Conversing on Comics with Marcos Martin



Marcos Martin grew up reading American superhero comics imported to his native Spain, and for the first 13 years of his career, he lived, breathed and drew those heroes in titles like Batgirl: Year One, Doctor Strange: The Oath, The Amazing Spider-Man and Daredevil. But now he’s moved on, devoting himself primarily to creator-owned comics with a reach beyond the direct market. The first sign of that is The Private Eye, the digital comic he created with celebrated writer Brian K. Vaughan about the price of privacy in a futuristic world.

Both Martin and Vaughan have talked with CBR about their project, so for this installment of “Conversing on Comics” I reached deeper into the artist’s work, looking for his influences and his choices. The interview, conducted in late April via Skype, pulls back the curtain on Martin, an ambitious but private professional who’s looking to entertain not just the ardent comic book fan but also more mainstream readers interested in fiction and fables.

Chris Arrant: Marcos, what are you working on today?

Marcos Martin: Well, I’m working on The Private Eye, the digital-only comic book I do with Brian K. Vaughan and colorist Muntsa Vicente available at http://www.panelsyndicate.com. Right now I’’m working on Issue 7 of our planned 10.

So you’re seven issues into this dramatically new and different project. It’s creator-owned, but you’re also doing it digitally in a landscape format.

The fact that The Private Eye is in landscape format definitely changes the way I think about the series and look at it, because the way to arrange the information is certainly different. Now that I’ve been working on The Private Eye for a while now, I think the print format is a little bit more natural in reading; landscape format is a little more tricky since your eye is moving left to right across the page and then moves back and down in a very strong diagonal. You have to adjust the way you look at the page, and decide the way you want to design it in order for the information to flow as naturally as possible.

Still, even if there are some things you cannot achieve here in the way you would with the normal format, there are also some advantages.

What are the tricks you’ve learned in doing landscape comics for six issues, going on seven?

Landscape orientation enhances the wide-screen perception of the images, for example. Depending on the information you’re presenting to the reader or the tone you want, it works better that the landscape offers “widescreen” moments. This works well with very cinematic scripts like the type Brian does. I’m favoring those kind of images, almost like John Ford’s landscape shots much more now than I did before. I also feel this story needs a more sober approach so I’m holding back on doing the kind of visual tricks or gimmicks I’ve used in the past because I feel they would only be distracting for the reader and actually work against us.

One of my favorite artists. And The Private Eye is a great series.

What Spidey is that from?

Ah, I thought it was too good to be true. Seemed like the Spidey I love, for a page or two. I read quite a bit of the Brand New Day stuff and it didn't quite click with me. Fantastic art though.

Yeah, I'd love to see a Spidey run with Roger Stern writing and Martin and Rude on art.