The attraction
of men in tights

>> Comic book artist likes to find
the human in super-humans

by CHRIS BARRY

Name: Karl Kerschl

Age: 33

Occupation: Comic book artist

Bio: This solicitous NDG resident recognized at age 15 that becoming a comic book artist was to be his destiny, so he immediately started skipping school to hang around the local comic book shop and “absorb as much of the medium as I could, looking to find a way into the business.” Growing up in a small town near Niagara Falls, Ontario, “not exactly a hotbed of culture,” teenage Karl soon started attending comic book conventions in nearby Detroit and Chicago, looking to hawk his work, and, after picking up several valuable tips from the pros he met there, finally secured his first paying gig working on a Green Hornet comic book. “And I’ve been doing this stuff ever since, working for Marvel and DC for about 14 years now.” He drives a 2000 Honda Shadow motorcycle.

Can one pay their bills strictly by illustrating comic books? “Sure, if you can work at a decent speed, then yeah, the money is pretty good.”

So getting a gig with Marvel or DC is as easy as all that? “No, you have to be a little bullheaded. It was a lot easier to get in to the industry back when I did in the early ’90s. The print runs of these books were way higher then and there were more independents making it a lot easier for kids like me to find work. They were much more willing to take chances back then. I was fortunate to get my foot in the door when I did.”

Is working for Marvel and/or DC considered the height of professional success among comic book artists? “On this continent, yes. You make a lot more money doing advertising illustrations, but for most of us, the holy grail of comic book art is working for Marvel or DC doing Batman, Spiderman, Superman and that stuff.”

In comic art circles, is working for Marvel also kind of considered the equivalent of playing Phil Collins hits in a Top 40 wedding band, as opposed to, say, something that’s been officially sanctioned as cool? “Yes. I’ve found, especially in Montreal, that doing this mainstream work makes you kind of like a ‘suit.’ The comic book community here is so ’zine-oriented they almost look down their nose at people doing mainstream superhero work. As a result, I find myself feeling a little insecure in some of these circles. But we’re still basically dealing with mythology, and the themes in these stories are universally human. Whether you enjoy reading about people in tights or not, there’s a lot to be said for these stories. You can dismiss it as kid stuff, but give yourself to it, and it’s as compelling as anything else.”

Something Karl is heavily involved in: transmission-x.com. “It’s a coalition of professional comic book artists who’ve all grown a little bit tired of drawing the same kinds of stories over and over again. So we got together and started doing comics on the Web. There’s new content every day, and I publish my strip, Abominable, every Wednesday.”

Last book read: Long Way Down, by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman

Musical preferences: Ragni, Stars, Metallica.

Words of wisdom: “There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

Comments: dimwit@hdot.net