Roberto De La Torre joined writer Andy Diggle on DAREDEVIL as Matt Murdock became leader of the Hand. Here we talk about his stint on the title. Many thanks to Mr. De La Torre!
Kuljit Mithra: Before you started working on DAREDEVIL with Andy
Diggle, the two of
you had worked together on THUNDERBOLTS. When you were approached for
the DD job, had the editors already hired Diggle and then you were
approached, or were you
hired at the same time based on your collaboration
before?
Roberto De La Torre: Can't remember. [Former DD assistant editor] Tom Brennan asked me if I would like work on DD... and I said: Damn, yes!!
Mithra: How was it working with Diggle? Did he provide full scripts, or plots? Were you in constant contact?
De La Torre: Andy is a nice guy, very open. He has good storytelling, easy to draw. He provided full scripts, but he always let me have freedom. He knew how I worked after THUNDERBOLTS and let me do final inked pages without seeing the preview layout.
Mithra: Were you at all apprehensive about working on DAREDEVIL? Had you been a fan of the comic?
De La Torre: I really love DD, I feel so good drawing dark and noir atmospheres. It also is cool to draw a blind man who is able to do everything proposed without limits. But I'm not a really big fan of super hero comic books. Maybe that's why I'm a "man without fear" with iconic characters!... LOL... Nah!... I just try to do my best (with respect for the reader).
Mithra: You had a chance to redesign the Hand costumes. How many
different takes did
you have on the costume, and why was the final costume design chosen?
De La Torre: Not many sketches, just the same design with some minimal changes. The Hand costumes were easy and I think were the best ones I've done. Other times I've done a lot of sketches for other characters and it still sucks!
Mithra: I was curious about the way you drew your pages... you were doing pencils and inks and backgrounds, correct?
De La Torre: Well, I'm in a continuous search. At the beginning I drew with brush and ink, later start with Pentel brush pen (love the dry looks) and some PS. Now I draw everything with Cintiq, Manga Studio EX4 and PS for added textures and combination of several photos to created backgrounds... no secret! I just try to be the most organic with digital tools... still looking for it! Right now I'm looking for something more classic or old school comic art, less photo realistic. Also, Maleev's influence was great for DD, but I have to look for my own ink style.
Mithra: During your run on the book, Marco Checchetto helped out on a few issues... was the art technique time-consuming and that was the reason, or had you always planned to have some issues done to get a head start on the others?
De La Torre: Deadlines! Working on an issue each month is killer,
sometimes the
script is delayed or corrections in the last time f*** the deadline as
well.
The pressure isn't drawing an iconic character for the reader, the
pressure is the f***ing
deadlines!
Mithra: What did you think of Shadowland? A lot of the artwork you had to draw involved the supporting cast instead of DD himself.
De La Torre: I love drawing different things. Drawing DD is cool, but I enjoy drawing everything. Honestly, I enjoy drawing ugly, grotesque characters or dark environments, instead of iconic beautiful six pack ones in sunny days!
Mithra: Which one of your issues did you enjoy working on the most? I particularly liked the SHADOWLAND: AFTER THE FALL one-shot that came out right after SHADOWLAND ended.
De La Torre: Every issue, I haven't got a preference. But I think issue 509 was great. I enjoyed drawing the forest scenes in Japan.
Mithra: And finally, what is coming out from you in the near future?
De La Torre: We are working on Age of Apocalypse. A lot of freaky characters... Love it!
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(c) 2011 Kuljit Mithra & Roberto De La Torre
Daredevil:The Man Without Fear
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