Anthony Marques is fairly busy lately. Not solely is the artist working The Kubert School, however he’s additionally penciling DC’s all-ages e book Batman: The Audio Adventures, a seven-issue companion sequence to the HBO Max scripted podcast.
Marques chatted with The Beat about drawing the Dark Knight and what’s occurring inside The Kubert School lately.
Deanna Destito: So what’s happening with Batman: The Audio Adventures?
Anthony Marques: Batman is a whole lot of enjoyable. I’m having a extremely nice time doing it proper now. We’re actually pleased with the best way that’s popping out. So many cool characters, large characters. All the principle villains are on this. And you get to attract Batman and Robin preventing them. It’s actually a dream come true form of a job.
It’s seven points written by Dennis McNicholas, and it has paintings on my own on pencils and J. Bone doing the inks and Dave Stewart doing colours. So it’s actually a reasonably unimaginable crew placing all of it collectively from editorial all the best way all the way down to letters [by Ferran Delgado].
It’s based mostly off of the audio journey present, which is up on HBO Max, and from there you’ll be able to see all of the totally different character designs that I did. And season two simply launched, I consider. So we’re actually excited with the place that is going, and this bridges the hole between seasons one and two. It’s actually lovely and unhappy and heroic and every part that you really want within the Batman story.
Destito: So this sequence is principally in canon between the 2 seasons for the present? Where does that match within the general canon of Batman?
Marques: That’s what’s actually enjoyable about this story; it form of pulls from all of the totally different elements of Batman all through time. We form of joke about that. This is form of Batman ‘66 meets Quentin Tarantino because it’s not campy, however it’s additionally not excessive severe, which I believe generally it may be lately.
This is a extremely form of a common Batman for everyone, the place should you’re not likely updated with what’s occurring, you’ll be able to decide this up and actually simply take pleasure in. You can learn it along with your children, you may give it to anyone, and you will have a extremely good expertise. Dennis, like I mentioned, is writing a extremely nice tackle the character. Batman and Robin are actually Batman and Robin the best way that you’d count on their voices to be, and all of the characters are true to who they’re, and it’s simply actually enjoyable.
Destito: Has the podcast been picked up for an additional season?
Marques: Well, season two simply got here out, so I’m hoping. I believe it’s an important present. If you haven’t checked it out, I might say give it a hear. It’s actually enjoyable. Very much like what I’m speaking about with the comedian. It goes from being form of humorous and severe to being actually scary at occasions. Their takes on the Penguin and the Joker are fairly scary, so it’s excellent. I hope it simply retains on going. It expands. I’d like to see a complete universe of those sort of exhibits.
Destito: Any plans for different heroes to get a podcast like this one and in the identical universe?
Marques: I certain hope so, and I hope that I get to be the man that pulls all of it.
Destito: Favorite Batvillain?
Marques: Okay, I’m going to do two. Killer Croc for the e book that we’re doing proper now. Killer Croc is so good. Such a tragic character. He’s actually enjoyable to attract. I ought to by no means learn critiques, however I learn a assessment, and certainly one of them mentioned that he appears like a muppet, and I form of love that.
I don’t wish to be generic and be like, oh, the Joker, however I suppose Mr. Freeze. But then, that’s The Animated Series model. That’s why once we’re speaking about this sequence specifically, we get to drag from every part and do their variations of the characters that we actually love.
Destito: There are so many incarnations of his rogue’s gallery, too. Do you will have a least favourite model of a villain?
Marques: You know, I believe they’re all fairly good. Everybody has their very own form of tackle issues, and I suppose it is determined by the story that’s being informed. And so long as it really works inside that story, then I’m okay with it. I do know that’s such a cop-out reply! That’s not juicy in any respect. It’s like, “This guy has some real lame material, he likes Nilla wafers probably.”
Destito: Nillas are scrumptious, by the best way.
Marques: They are scrumptious. Those are certainly one of my favourite cookies. Here’s your headline, speaking Batman and Nilla Wafers.
Destito: What else is on deck for you in comics?
Marques: We’re additionally engaged on the Stan Lee Just Imagine universe. There’s an enormous one-shot popping out in December so I’m engaged on one of many tales for that. I simply received requested to work on one other secret venture over at Dynamite, and I’m actually enthusiastic about that as properly, however at all times trying to hopefully get to work on Superman sooner or later as a result of that’s the dream. That’s the purpose. Once I get there, then I’ll sit down, eat my Nilla wafers, and cease drawing endlessly.
[The Dynamite series is] fairly tremendous secret, however I believe should you’re being attentive to what they’ve been doing not too long ago, you’ll determine it out.
Destito: Like Disney not too long ago?!
Marques: I imply, that’s a reasonably good route to go. I like going to Florida.
Destito: So what’s happening over on the college?
Marques: We have so many nice new packages happening. We have our full-time program, which has been open for 47 years, and we now have a bunch of various choices for college kids. So they will do it in particular person or they will do it on-line.
We have our on-line research, that are going to be kicking off for the autumn, the week of November 7. So these are open and obtainable for registration on our web site. We have our Saturday morning children courses that kick off each single month, and these are a good way to get younger artists on the market utilizing their creativeness and taking part in round with designing totally different characters and studying about narrative artwork.
And then we even have a model new program which we haven’t talked about wherever but, which goes to be our grownup skilled program, and that’s going to be three days per week and have some actually unimaginable instructors. And it’s going to run from January till May.
Destito: Taylor Esposito works for you continue to, proper? He has a whole lot of lettering courses. And Amy Chu?
Marques: Taylor remains to be there. Amy too. Maria Sanapo and Marco Santucci really simply got here out from Italy, and they really taught an in-person and on-line workshop on the college. We additionally get to have a bunch of various visitor audio system all year long. Andy Kubert got here out. Brittany Holzherr from DC. And then Karen Berger was on the college yesterday from Berger Books over at Dark Horse.
We have Mike Marts, who’s going to be educating for our on-line research programs within the fall. He’s educating a category referred to as Editorial Strategies. So I believe that that’s a extremely unimaginable new class that individuals can decide up and study easy methods to get your sequence entering into the precise route and making certain that you just’re placing out a top quality e book. Suzannah Rowntree, who’s an animator from California, she’s going to be educating our fundamentals of animation class for on-line research. And then we even have some returning favorites like Abe Audish who’s a director for Cartoon Network. He’s educating storyboarding. Fernando Ruiz, he’s going to be educating Basic Drawing. And Emma Kubert, who teaches narratives for on-line research as properly.
It’s a industrial artwork college. So now some individuals would possibly even say, properly, what’s industrial artwork? What we do is educate you other ways of entering into artwork that pays. So once you go right into a grocery store and you go searching, all of these various things that you just see have been performed by designers and artists. Every package deal, every part that you just see in all places has an artist concerned. And so we educate you all these kind of jobs. We educate you graphic design, we educate you advertising, we educate you promoting. We educate you storyboarding, narrative artwork, sequential storytelling, which is utilizing your paintings to inform a narrative.
We need you to be hireable. That’s so vital to us on the college. We additionally created an artwork company to start out getting our college students working as quickly as they graduate, and even when they’re college students.
Destito: What else ought to individuals learn about The Kubert School?
Marques: I might say that one of many different issues that individuals overlook concerning the college is that we even have an unimaginable artwork retailer. The Kubert Art Store has been round virtually so long as the college itself, and we’ve got among the most top-notch provides that you can get which can be on the market.
We even have our personal comedian store situated on the facility as properly. Dewey’s Comic City. And that’s one other nice useful resource for our college students not solely simply to go down and decide up comics–and we do that for our school and for the scholars–to truly decide up comics and put them out as a result of we would like the scholars to know what’s happening within the trade, see what the most recent tendencies are, pay attention to who’s engaged on what, know the editors which can be working on the market. So we really incorporate that into our enterprise class to ensure to deliver the scholars down there and take note of what’s occurring within the trade.
Batman: Audio Adventures #2 is out this week!
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