August 4, 2025 • 45 mins
Daniel Warren Johnson, Greatness is Par for the CourseEisner Award-winning comic book artist and writer Daniel Warren Johnson returns to discuss the making of The Art of Daniel Warren Johnson, his new, Kickstarter-funded, career-spanning monograph. He talks to Dave about his latest projects - Absolute Batman Annual, his creator owned Sci-Fi project, and covers for Deadpool and the DC KO Tournament - and the two discuss gratitude, tools of the trade, and DWJ’s latest obsession, golf.Back the kickstarter here : http://kck.st/4o7tBXNSubscribe to Dan's YouTube channel : https://www.youtube.com/@DanielWarrenJohnson1Wolverine Cover Episode DDubs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHNwzkHlCyk
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:12):
Now move in. Now move out.
Hands up. Now hands down.
Back up, back up. Tell me what you're going to do
now. Welcome back to DIRECT Edition,
a podcast about nothing and everything.
Friends, thank you for being here on the 66th episode.
That means we're only three awayfrom 69.
Nice. Today we have a returning guest,
(00:36):
a three time direct edition slash West Coast Avengers World
Champion, the great Daniel Warren Johnson.
Daniel stopped by to talk about his new art book coming out
called The Art of Daniel Warner Johnson from Flesk Publications.
The Kickstarter is live right now, so you're going to listen
(00:57):
to him talk about it and I implore you to go over to
Kickstarter. You can find the link in the
description below. Click it back it, get the book
because it's going to be awesomeand you're going to regret it.
Honestly, you're going to regretit when you don't get it and
everybody else has it and you'relike, Oh my God, I wish I had it
to me and Daniel Chad for about 50 or so minutes.
(01:19):
We catch up on his golf game andwe dive into the process of this
book getting created and why he's so excited for it.
And we talk about his recent kind of great covers that have
come out. Obviously the books that he's
doing Transformers and the Moon is following us and soon to come
his sci-fi epic. But he's been really light in
(01:42):
the comic book store shelves on fire with his cover for absolute
Batman and his Wolverine cover, which we talk a lot about.
So it's always a pleasure, a real pleasure to talk to him.
And he's, you know, we, we talked before we went on a
little bit off the record and, and we were just talking about,
he asked me how I was doing. And I kind of went into like how
(02:05):
the podcast has been growing andthe interviews have been
growing. And you know, I, I, I, I shared
with him, you know, like one of my grail guests is Trent Reznor.
And you know, he's like, oh, I believe it'll, it'll happen one
day. And he'd said something, you
know, I'd said something to him about, you know, I, I never know
if I'm like, I don't always get feedback from the guest, but
(02:28):
the, the, the best feedback I get from guests is when they
come back because why waste yourtime talking to a podcast host
if you didn't enjoy it? It's not like, you know, and I
said something about that. And he was like, yeah, he's
like, I wouldn't be here if I didn't enjoy talking to you.
And it's that's really to me, what it's all about.
I'm having these conversations and asking questions that I
(02:49):
normally would. And the by product is, is it's
recorded and you, my listener, the community get to hear those
conversations. Honestly, I would do it no
matter what. I've had hour long conversations
with creators and people that I appreciate, not just friends,
but people like artists that I appreciate.
(03:09):
I've had it off record, not recorded.
And you know, the fact that he'scome back three times and you
know, you've seen ships at our ski a couple of times and Eric
Larson a couple times. You know, that's all I need is
is returning guests to show me that I'm doing the right thing
without even saying it. So anyway, I'm sorry that I'm
going into the spiel. You're here to really listen to
(03:33):
me talk to Daniel Warren Johnson.
So without further ado, let's get to Daniel Warren Johnson.
AKADWAKADW. All right, All right, play the
music. Hi everybody.
Friends, enemies, frenemies. Today's guest is a returning
guest. This is my third time talking to
(03:54):
him and now we can get to the real nitty gritty questions.
But let me let me just talk about his resume a little bit.
Writer and also artist on Transformers, created books such
as Extremity, Murder Falcon duo,Powerbomb the Moon is following
us, a multiple Eisner Award winner, a good guy, and we're
(04:16):
really going to find out. We're going to get down to the
bottom. Is Danny Warren Johnson going to
retire from comics and join the PGA Tour?
Well, let's find out right now. Dan, how are you?
I'm doing good. I haven't talked to my driver in
about two weeks, so I'll text you when when I do that and I
(04:38):
won't be doing as well. But yeah, here I am.
You know, day by day all those things you said are true.
Especially the PGA Tour. Well, you know, last time I was
convinced that you were going totell me that the how the moon
was following me. And now I'm getting down to the
bottom of your golf career. I don't care about your art.
(04:59):
It's just about the extracurricular activities.
I mean, I'm, I'm, I'm taking it pretty seriously.
You'd think I'd be a little better for how serious I am
indeed taking it. But yeah, it's, it's one of
those things. I am.
I don't like being bad at thingsand until I am relatively good
at them for where I am in life, my age and the fact that I have
(05:22):
a family and a a real a, a job that takes time.
I need to have like a certain level of competence with
something for me to be able to enjoy it.
And I'm not there yet. So I'm in the struggle bus and
that's why my mind is on it. I talk about it on my live
streams and nobody wants to hearabout it.
And I'm so sorry to the whole world.
(05:43):
What can I say? A golf comic will be coming at
some point. Well, I mean, we're here to talk
about the Kickstarter, the art of Danny Warren Johnson, but.
What if it wasn't art? If it was just me taking photos
of my own golf swing. That's, I mean, look, there's
golf manga out there and we knowyou're a big student of the
Japanese art form. So you know, if it was a mix and
(06:07):
match, if it was, you know, 3 pages of art and then like 4
pages of just photos of you golfing.
Oh, it's too bad it already wentto print, otherwise I seriously
would consider putting a photo of me golfing like in the
opening spread. How about?
How about this? How about this?
Like that I would actually do, we're joking.
(06:27):
We're joking before, but I wouldhave actually done that.
Right, right, the about the about about Dan Warren Johnson.
It's just you and you know like mid perfect swing.
I would. Or in my bio.
In my bio, like all the things I've worked on.
Eisner award-winning, scored a 39 on a par 9 on a 9 hole
course. 11 time. Like one time.
(06:49):
Without this turning into a complete shit show of a golf
podcast, I will say it was nice to see that you just, you know,
you posted photos from Torrey Pines when you were in, you
know, in, in Southern Californiafor San Diego Comic Con.
And you were on Orcas Island just about 2 1/2 hours north of
me like a couple weeks ago, hanging out in Washington
golfing. It's true.
(07:11):
Torrey Pines, sorry. Torrey Pines was incredible and
I scored pretty well there. For me, I got a 96, which is
like really great and up on Orcas Island there's like this
little 9 hole course which it's a little cow pastry, you know,
but it's it's like it's run by asmall, it's run by a family and
(07:33):
it's just it gets the job done, you know, and it did swallow 12
of my very nice pro V1 golf balls.
So, you know, I, I went four times while I was on vacation up
there and I had some good rounds, had some bad rounds.
But yeah, I, I kind of like golfing everywhere.
I golf at my local municipal here in Chicago.
(07:54):
And I've told a bunch of people this, but there is a homeless
encampment outside of hole too. And they will laugh at me if I
mis hit the ball. Critics everywhere, man.
Doesn't matter. They're everywhere.
True. It was one time I hit it out of
bounds and somebody ran over andsaid there's a ball over here
(08:15):
because it's like over a fence. You know, right, Has any of them
ever pulled the hey, can I take you to Red Lobster or ask you if
you could go to, you know, if you would take them to Red
Lobster? I'll happy go more.
You know what? No, but it's so funny you
mentioned Red Lobster because there was a homeless person on a
train that was asking for money one time.
And all I had on me was a $25 gift certificate to Red Lobster
(08:40):
that actually happened. It was a way, it was a long time
ago, maybe 2012, but that did happen.
And I was like, I'm so sorry, this is all I have.
And he looked at it and he just gave me a like what the F look
and didn't walk. I was like, look, you don't have
to have it. And he's like, no, no, I'll take
it. And folks, that's the end of the
podcast. There you go, job done.
(09:05):
You know, that really reminds meof possibly one of my favorite
movie scenes of all time, Scary Movie, which, you know,
obviously was a a parody of Scream and Anna Faris's Walking
School. The day after the first murders,
homeless person comes up to her and says, do you have a dollar?
And she takes a sandwich out of her bag and she says, here you
(09:25):
go. And she walks away and he flings
the sandwich at the back of her head.
Says I said I wanted a dollar, bitch.
Yeah, this is definitely the same energy, you know, that I
will got. He's like, what am I going to do
with this Red Lobster gift card?So what are you going to do?
You try and be kind. You try and be kind.
(09:48):
All right, well, now that we've completely gone as far away from
art as possible, let's let's reel it back in.
You've got a Kickstarter going on right now for this book that
I know you're super excited about with John Flesk, Flesk
Publications called The Art of Daniel Warren Johnson.
(10:09):
First of all, congratulations because this thing is off to a
like a meteoric start. I mean, it's it's in orbit right
now and who knows if it's comingback down.
Thank you. Yeah, I am super excited about
it and I am blown away by the support of course and just
completely floored or spaced as you mentioned in the
(10:30):
stratosphere. I've been working on this book
with John for like 4 years now. And for those of you your
listeners that don't know John plus he does art of books, but
mostly he does art of books of more painterly or like fantasy
art kind of things. Like Bernie Robson.
Yep. And when he does work with what,
(10:51):
when he has done art books of comic artists, they've usually
been more in the classical or classical, the classic realm,
more old school. And so, you know, for him to
work with me, it was a really big honor because I he really,
as far as I know this, he told me this himself.
He's like, I only work with artists and I'm a fan of their
(11:12):
work, you know, and he saw my work through Felix Comic Art,
who handed off some some comics to John.
We met in 2021 in California andwe got to talking and we really
hit it off. And you know, he said he wanted
to do a book and that was huge. But yeah, that was like 4 years
ago. And since then, you know, John
(11:35):
very intentionally works specifically only on only a
handful of books at a time. He does not jump around much.
So part of that was me kind of getting put in a, in a schedule
where John felt like he could really get my my book, like the
time it deserved. And also like we were just going
(11:56):
back and forth on Zoom all the time picking pieces, you know,
figuring out how we wanted the book to look and kind of picking
each other's brains as to like how the process, how we wanted
the process to go. And one thing that's cool about
John is he's really involved in the design of the book.
I did almost no design elements whatsoever.
(12:18):
I was basically just picking pieces that I wanted to go in.
And that's one thing we started from the beginning.
You know, John said, I, I'm every book for me is very
personal. I love being involved in the
design very heavily. I hope that's OK.
And I was like, go crazy becauseI got crap I got to do.
And I had seen what this work before and it's all been blow
(12:38):
away. So I was happy to hand the reins
over. And sure enough, you know,
looking at the PDF just a few months ago, it is incredible.
He did a wonderful job. No surprise.
I'm so excited about it. I'm so proud of it.
It's so cool to have all of my, like, victory laps in one book,
right? Right.
(13:00):
And a few struggles that that, you know, at least the sweat is
on the page for people to witness.
Sure, sure. I mean you, you do leave it all
on the page and we can watch youdo that on your YouTube channel.
So in All in all, what's the time frame of this book like
2012 to now or even do you go even further back?
(13:20):
Are you going to like early stuff?
Yeah, we go even further back. The foreword is actually by my
painting professor from college,Tim Lowley, who has a yeah, it
was a very unique perspective onkind of my my growth as an
artist and as a human from 2005 and on.
(13:41):
That's when I started college, so I'm really happy that that's
in there. I also have pieces that I worked
on before I was ever published, maybe just out of college.
There is my senior like art project that I put in there from
college, which is a little embarrassing, but also like
(14:03):
just, you know, showing the growth and showing where I where
I started and where I am now. So I can honestly say that the
earliest piece in there is probably from 22,009.
Yeah, I think no, sorry 2008 because I started this when I
started my senior project. So a little less than half your
(14:24):
life is in that book. That's true.
There's not a ton of stuff from the early days, but there is a
good, there's a handful and I'm still proud of that stuff and it
all kind of fuels what comes after.
But we've we've kind of divvied it up into like a section for
illustration, like album covers and things I did in college
(14:44):
commissions, which of course, you know, I don't need to say
any more about that. I've done a ton of those
highlighting, like all of my comic projects and and pieces
and like work in progress parts of my comic work because since I
was working on this book with John Wall, I was doing so many
titles. I was in the middle of do a
(15:06):
Powerbomb when we did a do a powerbomb 4 page breakdown of
like thumbnails, pencils and inks, which are all included in
the book from issue 4, I believe, which is super fun.
And he I remember talking to me calling me and be like, can you
please scan the pencils before you ink them at this, you know,
this DPI and with these settingsand scan the inks here in this
(15:29):
way. And so every little thing is
blocked out in the book from that section of Do a Powerbomb,
which is really cool. So we're getting process stuff
for the process nerds, we're getting historical pieces from
your past for thus those of us that enjoy seeing the evolution
of the art and we're getting never before seen stuff, you
know, like one thing that you show off on your YouTube channel
(15:51):
that's very personal to use yoursketchbooks and your travel.
You know, you just recently werein Japan and you did some more
sketchbooks. So we're getting to see some of
that too, which I mean, that's, that's the real insight into
you. Yeah, I don't really show my
sketchbooks sometimes on my YouTube channel I'll have like a
really early days sketchbook tour when I have time to break
(16:14):
them down which and those are from my 2005, 2006.
But yeah, I don't, I don't really show a ton of my
sketchbooks. And it when I do show them now,
it's kind of the cool pieces or the sexy parts of my sketchbook,
which that's maybe 10% of each sketchbook is like a fully nice
(16:34):
sketched out, inked and watercolored piece.
And I brought over 30 of my sketchbooks to the Bay Area when
I was working on a project with Felix and John drove up from
Santa Cruz, picked up the books,brought them back to his place,
photographed them all, brought them back the same at the end of
the same weekend. And I was like, I could scan
(16:57):
them. And he's like, no, I like
photographing the sketchbook. You know, it's a better
documentation process. He was very intentional about
that. And so there are a ton of
sketchbook pieces that kind of build up and are in addition to
the comic book section and the illustration section, sometimes
like a, a comic spread here and then like a little sketch of
that same thing or me workshopping that in my
(17:19):
sketchbook section in my sketchbook that he took from the
sketchbook section and put it right next to the comic page.
Very intentional, very well laidout, super exciting.
I can only imagine, like if I was a fan of me, I'd be like,
this is so cool. Well, I mean, look, it's
something that I've learned fromdoing what I do is like, if
(17:40):
you're making something that youtruly would enjoy watching or
reading or whatever it is, then I completely understand that
sentiment 100%. Like, you have to be your
biggest fan. You do.
You have to be your biggest critic too.
Yes, and I just, it's just really, it's, it's cool to feel
(18:01):
so good about something and to have a partner that feels as
passionately about the the work as I do and it and it kind of
build me up in that way. It's a great feeling.
And it's also cool like he, Johndoes amazing work and he only
does it for things he believes in.
So to have that, it's just a nice boost and even, you know,
(18:24):
more of a boost to see how excited people are for the book
and as a thank you actually, andjust as like to try and keep the
momentum going. I don't know if you saw the
update that we did to the Kickstarter.
We're actually adding a Zine called Line Time with Daniel
Warren Johnson, which is a small16 page Zine, kind of like my
(18:47):
ash cans that I've done in the past of the Old Man Skywalker
and Cherno. So on Green Leader and inside is
going to be me drawing all of myart supplies that I use with
commentary for each one and a little examples on the opposite
page of me actually using those tools.
So I just finished the inks actually there.
(19:09):
It's like, it's like, sorry. No, that's great.
Oh, look at that. There you are.
Yeah. Either the supplies are giant or
this is how you feel when you'rediving through your thing.
You feel very small because you have so many things to to play.
Around with Funny I Shrunk the Artist.
That's awesome. Yeah.
(19:30):
Yeah, so, so think about it like, well, you're, you're
you're a book nerd. We're both book nerds.
But I, I mean, like, you know, Ilove art books and, you know, if
I bought all the ones that I really wanted, I could build a
house out of art books. So I keep it to the ones that I
need to have. But of course, in, in one, like
one book, you're hitting all thebullet points.
(19:51):
You're, you're satisfying the art nerds, you're satisfying the
process nerds. You're satisfying the tool
nerds. And when I say nerd, you know I
mean that in a very loving, warmway.
Yes, very lovingly, The sickos. Yeah, yeah.
But. Our people.
Yeah, exactly. Like I love, I'm not an artist,
but I love hearing people talk about like the tools they use
(20:13):
because it's it's fascinating tome and I I retain that
information. And then when I start to see,
you know, like you and Ma food talk about the same pen that you
use for inking or something likethat, I'm like, Oh, I, I'm, I'm
getting it more and more. And for kids or young adults or
even older people that are looking to make comics, this is
(20:36):
a great idea to throw that Zen in to give people a little bit
of that more insight so they canhelp themselves and figure it
out. I it's cool because John was
like, I really want to do a thank you or some sort of an
additive thing that we can add to the book without it being too
expensive. And I said, and he was thinking
(20:57):
that it would be just more art pieces.
And I said, that's totally cool.We could totally do that.
But why not like, you know, build the book up even more?
And this isn't that much work. You know, I can draw a Micron in
my sleep. Lord knows I've used them
enough. And I like the idea of kind of
reflecting on the tools that I use by, you know, actually
(21:21):
drawing them. It feels, feels really like I'm
appreciating the this analog process even more and then
sharing it with people that I know are using the same tools or
maybe thought about using those tools or, you know, just like
you said, you know, you kind of,oh, you use that tool and I, and
I know this artist uses this tool, but the line they make
(21:42):
with that tool looks like this and that.
How does that make sense? And it's just another thing to
get in the weeds about, which isreally wonderful.
Yeah, it, it's, you know, for meit, it gives me a bigger
interest in the medium altogether, not just the artist,
but the things that go into it. I mean, in this 3 1/2, four year
(22:02):
endeavor of, of me talking to creators, I've learned so much
about creating comics as well asthe history of comics that I, I
don't think I would have ever figured it out or gain that
knowledge any other way. I wanted to ask.
So there is a specific Commission, I'm assuming that's
going to be in the the book and I'm going to show it off because
(22:23):
you're going to laugh because you probably laugh every time
somebody shows off this Commission.
Yes, I do. I do.
Like every once in a while there'll be some Commission that
I do that like every six months.It makes the rounds on Reddit.
(22:44):
Oh my God, Can you believe this?Look at those neck muscles.
Whatever. And like, I can't like
everybody. There's like one person who I
appreciate who's shouting. This is Danny Warren Johnson.
They credit the artist. And then under that, all these
renders are like, he must be a sicko.
He's he must be disgusting. And I'm like, no, I just didn't
like, how many times can you drop Batman, you know?
(23:06):
Do you believe it or not? We got a different way.
Believe it or not, West Coast Avengers listeners, this is not
how I get off everybody like on the comments are like, Oh my,
this, this is what his bedroom life is.
I'm like, no, it's not actually,but I can't, you know, what am I
going to respond everywhere I I was like, this tickles me and
(23:26):
I've been paying for it ever since.
The same thing with I drew that Commission of a shoe storm and
Neymar having sex on a octopus. That one I got a few angry
emails from like just people whoare fans of Reed Richards.
Oh, come on. Being like Justice for Reed
(23:48):
Richard, like can can you not appreciate art outside of your
own feelings with Unfortunately,I hate to disappoint you, that
piece is not in the art of DWJ edition.
Neither is the Neymar. And you know, who knows there
might be a volume 2. And what I can guarantee you is
(24:09):
I would love to have opposing spreads of each one.
Oh, that. 'D be amazing.
That would be amazing. It it kind of, well, you just
answered it like I didn't know about that, that Sue Storm and
Neymar one, but I was, I was just kind of wondering like,
what's the craziest Commission you've ever done that you know,
and crazy, I mean, like just themost out there.
(24:31):
And I guess those two kind of really cover it.
I think I think so. You know, the well, I remember I
don't usually get like a prompt from a, a, a commissioner or
someone commissioning me. But this time it was with the
Sue Storm one. It was like Neymar and Sue
(24:53):
Storm. And it said, I'd love to
highlight the romantic element between the two.
And I just gave it to the sauce for it.
I went for like, hey, this is what you asked for, You know,
watch out what you asked for because you're going to get this
sort of. And then the poor Catwoman
commissioner, he was like, just Catwoman, please.
Yeah, I remember you talk. I think I you told the story
(25:15):
about her. You mentioned it like one time
on the YouTube channel and I waslike, I've never seen this
before, but you know. Yeah, it is.
It makes the rounds. I see it often.
It, it does tickle me every time.
It's it's, you know. Yeah, I mean, I when I do
Commission with somebody, you know, recently I've gotten into
(25:38):
doing Darth Jar Jar commissions and, you know, Hyler Jeremy did
that one where he's evisceratingthe Jedi Council and all I told
him was Darth Jar Jar and he went with it.
And, you know, Wayshack just didone of heroes.
That's like, what if Ralph Steadman drew Jar Jar Binks?
And you know, I'd rather let theartist decide because it's I'm
(26:03):
paying you because I appreciate your art.
I'm not paying you to be your director, right?
And that's. Appreciated that has that that
outlook or that that's appreciated.
Yeah, yeah. Because if I wasn't a fan of
your art, then I wouldn't have it.
You know? It doesn't make sense to me.
It's like I'm not writing a script for you and ask you to be
(26:24):
book. I'm saying here's a character,
have at it. And you know, with that, I want
to talk about like cover process.
Are we going to see some of thatin the book?
Because you know, we've been we've all been fortunate enough
if we follow your YouTube channel to see you do covers
right there, like The Wolverine cover.
You did that Wolverine cover live on stream.
(26:44):
It's true. We definitely are going to see a
bunch of covers. That Wolverine cover is
included. That's one of my favorite covers
I've ever done, actually. I wish I could do those
everyday. I wish like I had.
That's a home run. It's a Grand Slam, yes.
Yes, with the comic world on fire, yeah.
And I'm like, how do I do that all the time?
(27:06):
But I just so it's just that sometimes it happens.
Sometimes all the pieces fall together compositionally and
whatever. Oh well.
And another one of my favouritesis the I did a Batman animated
series cover where Batman's working on the Batmobile.
I don't think I've ever seen that.
It's. It's a sick 1 the Batmobile.
(27:28):
It's like the the the animated series Batmobile, but it's like
kind of half a part. Oh, wow, Batman doesn't have his
Cape, but he still has his cowl on and he's working on it, which
was a shout out to, you know, when I had the animated series
toy and the Cape would come off and the cowl is part of the
plastic and I thought he looked cool that way.
(27:51):
So I I didn't think that the cloth Cape looked that great.
They just ripped it off. Yeah, it didn't, right.
It did. I was so.
Bad when I was a kid. And they had like, the skeletal
structure of the capes now. Yeah, they're.
Used like almost they kind of what they do with the capes is
kind of what Nolan did with the Batman Cape in the movies.
(28:11):
It's like it's got its own, you know, system to it.
Speaking of the Batman covers, it's right where my finger is
that absolute Batman cover you did this year, which is like
shades of Jeff Darrow mixed withthe Raid.
And I'm just like, I've never seen such a great perspective on
a cover that you put on that, you know, that covers amazing.
(28:33):
Thank you. I got a.
Shout out Frank Miller on that one for just giving me some
amazing advice to the entire Eisner crowd.
When he talked well, he he gave away best cover artist or
presented it, I should say. And he just said it's got to be
like a stamp. Does it read well as a stamp?
And that's a great. Piece of advice?
(28:54):
Oh my gosh, I. Took that to the bank I have.
Can't tell you how much that changed my cover game.
Just that one sentence. It's just like this drawing
thought that really clicked, andI was thinking exactly of that
when I drew that cover and The Wolverine cover.
Wow, Well, you knocked him out of the park.
I mean, it's it's almost it's almost unfair from the
(29:15):
perspective of somebody that goes to the comic store every
week of like, why are you? Why can't everybody get on that
level? It's some some way shape or
form. I mean, like, I think right now
we're talking about modern comics.
It's like you and it's Dan Mora,you know, there's Hayden
Sherman, there's there's some great artists emerging doing
(29:36):
some iconic looking imagery because at the end of the day,
we got to get people to pick up those those books and a cover is
supposed to sell the book I. Agree, you know, and I do think
it takes just a little bit of a well, you know, it's easy for me
to say, but I I think it's not that hard.
Like it's I tell this to up and coming comic artists that show
(29:59):
me their portfolios. You know, I'll see the designs
of their characters and I'm like, it doesn't take a lot like
front to go from boilerplate to like life changing.
You just have to push a little more than you're used to and
things what you'll really amaze yourself with what can happen.
So it's like you, you do what's accept accepted, like a cover
(30:21):
composition, you know, characterstanding heroically looking and
then push it, push it a little farther, make yourself a little
uncomfortable and see if you canfigure it out.
I'm working on an Age of Apocalypse cover now that's just
kicking my butt and I'm like I'm.
In that push. Phase, like I don't, it doesn't
always. It's not always this difficult,
but you know, it's really tough.I wish it wasn't hard sometimes,
(30:42):
but it was. It was one of the things I was
going to ask you because you know, like your storytelling.
I think a storytelling is such atricky thing because it's more
personal and it should be. I think it should be more
personal. But your cover work is a
different story because you're right, you have to if you're
(31:04):
doing a cover for somebody else,you have to figure out how to
get that book off the shelf and is there how much like with The
Wolverine, because I think that that one is just so striking.
How long did you spend just figuring out composition and
what you wanted to do? Having him just stuck with
arrows and like it's simplistic but not at all sure.
(31:26):
Well, the the shapes are simplistic and it's the detail
that I feel carries it over intothat special category.
But as far as like figuring out what I wanted the cover to be, I
remember doing one sketch and being like, Yep, that's it.
I wish I could say it was like something I sweat over, but it's
just not. And sometimes, honestly, if I
sweat over something too much, it means that it's not the right
(31:47):
choice. It should be.
It should be easy to to get the shapes down and then the detail
is like the hard part. So yeah, I but I literally did
one version of the cover like I did one.
That's it. When it comes to you, it comes
(32:11):
to you, like you said, it's just, I mean, I've like I said,
I mean, I feel like we we as fans of yours and, and you know,
people that look at your work where we get to cheat a little
bit because we see you usually on a weekly basis doing some of
it struggling or not struggling.And I remember watching that
Wolverine cover and you just, I was like, what is this for?
(32:33):
And then like cuts, a couple people in the chat said it was
for this issue and I was just. But then there have been other
days where we watch you and you're just like, I hate this.
And you toss it. You literally toss it you.
Know that's true. I remember, especially when I,
I, I was working on that cover episode.
I want to tell the listeners what episode it is, if you don't
(32:55):
mind me looking this separately.Yeah.
And I'll, I'll be. Happy to link it in the
description. That's it, 11. 63163.
OK, so you can you can check outhis web, his YouTube channel,
but I will link it in the description across the board so
everybody can just click on it and gloriously watch discover
get created and it's. It's cool because the detail
(33:17):
obviously is the part of the cover that takes the most time,
but it's also the part of the ofthe cover or the image of the
comic book page or the panel that takes the the least amount
of brain power. Because all the work has been
done. I know all the all the, the
train tracks have been laid downand all I have to do is screw
(33:37):
the nails in it. It's that's a really good
feeling. And it's actually quite relaxing
and, and and quite Zen. And in today's day and age, I'll
take that any day I can. Oh yeah.
Oh yeah, any, any chance we can get to just be with ourselves,
one with ourselves is a a chanceto just grab at a you know, we
(33:59):
could easily sit here and talk about the state of things, but
I, I think neither of us. You're like me, you're an
empath. You feel it too much.
We don't need to go into it too much.
I'm sure the people listening. Also feel it, yeah.
Yeah, hang in there, people. That's the one thing I, I think
a lot of people enjoy. I don't really censor my
thoughts and feelings about what's going on in my life or in
(34:23):
the world in general. Gives people a little bit at
least. You know, we all need to relate.
That's the word. Speaking of that cover, I just
saw you and it looked like Cho was doing it himself.
But David Cho during San Diego did a a really cool remark all
(34:43):
over it, and it was that a combined thing.
Did you draw on it first and then he drew on it?
I did sometimes. When I do remarks on The
Wolverine cover, for collectors or people that want to remark,
I'll do a only mask over Wolverine's face, but that
requires me to white out the black space first.
But the white out that I use, itjust takes a few minutes to dry.
(35:07):
So I remember I did 1 and I forgot to to, I forgot to grab
it after it dried. And I'm pretty sure Felix handed
it to David and just be like, hey, you want a riff on this?
And said I'm supposed to be an only mask.
And of course he went nuts. Yeah.
That's I remember seeing it on. His his, his hotel, his hotel
room table and being like this is really cool.
(35:33):
Also, congratulations to that whole issue selling the original
art. Felix, you know, found a buyer.
I tried to guess he, he wouldn'tgive it up, but you know, wasn't
me, wasn't me, definitely wasn'tme.
And do you do you know if there's going to be anything
(35:55):
like if we you're at $160,000 onthis Kickstarter right now or
161, is there anything planned that if it goes a little bit
higher like any more surprises besides the line time?
I don't think so. I.
Think the line time was just kind of this kind of like a
thank you because we did not really have any plans for
(36:16):
anything extra because I, I think we just believe in the
single product so, so much. This is what you're getting.
What you see is what you get. And yeah, I just hope as many
people get on board as possible because I just, I'm so proud of
this thing. I mean, I, I can speak at least
to the people that I talked to on a regular basis in my
(36:36):
community. I mean, they're, I already
backed the book, but there's a lot of people that may not know
about the book that will definitely be backing it in the
next two weeks as we talk about it.
I mean, it's, you know, you're I, I, I joke, I joke with comic
store owners and, and people, I call you the savior of comics.
(36:58):
But but there really is something to be said about the
last 10 years of your output andwhat it's what it's turned
people on to. I mean, there's a lot of people
that are looking at your work and then looking at something
like James Herron's work, or they're exploring manga a little
bit, or vice versa. They saw James and now they're
looking at your work. I mean, the, the, just every
(37:22):
week that there's something coming out with yours, I, people
are buying it and people are excited about it, myself
obviously included. That makes me so happy.
Now thanks for telling me that, it's really cool to hear.
I'm blown away. The stores love you.
I mean now or never. You were just did a a great
event with them during San DiegoComic Con with the comic.
(37:45):
What is it the comic book couples podcast?
Is that the order comic book they call themselves?
The comic book couples counseling counselors, right?
Right. And it went great.
It looked. Awesome.
It was really fun. Zach, one of the guys over it
now and ever, has been trying toget me to come out there for the
longest time. And he's like, look, I mean,
(38:06):
maybe you could stay late from San Diego one time or stay or
come early. And when they talked about the
Tuesday before Fanny you Comic Con, I was like, at first I was
like oh jeez, I don't know cuz Idon't want to leave my family
but it's literally like one day before and I was like, it's time
(38:27):
like. This poor guy has been.
Trying for like 4 frigging yearsto Get Me Out there and to know
that you know, Brad and Lisa from Comic Book Couples
Counseling was going to be theretoo.
It just felt like the perfect opportunity.
Zach's a good. Dude and Aaron, who owns the
store is a great guy. We we've been friends for a
couple years now and I've had him on the channel to do a
(38:47):
retailer roundtable. So, you know, there's there's
it's an ecosystem that creators can definitely help just by
being there, you know, So when you get bribe to come to Comics
Place up in Bellingham, next time you're on Orcas Island, I'm
going to be there hosting something live, OK.
(39:11):
Book it. Let's do it that I'm I saw the
last time I'm going to be in. I'm going to be in Washington.
We should do it. That would be awesome.
All right, well, now. I'll get it down there.
Any word before we get going? Anything moving forward with
your sci-fi project that you arehard at work on?
Do we have a timeline of maybe arelease?
(39:36):
Sometime next year I think I canconfidently say for a release,
not just an announcement. Cool, Stay tuned, it's coming.
I'm working on it, I'm pumped and I think it will be worth the
wait from what I've seen. And I've seen plenty of the art
on stream. It looks crazy.
It looks amazing. And the color work you're doing
(39:58):
is you showing how much you loveRichard Corbin right on the
page. Amen.
That's so true. Yeah, Yeah.
I love, I love my explorations with airbrush.
Yes. So more and more.
As Melstein once said. Well, before we get going, we've
got the Kickstarter which wraps up in about when this airs.
(40:21):
It'll it'll still be 11 days from wrapping up.
All the links will be down below.
Your YouTube page will be linkeddown below the episode where you
referenced anything else to talkabout.
I know you got the cover that you just did for just got
announced for Deadpool Batman. Oh yeah.
Oh and then yeah, Deadpool versus somebody a big part of
(40:45):
thing doing some DCKO cars right, which is fun.
The DC Universe in like a tournament for the fate of the
universe, which I don't think would happen without do a
powerbomb. I think that's fair to say.
Yeah, I. I think you're in flex a little.
I'll flex. A little, yeah.
I'm, I'm happy it's happening and I'm happy I'm doing covers.
But also, the truth is the truth.
(41:10):
I hope that doesn't come off as hottie.
Oh well. And then I am doing a absolute
Batman annual. 30 pages. That's happening.
I think it comes out in October.I'm drawing it now.
It's all written. That was a beast to write.
I'm trying to do justice to the oh, you, you wrote it wrote,
(41:31):
writing and drawing. Yep, James Herron I think has 8
pages in there too, which is. Super exciting.
So me and James on Absolute Batman, Yes, please.
I can't wait to see his cover. It's going to be, I'm sure it's
going to be bananas. Yeah.
So that's an honor to be included with him and an honor
(41:52):
to honestly, to just be doing like Absolute Batman, so hot
right now. And I don't know, at first when
they asked me to do absolute Batman, I was a little bit like,
I don't want to get in anybody'shair.
But then I got this really greatidea after the inauguration.
Oh hell. Yeah.
Oh, I was just feeling really angsty and.
(42:13):
Upset about it and I'm just channelling that through
absolute Batman so yeah, well, I.
Hope absolute Batman gets to punch at least several
politicians in the face. But great.
Well, look, Dan, it's always a pleasure.
Once again, I will have all the links in description, all that
(42:33):
stuff for the Kickstarter. I'll be talking about it a lot
over the next couple weeks as itis always appreciative of your
time. And you know, I, I know I got to
let you get back to your family and also back to the green.
The, the, you know, the, the 9 or the 18 or whatever holes
you're playing. But thanks, always a pleasure,
Dan. You're welcome.
(42:54):
Thank you. For having me on, it's always a
pleasure. I can't wait to be back.
Thanks for listening to that. Interview with Dan, it's always
a pleasure to have him on the program and thank you to Rachel,
also his wife for helping put that together.
So the Kickstarter is still got,I think around a week to go.
As you're hearing this, you're going to find the link in the
description below. I backed the the the top tier
(43:17):
with the book. I didn't go for the Prince, but
now everybody's getting the linetime Zine.
So I you really can't go wrong with this.
And as you heard him talk about,like he poured so much into this
with Flesk, all of this art thathe's had, you know, stuff he's
created, you know, 18 years ago or so, but he did a lot of
narration. So there's a ton of directors
(43:40):
commentary, if you you want to call it in this book.
I'm super excited. Dan has never LED me astray, not
personally, but as a artist and a creator to something that I
bought that I was like, oh, I don't like this.
He is a fantastic, fantastic creator.
So going through his resume, if you've never read what I read
first was do a Powerbomb becauseI'm a wrestling fan and it is
(44:02):
his love letter to wrestling. It is an amazing book.
But if you're a metalhead or youjust like music in general,
there's Murder Falcon, which hasso much heart in that story
Extremity, like a Mad Max type epic.
His Wonder Woman, Dead Earth is probably my favorite thing that
he's ever done. Actually, that's at least in the
(44:23):
realm of properties that are known Transformers, Beta Ray
Bill, the you know, the, the list goes on and on.
But check out his work because I, I think once you get into one
book, you're really just going to dive into his entire
bibliography. For me, I just want to say
thanks to my listeners, new and old, this we're almost to 500
(44:45):
subscribers on the YouTube channel for this.
And I'm going to do that giveaway for the Spider Man
McFarland statue once I hit it. But just want to say that this
has been a journey and it's it'snot easy.
I'm not making any money from this podcast.
If anything, I'm losing money onthis podcast.
So I am doing this out of pure love for what I do and bringing
it to other people. So if you want to help, you can
(45:06):
rate this podcast on Spotify or Apple.
You can drop a review on Spotifyor Apple or just on Apple.
You can like this on YouTube, drop a comment, do whatever you
can to just boost it in the algorithm to get more people to
see it. And if they like listening to
Nasley New York Jewish Voice, they're in for life, or at least
somebody'd life. Anyway.
(45:28):
This has been direct edition. Thank you again to the listener.
Thank you again to DWJ Dave out.
Now move in. Now move out.
Hands up. Now hands down.
Back up, back up. Tell me what you're going to do
now. Welcome back to DIRECT Edition,
a podcast about nothing and everything.
Friends, thank you for being here on the 66th episode.
That means we're only three awayfrom 69.
Nice. Today we have a returning guest,
(00:36):
a three time direct edition slash West Coast Avengers World
Champion, the great Daniel Warren Johnson.
Daniel stopped by to talk about his new art book coming out
called The Art of Daniel Warner Johnson from Flesk Publications.
The Kickstarter is live right now, so you're going to listen
(00:57):
to him talk about it and I implore you to go over to
Kickstarter. You can find the link in the
description below. Click it back it, get the book
because it's going to be awesomeand you're going to regret it.
Honestly, you're going to regretit when you don't get it and
everybody else has it and you'relike, Oh my God, I wish I had it
to me and Daniel Chad for about 50 or so minutes.
(01:19):
We catch up on his golf game andwe dive into the process of this
book getting created and why he's so excited for it.
And we talk about his recent kind of great covers that have
come out. Obviously the books that he's
doing Transformers and the Moon is following us and soon to come
his sci-fi epic. But he's been really light in
(01:42):
the comic book store shelves on fire with his cover for absolute
Batman and his Wolverine cover, which we talk a lot about.
So it's always a pleasure, a real pleasure to talk to him.
And he's, you know, we, we talked before we went on a
little bit off the record and, and we were just talking about,
he asked me how I was doing. And I kind of went into like how
(02:05):
the podcast has been growing andthe interviews have been
growing. And you know, I, I, I, I shared
with him, you know, like one of my grail guests is Trent Reznor.
And you know, he's like, oh, I believe it'll, it'll happen one
day. And he'd said something, you
know, I'd said something to him about, you know, I, I never know
if I'm like, I don't always get feedback from the guest, but
(02:28):
the, the, the best feedback I get from guests is when they
come back because why waste yourtime talking to a podcast host
if you didn't enjoy it? It's not like, you know, and I
said something about that. And he was like, yeah, he's
like, I wouldn't be here if I didn't enjoy talking to you.
And it's that's really to me, what it's all about.
I'm having these conversations and asking questions that I
(02:49):
normally would. And the by product is, is it's
recorded and you, my listener, the community get to hear those
conversations. Honestly, I would do it no
matter what. I've had hour long conversations
with creators and people that I appreciate, not just friends,
but people like artists that I appreciate.
(03:09):
I've had it off record, not recorded.
And you know, the fact that he'scome back three times and you
know, you've seen ships at our ski a couple of times and Eric
Larson a couple times. You know, that's all I need is
is returning guests to show me that I'm doing the right thing
without even saying it. So anyway, I'm sorry that I'm
going into the spiel. You're here to really listen to
(03:33):
me talk to Daniel Warren Johnson.
So without further ado, let's get to Daniel Warren Johnson.
AKADWAKADW. All right, All right, play the
music. Hi everybody.
Friends, enemies, frenemies. Today's guest is a returning
guest. This is my third time talking to
(03:54):
him and now we can get to the real nitty gritty questions.
But let me let me just talk about his resume a little bit.
Writer and also artist on Transformers, created books such
as Extremity, Murder Falcon duo,Powerbomb the Moon is following
us, a multiple Eisner Award winner, a good guy, and we're
(04:16):
really going to find out. We're going to get down to the
bottom. Is Danny Warren Johnson going to
retire from comics and join the PGA Tour?
Well, let's find out right now. Dan, how are you?
I'm doing good. I haven't talked to my driver in
about two weeks, so I'll text you when when I do that and I
(04:38):
won't be doing as well. But yeah, here I am.
You know, day by day all those things you said are true.
Especially the PGA Tour. Well, you know, last time I was
convinced that you were going totell me that the how the moon
was following me. And now I'm getting down to the
bottom of your golf career. I don't care about your art.
(04:59):
It's just about the extracurricular activities.
I mean, I'm, I'm, I'm taking it pretty seriously.
You'd think I'd be a little better for how serious I am
indeed taking it. But yeah, it's, it's one of
those things. I am.
I don't like being bad at thingsand until I am relatively good
at them for where I am in life, my age and the fact that I have
(05:22):
a family and a a real a, a job that takes time.
I need to have like a certain level of competence with
something for me to be able to enjoy it.
And I'm not there yet. So I'm in the struggle bus and
that's why my mind is on it. I talk about it on my live
streams and nobody wants to hearabout it.
And I'm so sorry to the whole world.
(05:43):
What can I say? A golf comic will be coming at
some point. Well, I mean, we're here to talk
about the Kickstarter, the art of Danny Warren Johnson, but.
What if it wasn't art? If it was just me taking photos
of my own golf swing. That's, I mean, look, there's
golf manga out there and we knowyou're a big student of the
Japanese art form. So you know, if it was a mix and
(06:07):
match, if it was, you know, 3 pages of art and then like 4
pages of just photos of you golfing.
Oh, it's too bad it already wentto print, otherwise I seriously
would consider putting a photo of me golfing like in the
opening spread. How about?
How about this? How about this?
Like that I would actually do, we're joking.
(06:27):
We're joking before, but I wouldhave actually done that.
Right, right, the about the about about Dan Warren Johnson.
It's just you and you know like mid perfect swing.
I would. Or in my bio.
In my bio, like all the things I've worked on.
Eisner award-winning, scored a 39 on a par 9 on a 9 hole
course. 11 time. Like one time.
(06:49):
Without this turning into a complete shit show of a golf
podcast, I will say it was nice to see that you just, you know,
you posted photos from Torrey Pines when you were in, you
know, in, in Southern Californiafor San Diego Comic Con.
And you were on Orcas Island just about 2 1/2 hours north of
me like a couple weeks ago, hanging out in Washington
golfing. It's true.
(07:11):
Torrey Pines, sorry. Torrey Pines was incredible and
I scored pretty well there. For me, I got a 96, which is
like really great and up on Orcas Island there's like this
little 9 hole course which it's a little cow pastry, you know,
but it's it's like it's run by asmall, it's run by a family and
(07:33):
it's just it gets the job done, you know, and it did swallow 12
of my very nice pro V1 golf balls.
So, you know, I, I went four times while I was on vacation up
there and I had some good rounds, had some bad rounds.
But yeah, I, I kind of like golfing everywhere.
I golf at my local municipal here in Chicago.
(07:54):
And I've told a bunch of people this, but there is a homeless
encampment outside of hole too. And they will laugh at me if I
mis hit the ball. Critics everywhere, man.
Doesn't matter. They're everywhere.
True. It was one time I hit it out of
bounds and somebody ran over andsaid there's a ball over here
(08:15):
because it's like over a fence. You know, right, Has any of them
ever pulled the hey, can I take you to Red Lobster or ask you if
you could go to, you know, if you would take them to Red
Lobster? I'll happy go more.
You know what? No, but it's so funny you
mentioned Red Lobster because there was a homeless person on a
train that was asking for money one time.
And all I had on me was a $25 gift certificate to Red Lobster
(08:40):
that actually happened. It was a way, it was a long time
ago, maybe 2012, but that did happen.
And I was like, I'm so sorry, this is all I have.
And he looked at it and he just gave me a like what the F look
and didn't walk. I was like, look, you don't have
to have it. And he's like, no, no, I'll take
it. And folks, that's the end of the
podcast. There you go, job done.
(09:05):
You know, that really reminds meof possibly one of my favorite
movie scenes of all time, Scary Movie, which, you know,
obviously was a a parody of Scream and Anna Faris's Walking
School. The day after the first murders,
homeless person comes up to her and says, do you have a dollar?
And she takes a sandwich out of her bag and she says, here you
(09:25):
go. And she walks away and he flings
the sandwich at the back of her head.
Says I said I wanted a dollar, bitch.
Yeah, this is definitely the same energy, you know, that I
will got. He's like, what am I going to do
with this Red Lobster gift card?So what are you going to do?
You try and be kind. You try and be kind.
(09:48):
All right, well, now that we've completely gone as far away from
art as possible, let's let's reel it back in.
You've got a Kickstarter going on right now for this book that
I know you're super excited about with John Flesk, Flesk
Publications called The Art of Daniel Warren Johnson.
(10:09):
First of all, congratulations because this thing is off to a
like a meteoric start. I mean, it's it's in orbit right
now and who knows if it's comingback down.
Thank you. Yeah, I am super excited about
it and I am blown away by the support of course and just
completely floored or spaced as you mentioned in the
(10:30):
stratosphere. I've been working on this book
with John for like 4 years now. And for those of you your
listeners that don't know John plus he does art of books, but
mostly he does art of books of more painterly or like fantasy
art kind of things. Like Bernie Robson.
Yep. And when he does work with what,
(10:51):
when he has done art books of comic artists, they've usually
been more in the classical or classical, the classic realm,
more old school. And so, you know, for him to
work with me, it was a really big honor because I he really,
as far as I know this, he told me this himself.
He's like, I only work with artists and I'm a fan of their
(11:12):
work, you know, and he saw my work through Felix Comic Art,
who handed off some some comics to John.
We met in 2021 in California andwe got to talking and we really
hit it off. And you know, he said he wanted
to do a book and that was huge. But yeah, that was like 4 years
ago. And since then, you know, John
(11:35):
very intentionally works specifically only on only a
handful of books at a time. He does not jump around much.
So part of that was me kind of getting put in a, in a schedule
where John felt like he could really get my my book, like the
time it deserved. And also like we were just going
(11:56):
back and forth on Zoom all the time picking pieces, you know,
figuring out how we wanted the book to look and kind of picking
each other's brains as to like how the process, how we wanted
the process to go. And one thing that's cool about
John is he's really involved in the design of the book.
I did almost no design elements whatsoever.
(12:18):
I was basically just picking pieces that I wanted to go in.
And that's one thing we started from the beginning.
You know, John said, I, I'm every book for me is very
personal. I love being involved in the
design very heavily. I hope that's OK.
And I was like, go crazy becauseI got crap I got to do.
And I had seen what this work before and it's all been blow
(12:38):
away. So I was happy to hand the reins
over. And sure enough, you know,
looking at the PDF just a few months ago, it is incredible.
He did a wonderful job. No surprise.
I'm so excited about it. I'm so proud of it.
It's so cool to have all of my, like, victory laps in one book,
right? Right.
(13:00):
And a few struggles that that, you know, at least the sweat is
on the page for people to witness.
Sure, sure. I mean you, you do leave it all
on the page and we can watch youdo that on your YouTube channel.
So in All in all, what's the time frame of this book like
2012 to now or even do you go even further back?
(13:20):
Are you going to like early stuff?
Yeah, we go even further back. The foreword is actually by my
painting professor from college,Tim Lowley, who has a yeah, it
was a very unique perspective onkind of my my growth as an
artist and as a human from 2005 and on.
(13:41):
That's when I started college, so I'm really happy that that's
in there. I also have pieces that I worked
on before I was ever published, maybe just out of college.
There is my senior like art project that I put in there from
college, which is a little embarrassing, but also like
(14:03):
just, you know, showing the growth and showing where I where
I started and where I am now. So I can honestly say that the
earliest piece in there is probably from 22,009.
Yeah, I think no, sorry 2008 because I started this when I
started my senior project. So a little less than half your
(14:24):
life is in that book. That's true.
There's not a ton of stuff from the early days, but there is a
good, there's a handful and I'm still proud of that stuff and it
all kind of fuels what comes after.
But we've we've kind of divvied it up into like a section for
illustration, like album covers and things I did in college
(14:44):
commissions, which of course, you know, I don't need to say
any more about that. I've done a ton of those
highlighting, like all of my comic projects and and pieces
and like work in progress parts of my comic work because since I
was working on this book with John Wall, I was doing so many
titles. I was in the middle of do a
(15:06):
Powerbomb when we did a do a powerbomb 4 page breakdown of
like thumbnails, pencils and inks, which are all included in
the book from issue 4, I believe, which is super fun.
And he I remember talking to me calling me and be like, can you
please scan the pencils before you ink them at this, you know,
this DPI and with these settingsand scan the inks here in this
(15:29):
way. And so every little thing is
blocked out in the book from that section of Do a Powerbomb,
which is really cool. So we're getting process stuff
for the process nerds, we're getting historical pieces from
your past for thus those of us that enjoy seeing the evolution
of the art and we're getting never before seen stuff, you
know, like one thing that you show off on your YouTube channel
(15:51):
that's very personal to use yoursketchbooks and your travel.
You know, you just recently werein Japan and you did some more
sketchbooks. So we're getting to see some of
that too, which I mean, that's, that's the real insight into
you. Yeah, I don't really show my
sketchbooks sometimes on my YouTube channel I'll have like a
really early days sketchbook tour when I have time to break
(16:14):
them down which and those are from my 2005, 2006.
But yeah, I don't, I don't really show a ton of my
sketchbooks. And it when I do show them now,
it's kind of the cool pieces or the sexy parts of my sketchbook,
which that's maybe 10% of each sketchbook is like a fully nice
(16:34):
sketched out, inked and watercolored piece.
And I brought over 30 of my sketchbooks to the Bay Area when
I was working on a project with Felix and John drove up from
Santa Cruz, picked up the books,brought them back to his place,
photographed them all, brought them back the same at the end of
the same weekend. And I was like, I could scan
(16:57):
them. And he's like, no, I like
photographing the sketchbook. You know, it's a better
documentation process. He was very intentional about
that. And so there are a ton of
sketchbook pieces that kind of build up and are in addition to
the comic book section and the illustration section, sometimes
like a, a comic spread here and then like a little sketch of
that same thing or me workshopping that in my
(17:19):
sketchbook section in my sketchbook that he took from the
sketchbook section and put it right next to the comic page.
Very intentional, very well laidout, super exciting.
I can only imagine, like if I was a fan of me, I'd be like,
this is so cool. Well, I mean, look, it's
something that I've learned fromdoing what I do is like, if
(17:40):
you're making something that youtruly would enjoy watching or
reading or whatever it is, then I completely understand that
sentiment 100%. Like, you have to be your
biggest fan. You do.
You have to be your biggest critic too.
Yes, and I just, it's just really, it's, it's cool to feel
(18:01):
so good about something and to have a partner that feels as
passionately about the the work as I do and it and it kind of
build me up in that way. It's a great feeling.
And it's also cool like he, Johndoes amazing work and he only
does it for things he believes in.
So to have that, it's just a nice boost and even, you know,
(18:24):
more of a boost to see how excited people are for the book
and as a thank you actually, andjust as like to try and keep the
momentum going. I don't know if you saw the
update that we did to the Kickstarter.
We're actually adding a Zine called Line Time with Daniel
Warren Johnson, which is a small16 page Zine, kind of like my
(18:47):
ash cans that I've done in the past of the Old Man Skywalker
and Cherno. So on Green Leader and inside is
going to be me drawing all of myart supplies that I use with
commentary for each one and a little examples on the opposite
page of me actually using those tools.
So I just finished the inks actually there.
(19:09):
It's like, it's like, sorry. No, that's great.
Oh, look at that. There you are.
Yeah. Either the supplies are giant or
this is how you feel when you'rediving through your thing.
You feel very small because you have so many things to to play.
Around with Funny I Shrunk the Artist.
That's awesome. Yeah.
(19:30):
Yeah, so, so think about it like, well, you're, you're
you're a book nerd. We're both book nerds.
But I, I mean, like, you know, Ilove art books and, you know, if
I bought all the ones that I really wanted, I could build a
house out of art books. So I keep it to the ones that I
need to have. But of course, in, in one, like
one book, you're hitting all thebullet points.
(19:51):
You're, you're satisfying the art nerds, you're satisfying the
process nerds. You're satisfying the tool
nerds. And when I say nerd, you know I
mean that in a very loving, warmway.
Yes, very lovingly, The sickos. Yeah, yeah.
But. Our people.
Yeah, exactly. Like I love, I'm not an artist,
but I love hearing people talk about like the tools they use
(20:13):
because it's it's fascinating tome and I I retain that
information. And then when I start to see,
you know, like you and Ma food talk about the same pen that you
use for inking or something likethat, I'm like, Oh, I, I'm, I'm
getting it more and more. And for kids or young adults or
even older people that are looking to make comics, this is
(20:36):
a great idea to throw that Zen in to give people a little bit
of that more insight so they canhelp themselves and figure it
out. I it's cool because John was
like, I really want to do a thank you or some sort of an
additive thing that we can add to the book without it being too
expensive. And I said, and he was thinking
(20:57):
that it would be just more art pieces.
And I said, that's totally cool.We could totally do that.
But why not like, you know, build the book up even more?
And this isn't that much work. You know, I can draw a Micron in
my sleep. Lord knows I've used them
enough. And I like the idea of kind of
reflecting on the tools that I use by, you know, actually
(21:21):
drawing them. It feels, feels really like I'm
appreciating the this analog process even more and then
sharing it with people that I know are using the same tools or
maybe thought about using those tools or, you know, just like
you said, you know, you kind of,oh, you use that tool and I, and
I know this artist uses this tool, but the line they make
(21:42):
with that tool looks like this and that.
How does that make sense? And it's just another thing to
get in the weeds about, which isreally wonderful.
Yeah, it, it's, you know, for meit, it gives me a bigger
interest in the medium altogether, not just the artist,
but the things that go into it. I mean, in this 3 1/2, four year
(22:02):
endeavor of, of me talking to creators, I've learned so much
about creating comics as well asthe history of comics that I, I
don't think I would have ever figured it out or gain that
knowledge any other way. I wanted to ask.
So there is a specific Commission, I'm assuming that's
going to be in the the book and I'm going to show it off because
(22:23):
you're going to laugh because you probably laugh every time
somebody shows off this Commission.
Yes, I do. I do.
Like every once in a while there'll be some Commission that
I do that like every six months.It makes the rounds on Reddit.
(22:44):
Oh my God, Can you believe this?Look at those neck muscles.
Whatever. And like, I can't like
everybody. There's like one person who I
appreciate who's shouting. This is Danny Warren Johnson.
They credit the artist. And then under that, all these
renders are like, he must be a sicko.
He's he must be disgusting. And I'm like, no, I just didn't
like, how many times can you drop Batman, you know?
(23:06):
Do you believe it or not? We got a different way.
Believe it or not, West Coast Avengers listeners, this is not
how I get off everybody like on the comments are like, Oh my,
this, this is what his bedroom life is.
I'm like, no, it's not actually,but I can't, you know, what am I
going to respond everywhere I I was like, this tickles me and
(23:26):
I've been paying for it ever since.
The same thing with I drew that Commission of a shoe storm and
Neymar having sex on a octopus. That one I got a few angry
emails from like just people whoare fans of Reed Richards.
Oh, come on. Being like Justice for Reed
(23:48):
Richard, like can can you not appreciate art outside of your
own feelings with Unfortunately,I hate to disappoint you, that
piece is not in the art of DWJ edition.
Neither is the Neymar. And you know, who knows there
might be a volume 2. And what I can guarantee you is
(24:09):
I would love to have opposing spreads of each one.
Oh, that. 'D be amazing.
That would be amazing. It it kind of, well, you just
answered it like I didn't know about that, that Sue Storm and
Neymar one, but I was, I was just kind of wondering like,
what's the craziest Commission you've ever done that you know,
and crazy, I mean, like just themost out there.
(24:31):
And I guess those two kind of really cover it.
I think I think so. You know, the well, I remember I
don't usually get like a prompt from a, a, a commissioner or
someone commissioning me. But this time it was with the
Sue Storm one. It was like Neymar and Sue
(24:53):
Storm. And it said, I'd love to
highlight the romantic element between the two.
And I just gave it to the sauce for it.
I went for like, hey, this is what you asked for, You know,
watch out what you asked for because you're going to get this
sort of. And then the poor Catwoman
commissioner, he was like, just Catwoman, please.
Yeah, I remember you talk. I think I you told the story
(25:15):
about her. You mentioned it like one time
on the YouTube channel and I waslike, I've never seen this
before, but you know. Yeah, it is.
It makes the rounds. I see it often.
It, it does tickle me every time.
It's it's, you know. Yeah, I mean, I when I do
Commission with somebody, you know, recently I've gotten into
(25:38):
doing Darth Jar Jar commissions and, you know, Hyler Jeremy did
that one where he's evisceratingthe Jedi Council and all I told
him was Darth Jar Jar and he went with it.
And, you know, Wayshack just didone of heroes.
That's like, what if Ralph Steadman drew Jar Jar Binks?
And you know, I'd rather let theartist decide because it's I'm
(26:03):
paying you because I appreciate your art.
I'm not paying you to be your director, right?
And that's. Appreciated that has that that
outlook or that that's appreciated.
Yeah, yeah. Because if I wasn't a fan of
your art, then I wouldn't have it.
You know? It doesn't make sense to me.
It's like I'm not writing a script for you and ask you to be
(26:24):
book. I'm saying here's a character,
have at it. And you know, with that, I want
to talk about like cover process.
Are we going to see some of thatin the book?
Because you know, we've been we've all been fortunate enough
if we follow your YouTube channel to see you do covers
right there, like The Wolverine cover.
You did that Wolverine cover live on stream.
(26:44):
It's true. We definitely are going to see a
bunch of covers. That Wolverine cover is
included. That's one of my favorite covers
I've ever done, actually. I wish I could do those
everyday. I wish like I had.
That's a home run. It's a Grand Slam, yes.
Yes, with the comic world on fire, yeah.
And I'm like, how do I do that all the time?
(27:06):
But I just so it's just that sometimes it happens.
Sometimes all the pieces fall together compositionally and
whatever. Oh well.
And another one of my favouritesis the I did a Batman animated
series cover where Batman's working on the Batmobile.
I don't think I've ever seen that.
It's. It's a sick 1 the Batmobile.
(27:28):
It's like the the the animated series Batmobile, but it's like
kind of half a part. Oh, wow, Batman doesn't have his
Cape, but he still has his cowl on and he's working on it, which
was a shout out to, you know, when I had the animated series
toy and the Cape would come off and the cowl is part of the
plastic and I thought he looked cool that way.
(27:51):
So I I didn't think that the cloth Cape looked that great.
They just ripped it off. Yeah, it didn't, right.
It did. I was so.
Bad when I was a kid. And they had like, the skeletal
structure of the capes now. Yeah, they're.
Used like almost they kind of what they do with the capes is
kind of what Nolan did with the Batman Cape in the movies.
(28:11):
It's like it's got its own, you know, system to it.
Speaking of the Batman covers, it's right where my finger is
that absolute Batman cover you did this year, which is like
shades of Jeff Darrow mixed withthe Raid.
And I'm just like, I've never seen such a great perspective on
a cover that you put on that, you know, that covers amazing.
(28:33):
Thank you. I got a.
Shout out Frank Miller on that one for just giving me some
amazing advice to the entire Eisner crowd.
When he talked well, he he gave away best cover artist or
presented it, I should say. And he just said it's got to be
like a stamp. Does it read well as a stamp?
And that's a great. Piece of advice?
(28:54):
Oh my gosh, I. Took that to the bank I have.
Can't tell you how much that changed my cover game.
Just that one sentence. It's just like this drawing
thought that really clicked, andI was thinking exactly of that
when I drew that cover and The Wolverine cover.
Wow, Well, you knocked him out of the park.
I mean, it's it's almost it's almost unfair from the
(29:15):
perspective of somebody that goes to the comic store every
week of like, why are you? Why can't everybody get on that
level? It's some some way shape or
form. I mean, like, I think right now
we're talking about modern comics.
It's like you and it's Dan Mora,you know, there's Hayden
Sherman, there's there's some great artists emerging doing
(29:36):
some iconic looking imagery because at the end of the day,
we got to get people to pick up those those books and a cover is
supposed to sell the book I. Agree, you know, and I do think
it takes just a little bit of a well, you know, it's easy for me
to say, but I I think it's not that hard.
Like it's I tell this to up and coming comic artists that show
(29:59):
me their portfolios. You know, I'll see the designs
of their characters and I'm like, it doesn't take a lot like
front to go from boilerplate to like life changing.
You just have to push a little more than you're used to and
things what you'll really amaze yourself with what can happen.
So it's like you, you do what's accept accepted, like a cover
(30:21):
composition, you know, characterstanding heroically looking and
then push it, push it a little farther, make yourself a little
uncomfortable and see if you canfigure it out.
I'm working on an Age of Apocalypse cover now that's just
kicking my butt and I'm like I'm.
In that push. Phase, like I don't, it doesn't
always. It's not always this difficult,
but you know, it's really tough.I wish it wasn't hard sometimes,
(30:42):
but it was. It was one of the things I was
going to ask you because you know, like your storytelling.
I think a storytelling is such atricky thing because it's more
personal and it should be. I think it should be more
personal. But your cover work is a
different story because you're right, you have to if you're
(31:04):
doing a cover for somebody else,you have to figure out how to
get that book off the shelf and is there how much like with The
Wolverine, because I think that that one is just so striking.
How long did you spend just figuring out composition and
what you wanted to do? Having him just stuck with
arrows and like it's simplistic but not at all sure.
(31:26):
Well, the the shapes are simplistic and it's the detail
that I feel carries it over intothat special category.
But as far as like figuring out what I wanted the cover to be, I
remember doing one sketch and being like, Yep, that's it.
I wish I could say it was like something I sweat over, but it's
just not. And sometimes, honestly, if I
sweat over something too much, it means that it's not the right
(31:47):
choice. It should be.
It should be easy to to get the shapes down and then the detail
is like the hard part. So yeah, I but I literally did
one version of the cover like I did one.
That's it. When it comes to you, it comes
(32:11):
to you, like you said, it's just, I mean, I've like I said,
I mean, I feel like we we as fans of yours and, and you know,
people that look at your work where we get to cheat a little
bit because we see you usually on a weekly basis doing some of
it struggling or not struggling.And I remember watching that
Wolverine cover and you just, I was like, what is this for?
(32:33):
And then like cuts, a couple people in the chat said it was
for this issue and I was just. But then there have been other
days where we watch you and you're just like, I hate this.
And you toss it. You literally toss it you.
Know that's true. I remember, especially when I,
I, I was working on that cover episode.
I want to tell the listeners what episode it is, if you don't
(32:55):
mind me looking this separately.Yeah.
And I'll, I'll be. Happy to link it in the
description. That's it, 11. 63163.
OK, so you can you can check outhis web, his YouTube channel,
but I will link it in the description across the board so
everybody can just click on it and gloriously watch discover
get created and it's. It's cool because the detail
(33:17):
obviously is the part of the cover that takes the most time,
but it's also the part of the ofthe cover or the image of the
comic book page or the panel that takes the the least amount
of brain power. Because all the work has been
done. I know all the all the, the
train tracks have been laid downand all I have to do is screw
(33:37):
the nails in it. It's that's a really good
feeling. And it's actually quite relaxing
and, and and quite Zen. And in today's day and age, I'll
take that any day I can. Oh yeah.
Oh yeah, any, any chance we can get to just be with ourselves,
one with ourselves is a a chanceto just grab at a you know, we
(33:59):
could easily sit here and talk about the state of things, but
I, I think neither of us. You're like me, you're an
empath. You feel it too much.
We don't need to go into it too much.
I'm sure the people listening. Also feel it, yeah.
Yeah, hang in there, people. That's the one thing I, I think
a lot of people enjoy. I don't really censor my
thoughts and feelings about what's going on in my life or in
(34:23):
the world in general. Gives people a little bit at
least. You know, we all need to relate.
That's the word. Speaking of that cover, I just
saw you and it looked like Cho was doing it himself.
But David Cho during San Diego did a a really cool remark all
(34:43):
over it, and it was that a combined thing.
Did you draw on it first and then he drew on it?
I did sometimes. When I do remarks on The
Wolverine cover, for collectors or people that want to remark,
I'll do a only mask over Wolverine's face, but that
requires me to white out the black space first.
But the white out that I use, itjust takes a few minutes to dry.
(35:07):
So I remember I did 1 and I forgot to to, I forgot to grab
it after it dried. And I'm pretty sure Felix handed
it to David and just be like, hey, you want a riff on this?
And said I'm supposed to be an only mask.
And of course he went nuts. Yeah.
That's I remember seeing it on. His his, his hotel, his hotel
room table and being like this is really cool.
(35:33):
Also, congratulations to that whole issue selling the original
art. Felix, you know, found a buyer.
I tried to guess he, he wouldn'tgive it up, but you know, wasn't
me, wasn't me, definitely wasn'tme.
And do you do you know if there's going to be anything
(35:55):
like if we you're at $160,000 onthis Kickstarter right now or
161, is there anything planned that if it goes a little bit
higher like any more surprises besides the line time?
I don't think so. I.
Think the line time was just kind of this kind of like a
thank you because we did not really have any plans for
(36:16):
anything extra because I, I think we just believe in the
single product so, so much. This is what you're getting.
What you see is what you get. And yeah, I just hope as many
people get on board as possible because I just, I'm so proud of
this thing. I mean, I, I can speak at least
to the people that I talked to on a regular basis in my
(36:36):
community. I mean, they're, I already
backed the book, but there's a lot of people that may not know
about the book that will definitely be backing it in the
next two weeks as we talk about it.
I mean, it's, you know, you're I, I, I joke, I joke with comic
store owners and, and people, I call you the savior of comics.
(36:58):
But but there really is something to be said about the
last 10 years of your output andwhat it's what it's turned
people on to. I mean, there's a lot of people
that are looking at your work and then looking at something
like James Herron's work, or they're exploring manga a little
bit, or vice versa. They saw James and now they're
looking at your work. I mean, the, the, just every
(37:22):
week that there's something coming out with yours, I, people
are buying it and people are excited about it, myself
obviously included. That makes me so happy.
Now thanks for telling me that, it's really cool to hear.
I'm blown away. The stores love you.
I mean now or never. You were just did a a great
event with them during San DiegoComic Con with the comic.
(37:45):
What is it the comic book couples podcast?
Is that the order comic book they call themselves?
The comic book couples counseling counselors, right?
Right. And it went great.
It looked. Awesome.
It was really fun. Zach, one of the guys over it
now and ever, has been trying toget me to come out there for the
longest time. And he's like, look, I mean,
(38:06):
maybe you could stay late from San Diego one time or stay or
come early. And when they talked about the
Tuesday before Fanny you Comic Con, I was like, at first I was
like oh jeez, I don't know cuz Idon't want to leave my family
but it's literally like one day before and I was like, it's time
(38:27):
like. This poor guy has been.
Trying for like 4 frigging yearsto Get Me Out there and to know
that you know, Brad and Lisa from Comic Book Couples
Counseling was going to be theretoo.
It just felt like the perfect opportunity.
Zach's a good. Dude and Aaron, who owns the
store is a great guy. We we've been friends for a
couple years now and I've had him on the channel to do a
(38:47):
retailer roundtable. So, you know, there's there's
it's an ecosystem that creators can definitely help just by
being there, you know, So when you get bribe to come to Comics
Place up in Bellingham, next time you're on Orcas Island, I'm
going to be there hosting something live, OK.
(39:11):
Book it. Let's do it that I'm I saw the
last time I'm going to be in. I'm going to be in Washington.
We should do it. That would be awesome.
All right, well, now. I'll get it down there.
Any word before we get going? Anything moving forward with
your sci-fi project that you arehard at work on?
Do we have a timeline of maybe arelease?
(39:36):
Sometime next year I think I canconfidently say for a release,
not just an announcement. Cool, Stay tuned, it's coming.
I'm working on it, I'm pumped and I think it will be worth the
wait from what I've seen. And I've seen plenty of the art
on stream. It looks crazy.
It looks amazing. And the color work you're doing
(39:58):
is you showing how much you loveRichard Corbin right on the
page. Amen.
That's so true. Yeah, Yeah.
I love, I love my explorations with airbrush.
Yes. So more and more.
As Melstein once said. Well, before we get going, we've
got the Kickstarter which wraps up in about when this airs.
(40:21):
It'll it'll still be 11 days from wrapping up.
All the links will be down below.
Your YouTube page will be linkeddown below the episode where you
referenced anything else to talkabout.
I know you got the cover that you just did for just got
announced for Deadpool Batman. Oh yeah.
Oh and then yeah, Deadpool versus somebody a big part of
(40:45):
thing doing some DCKO cars right, which is fun.
The DC Universe in like a tournament for the fate of the
universe, which I don't think would happen without do a
powerbomb. I think that's fair to say.
Yeah, I. I think you're in flex a little.
I'll flex. A little, yeah.
I'm, I'm happy it's happening and I'm happy I'm doing covers.
But also, the truth is the truth.
(41:10):
I hope that doesn't come off as hottie.
Oh well. And then I am doing a absolute
Batman annual. 30 pages. That's happening.
I think it comes out in October.I'm drawing it now.
It's all written. That was a beast to write.
I'm trying to do justice to the oh, you, you wrote it wrote,
(41:31):
writing and drawing. Yep, James Herron I think has 8
pages in there too, which is. Super exciting.
So me and James on Absolute Batman, Yes, please.
I can't wait to see his cover. It's going to be, I'm sure it's
going to be bananas. Yeah.
So that's an honor to be included with him and an honor
(41:52):
to honestly, to just be doing like Absolute Batman, so hot
right now. And I don't know, at first when
they asked me to do absolute Batman, I was a little bit like,
I don't want to get in anybody'shair.
But then I got this really greatidea after the inauguration.
Oh hell. Yeah.
Oh, I was just feeling really angsty and.
(42:13):
Upset about it and I'm just channelling that through
absolute Batman so yeah, well, I.
Hope absolute Batman gets to punch at least several
politicians in the face. But great.
Well, look, Dan, it's always a pleasure.
Once again, I will have all the links in description, all that
(42:33):
stuff for the Kickstarter. I'll be talking about it a lot
over the next couple weeks as itis always appreciative of your
time. And you know, I, I know I got to
let you get back to your family and also back to the green.
The, the, you know, the, the 9 or the 18 or whatever holes
you're playing. But thanks, always a pleasure,
Dan. You're welcome.
(42:54):
Thank you. For having me on, it's always a
pleasure. I can't wait to be back.
Thanks for listening to that. Interview with Dan, it's always
a pleasure to have him on the program and thank you to Rachel,
also his wife for helping put that together.
So the Kickstarter is still got,I think around a week to go.
As you're hearing this, you're going to find the link in the
description below. I backed the the the top tier
(43:17):
with the book. I didn't go for the Prince, but
now everybody's getting the linetime Zine.
So I you really can't go wrong with this.
And as you heard him talk about,like he poured so much into this
with Flesk, all of this art thathe's had, you know, stuff he's
created, you know, 18 years ago or so, but he did a lot of
narration. So there's a ton of directors
(43:40):
commentary, if you you want to call it in this book.
I'm super excited. Dan has never LED me astray, not
personally, but as a artist and a creator to something that I
bought that I was like, oh, I don't like this.
He is a fantastic, fantastic creator.
So going through his resume, if you've never read what I read
first was do a Powerbomb becauseI'm a wrestling fan and it is
(44:02):
his love letter to wrestling. It is an amazing book.
But if you're a metalhead or youjust like music in general,
there's Murder Falcon, which hasso much heart in that story
Extremity, like a Mad Max type epic.
His Wonder Woman, Dead Earth is probably my favorite thing that
he's ever done. Actually, that's at least in the
(44:23):
realm of properties that are known Transformers, Beta Ray
Bill, the you know, the, the list goes on and on.
But check out his work because I, I think once you get into one
book, you're really just going to dive into his entire
bibliography. For me, I just want to say
thanks to my listeners, new and old, this we're almost to 500
(44:45):
subscribers on the YouTube channel for this.
And I'm going to do that giveaway for the Spider Man
McFarland statue once I hit it. But just want to say that this
has been a journey and it's it'snot easy.
I'm not making any money from this podcast.
If anything, I'm losing money onthis podcast.
So I am doing this out of pure love for what I do and bringing
it to other people. So if you want to help, you can
(45:06):
rate this podcast on Spotify or Apple.
You can drop a review on Spotifyor Apple or just on Apple.
You can like this on YouTube, drop a comment, do whatever you
can to just boost it in the algorithm to get more people to
see it. And if they like listening to
Nasley New York Jewish Voice, they're in for life, or at least
somebody'd life. Anyway.
(45:28):
This has been direct edition. Thank you again to the listener.
Thank you again to DWJ Dave out.
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