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Cliff Richards: The Art of Slaying

For those of you who have been living in a crypt for the last few years, Cliff Richards is the penciller extraordinaire of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer monthly series from Dark Horse, as well as the artist on the new Buffy mini, Haunted. Cliff has been strutting his stuff in the pages of Buffy for some time now, showing an excellent ability to do likenesses of the shows characters, without sacrificing any of the natural flow or look of the book to satisfy some star's bruised ego. In fact, Cliff is one of the reasons that the Buffy series has quickly become one of my few must read titles every month, and I'm rarely disappointed in what I see. He's consistent, on time and a stand up guy to boot.

The following interview with Mr. Richards was conducted in November of 2001, and in it we talked briefly about how he got his start in the biz, and discuss, pretty thoroughly, his Buffy work, past present and future. Cliff also drops a hint or two about some of his upcoming non-Buffy work for Dark Horse, mostly involving some Jedi's and an ancient Egyptian warrior king.

MIKE JOZIC: What sort of work were you doing prior to getting the Buffy series, and how did you eventually end up working there for Dark Horse?

CLIFF RICHARDS: I was drawing two books called Angel Heat (not Buffy´s Angel) and illustrations for educational books when Dave Campiti (my agent) asked me to do some samples for Dark Horse´s Buffy, and then I got the job. Now, I'm really happy to work with Scott Allie and his writers, inkers, and
colourist - it's great to play with such a team.

JOZIC: I am unfamiliar with Angel Heat. Could you talk a bit about what the book was about?

RICHARDS: That was about an angel gal who fell into a teenage boy´s bedroom. They fell in love, but Satan discovered her existence and persecuted them. I don't know how the story ends.

JOZIC: Did you leave the project early and move on to bigger things or did the series never see its conclusion?

RICHARDS: Actually the book never got an end although, even today, the folks that wrote the project talk about releasing it again.

JOZIC: Was Angel Heat something that folks would have seen up here?

RICHARDS: I really don't know if the readers would find any examples of the book up there but if they make it I think they could like it.

JOZIC: Your art style has changed somewhat from when you started out on the series. Lately, it appears more angular than in, say, the "Blood of Carthage" story. Is this just your natural development as an artist, or were you making a conscious move towards the newer look?

RICHARDS: I´m always trying to improve my style, so the only conscious move is to do better work. You´ll probably see another change in future works.

JOZIC: Scott Allie said in an interview, "The license took a major turn for the better when Cliff Richards signed on for Buffy." What's your take on that?

RICHARDS: I think people from Fox liked the likenesses I did for the book a lot. That's one of my best skills. Maybe it´s hard to find comics artists who do it well. The people at Fox were happy when they got what they wanted.

JOZIC: I think it is difficult to find someone who can do the likenesses and make an exciting, kinetic story come alive on the page. Did you find that you had any trouble in the beginning, or were you pretty much comfortable with the material from the get-go?

RICHARDS: I'm really comfortable drawing it now, but it wasn´t so easy in the first issues. Now it's just a lot of fun, drawing the characters in action scenes and making them look pretty much like the actors from the show.

JOZIC: Does the television show act as a guide for you when you are laying out your pages? Do you try to capture the same sort of direction and look in your work?

RICHARDS: Sure! I get to know well the characters and places that appear on the show and try to capture the way actors play their characters.

JOZIC: Not only are you doing the regular series artwork, you're also involved in the upcoming Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Haunted mini written by Jane Espenson. Do you have time for all this work?

RICHARDS: I can do two books in a month without too much rush. I draw both with the same care, without letting the quality of the artwork gets down.

JOZIC: Were you aware that you were able to do two books a month, or was taking on Haunted a bit of a risk for you?

RICHARDS: I knew I could do two issues a month, but it wasn´t as easy as I thought. In the first couple issues I was a little worried about the deadlines, but after I did it on time without rushing, I was more confident that things would be all right.

JOZIC: I should probably be bugging Jane about this, but can you give a little background for the Haunted mini? It's a Faith story, right?

RICHARDS: Yup! That was my only chance to draw Faith. The story took place immediately after the end of season three when the Scooby gang leaves the high school.

JOZIC: What can readers expect from upcoming issues of Buffy? How far ahead have you guys worked out the stories?

RICHARDS: The books will keep following the show a bit, so the readers that also watch the TV show would see lots of common stuff like in past issues of the book. That´s the only thing I know about future stories

JOZIC: Are there any Buffy projects other than the regular monthly and Haunted that you can spill the beans on?

RICHARDS: There are always some extra stories coming along with the regular book as the readers can see in Dark Horse Presents and elsewhere, but I don´t know if there is another Buffy mini-series that must come to me.

JOZIC: Do you try to keep up with the other Buffy related books like Angel and Fray?

RICHARDS: As a matter of fact, I don´t! It´s hard to get issues from the other books down here. I just got a few issues of the crossover with Buffy and Angel. But the idea of a futuristic slayer looks very cool to me.

JOZIC: Will you be contributing anything to future issues of the Tales of the Slayer anthology?

RICHARDS: Well…I really don´t know at this point.

JOZIC: I am really loving your covers on the series. What sort of process do you go through when putting one together?

RICHARDS: Basically, Scott throws me some notes about the covers, so I do the sketches, and then he and his art director suggest changes and details. I do the lay-outs and when the thing is approved I send finished pencils to
the inkers. Then Dave does the excellent colour work you see.

JOZIC: So, the covers are actually done before you get the scripts?

RICHARDS: Often I get synopsis of the series that I´ll draw and sometimes Scott sends me the complete description of the cover as he wants it.

JOZIC: Dave McCaig is currently my favourite colourist in the industry and I love the stuff he's doing with your artwork on the series. Do you have any say or
influence over that end of the process, or do you just trust Dave enough to run with it?

RICHARDS: I trust him a lot, he can do whatever he thinks is best. Just once I´ve asked him to colour a character in a particular way (Yuki from the False Memories).

JOZIC: Were you a fan of the Buffy television show prior to working on the book?

RICHARDS: When I first saw the TV show I didn´t know there was a comic book, but I loved it at first sight. Now I watch it for pleasure and for work. Isn´t it a great job?

JOZIC: Did you get a chance to watch the Buffy musical episode, "Once More With Feeling"?

RICHARDS: Unfortunately I didn´t, but now that you've mention it, I'll ask Scott to get me a copy.

JOZIC: You've actually gone through a few different writing teams during your time on Buffy. Is there a shift for you in how you would approach the book when that happens, or is the transition pretty smooth?

RICHARDS: Although the writers have different ways to tell stories, the transition is easy to me. I´ve enjoyed working with all of them.

JOZIC: Who is your favourite character on the show and/or to draw?

RICHARDS: I like drawing Buffy because I´ve been doing that a long time, so she's very easy for me. But I like Spike a lot too.

JOZIC: What is the hardest part of working on the Buffy books?

RICHARDS: Well, there´s a lot of dialogue in the book, and I prefer to draw action scenes rather than talking head scenes. It´s much more fun when I get to go wild on fighting panels or do big splash pages.

JOZIC: I've noticed that you guys are working a season behind the television series in the comics. Is there a greater purpose at work here, or is that just where the Buffy people - or Tom and Jim, for that matter - want things set?

RICHARDS: Since I´ve started on the book we work behind the TV show. Actually I never knew if there was any technical reason for that.

JOZIC: You have illustrated stories by writers from all of Buffy's incarnations: Golden from the novels, Espenson from the show and the comic series' current writing team of Fassbender and Pascoe. Do you prefer one writing background over another, or does it have little bearing on your stuff?

RICHARDS: It doesn´t affect my work, except for that part about action scenes and talking scenes. Anyway, I´ve enjoyed working on the latest books with Tom and Jim. They help me a lot with details and references for what they want to see in the panels.

JOZIC: What has been your favourite Buffy story to work on so far?

RICHARDS: I always like the latest work I do rather than the prior ones. I think that it´s because I notice the improvement. But if there´s one to nominate, I´ll say that the one that was the most fun to work on was the latest, False Memories.

JOZIC: In the letter column Scott Allie also said that False Memories was his favourite story to work on. Why is it such a favourite for you guys?

RICHARDS: The recipe works pretty well: Tom and Jim write a great story. They let me know exactly what they want and give me chance to do cool panels. The two inkers (Joe Pimentel and Will Conrad) do a great job, too, and then Dave colours the pages so beautifully that the final result enchants us all. We're very proud about the books.

JOZIC: Will Buffy be the place to go for anyone looking for Cliff Richards artwork in the foreseeable future, or do you have any plans of moving on beyond the franchise and trying your hand at some other comic book work?

RICHARDS: I changed my style day by day. The work I did or will do for Buffy is just one of the various ways I draw. I've also got a Scorpion King miniseries and a big Star Wars series coming up this year. My only plan for the future is to keep doing what I feel most comfortable with: Drawing. I hope that's good news for the fans. I hate when my favourite artist stops drawing a book.

JOZIC: Can you talk a bit more about the Scorpion King and Star Wars projects or are they kind of hush-hush at the moment?

RICHARDS: Scorpion King will be the first time Scott and I work together as writer and penciller. The books are a prequel to Universals The Mummy Returns and their new Scorpion King. I think the books will please everybody. All I know about the Star Wars story is that it's about Darth Vader (aka Anakin Skywalker), but I can say that I´m honoured to work on a Star Wars story - everybody loves them.

JOZIC: How did you come across the Star Wars and Mummy assignments?

RICHARDS: I´m always asking Scott to get me more jobs (I´m probably a pain in the neck. Sorry Scott!), so when he needs someone to do likenesses with action he calls me, and then I leave him alone for a short time.

JOZIC: Have you seen a script from Scott for the Scorpion King yet?

RICHARDS: I´ve just gotten the first issue´s script now. I´m going to start to work on it right after finishing our interview, but I can tell you by now that it´ll be amazing.

JOZIC: Who were some of the major influences on you and your work, within or outside of the comic field?

RICHARDS: Alex Raymond, John Buscema, Neal Adams, Richard Corben, Milo Manara, Moebius, Boris Vallejo, Hajime Sorayama, and many others that I don't have room to name. All these guys have influenced me in some way, since I was a kid. You can say that they made me want to be an artist like them.

JOZIC: What artists are you enjoying at the moment?

RICHARDS: There´s a lot of artists in the market whose work I like, but my favourites are Alex Ross, Adam Hughes, Stuart Immonen, Mike Mignola, and Travis Charest.

JOZIC: Are you reading any comic books yourself?

RICHARDS: As much as I love comic books, I'm not having time to read many books right now. When I get the chance I read as much as I can, any kind or style.

JOZIC: Living in Brazil, does distance ever cause any problems for you or has the electronic age made it just as convenient for you as living up North?

RICHARDS: Thanks to e-mail, fax, and Fedex, I can work with people up there without any problem, just like we're doing this interview. The only problem is that I can't meet my workmates at a bar after a day of work. Actually, I've never been in the US, but I intend to go there for the next San Diego or Chicago conventions. Hopefully I'll see you up there.


	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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