On Monday Hero Initiative, the charity dedicated to helping comic book creators in medical or financial need, added a new series of live experiences featuring comics pros providing question-and-answer sessions, tutorials, and original art in Zoom online webconference rooms to a limited number of fans.
Of the ten new events that went on sale Monday, five are already sold out.
There’s still some open chairs for writer/artist Dave Gibbons’ 40-minute session at noon ET on Friday, April 24 available for purchase at Hero Initiative’s website.
Like fellow week two participants Mark Waid and Scott Snyder, we recently connected with Gibbons to ask about participating in this fundraiser to help his comic book colleagues in need, comic books and coronavirus, and we even snuck in a question about DC’s recently-completed Doomsday Clock event, based of course on Gibbons and Alan Moore’s landmark series Watchmen.
Newsarama: Dave, there’s a lot of fundraising going on out there, including numerous artists and creators auctioning things off and providing their services to benefit comic book stores, including the #creators4comics effort. Why’d you choose to do a Hero Initiative benefit right now?
Dave Gibbons: When you’re in difficult times there are large charities and large endeavors that need to be supported if you can, but you also need to look out for your own. And certainly Hero Initiative does look after my own – our own – the comic book writers and artists who have brought us so much pleasure in the past, who inspired us and continue to inspire us.
I think we should do whatever we can to look out for them. A lot of them are from the era before royalty fees and reprint fees. I think it’s imperative to do what we can to help Hero. And in my particular case, to sit and talk and answer questions is something I enjoy doing anyway, so it’s a very easy way to raise some money.
Nrama: So what kinds of things can fans look forward to and request during your upcoming Hero Initiative live experience?
Gibbons: Basically, the idea is to give the fans the chance to ask whatever questions they’ve always wanted to ask about me. I’ve done a few interviews over the years, but I daresay there are still areas that some people are interested in getting more detail on. I’ll try and answer everything. Obviously there are some areas I’ll try to stick to over others, but I’m looking forward to a very straightforward, honest one-on-one interview.
Nrama: Generally speaking, how has your work been affected by the coronavirus shutdown? Upcoming work? Con appearances? Has it hit you directly from a professional perspective?
Gibbons: I’m a rather elder statesman these days, and I don’t really do anything like the amount of work I used to so it hasn’t had a huge impact on me, I’m very fortunate in that. But I do like to have something cooking.
What I’ve been working on lately are some designs and story work for a video game called Beyond a Steel Sky, published by Revolution Software. I’ve done character designs, story work, and general art direction, and it’s shaping up really well. It’s the sequel to a game we did in the 90s. But now instead of little pixelated sprites running around a flat background, it’s now fully 3D rendered, full surround sound – a really immersive experience.
That’s been a good thing to work on because we can still teleconference and share materials back and forth. So from that point of view, my work is carrying on pretty much as it was.
Nrama: If we may indulge ourselves while we have the pleasure of your ear, now that DC’s Doomsday Clock concluded a few months back, any final thoughts on the execution of it all?
Gibbons: What I always say about these kind of Watchmen add-ons is I always say nothing, or I say everything – and I haven’t got time to say everything and get into the nuance of it, so I’ll say nothing. I think Gary Frank is a really great artist, but apart from that it’s maybe better for me not to comment. Not to say Geoff Johns is a shabby writer, but I particularly like Gary’s artwork. See, once you get talking it’s easy to get deeper and deeper.
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Fans can ask Gibbons about Doomsday Clock or Watchmen themselves Friday. Creators participating in Week 2 events (April 23 – May 1) with availability include Gibbons, Brian Azzarello, John McCrea, Ron Marz and Steve Borock.
For more information visit www.heroinitiative.org or www.heroinitiative.org/merchandise/.