Comic Con

Two stars, two generations

By GARRETT MARTIN

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The Boston Comic Con returns on November 2nd with two guests of honor: Bernie Wrightson, the legendary horror artist, cinematic creature designer and co-creator of DC's Swamp Thing; and Peter Laird, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator/multimedia empire steward, whose Xeric Foundation has granted over a million dollars to aspiring cartoonists since 1992. The Dig talked to both about their work in and out of comics.

HOW DID YOU BREAK INTO COMICS?

BERNIE WRIGHTSON: It was pretty easy. I just went to a comic book convention in New York and showed my work to anyone who would look at it. Eventually folks at DC saw it and offered me a job.

PETER LAIRD: After college, I tried to get a portfolio review at Marvel. It didn't happen; I didn't realize at the time that these things need to be arranged in advance. As it turned out, my comics career took a completely unexpected turn when I collaborated with Kevin Eastman on the TNMT comic.

BERNIE, HOW WAS WORKING FOR DC IN THE '60S AND '70S?

BW: Great! It was like a big family. A lot of the editors were also artists. I had been a fan of their work, like Joe Orlando and Carmine Infantino. It was an honor to work with them.

PETER, HOW HARD WAS IT TO PUT OUT AN INDEPENDENT COMIC IN THE '80S?

PL: The system was well established by the time we published the first issue. However, it took us a while to learn the ropes; we'd never been involved with the business at that level before. It's a bit simpler these days. There's one distributor now, whereas when we started, there were six or seven.

YOU BOTH STARTED IN COMICS. HOW DOES THE INDUSTRY COMPARE TO HOLLYWOOD?

PL: One major difference between working on stories for TV or film and the comics is that, except for the drawing, the comics take less time. Although the primary focus in crafting the scripts for the TV show is telling good stories, we had to keep in mind that the show supported the merchandising. We would try to bring in as many elements of the toy line as possible without compromising the stories. With the comics, that was never an issue.

BW: I love doing comics, it's the freest medium to work in. I'm left alone—no office, no art director or editor. I'm free to do what I want.

WHAT WORK ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF?

BW: I think the Frankenstein book is the best work I've done. The new reprint is a big, beautiful, gorgeous edition.

PL: Probably the original run of the Turtles, as that was about as pure as possible an expression of whatever creativity Kevin and I had inside us. On a different level, I am very proud of the Xeric Foundation and what it has helped people accomplish.

BOSTON COMIC CON

SUNDAY 11.2.08

BACK BAY EVENTS CENTER

180 BERKELEY ST.

BACK BAY, BOSTON

508.320.1440

10AM-5PM/ALL AGES/$10

CHILDREN UNDER 10 FREE

BOSTONCOMICCON.COM