RCMG - RAGING CHEETAH MEDIA GROUP

ALE GARZA
SUPERSTAR ARTIST TALKS WITH RAGING CHEETAH AT SDCC 2007

July.28.2007
By Alan Y. Shih
Staff Writer

San Diego Comic-Con, San Diego, CA - Alé Garza has been a busy man. Since smashing into the comics industry as an ultra-talented member of Jim Lee's Wildstorm studio, he's been hard at work establishing himself as a comic book wunder kind. You may have seen some of his artistic flair in titles like GEN 13, BATGIRL and most recently SUPERGIRL. And readers can look forward to seeing his pencilwork on the cover of TEEN TITANS #50, after which he will take over art chores beginning with TEEN TITANS #51. Raging Cheetah had the good fortune of catching up with Mr. Garza at the San Diego Comic-Con.

RC: Alé, how’s it going?
Alé: It’s been going great. Obviously this convention just seems to grow bigger and bigger each year. I’ve been doing it for close to twelve years now, so I’ve seen it when it was a quarter of this size. And to see it as big as it is now, it’s just amazing and exciting to see how much interest there is in everything that’s going on as far as pop culture goes.

RC: Where is your studio based?
Alé: Right now I’m actually living up in Napa Valley, but I am in the process of moving back down here to Del Mar, and that’s where I’ll be functioning out of.

RC: Sometime soon, in 2007 or 2008?
Alé: Actually by the end of August I’ll be back down here in San Diego.

RC: Very nice. Now, your web blog – you haven’t updated that in a while. What’s going on?
Alé: [Smiles.] Honestly, I haven’t even really been grounded in one place long enough to really sit down and even sit at my computer and really do much of anything, so…

RC: Just touring around?
Alé: Just touring around, just kind of living like a little bit of an artist here and there, just discovering things. But I would say within the next two to three months I’ll probably be getting it going again and possibly even starting a new blog with the new studio that I’m associating myself with, which was announced earlier today.

RC: Okay, and which studio is that?
Alé:Aspen.

RC:Aspen Comics, fantastic!
Alé: [Nods.]

RC: You just finished your run on SUPERGIRL. Looking back, how was that?
Alé: It was great! I’d been waiting to draw Supergirl for a long time. I really wanted to put my mark on the character, so obviously I went in, putzed around with her belt, messed with her hair, and gave her a headband in the last issue that I drew, which kinda got some people’s interest and even had [writer] Joe Kelly kinda crack on me a little bit in the script. But it was all in good fun and – I mean – I love the character. She’s probably one of my favorite DC characters, so I’m also excited to still be drawing her in TEEN TITANS.

RC: So along those lines, with TEEN TITANS, you’re shifting to a group setting. How is that for you and your particular preference. Do you like doing the solo character, the group characters…
Alé: For me it’s kind of… it can work both ways, either or. I mean, obviously drawing a book with a single character doesn’t pose as much, I guess, plain-out drawing, but the fun of drawing a team book is you get to draw a lot of character interaction, and you get to play with their emotions more and really develop how these fictional characters exist with one another. So that in itself is fun. And I grew up reading team books like THE X-MEN and TEEN TITANS, and stuff like that. So it’s, I would say it’s equal both ways. It really depends on the character or characters that you’re drawing.

RC: Having said that though, your favorite Teen Titan to draw is…
Alé: Mine? I’ve always loved drawing Robin, just because, I dunno, I like messing with his hair and things like that. When I drew him in BATGIRL, I played with his mask and made him look almost like a “comic-booky” version of the cartoon version. And now I’m drawing him a little more adult-looking, a little more, I guess, modernesque… a little bit more with the times as far as the way his style and his demeanor are portrayed.

RC: Very nice. For our readers out there, give me your ten year outlook, your ten year plan. Where’s Ale Garza going to be?
Alé: [Smiles.] I really have no idea. Honestly I’ll be lucky if I’m still alive in ten years. [Laughs.] No, well, obviously I have TEEN TITANS right now on the docket, and as announced earlier today, next year I will be doing the third installment of the FATHOM series with Mike [Turner of Aspen]. Hopefully somewhere down the road I’ll get my hands on SPIDER-MAN, which would be my ultimate goal, because that was the book I grew up loving, and at some point also drawing some X-MEN stuff. I mean, obviously I’ve been with DC for the past ten years. To mix it up with Marvel sometime in the next ten years would really be fun and exciting.

RC: So relations with all the major publishers out there – Marvel, DC – all pretty positive?
Alé: Yeah, for the most part. I don’t think I really went out of my way to burn any bridges. So, I mean, I’m a cuddly little creature, and people tend to put up with a lot from me, but y’know I love the people at DC, all the people that work there. And as far as the internal system goes, they’re all great. Not really too familiar with anyone at Marvel at this point, but I’m hoping to get up in there and meet some people and kind of establish myself as one of the top artists in the business.

RC: You’re certainly well on your way towards that. Alright, last question. We’re at the third of a four day convention… (Not counting Preview Night.)
Alé: [Nods.] Yeah.

RC: The rest of your plans for San Diego. Are you going to get around, check out Petco Park or the rest of the city?
Alé: Well, for the most part I’ve been in San Diego for the past ten, eleven years working at Wildstorm, so… honestly, right now I’ve just been taking it easy, been resting. This is probably the first con that I’ve been at where I don’t go out drinking every night, so… [Laughs.] Tonight will be my first night to let loose, just kinda like going to hang out with friends, see the sights... downtown life.

RC: Thank you very much, Mr. Alé Garza.
Alé: Thanks.

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