IDW Publishing Forums

[The White Clown]

EDIT: My apologies for hi-jacking this thread, but I am pleased to announce this is now OFFICIALLY the Q&A for S.L. Gallant! Please bear in mind that due to obvious time constraints, your answers may not be answered right away, and in some cases they might need to be run through Carlos in order to have them answered. Other than that, feel free to ask away! - Shane

I noticed that once in a while there are Q&As that are set up here with writers and artists from the Joe comics. Maybe one of the moderators here or someone with an "in" can ask the powers that be at IDW if we can submit some questions for Shannon Gallant, the regular artist for ARAH. Then we can post his answers on these forums.

He has a lot of fans here and the ARAH discussions are the busiest ones here. I know I have some questions and between the lot of us, we'll surely come up with plenty of questions for him to field. I'd love to get some insight on his day-to-day work schedule, thoughts on the series, how he approaches each issue, etc.

[SLGallant]

Hahahahahahaha…heh…hee…huh,er…hmmmm. I can just imagine how boring that would be for people.

What's a normal work day like for you?

Well, let's see. Up at 7am, scratch my arse, drink some coffee, and have a piece of toast. Then a little BBC news, check my late night emails from Carlos (since he's in San Diego and I'm on the east coast- they're always late to me). A reply to him, something like "Yea, well ∫¥ç≤ off! It'll get done, when it's done! And you tell Hama for me to go…"— (Kidding— I never reply to Carlos) Then some internet "research", flip thru some comics to see who to swipe from (usually Guice, Garcia-Lopez, Hughes, Raymond, Wood, Adams,etc…). Then a little more coffee, some online shopping, watch a bit of classic Dr Who with the commentary tracks on, then time for lunch. During my daily salad, it's back and forth between Dragnet, Perry Mason, and Bugs Bunny reruns, then a light Mr. Bean type exercise program, and back to serious stuff. A bit more internet "research", review the status of my latest Amazon purchases, a few more comics, and then @ 5 I check in with the Mumbai studio to make sure my page has been finished on time. An afternoon pick me up, a bit more "research", and then relaxing on the couch until the wife gets home from her job. After a little dinner it's out for some top-secret ninja training, back home, a shower, some Britcoms, and off to bed by 11. All that only to rinse and repeat, the next day.

Yep, that's about a normal day for me. Not quite as exciting as it sounds, but such is the life of a Joe artist.


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Illustrator:
IDW-GI Joe

[Torpedo]

I was with you until the "top secret ninja training".


Two questions:

Are background characters, such as the Joes who wander around the Pit, named in Larry's scripts, or do you populate the panels with characters you feel like drawing?

How much input do you have on the coloring of characters' uniforms?
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Author of Mr. Smartass, available for Amazon's Kindle, iPad/iPhone, and other e-reader devices and apps.

[orpakki]

Yeah, I got a question:

Can you send a personal memo to Larry between all the insults to bring in more obscure characters who never got their moment to shine in ARAH? Topside and Blizzard were good examples. But no neon guys, please. This is a demand coming from the entire Joe community as a whole. No, really.

[The White Clown]

[The White Clown]

[SLGallant]

Torpedo—
• Ninja Training= The wife and I study Krav Maga, not strictly ninja training- but that's a running joke I have with my instructor (who was the visual inspiration for my Ripcord (Origins issues).

A) It's a mix, usually Larry will have specific characters when certain actions are required, or for dialogue purposes. Otherwise, if it's a hall scene, the vehicle area, or comm. center where I can throw people in, I will. So again, it's a mix. I do try to pick more and more obscure characters for funsies. I was never a big toy collector for Joe, so most of the guys I know are the ones form the cartoons and the first half of the Marvel run. I'm trying!

B) I have little input on the coloring. Jim will often ask who a character is, but sometimes because of the scene he may shift them into shadow to keep the focus on what's happening. I usually leave it up to him, and he's on top of it. Keep in mind, the schedule is like a totem pole, with the ones at the top getting the most attention and time. Larry takes a chunk, I take a chunk, Gary takes a chunk, and as you move down the pole, the weight of the schedule gets more compact, heavier, and less forgiving. For the pathetic amount of time we leave Jim to color, he's doing a bang up job.

Orpakki—
Again, we try, but Larry takes the stories where he feels they should go, and he isn't one for shoehorning characters. I try to focus on getting the toys, costumes, locations, guns, ammo, vehicles, actual military gear, anatomy, perspective, movement, lighting, camera angles, composition of panels, and layout of pages correct. That's a full time gig, so I leave the writing to Larry. As far as I can tell though, there are no plans for the 90s Neon- not my favorites anyway.

White Clown—
1) Descriptions range from Larry, sometimes specific, sometimes general. He often includes references when he wants something specific, but otherwise it's left up to me. If it's something that's been in a book, I try to track down the pages and reference that, but I also tend to stick to the early part of the Marvel run. I like the classic look, and the cartoon, so I tend to default to those. Sometimes it's not always accurate, but if I have to pick between nostalgia and logic, I go with nostalgia; that's what the books are about to me anyway.

2) Currently I'm working on 188- I stink at math, so I'll leave that to you. We tend to throw a guest issue in just to stay ahead. Traditionally comics try to be 3 issues out from publication. Things just come up and you lose days, between con season, the holidays, people being sick, or life just happening. Hurricanes, busted water pipes (as happened to me), broken bones (as happened to Gary's wrist), so everything eats time. Considering what we're up against, I think we've been pretty good (compared to most) on getting books out on schedule. I'd rather have a fill-in by a classic artist than the book come out late.

3) Yes, my father was a studio drummer in Nashville for years. His stage name was Larrie Londin, but Ralph Gallant was his birth name. No one called him Ralph, not even my mom. Sometimes my grandmother would, but that was quickly corrected, as he hated the name. You can read about his career on Wikipedia, or just do a search under his stage name. There is a glaring error in the Wiki thing though, Lonnie wasn't my dad's real life brother as it implies. He was the bass player that sort of looked like my dad and was over 18, but because my dad was under age he couldn't play in the bars. They picked the names Lonnie and Larrie, and randomly picked Londin as a last name, then pretended to be brothers. Lonnie just acted as his legal guardian so they wouldn't have trouble working in nightclubs, and the rest is history.

4) The only character I've ever asked for was Spirit, and of course the first issue that he gets some serious love is in 186… drawn by Ron Wagner! Ugh. But he was in 187, and I got that one. Otherwise I don't really have any suggestions for Larry on character usage or stories. I'm still hoping to switch Snake Eyes back to the goggles, but I've been asking for that for a year now.

5) My fave run, as I've mentioned on some podcasts, was the Sneak Peek thing. Not just because Larry turned a problem into a good story, but I love when Joe acts like Bond. I always saw them as OUR James Bond type guys, with gadgets and stuff, but ours charge in- guns blaring and beat information out of people, they don't wear suits and drink martinis. When you think about it Joe is Bond, and COBRA is SPECTRE. I'd love to have more stuff like that, but then I love drawing people in regular clothes at exotic locations.

OK- hope those help. Thanks for reading the books guys. I know we don't do everything the way everyone wants, but we try to make fun stories that make us all feel like kids again. That's my intent anyway.

Later.
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Illustrator:
IDW-GI Joe

[Rockhammer]

[The White Clown]

[shanecdavis]

Thanks again for the great insight Shannon!! You answered a lot of questions I had that have been swirling around in my brain housing group in just one post!

I am also happy to announce that Shannon has agreed to answer our questions, as time permits, so keep those questions coming! We would ask though that you understand that it may take time to get your questions answered, and in some cases they will need to be sent on to Carlos. Beyond that, keep the questions coming!

[ER]

Thank you, Mr. Gallant - great to read your answers!

And for the life of me, I don't know why the powers that be are opposed to letting you draw version 1 Snake-Eyes with the goggles - that one is by far my favorite version of SE, and I'd love to see ARAH come full circle by having him back in his original outfit again.
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www.hamaverse.weebly.com

[orpakki]

SL, I think you should make a habit of featuring the same couple of guys in all the background scenes. Like having someone like Scoop and Captain Grid-Iron always standing in the Pit with their hands in their pockets, because there's never a mission that requires their particular "talents". Or maybe not, but that's how I imagine it.

[The White Clown]

PS: Please push for the continuation of the Special Missions run from the 80s. I'm sure plenty of us will buy 2 issues each to keep it worthwhile for your bosses.

[orpakki]