Rapid fire with the ‘Civil War’ artist

By Aaron Barker Posted August 12, 2006 12:55 PM

Steve McNiven is leaving a mark on comics with his work on Civil War, but what kind of an impression does he leave once he’s answered ten questions with us. We sat down with the artist, whose schedule is busier than ever, for a quick interview. And when we say quick, we mean that we told him that his answers should be the first thing that came to mind. It’s a psychology experiment, Wizard-style, and some of the answers may surprise you.

• How did you land the Civil War gig? I made a sacrifice to the great Ubbo Sathla who sent sleeping Mark Millar an unconscious desire to have me draw Civil war... and to punch foxes and breed bunnies.

• Tell me about your time at CrossGen Comics. It was all fun and games.

• How did the transition from that company to Marvel occur? The music stopped and I didn’t have a chair, so I went over and played with Marvel.

• How would you describe your art style? Rob Liefeld called me the love child of [Bryan] Hitch and [Travis] Charest and I’ll love him forever for that one. Personally I just concentrate on telling the story as clearly and with as much excitement as I can.

• What is one piece of work that you are most proud of? My daughter Emma. Everything else I hacked out.

• Who would you like to work with that you haven’t yet? Brian Bendis! No, wait! Warren Ellis! No, worked with him. Mark Millar! Oh yeah working with him now. I know, Joss Whedon!

• What is a dream project for you? To do a solid run on Amazing Spider-Man would be cool. To do a creator-owned project would also be somewhat of a dream come true. To work with any of the above creators would work just fine as well.

• Who are some of your favorite artists in the business? Working today? Hitch and Charest, [John] Cassaday, [Frank] Miller, and [Jim] Lee, [Alex] Maleev, [Michael] Lark, and [Steve] Epting, the list could go on and on.

• What do you have coming up after Civil War? A bit of a vacation with the family I would imagine.

• What do you do in your off-time to keep your sanity? Do interviews, of course. In the nude.