Back in June, I wrote a review of the relaunch of Star Trek into the world of comics (courtesy of IDW Publishing). Last month at MidOhioCon, I had the chance to visit with illustrator Joe Corroney, who is one of the premier cover artists at IDW. In addition to his wonderful Star Trek covers, he has worked on Fallen Angel, 24:Nightfall, Angel, and Spike Vs. Dracula for IDW, and that is just recently. He has worked in the industry for over 10 years, and done a wide variety of things, not only covers, but also interior page-to-page comic work, collector cards, and role-playing games, just to name a few. Joe honored me by taking time to answer some questions about him, his work, and the world of illustration.

Joe broke into comics in 1992 with a small press publisher, while still a sophomore in art college. His next big break came in 1996, when he started doing Star Wars art for a role-playing game published by Lucasfilm Ltd. You can tell from talking to Joe and looking at the work on his website (www.joecorroney.com) and the work he has brought to the convention, that Star Wars is a passion of his. With his industry breakthrough coming through the Star Wars game, he then was able to get involved with comic projects, and career evolved from there. As a fan of his work myself, I had noticed that he seemed to gravitate to “licensed products” - Star Wars, Star Trek, Angel, etc. Joe tells me that he is a big movie fan, and that he enjoys merging movies with comics. “It's just sort of the niche I found,” says Joe. “Riding the wave of offers to do other licensed properties, like Star Trek, 24, Buffy, Angel, Dr. Who...I've done some Men in Black stuff...” This seems to fit with Joe's artistic style. He is able to bring realism to his work. I complimented Joe on his character likenesses - “I try to bring a cinematic, almost realistic approach to my comic book, not just my covers, but my storytelling for my panel-to-panel, page-to-page stuff,” says Joe. Believe me, if you have seen Joe's work, he really does bring that to every page.

Likenesses have their own challenges, as you can imagine. Joe says there is always pressure, unlike with a “throw-away” character that is created only for a single story and is not based on an icon or an actor. Some artists stick to their general style and trust that readers will instinctively know who a character is and accept it, but Joe works for more accurate likenesses. He says that realism is not hard for him, as long as he has a reference. He does admit that females tend to be more difficult, particularly since many have fewer facial lines, and that droids, especially C-3PO, are also difficult because of their symmetry. For him, the most fun character he has drawn is Darth Vader.

In the comic industry, much of the time artists do not get immediate feedback on their work (except from their bosses, of course). Joe has of course gotten feedback from fans after seeing his work, but he has also gotten feedback from one of his subjects – James Marsters, the actor who played “Spike” on Buffy and Angel. At a recent CreationCon, a friend and fan of Joe's work took some of his work on the Spike Vs. Dracula limited run series for James (and Juliet Landau, who played “Drusilla”) to autograph. James recognized Joe's work, having read the series, and told the person that he felt that Joe was the only illustrator to truly get his look right, and called it “artwork he could be proud of”, a compliment that Joe was thrilled to hear. He says he seldom hears such validation of his work, and was honored. During the interview, I got to witness another example of positive feedback – another friend and fan of Joe's stopped by the table to show off his recent tattoo, a copy of an illustration of Boba Fett that Joe had done. Joe says that he knows of at least one other fan that has gotten a tattoo of his work. What validation – a permanent show of love for an artist's work! (Pictured tattoo from Joe's myspace page – www.myspace.com/drawingintheempire)

While he has an extensive resume of projects he has done, much of his recent work as been as a cover illustrator. He enjoys this, and says it is very different from doing interior illustrations. Covers (and similar work, such as role-playing books, novels, cards, etc.) have one illustration that tells a moment or has a theme, making it a different sort of challenge. Particularly with a comic cover, you have to pick a moment to spotlight that will entice readers to pick up the comic. Joe explains that it can be more difficult sometimes for the artist, because many times, a different person is creating the cover than is illustrating the interior story, and that person is not as familiar with the story. I'm sure other comic readers out there have seen what I have, that sometimes the cover does not seem to match the story, and Joe helped me understand that it can be the nature of the industry. Cover artists are often doing their work before the book is even finished, and do not always know very much about the story. Things can also be affected by scheduling conflicts or delays. I have a new respect for this aspect of the industry now, realizing that there are more challenges involved than the creation of the picture itself.

This chapter of Joe's career has him doing covers, but that is but one chapter. When discussing cover work versus interior page work, Joe admits that while he enjoys doing covers, “My heart will always be in storytelling, in sequential storytelling...that's my favorite kind of illustration. I mean, it's the whole reason I got into illustration to begin with...comic books. I grew up reading comic books, right, and I love to do panel-to-panel, page-to-page stuff.” Unfortunately, the industry being what it is, sometimes you have to go with what is offered to you, and as he says, “ride the wave”. So, what is on the horizon for Joe? While not released yet (I believe the release date is actually this week) at the convention he said he had finished several of the covers for Dr. Who Classics (IDW is releasing the old Marvel stories with the Dave Gibbons artwork being re-colored and the books being repackaged with brand new covers), where Joe has recreated specific scenes from the original artwork. He has also been working on the upcoming new series in the Star Trek line, Star Trek: The Next Generation Intelligence Gathering. He also told me a tidbit that I was very glad to hear, that IDW WILL be doing a comic book version of next year's Star Trek: XI! Joe is not entirely sure at this stage what part he will play in the project, but believes he will be assigned to do the covers, and he is hoping that this project will be his doorway back into interior panel-to-panel work, as he has told IDW that he would be very interested in having that chance. He recently even met J.J. Abrams and gave him some of his work, and J.J. liked what he saw. As a fan, I hope Joe's bosses will open that door for him. After the interview, I can say that Joe is one person who when given a chance can definitely make opportunities work in his favor. If you have to “ride the wave” in the comic industry, Joe has proven he knows how to hang ten!

Pictures used in this column are via permission of Joe Corroney