by Noam Steinerman
As part of its New York Comic Con appearance, DSTLRY hosted multiple creator appearances including panels and signings. On Friday, The Beat caught up with award-winning artist and writer Jock to talk about the collaborative effort behind DSTLRY, his artistic inspirations, and more.
Noam Steinerman: How are you enjoying NYCC?
Jock: It’s been great! Super busy, it’s Friday feel like I’m five days in already
Steinerman: What artwork or artists do you feel a kinship to? What artwork do you display in your home?
Jock: I have a lot of original art, including Jorge Zaffino, Mike Millones, Dave McKean, and Frank Miller.
Steinerman: As a young person, what artists got you into the comics medium?
Jock: It wasn’t really one artist. It was the anthology comic 2000 AD. I was already into drawing, but when I saw 2000 AD, it blew the back of my head off! I immediately wanted to draw comic books: “I don’t know what that is, quite, but I want to do this.” That is the effect it had.
Steinerman: Once you knew you wanted to make comics, how did you get into both writing and drawing?
Jock: Back then it was just the drawing but some of my favorite people were writer-artists, so I was always interested in doing both disciplines. When the opportunity presented itself, I just grabbed it because it’s something that I love. Comics, I feel, are a pure medium. Collaboration can be a wonderful thing, obviously, but there is a certain purity in one person doing the whole thing. I was always attracted to that, so that is what I wanted to do.
Steinerman: Doing cover art versus traditional comics interiors, does the cover inform your approach to the comic?
Jock: The covers are generally drawn first because of the nature of the industry. You have to have the cover for the catalog, etc. The cover is totally different from drawing the interior pages but I love doing both.
Steinerman: In terms of collectibles, do you have interest in doing stories in other mediums with DSTLRY?
Jock: Yeah sure. We got a lot of plans to do collectibles, prints, all kinds of things. That’s what’s exciting about it. It’s very focused on the stories that we are telling. Pulling the best we can, which includes toys, collectibles, statues… stay tuned!
Steinerman: Shoutout to fellow DSTLRY comic collaborator Scott Snyder. Can you speak a bit about working with other creators in the industry? Do you have any favorite collaborations?
Jock: Every collaboration is different. Scott is very special. I love the books I’ve done with him. Books with Andy Diggle we love in a different way. That’s the amazing thing about comics. Even though I was saying it’s great to do the whole thing myself, when you do pair with someone the sum is greater than its parts. It’s really a special thing when you find a writer where we complement each other. Scott’s a great friend and we have more plans on doing stuff together.
Steinerman: Can fans look forward to any upcoming collaborationss at DSTLRY?
Jock: We’ve been talking about it but I’m not going to say anything just yet.
Check out a preview from Jock’s Gone #1 below.
For more from Jock, visit his website or follow him on Instagram.
