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Keron Grant: Iron Giant

The first time I was made aware of the name Keron Grant was at the 2000 San Diego ComiCon. Rob Liefeld was giving away free previews of an upcoming mini-series called Century that, although it never saw the light of day, featured a young artist I had never heard of before. I really like what I saw of Keron’s stuff, and I was sorry to see (or, rather, not see) Century materialize, falling predictably into Awesome’s scheduling limbo. Still, after seeing his work in that preview, I decided to keep an eye out for this guy in the future.

It was some time before I saw his work again (although I will admit to not looking too terribly hard), but he eventually did pop up on my radar again about six months ago when I noticed his name on an issue of Marvel Comics’ Iron Man. Apparently he had picked up the gig with issue #41 and had taken to the busy task of putting pictures to Frank Tieri’s words, chronicling the continuing adventures of playboy billionaire, Tony Stark.

Unfortunately, his time on the series would not be a lengthy one.

I interviewed Keron via e-mail about his work on the book Iron Man, his reasons for leaving after only 7 issues, and some other assorted miscellany that you’ll have to read the interview to find out what it is…

MIKE JOZIC: The last I saw your stuff was in the Century preview at the San Diego ComiCon last year, and the next thing I know, you're drawing Iron Man over at Marvel. Could you maybe fill in the blanks of what you were doing between the two projects, and how you eventually landed the Iron Man gig?

KERON GRANT: Well I did pretty much 3 issues of Century which may never see print. After that I needed to get away from those people so I did a couple online comics for The Matrix website, which can be found at what is the matrix.com. After doing this, Rob Stull (the inker on the Matrix stuff) brought that stuff over to show Bobbie Chase, who was looking for a new artist on Iron Man, and the rest is history.

JOZIC: How difficult was it for you to redesign the Iron Man armour? Even though Tony changes the thing every couple of years or so, fans still seem to treat it as if it is a very big deal, and react accordingly.

GRANT: I felt very privileged and fortunate to be adding to the long line of great Iron Man artist and design. I'm typically predisposed to do things radically different, therefore my initial ideas for this were very strange. I wanted to challenge the perception of [the] futuristic, or challenge peoples expectations of the armour. In the end the editors and I came to a good compromise. However, I think it was still a bit timid of a design.

Now, looking at it in comparison with the previous armour it is pretty radical.

JOZIC: Were you an Iron Man fan prior to getting the assignment?

GRANT: Actually I was a fan of the concept of the character, however I never collected any of the books. I normally follow artist instead of certain characters. In turn I become fond of characters who've been drawn by my favourite artists.

JOZIC: I've heard that in issue #50 the new creative team of Mike Grell and Michael Ryan will debut, effectively ending your run on the book. Was the decision to move on an editorial one and out of your hands, or were you and Frank ready to leave the book?

GRANT: It was definitely an editorial decision for me. I'm not sure on Frank's situation.

JOZIC: After #49, how will you look back at your brief run on Iron Man?

GRANT: Unfortunately, I wont make it to 49, My last issue will be 47.

I am very proud of the run. I think Frank has some amazing ideas and I'm glad I had a chance to depict some of them. I wish I had a chance to become fully synchronized with the elements of the character and the book. Too bad; maybe I would have gone too far, perhaps isolating all the fans of the book, or maybe the work would have rivalled the pyramids or the Sistine Chapel.

JOZIC: What would be your advice to the new artist moving in?

GRANT: Do what makes him happy.

JOZIC: The new, and final, storyline for you and Frank, "Frankenstein Syndrome", has just hit the stands and I was wondering if you could reveal anything about where the sentient armour story is going to end up?

JOZIC: I wont be doing the last issue of that, so I cannot answer that question.

JOZIC: Do you know what your final issue will be about?

GRANT:The last issue is about Iron Man fighting about Ten versions of the Sentient Armour. It's pretty fun stuff.

JOZIC: Now, you've also mentioned the work you had done for Spencer Lamm, contributing two stories to the growing number of Matrix Comix over on Warner's Matrix website. How did you get hooked up with that, and what was that experience like?

GRANT: The experience was a dream. I really love working with Spencer. He has this crazy tendency in allowing the artist to do what the artist does best.

JOZIC: Your second outing was scripted by Ted McKeever, right?

GRANT: It was pretty much a plot of Ted's from which I worked. Unfortunately, he was unavailable to script the story after I got it done. Therefore, I had to.

JOZIC: Do you actually prefer working solo, like you did on the Saga story, or collaborating with others like Ted?

GRANT: I find pleasure in both ways. I find it more comforting though, when I have to rely on myself. I think the work is best when I'm allowed to do everything.

JOZIC: Do you have any plans to do more Matrix Comix?

GRANT: Hopefully I get a chance to work with them again.

JOZIC: In his Robservations column over at SpinnerRack.com, Rob Liefeld has said of you (and I paraphrase), "Keron Grant is the real deal. His work is ahead of its time. There seems to be no angle too difficult to for him to express and his action is fast, furious and well choreographed. My only fear for Grant is that the comics industry won't be big enough to contain him and he'll be scooped up by game developers and animation companies looking to tap his considerable talents."

Considering some of the harsher criticisms I've read of your work recently, I was hoping I could get your response to Rob's comments.

GRANT I really appreciate Rob’s kind words. As far as the people who cannot understand my work, I think it usually takes a while in convincing people. I draw not by sight, but by faith. If a person appreciates my work, I am very proud of him. If they don't, well...

If you’re still looking for more of Keron’s work after Iron Man #47 comes and goes, be sure to watch for a manga-style Fantastic Four project he is currently developing Adam Warren.


	Mike Jozic has spent the last several years interviewing comic book creators and other entertainment related personalities for various publications. He has been published both online and in print, with his work appearing in The Comics Journal, FearsMag.com and Silver Bullet Comicbooks. He maintains his own website at www.meanwhile.net and currently serves as the Features Editor for SBC.

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