House Petrelli Interview with Jason Badower, Part 2
HousePetrelli: What about LA? Now that you’re here in sunny, hot, dry California, which is basically like Australia but a different set of seasons.Jason Badower: You here tend to have like... one season.
HP: No, no... we have wet and dry!
JB: What I really dig about it is the consistency of the weather, which is I guess why Hollywood was made out here, because if they want it to rain, they’ll make it rain.
HP: Yeah, exactly.
JB: I’m loving it. I’m loving the people. I’m loving being able to call people, to meet people, and see people, and hook up with people. Like organizing lunch with Frank Mastromauro my editor... we’ve been doing the Heroes comics together for almost three years now, and I’ve only met him a couple times at Comic-Con, and we’ve really only exchanged a handful of words and hundreds of emails.
HP: It’s just not the same.
JB: No, it’s not the same. And I love people. Unlike a lot of comic artists who are happy to just sit in a dark room and work alone, I love meeting and talking to people. All the fans, like the Heroes fans, are just awesome. Like... humbling, and awesome and... yeah. I love meeting every one of them. I’m having a ball. But I rarely get to leave the house, I’m just drawing so much. Doing the recent “Into the Wild” story totally knocked me around. I’ve fallen behind on my “normal” deadline in my day-to-day job, and so I’m trying to catch up on that before I do my next story with Ollie [Grigsby].
HP: Yeah, I hear something about a shower scene? Was he yanking your chain or is there actually a shower scene in it?
JB: (laughs) ...There is a shower scene.
HP: Did he do that just for you? (laughs)
JB: As I said to him, “If you break the artist before I get started you’re not going to have a comic.”
HP: (laughs) But doesn’t that spur you on? You already got stuff about the bra. Hana Gitleman’s bra. That one where she’s leaning down and she’s all busty.
JB: Where she’s getting undressed. Yeah, I can’t believe I always get loaded with these things – running around in a towel, and... in the last “Into the Wild,” the cat fight where Connie tears off Sabine’s top. Yeah, that was funny. The script itself is just so funny. And while I realized that while it was a really kind of funny tongue-in-cheek thing they wrote, I realized that somehow I had to bring it back and make it look like... not a cat fight between these two women, but a fight. Because Connie’s our bad guy for the entire arc. If she’s not perceived as a threat, or if we sexualize her and in a way denigrate her, then we’re not going to take the gravity of the entire arc seriously. The entire Company arc seriously. So I thought... this has got to be a serious fight. I’m still gonna go their direction, with tearing the top off and this and that, but when I drew it I hoped there would be something that would have more impact in it.
HP: And they seem to keep giving you these key things, probably because they trust how you’re going to interpret your script. Probably from working with Aron as his director on that other project.
JB: Chuck Kim runs the comics at the moment, and I remember hearing that Jim Martin said when he heard I was signed onto the “Into the Wild” arc he was so happy, and felt it was in really good hands. I was so flattered by that. I think I summed it up the first time I was at the Heroes studio. I ran into Joe Pokaski in Jeph Loeb’s office. He just goes, “Wow, the guys from the 9th Wonders boards just love you.” And if I had to put it in just one single sentence, I’d say, “There’s a lot of guys who are more talented, some guys who are less talented, but none of them love it as much as I do.” None of them are as big a fan as I am, and I think that comes across when I draw the comics.
HP: How can they not be as big a fan? It’s just such a phenomenal thing. I mean, I guess there’s varying degrees of obsession...
JB: It’s great. But different strokes for different people. And there are some of the guys working on it, and you can tell – they’re not Heroes fans. Because they haven’t watched the show. They haven’t gone... that extra little detail to make it right.
HP: Fire them!
JB: I mean, they’re doing their job. It would be great if they were all Heroes fans. I don’t understand why they’re not. But yeah. For me it’s my real trump card thing. I can say “I love this more than any of those guys.” And the fact that I get on the boards and read all the posts and listen to what everyone has to say... you can really see the evolution in the way I draw the graphic novels, taking on board the criticism and the feedback from previous comics that I’ve done.
HP: And that’s so amazing. I mean, you’ve got your shout-outs in there... how cool is that?
JB: I really try to do the shout-outs for the people who have been really supportive and who have been really helpful, either on the boards, or emails, or doing research for me, like Ryan Gibson Stuart of HeroesWiki got a lot of shout-outs. Because whenever I need anything, from what the Primatech card looks like to what kind of car Niki drives... Ryan just finds this stuff out for me.
HP: Yeah, he’s amazing.
JB: Sheindie, also, has just been so supportive. He’s just one of those guys who’s just always helping me out with the little things at the right time, and I thought it was about time I gave him a shout-out too.
HP: You have fun working those in. You got yourself in there too. Is it fun to find ways to say “I can make that the Nat & Noo Hotel” or whatever?
JB: Oh, absolutely. The biggest thing though is that I have to be careful that the writers and the editors don’t go “Jas, that’s too much.” I’ve gotta keep the shout-outs subtle, I’ve gotta make sure they’re not getting in the way of the story so that they’re not detracting. If you know, you know, and if you don’t, it shouldn’t bother you.
HP: It works out well to have them be the name of a hotel, or a car, or a nightclub, or something.
JB: You’ve got to get these names in there anyway, so why not make them people that I know?
HP: And have they ever told you “Hey, back off” or whatever?
JB: No. Never. But again, because I think I show a fair level of respect for fitting those things in. While I might sometimes toe the line, I’ve never gone over the line.
HP: What’s the line, do you think?
JB: Uh... wow. “What would I have to do to get in trouble” is what you’re asking.
HP: (laughs) I guess that is what I’m asking, yes.
JB: I think putting text where there wouldn’t be text? That would be probably excessive. But as long as there should have been something written there anyway, then they’re pretty happy with it. For example, one of the ones I was concerned about... I did a shout-out to Sheindie in “Into the Wild.” It was a book, “Sheindie Classics,” and I thought “any time I do a book in Heroes that I have to draw it’ll always be ‘Sheindie Classics’.” And I thought they’d pull back, but they didn’t care. But if I’d called the book “Hi Mom,” that’d be a bit like... what’s going on?
HP: (laughs) Okay, that’s too far!
JB: Yeah. I slip little things in, like there are a lot of other little shout-outs to friends of mine.
HP: They’re more obscure and so only they would know.
JB: Yeah. For example, the driver who drives Sabine, clone Julian and real Julian away after they crash in the “Willow...”
HP: (giggles)
JB: Kaching! (laughs) Yeah, he’s a friend of mine. I use a lot of photo reference when I draw. I take a lot of photos. And one friend was like, “You’ve never used me!” He’s been one of my biggest fans, and I was like “Yeah, why haven’t I used him?” And so I raided his Facebook for photos and made him the driver. And then there were all these questions on the board about... “Who is this guy? How’s he involved in the story?” And I’m like, “It’s just my friend, actually.” (laughs)
HP: So you use both photos and live models, right?
JB: Yeah. Again, as I said, I love working with people. And the problem with comics is that it’s very tight deadline art. And there’s only so much stuff that my brain can come up with in that time. So the way I create unique performances and personalities is I find people who have a similar body type or kind of look to them to what I’m going for, and I’ll get them to pose for me for reference.
HP: Where do you find these people?
JB: For example, Kath, this girl who modeled for Connie, she ended up modeling for all of Sabine too in the last part. That’s how loosely I use reference. Like, I could get almost any woman, or any guy, to make Sabine or Connie and you’d never know the difference. But the reason I got Kath is that she has a level of dignity and grace that I thought Connie needed for the story arc. I pitched the idea to her, and she was like “Yeah, cool.” And she was just so helpful and supportive. So yeah... a lot of people I work with, housemates at the moment have been conscripted a lot... it’s really just whoever’s available and who can do a great job. I’ll just see someone on the street and go “Oh my God...” I’ll see some old guy and say “Excuse me sir, I have a thing where I need to draw this gentleman, and...”
HP: You’ve done that? You just walk up to people?
JB: Yeah, absolutely! It’s totally random. (laughs)
HP: And do they get out their taser, or what happens? (laughs)
JB: Well, I haven’t done it in LA yet, but in Melbourne I used to have a whole catalog of people I could call. In LA I have yet to put together an arsenal of people I can draw on.
HP: Well pretty much half of LA is a wannabe model and/or actor...
JB: This is so, but on the other hand I’m not always looking for “pretty boys” or hot girls or whatever. Sometimes I need an old man or an old woman. Again, a lot of my friends in Melbourne were so used to acting different parts, I could go to one of my friends who’s 30 and say “Look, I need you to be an 80-year-old man.” And he’s so used to it now, he’d say “Sure” and do the body language and everything. And then I’ll just age him up. That’s the beauty of comics. Again, the photos are just a loose reference. Unless, of course, I have to draw an actual likeness. If I have to draw Jack Coleman, it has to look like Jack Coleman.
HP: And that’s one of the things you do so well, as opposed to – no offense if any of them are reading this – the other comic artists, because you have such a photorealistic style.
JB: Likenesses are tough, and it’s one of the things that keeps me interested on a job – the challenges involved in that job. And for me, likenesses are a challenge. It’s fun working on the Company arc, but give me a character to draw. Like, I think I stuck Noah Bennet in there a whole bunch of times, even just barely in the panel, because I wanted to draw his likeness. I find it a challenge. It keeps me on my toes, and it keeps me interested. I kind of took something most artists shy away from and tried to make it my strength and my motivation too.
HP: Speaking of drawing likenesses... there’s a difference between the graphic novels and when you’re at a show just doin’ a sketch for a fan. Who is your favorite Petrelli to draw and why, graphic novels versus shows, or is it the same person? I’m guessing Peter, but go ahead...
JB: It... it is Peter. I think the person I get asked to draw the most is Hiro, and then Claire, and then I think it’s even between Peter and Sylar. So I’ve drawn a lot of Peters. He’s a cool-looking guy with a unique look. He’s also in the show had so many looks. People say “Can you draw Peter?” and I’m like “Do you want first season emo Peter, do you want second season buff slick Peter, or do you want Future Peter?” And the number of debates I’ve had with people at signings about which direction the scar goes...HP: There’s a debate about that?!?
JB: Well... when no one has any reference, you’re not quite sure. And remember, even though Future Peter’s turned up again, he only turned up for one episode in Season 1. It’s been a long time!
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That's it for now -- more Petrelli chat in the next installment!
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