Another reason to bookmark Kevin Melrose’s Comics, Covered: he does interviews, this time with versatile comics creator Andi Watson. Watson’s “Princess at Midnight” was one of the highlights of The Mammoth Book of Best New Manga, and Paris was one of my favorite comics of last year. And because I’ll take any opportunity to praise Paris artist Simon Gane, I’ll pull this quote from Watson:
“I think Simon was hoping to get away from the detail-oriented stuff he’d done before but I kept throwing the full-pagers at him because he does them so well, the research and attention to detail, the way he’ll dress a set, dress the characters and then have them interact, gush, gush, gush. So it’s fulfilling, but in a different way. It’s like Christmas every time I get pages in from someone like Simon. I can’t wait to open up all the files and see what amazing work he’s done.
“It’s also kind of depressing as an artist because you know you’re not as good.”
Watson goes on to note that a collection of Paris is due out from Slave Labor in July, complete with new illustrations from Gane. I don’t usually buy collections of comics I already own, but I’m sorely tempted.