Bill Nichols’ Prescription:
Comics 10ccs of the Process with
Mark Ellis

What inspires you to create and keeps you going?

It used to be primarily money…fortunately I’ve reached the stage where I can pick and choose the projects I want to be involved with. The most recent is the DEATH HAWK THE COMPLETE SAGA graphic novel.

 

Do you have a set routine? 

Not so much anymore…back when I was writing four Outlanders novels a  year, I would try to get started around 9AM and knock off between 2 and 3PM…depending on my progress, I would go back to it for another couple of hours in the early evening. As for comics, my schedule was a bit looser since comics scripting was not as labor and time intensive. For example, there was a stretch in the late 80s where I scripted three monthly titles and contributed short stories to a fourth. I usually could write them all in a span of a week. When I decided to go with the thumbnail layout method, it took a bit longer but it wasn’t as tedious as sitting for hours at a keyboard.

 

What kind of output do you try to achieve?

I’m not as fast as I used to be…or need to be. But back in the day writing Outlanders and Deathlands novels, my daily goal was between 3500 and 4K words. Sometimes I barely made it, sometimes I went way over.

 

What inspires you WHEN you create? Music? Noise? Silence?

That depends on what I’m writing and at what stage I might be. I usually prefer silence when I’m working on a first draft, but when I’m putting together the final stage, I like a musical accompaniment. For example, when I was writing the last draft of my most recent book KNIGHTWATCH: INVICTUS X, I listened to the soundtracks of most of the Marvel Studios movies, particularly the Avengers.

 

Who was the first comic book creator that influenced you to pursue this?

Tough call…but I imagine it would be Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, since their work was all over my childhood. There are so many comic book creators that have had an effect on my work and it’s hard to single out a single overriding influence….Steve Ditko, Milton Caniff, Will Eisner, Gil Kane…it’s a very long list.

 

When did you realize you could follow this path yourself?

I certainly didn’t receive support or encouragement from any member of my family…quite the opposite, in fact. I was probably in my early teens when it occurred to me that people actually were PAID to create and that it could be real job and career. Pre-internet, I had no idea how to go about it, of course…

 

What do you find to be a challenge in creating?

At this point, trying to maintain my energy and enthusiasm for a project. As a professional creator, I’m very aware of the business end of the whole thing…and the news from that quarter hasn’t been encouraging for quite a few years now.

 

What else do you have to learn?

Another tough question…just when you think you know everything about your profession there is to know –POW!–something slaps you upside the head, showing you otherwise. I can’t think of anything specific I have to learn at this point, but I know there are new lessons out there, just waiting to pounce on my brain.

 

What keeps you motivated to get better?

 

Trying to be aware of my own personal cliches that have developed in my work over the years and concentrate on correcting them. I occasionally look at some of my older books and just wince.

 

Can you turn your brain (creativity) off (and on)?

Sometimes I can turn it off, but not for very long.

 

Booster Shots

What advice do you have for aspiring creators?

Study the work of those who came before you and understand that you will not be reinventing wheel. If you aspire to be a writer, in any genre, study the structure and art of the story, the balance of plot, character and theme. If you aspire to be an artist, don’t just copy from other artists…study all techniques from as many sources as you can find.

 

Do you ever worry about running out of ideas?

It’s not the running out ideas that worries me, it’s the running out of time to do anything with them!

 

How do you handle the slow times?

Well, since I’m semi-retired, I enjoy not having a deadline looming over me or scrambling for another assignment. That was always tiresome.

 

How do you feel about the industry?

This is an answer that won’t make very many people happy, but there is NO such thing as a comics industry specific to itself any longer…not when the two major publishers are owned by multi-national media conglomerates and they only publish comics as loss leaders for their IPs. You can’t have a real industry when the sole distributor is totally in the pocket of the aforementioned two publishers and the primary retail outlets for the product is a handful of speciality shops. 

Twenty-five years ago when there were 15 distributors and between 6k to 8K comic shops, it could be argued comics publishing WAS an industry in of itself. Now with less than 1500 comic shops that are totally dependent on what Marvel and DC puts out, it’s more like the loose conglomeration of hobbyists who used to meet monthly at local Elks Clubs to buy, trade and sell each other’s comic books.

Having said that…now I’ll plug my own comic! 

DEATH HAWK THE COMPLETE SAGA is coming out from Markosia Enterprises in September, as both a 150 hardcover and trade paperback…featuring three stories by Adam Hughes, the book compiles all of the issues of the DEATH HAWK series, including a new 27 page story by the awesome Jeff Slemons.

 

 

And do you have a website you would want to direct folks to?

MarkEllisInk.com

 

DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed by the above creator are theirs. This interview may not 

be reprinted or reposted without permission.