To celebrate our 300th X-Band: The Phantom Podcast, we had the chance to host a bunch of phans asking newspaper creators Jeff Weigel and Mike Manley questions. Due to the huge amount of questions we received on the night, Jeff and Mike were unable to answer them all. Attached are the extra questions that Jeff Weigel answered for you
Due to Tony DePaul having some health battles, he was unable to attend but he gave those phans a chance to ask specific questions to him which he answered here. Below is the video of the 300th podcast in case you want to watch that as well.
How do you avoid repeating yourself when you’re required to draw the same characters (and often the same locations) again and again? Do you ever find yourself drawing a panel only to realise it’s almost an exact copy of something you (or another artist working on The Phantom) did in the past? (Question by MonoChromeMike on Reddit)
Honestly, I occasionally cut and paste (remember, I work digitally) from old strips into new ones if I think it doesn’t disrupt the storytelling. Sometimes that actually enhances the storytelling, allowing for greater scene continuity. This is mostly a trick I use for backgrounds or specific props, not as much for figures. For figures, it’s more fun to try and find a new posture or angle on them, even if it’s the hundredth time I have to draw Phantom and Hero racing through the jungle. Copying and pasting that kind of stuff might save time, but it’s more fun to try to come up with something new — that’s the fulfilling part of the job.
What is the process behind the creation? Do you receive a full script from Tony, send him the initial sketches etc? Or is it like when Sy Barry was the artist, when Falk essentially left the art to the artist? (Question by Ross)
I get a full script from Tony. Along with dialog, he also loosely describes the action in each panel. He’s seldom so specific as to suggest a particular camera angle or composition — he leaves that to my discretion. Also, he's pretty flexible about giving me room to interpret a panel a bit differently than the script calls for if I think I have a good idea.
Each week I lay out the strip in rough pencils with lettering added, then I send that layout to Tony for his approval. Once I get a thumbs-up from him to confirm we see eye-to-eye on the storytelling in a layout, I then proceed to digitally “ink” the strip and add color. I send the finished art to him for one more review. Once he signs off on it I send it along to King Features.
A Sunday strip, from start to finish (pencils, inks lettering, and color) takes me sixteen hours, give or take a few hours depending on the complexities of any given week.
How was it drawing the dailies for a period of time?
Drawing the daily newspaper stories was an interesting experience for reasons I could never quite put my finger on, I found it easier than doing the Sunday strip. Not just because I didn’t have to add color, but somehow laying out a series of dailies felt less complicated than designing a three-tiered Sunday strip. I enjoyed the opportunity to step in for eight weeks (if I remember right), but since I’m semi-retired I was glad to get back to the lighter schedule of just doing the Sundays once my tour of duty on the dailies ended.
Would you like a chance to spend extra time to expand on the origin? From memory in the last few years, you spent half a Sunday exploring the origin?
Frankly, I divorce myself from any concerns about what kind of stories I’d like to see. I let Tony drive that part of the process and content myself with making the stories he chooses to tell look as good as possible. Tony does occasionally ask me what kind of story I’d like to work on next, but my opinions on that are driven more by what I think will be fun to draw, not so much on which aspect of the Phantom canon I’d like to deal with.
For instance, I prefer stories that take place in organic settings (jungles, caves, etc) as opposed to urban settings full of buildings and cars. I also like opportunities for dramatic, shadowy lighting. Those sorts of consideration drive my enthusiasm for working on a story more than the chance to retell an origin or revisit an old character.
What Phantom element would you like to explore?
One aspect of the Phantom legend that does intrigue me is this: I wonder about transitions of the Phantom from one generation to the next. Do Phantoms always die young to then be replaced by a son, or has one ever aged out and gracefully retired to act as counselor and mentor for a son as he takes over the business? That’s a story I’d like to read, even if I didn’t draw it myself.
Attached is the video of the 300th podcast in case you want to watch that as well.
Thank you to Jeff Weigel for this extra round of answers he answered. It is valuable access to the newspaper creators that we have never seen before in the almost 90 years of The Phantom comic strip.
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