Interview With Jason Copland
(November 2013)

Jason Copland is a Canadian artist who will be working on DAREDEVIL #33, which ships in a few weeks. Here we chat about being a fan of DD and what it's like for him to work on his favourite Marvel character. Many thanks to Mr. Copland!

Kuljit Mithra: It's been about a week now since the announcement about your work on DAREDEVIL #33. I don't know if you remember or not, but I met you at the Toronto show and immediately saw how big of a Daredevil fan you were. This must be exciting for you and it must have been very difficult to keep this news to yourself.

Jason Copland: There is no other book on the stands that I am a bigger fan of than Daredevil, so getting this opportunity to draw him is huge for me. Keeping it a secret was one of the hardest things I've had to do in comics, so far.

Mithra: Is the Daredevil character the main interest for you, or is it the creators who have worked on the title, like Miller etc.?

Copland: It's a solid mix of both the character of Daredevil and the creators that have worked on the title. The Miller run of DD was one of the reasons I wanted to draw comics. I'm also a huge fan of Mark Waid, Chris Samnee and Javier Rodriguez's run that getting to work with them on DD is a dream come true.

Mithra: What was it about Miller's work that drew you in, and do you see any of his influence in your work?

Copland: I think the thing that I really liked about Frank Miller's run on DD was the tone of the book he brought to it. I really like books that have a heavy crime noir/street-smart feel to them. I didn't really consider Daredevil a "super hero" once Miller took over the book. The world building that Miller did was incredible. He wrote the characters in shades of gray and made them far more interesting. Plus, you know, he created Elektra and the Hand! How can you not love that?

Mithra: Can you go over how you got involved with the issue? Had you been submitting samples to Marvel, or did they call you out of the blue?

Copland: I got an email from [editor] Stephen Wacker right out of the blue. I'm not sure if he remembered me from some samples I sent him well over a year ago or if it was just blind luck of my name being drawn out of a hat. It was probably the latter. I think that Mark Waid might have been the one to suggest me to Stephen, though. Mark and I have been talking about working together in some capacity for a while now. I never would have dreamed it would be on a Daredevil issue, though!

Mithra: It's funny that the first artwork I ever saw of yours was the Daredinosaur (or is it Dinodaredevil?) that you drew and it's the reason I sought you out at the show. Then I saw all your DD and Elektra prints and picked those up as well. For those that haven't seen your work before, what's the quick Jason Copland bio?

Copland: I started in comics doing work for a number of really cool anthologies as a way to get work out there and to meet likeminded creators. A couple of the anthologies I have work in, like Postcards and Trickster, were nominated for Eisner awards. I then started working on a web comic with Michael May called Kill All Monsters. While drawing KAM I was also doing short story work with people like Ed Brisson, Todd Dezago and Chuck Dixon. I've done a handful of short stories for the FUBAR anthologies, too. I.ve had backup features in some Image books but Daredevil was my first major work with a larger publisher.

Mithra: Obviously you can't give too many details about the issue itself, but from the preview you get to draw some cool monsters. How has it been working with the DD team and did you feel any kind of intimidation now that you're going to be part of DD history?

Copland: Oh man! You want to talk about pressure? Try coming onto a critically loved book created by top notch creators that are firing on all cylinders! Drawing this issue of DD was an amazing experience. Everyone involved were super supportive and they made me feel like a part of the team immediately, which was very cool. Artistically, I felt pretty good once I got about 3 pages in.

Mithra: Did you have to adjust your style at all to make it "similar" to Chris Samnee's style for the issue?

Copland: I was lucky as I was working from layouts that Chris did for the whole issue. I tightened up the layouts and moved a few things around but the pacing was all Chris. I did adjust my inking a bit to try and fit what Chris does on the book, though. I started to feel like I was inking more like "me" once I hit page 7.

Mithra: You mentioned Kill All Monsters before... How has the experience been with Kickstarter and the project?

Copland: The Kill All Monsters Kickstarter was a huge success. Not only did we cover all our expenses but we got the book into a lot of people's hands, which was a major goal of ours. Michael did most of the heavy lifting for the Kickstarter as I'm Canadian and I couldn't run the campaign. The organizing and mailing of all the rewards is a pretty big job but I think we handled it pretty well. When we do the Kill All Monsters Kickstarter for Volume 2, we'll be better prepared for all the work that comes after the book is funded.

Mithra: Now that you've got some experience in the Marvel world, do you want to explore more work with them, or do you want to do some kind of balance between your own work and work for other companies?

Copland: I'd love to do more work at Marvel. I have a real fondness for Marvel characters and feel that I would bring an interesting style to the table. Having said that, I'm going to be drawing some exciting work-for-hire stuff for a very cool publisher and I have a few creator owned pitches circulating at various publishers. And, of course, I'll be drawing more Kill All Monsters!

Mithra: And last question... what conventions are next for you? I'm guessing there will be some new DD artwork for sale!

Copland: I'll be attending a number of shows in 2014. Emerald City Comicon, Heroes, Fan Expo Vancouver and Rose City are all confirmed. I hope to add a few more shows like C2E2 and Fan Expo Canada but those are still in the planning stage.

As for DD artwork, I'm not sure I'll sell these DD pages. I will have a few new Daredevil prints for sale, though!

DAREDEVIL #33 Preview

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(c) 2013 Kuljit Mithra & Jason Copland
Daredevil:The Man Without Fear
http://www.manwithoutfear.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Read more interviews!

40th Anniversary
Ben Abernathy
Jesus Aburtov
Martin Ahlgren
Alejandro Arbona
Jose Guns Alves
Mahmud Asrar
Dick Ayers
Jonathan Barron
Thomas Baxter
Brian Michael Bendis
Black and White
Haden Blackman
Randy Bowen
Alan Brennert
Chris Brewster
Chris Brewster (2)
Ed Brubaker
Steve Buccellato
Bob Budiansky
Danny Bulanadi
John Byrne
Harry Candelario
Joe Caramagna
Sergio Cariello
Karina Casiano
Don Castro
Bernard Chang
Marco Checchetto
Dan Chichester
Dan Chichester (2)
Holly Cinnamon
Gene Colan
Hector Collazo
Jason Copland
Matt Costello
Alan Cowsill
Charlie Cox
Greg Cox
Paul Crilley
Daredevil '83
Daredevil V3
Matt Deangelis
Keith DeCandido
Tom DeFalco
Roberto De La Torre
Rafael De Latorre
J.M. DeMatteis
Kim DeMulder
Brian Denham
Sunita Deshpande
Will Devokees
Netho Diaz
Jack DiFalco
Carmine Di Giandomenico
Cori Dioquino
Josie DiVincenzo
Chuck Dixon
Scott Dunbier
Kieron Dwyer
B. Earl
Tommy Lee Edwards
Elastic
Elektra Hand Devil
Steve Englehart
Fall From Grace
Tito Faraci
James Felder
Karin Fong
Tim Flattery
Justin F. Gabrie
Christos Gage
Ron Garney
Pat Garrahy
Stefano Gaudiano
Uri Geller
Matt Gerald
Steve Gerber
Eric Michael Gillett
Christopher Golden
Steven Grant
Devin K. Grayson
Peter Halpin
Larry Hama
Cully Hamner
John Patrick Hayden
Jason Henderson
Stephen E. Henderson
Glenn Herdling
David Hine
Matt Hollingsworth
Caleb Howard
Dave Hunt
Alex Huynh
Ray Iannicelli
Alex Irvine & Tomm Coker
Tony Isabella
Richard Isanove
Chris Ivy
John Jennings
Danny Johnson
Mark Steven Johnson
Dan Jurgens
Farid Karami
Joe Kelly
Karl Kesel
Lauren Mary Kim
Daniel Kish
Jim Krueger
Aaron Kuder
Chloë Levine
Ryan K. Lindsay
David Liss
Scott Lobdell
Jeph Loeb
Wes Louie
Tom Lyle
David Mack
Jed MacKay
Clay Mann
J. Mallory-McCree
Jason Martin
Vatche Mavlian &
Brett Matthews

Shane McCarthy &
Martin Redmond

Matthew McCurdy
Scott McDaniel
Luke McDonnell
Manny Mederos
Jon Mefford
Stuart Moore
Richard K. Morgan
Tony Naumovski
Yvonne Navarro
Eddy Newell
Fabian Nicieza
Nikolai Nikolaeff
Ann Nocenti
Cary Nord
Mike Oeming
Ariel Olivetti
Denny O'Neil
John Ostrander
Jimmy Palmiotti
George Papadimatos
Ande Parks
Seth Peck
Khoi Pham
John Pirkis
Joe Quesada
Ben Raab
Bill Reinhold
Graeme Revell
Madeleine Robins
Robert Rodi
Javier Rodriguez
J.G. Roshell
John Rozum
Matt Ryan
Reza Salazar
Tony Salmons
Salgood Sam
Chris Samnee
David Sarrio
#SaveDaredevil
Christie Scheele
Lalit Kumar Sharma
Nandita Shenoy
Peter Shinkoda
Jim Shooter
Bill Sienkiewicz
Thony Silas
Warren Simons
Walt Simonson
Marc Siry
Elsa Sjunneson
Suzanne H. Smart
Kevin Smith
Spoken Comics
Will Stout
Stephen D. Sullivan
Billy Tan
Chris Tardio
Scott Terra
Ben Torres
Tim Tuohy
Josh Turi
Kate Udall
Susan Varon
Ron Wagner
Mark Waid
Lee Weeks
Lee Weeks (2)
Loren Weeks
Zeb Wells
Phil Winslade
Arden Wolfe
Marv Wolfman
Gregory Wright
Paul Young
Chip Zdarsky
Chip Zdarsky (2)
Chip Zdarsky (3)
Chip Zdarsky (4)
Chip Zdarsky (5)
Zachary Zirlin



 
COMICS: Volume 1 | Volume 2 | Volume 3 | Volume 4 | Volume 5 | Volume 6 | Volume 7 | Volume 8 | Annuals | Appearances | Costumes | Digital Comics | Hardcovers | Key Issues | Logos | Origin | Price Guide | Recommended | Reviews | Secret Identity | Sales Data | Titles | Trades | Untold Tales

CREATORS: Cover Artists | Inkers | Pencillers | Writers

MEDIA: Actors | Books | Cartoons | Computer Fun! | Movies | Music | Pictures | Sightings | Sketches | Video Games | Wallpapers

FANS: Fan Art | Fan Costumes | Fan Custom Figures | Fan Fiction | Fan Films | Fan Guitars | Fan Tattoos
 

 

Daredevil (and other related characters appearing) and the distinctive likenesses are Trademarks of Marvel Characters, Inc. and are used WITHOUT permission.
Copyright © 2024 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Visit Marvel.com.
www.manwithoutfear.com is owned and operated by Kuljit Mithra. Web site is © Kuljit Mithra 1996-2024.

Keep up to the date with your trusted Daredevil source ManWithoutFear.com on and