a girl named Annie on a hilltop pushing a guy on a wheelchair. Then a Northstar one. Then a two-shot of Iceman and Angel. You get the idea. All I knew was that in order to make a splash, I had to give each cover a definitive atmosphere and mood, which is something not usually attributed to a Marvel book. I was a little goldfish in a big pond of goldfishes, so I just painted myself blue and let the novelty do its work.
X-FAN: Who is your favorite X-Men character to draw?
UY: Well, it’ definitely not Iceman, that’s for sure! By the time I finished the second Iceman cover, I was so sick of the icing effect I’d adapted that I was at a total loss to how I would compose the rest of the covers. But, Iceman’s icing effect I’ve come to consider a personal signature of mine, so going back to doing it, no matter how tired I am of it, is like coming home. Doing it again on the Iceman/Angel two-shot gave me a good deal of closure for some reason, having done it exactly a year after my first big gig as the cover artist of Iceman. I really don’t want to have to draw Iceman again anytime soon, though it may feel good to do him again in another year. As for the X dude I most like to draw, I’m not sure just yet who it may be. I know Angel was definitely the easiest this time around, back when he had the black leather and yellow straps, but his new armor just doesn’t suit me as much anymore. Curse them X-Men! Changing their clothes every other year! How ever will I decide who my favorite is if they keep shedding their physical personalities?
<a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/featherpromo1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/featherpromo1t.jpg" align=right alt="Feather promo"></a>X-FAN: Can you tell us about your creator-owned project, Feather?
UY: Feather is a character story based entirely on the friendship between two star-crossed friends. One, a full-blooded dragon, and the other, a half-breed with aspirations of becoming a dragon slayer in a world where dragons no longer exist. It’s not an adventure globe-trotting story like Eden, it’s a simple story about friendship, trust, revenge, with some dragons on the side. It's definitely not a fairy tale. It should be due out July/August and go bimonthly from there. It’ll be interesting to see if the Image lateness virus goes after me, as I’ve always been ahead of schedule in the past. I guess I’ll know firsthand just how complicated creator-owned publishing can be.
<table border=0 align=center><tr><td align=middle><a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/featherpage1-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/featherpage1-1t.jpg" alt="Feather #1 Page 1 preview"></a></td><td align=middle><a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/featherpage2-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/featherpage2-1t.jpg" alt="Feather #1 Page 2 preview"></a></td><td align=middle><a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/featherpage3-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/featherpage3-1t.jpg" alt="Feather #1 Page 3 preview"></a></td></tr><tr><td align=middle><a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/featherpage4-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/featherpage4-1t.jpg" alt="Feather #1 Page 4 preview"></a></td><td align=middle><a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/featherpage5-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/featherpage5-1t.jpg" alt="Feather #1 Page 5 preview"></a></td><td align=middle><a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/featherpage6-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/featherpage6-1t.jpg" alt="Feather #1 Page 1 preview"></a></td></tr></table>
X-FAN: What other projects are you working on?
UY: I practice project monogamy. OK, so I cheated on Eden that one time with {the} X-Men {covers}, but c’mon! I needed some excitement and Eden had a headache.
X-FAN: What would be your dream project, and who do you most want to work with?
UY: That’s a toughy. In the spirit of the "80’s revival" and big licenses being made, the one book I’d like to do would be a Final Fantasy 7 adaptation. That was an extremely dark story, and the main theme being death is definitely something I feel at home in (you’ll see). It’s also a very convoluted storyline that definitely needs to be clarified, with a lot of plot twists and brain twisting moments. Plus, video game adaptations in the land of entertainment have a reputation of sucking big time, I want to prove a point that they’ve only sucked because they’ve been licensed to the wrong people, and not because of the source material. It’ll sell like hotcakes, for sure, but the overseas licensing arrangements are gonna make it next to impossible to acquire. Sorry for getting your hopes up.
X-FAN: A fun little before we end this interview. Wolverine vs the heroes of Eden's Trail! Who wins, and how?
<a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/Eden001page5.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/Eden001page5t.jpg" align=right alt="Eden's Trail #1 Page 5 preview"></a>UY: Well, there are 5 main characters in Eden, so I’ll just list them all, along with the issue of their first appearance, for future reference:
Match 1: Wolverine vs Latch…….. Latch is immortal, but not a supreme warrior. He tries to talk Wolvy out of the fight, but Wolvy goes berserker on his ass and sticks a claw into his spleen. Latch has no powers of regeneration, so for the rest of eternity he’s slumped to the ground, twitching spasmodically. Wolvy whips out a big cancer-inducing cigar and victoriously smokes it. "Nice to be a bad guy for a change," he says.
Wolverine: 1 Eden: 0
Match 2: Wolverine vs Tila…….. Tila tries to explain the entreprenual reasons why Wolvy would benefit from not killing her. Wolvy can’t follow her. Tila, frustrated, slaps Wolvy around for a couple minutes, but Wolvy gets pissed and lops off her head. "I bet you’re wanting head right about now, eh?" Wolvy says, and smokes triumphantly.
Wolverine: 2 Eden: 0
Match 3: Wolvy vs Mag……… Wolvy knows he’s in for a good fight with this cat. The fight begins, but Mag trips on a rock and accidentally blows his own head off. "Damn, Bub…" Wolvy says, and smokes semi-triumphantly.
Wolverine: 3 Eden: 0
Match 4: Wolverine vs Lady Yune (first appearance: issue #3)…. Wolvy starts to come after Yune, but Yune screams and cries and teleports to a different planet. Wolvy wins by default, and smokes triumphantly.
Wolverine: 4 Eden: 0
Match 5: Wolverine vs Unit (first appearance: issue #3)…. Unit rips Wolvy apart in 2 seconds flat. Unit wins and washes dishes for Yune.
Wolverine: 4 Eden: 1
<a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/Eden001page6.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/Eden001page6t.jpg" align=right alt="Eden's Trail #1 Page 6 preview"></a>X-FAN: Thank for the interview, Steve!
UY: Yeah, it’s much better than kissing my own ass and promoting myself. I actually mean what I said this time around!
X-FAN: First up Steve, could you tell us a little about yourself?
UY: Well, lessee… I'm Chinese by blood, born in the Philippines, moved to America when I was five, suffered a bout of depression when Transformers ended its TV run and sought a worthy collection to take my mind off my first love’s cancellation (which lasted years) which came in the form of Jim Lee’s X-Men stint. From there I… crap, that period beat me to it.
X-FAN: You did two pin-ups for Marvel Universe: Millennial Visions 2001 and then drew the covers for the Iceman mini-series fresh out of college. How did it feel to be one of the youngest working for Marvel without any published works prior to that?
UY: Is that a fact? I was 22 when I got my first gig in Marvel, so why do I feel so damn old? Marvel does something to young aspiring artist, man. And all I felt when I got my first gig was a lot of pressure. It’s one thing to get your foot in the door, another to actually make a home for yourself there. The first gig is always the worst. You’re left completely unsure of yourself and artists block starts kicking in. The rest of your career rides on the one or two pieces you have to do in the next few days. The pressure to make them count is murder, man. And sure, doing pinups and covers is good pocket change, but you can’t expect to live off them completely. Not until I got a regular paycheck in Eden did I consider myself an actual Marvel employee, and that only lasts a year or so.
<a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/Eden001page4.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/Eden001page4t.jpg" align=right alt="Eden's Trail #1 Page 4 preview"></a>X-FAN: Speaking of Eden's Trail, congratulations on your first regular work! Can you tell us some more about the origins of the sci-fi project?
UY: Well, for starters, I’d hate to call it sci-fi. I think we all know by now how silly that solicitation really was. Fantasy allows me full range of creation, since I can make up just about anything I want, and the main gimmick of this series is the design work I put into the creation of the world. Hopefully people will see something they’ve never seen before in a comic book through Eden’s Trail, or find some kind of inspiration in some of the settings I created. Then screw the plot, the book’s already succeeded! Oh… who am I kidding? The plot and storytelling’s always the most important part of any comic book, don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise. Coming up with the story took a bit more brainstorming than I’m used to, what with all the requirements I had to meet for Marvel and all. Usually if I needed to come up with an original story it’d usually just take me a couple hours lying awake on a bed on a good night, but for Eden, it took a couple, and I allowed the project to develop more as I was producing the pages.
X-FAN: Before Eden's Trail, you did cover work for Uncanny X-Men. How many covers did you draw, and how did you end up with that gig?
UY: I did 8 Uncanny covers, I believe 5 of them have already been published. I have no idea how I got the gig; I was just sitting on the can one day and Mike {Marts, Uncanny X-Men editor} calls me up asking for some extra covers while I was already in the middle of issue #3 of Eden. Mike knows how {to} haggle. He knows my weaknesses, and exactly when to call me at my most vulnerable.
X-FAN: How did you approach the design for each Uncanny cover?
UY: For the first Nightcrawler one, Mike wanted something exactly like the Iceman #4 cover I did. Barren and cheesy, easy money. For the second, a girl named Annie on a hilltop pushing a guy on a wheelchair. Then a Northstar one. Then a two-shot of Iceman and Angel. You get the idea. All I knew was that in order to make a splash, I had to give each cover a definitive atmosphere and mood, which is something not usually attributed to a Marvel book. I was a little goldfish in a big pond of goldfishes, so I just painted myself blue and let the novelty do its work.
X-FAN: Who is your favorite X-Men character to draw?
UY: Well, it’ definitely not Iceman, that’s for sure! By the time I finished the second Iceman cover, I was so sick of the icing effect I’d adapted that I was at a total loss to how I would compose the rest of the covers. But, Iceman’s icing effect I’ve come to consider a personal signature of mine, so going back to doing it, no matter how tired I am of it, is like coming home. Doing it again on the Iceman/Angel two-shot gave me a good deal of closure for some reason, having done it exactly a year after my first big gig as the cover artist of Iceman. I really don’t want to have to draw Iceman again anytime soon, though it may feel good to do him again in another year. As for the X dude I most like to draw, I’m not sure just yet who it may be. I know Angel was definitely the easiest this time around, back when he had the black leather and yellow straps, but his new armor just doesn’t suit me as much anymore. Curse them X-Men! Changing their clothes every other year! How ever will I decide who my favorite is if they keep shedding their physical personalities?
<a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/featherpromo1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/featherpromo1t.jpg" align=right alt="Feather promo"></a>X-FAN: Can you tell us about your creator-owned project, Feather?
UY: Feather is a character story based entirely on the friendship between two star-crossed friends. One, a full-blooded dragon, and the other, a half-breed with aspirations of becoming a dragon slayer in a world where dragons no longer exist. It’s not an adventure globe-trotting story like Eden, it’s a simple story about friendship, trust, revenge, with some dragons on the side. It's definitely not a fairy tale. It should be due out July/August and go bimonthly from there. It’ll be interesting to see if the Image lateness virus goes after me, as I’ve always been ahead of schedule in the past. I guess I’ll know firsthand just how complicated creator-owned publishing can be.
<table border=0 align=center><tr><td align=middle><a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/featherpage1-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/featherpage1-1t.jpg" alt="Feather #1 Page 1 preview"></a></td><td align=middle><a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/featherpage2-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/featherpage2-1t.jpg" alt="Feather #1 Page 2 preview"></a></td><td align=middle><a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/featherpage3-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/featherpage3-1t.jpg" alt="Feather #1 Page 3 preview"></a></td></tr><tr><td align=middle><a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/featherpage4-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/featherpage4-1t.jpg" alt="Feather #1 Page 4 preview"></a></td><td align=middle><a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/featherpage5-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/featherpage5-1t.jpg" alt="Feather #1 Page 5 preview"></a></td><td align=middle><a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/featherpage6-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/featherpage6-1t.jpg" alt="Feather #1 Page 1 preview"></a></td></tr></table>
X-FAN: What other projects are you working on?
UY: I practice project monogamy. OK, so I cheated on Eden that one time with {the} X-Men {covers}, but c’mon! I needed some excitement and Eden had a headache.
X-FAN: What would be your dream project, and who do you most want to work with?
UY: That’s a toughy. In the spirit of the "80’s revival" and big licenses being made, the one book I’d like to do would be a Final Fantasy 7 adaptation. That was an extremely dark story, and the main theme being death is definitely something I feel at home in (you’ll see). It’s also a very convoluted storyline that definitely needs to be clarified, with a lot of plot twists and brain twisting moments. Plus, video game adaptations in the land of entertainment have a reputation of sucking big time, I want to prove a point that they’ve only sucked because they’ve been licensed to the wrong people, and not because of the source material. It’ll sell like hotcakes, for sure, but the overseas licensing arrangements are gonna make it next to impossible to acquire. Sorry for getting your hopes up.
X-FAN: A fun little before we end this interview. Wolverine vs the heroes of Eden's Trail! Who wins, and how?
<a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/Eden001page5.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/Eden001page5t.jpg" align=right alt="Eden's Trail #1 Page 5 preview"></a>UY: Well, there are 5 main characters in Eden, so I’ll just list them all, along with the issue of their first appearance, for future reference:
Match 1: Wolverine vs Latch…….. Latch is immortal, but not a supreme warrior. He tries to talk Wolvy out of the fight, but Wolvy goes berserker on his ass and sticks a claw into his spleen. Latch has no powers of regeneration, so for the rest of eternity he’s slumped to the ground, twitching spasmodically. Wolvy whips out a big cancer-inducing cigar and victoriously smokes it. "Nice to be a bad guy for a change," he says.
Wolverine: 1 Eden: 0
Match 2: Wolverine vs Tila…….. Tila tries to explain the entreprenual reasons why Wolvy would benefit from not killing her. Wolvy can’t follow her. Tila, frustrated, slaps Wolvy around for a couple minutes, but Wolvy gets pissed and lops off her head. "I bet you’re wanting head right about now, eh?" Wolvy says, and smokes triumphantly.
Wolverine: 2 Eden: 0
Match 3: Wolvy vs Mag……… Wolvy knows he’s in for a good fight with this cat. The fight begins, but Mag trips on a rock and accidentally blows his own head off. "Damn, Bub…" Wolvy says, and smokes semi-triumphantly.
Wolverine: 3 Eden: 0
Match 4: Wolverine vs Lady Yune (first appearance: issue #3)…. Wolvy starts to come after Yune, but Yune screams and cries and teleports to a different planet. Wolvy wins by default, and smokes triumphantly.
Wolverine: 4 Eden: 0
Match 5: Wolverine vs Unit (first appearance: issue #3)…. Unit rips Wolvy apart in 2 seconds flat. Unit wins and washes dishes for Yune.
Wolverine: 4 Eden: 1
<a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/Eden001page6.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/Eden001page6t.jpg" align=right alt="Eden's Trail #1 Page 6 preview"></a>X-FAN: Thank for the interview, Steve!
UY: Yeah, it’s much better than kissing my own ass and promoting myself. I actually mean what I said this time around!