Clearly Having Fun: Ty Templeton

By Tim O'Shea

The launching of Marvel’s Spider-Man/Human Torch five-issue miniseries this past week afforded me the chance to interview industry veteran creator Ty Templeton. Templeton’s career is extremely diverse, dating back to the 1980s and his series, Stig’s Inferno. From there, as detailed at his website, he has enjoyed a successful career “writing and drawing some of the world's most popular comic books, ranging from Justice League to Superman to Batman Adventures as well as TV-associated comics for shows from Ren and Stimpy to Bob Newhart to The Simpsons”. In addition to discussing his role as artist on this new Marvel collaboration with writer Dan Slott, we also were able to discuss the road ahead for him creatively. SBC thanks Templeton for his time and as always witty as heck (name another creator that can make a joke using Sophie’s Choice) thoughts.

Tim O’Shea: How did this project first come together? Would a comparison to the Crosby/Hope road films be inappropriate? The first issue seems to strike a balance between comedy and adventure with the whole love interest/misunderstandings sideshow.

Ty Templeton: Well, to this day, I've never seen a Crosby Hope road picture, so if there's any comparison, it's entirely by accident as far as I'm concerned. The balance between comedy and adventure has been central to both my and Dan's work for the last little while, though. See Dan's She-Hulk, or my Plastic Man or Elongated Man comics for other examples...and some of the better Batmans had a good laugh in them.

This Spider-Torch project came together through the efforts of Mr. Slott, who had the basic idea on his own, and who pitched it at Marvel. He was nice enough to suggest me for the project and editor 'Voort [Tom Brevoort] was somehow hypnotized into accepting the idea.

O’Shea: Your Spider-Man and Human Torch both have distinctive looks (as do the supporting cast). Your Spidey seems to have a tinge of Romita Sr. mixed in with Jim Mooney, while I can't quite figure out who your FF and Torch remind me of most. Which artists (if any) had the greatest influence on your approach toward the characters?

Templeton: I'd say the artists contemporary to the story we're telling. For the first issue, I looked at a lot of Romita, Kirby, Ayers, Mooney (and a bit of Ditko, mostly for Jonah, Betty and May). I wasn't trying to ape any one specific artist, but trying to “fit in” to the style of the sixties Marvel books. As the series progresses, you should see touches of Andru, Buscema, Sinnot and Kane in issue #2, ...echoes of Byrne, Perez and Simonson in #3 and even bits of Macfarlane and Larsen and Paul Ryan in issue #4. We'll see how that turns out! I think issue #5 will be the only one done entirely in my own style...if I even have one at this point.

O’Shea: How much reading of the old comics did you do to get the vibe of the characters from that era of comics?

Templeton: That's exactly what we did for the first couple of issues. I got out my Romita and Kirby comics (and my Ayers Strange Tales) and tried to absorb them. I'd sketch poses and faces from the old comics to familiarize myself with the specific ways that these characters looked back then...haircuts, poses etc., and then I'd start laying out the figure work after studying the style. I never tried to do panel designs in an old fashioned way, but I was trying to keep the basic compositions and poses similar to the era. There's no swipes in the issue (you'd spot a swipe in a moment! I don't look THAT much like Kirby or Romita!) but there are a lot of pastiches.

O’Shea: What appeals to you most about the nature of these characters from an earlier time in their history?

Templeton: F.U.N. These were comics which were intended to be FUN. No one died, no one gets raped, no one betrays a loved one, no one makes "Sophie's Choice". It's all fun.

Of course, by issue three, that innocence will be lost as both Spidey and Torch will have suffered losses by that point in the lives. Did we mention that the whole mini is NOT stuck in the early years, but that each issue tells a story from a different time? I had to throw that in, in case folks were thinking this entire project is a silver age stunt.

O’Shea: Who came up with the whole series of reaction shots by Spidey to Paste-Pot Pete?

Templeton: The idea of Spidey laughing himself off his feet at Pete is in Dan's script. Like most Marvel comics, the artist is free to interpret or "act" the scene out, but the gag is basically Dan's.

O’Shea: I'm a longtime fan of your work, and in fact still miss the Avengers United work you did in the late 1990s. Is there any chance the Avengers will have a cameo in this five-part miniseries? Can you tease folks with info regarding other guest stars?

Templeton: Guest stars? You want guest stars? What, is Doctor Doom, Paste Pot Pete, The Thing, Mr. Fantastic, Mole Man, the Invisible Girl and the world's quickest Mysterio cameo not enough for a single issue?

Well never fear. We've got a barrel of guest stars coming up in the next couple of issues. More than I can draw, actually...including some Avengers, and some longjohns types who never made the team...and some of my FAVORITE Marvel villains of all time. I mean, even MORE favorite than Man-Wolf and the Kangaroo, (who will also appear.) But if you're sitting around waiting for Doc Ock or the Punisher or Galactus or Daredevil or the Inhumans or the Hulk or Luke Cage or Doctor Strange....then sit back, you'll probably get your wish one way or another.

Let me put it this way...we had to take the Black Widow out of issue #3 because there wasn't enough room for her. Dan and I like playing with the Marvel action figures, and we're tossing a gaggle at ya. (Do super-heroes travel in gaggles? Or is it schools, packs or prides?)

O’Shea: How has the collaborative effort grown and/or changed (for you and writer Slott) from the earlier collaboration on Batman Adventures?

Templeton: Well, we've been teaming up for a lot longer than that. Although Dan's currently being considered a new youngblood on the scene, we met when we did a Ren and Stimpy special together about 10 years ago, believe it or not, and have been collaborating in one way or another ever since. A couple of Superman scripts, a Dark Claw comic, some Looney Tunes, etc. and a pile of Batman comics have both our names on them, but more often than not, as a pair of writers, we call each other up to help out with scripts that we're credited for, solo. Dan will often help some scene in my stories make sense, or I'll give him an idea or two for his stuff. You might not see his byline on every script I write, but the odds are fairly high that Dan got to offer advice at some point during the creative process, or I did that for him.

My favorite version of that happened in Batman Adventures #16 (the Joker and Harley wedding issue). Originally, Dan was going to write that issue and I suggested he marry Joker and Harley as a fine farewell to the characters. Dan liked the idea, and he was in the middle of writing that story when commitments to She-Hulk and something else forced him to drop out of the scripting chores for the issue. I stepped in to write the story I'd originally suggested, but NOW, including some of the scenes and ideas that Dan had written for his pass at the script. The ending of my version was completely different from Dan's ending, even though some dialogue remained intact from Dan's version of the story. Confusing huh? Well, that sort of thing happens a lot.

So Dan is the writer on this Spidey-Torch series and I'm the art-monkey, but he's nice enough to let me toss in an idea here and there in the scripts, and he makes a number of layout suggestions that I often take up. And Dan gets to help pitch out Simpsons' gags for me when I'm doing a Bongo script. Heck, if I weren't so devoted to my wife and kids, Dan and I would be married by now. (Clearly I've said too much.)

O’Shea: Most folks know of your work via DC and Marvel, but you're also busy with The Simpsons at Bongo Comics. What are you working on at present for them?

Templeton: Right now, I'm writing a bit for the Simpsons Books of Wisdom, which is a series of books focusing on different Springfield characters. ALSO: I have another Bartman story coming out soon...this one written by Chuck (Amok) Dixon, a writer I've long admired but never worked with before this. I've got a Pie-Man story in another upcoming issue (Pie-Man, you may recall, is Homer's crimefighting secret identity) which I wrote and drew. After the Springfield Super-Heroes special is done, I've written scripts focusing on the Chief Wiggum, and a Simpsons Comic Book musical . I haven't drawn those last two scripts yet, I've had to put them off for a while while I live in Spider-Torch land.

When is that I sleep again?

As for Simpsons issues that have already come out...Simpsons #98, Bart Simpsons #17, and Treehouse of Horror #10 all came out in the last six months, and shouldn't be hard to find in the comic stores. All three of those issues feature stories I wrote and drew. I wish more folks in the comic industry read Bongo comics...Civilians read them in droves (Bongo does quite well for itself, thank you very much) but fans of Super-Spider-Gun-X-Man don't seem to pick them up. I'm crusading to change that.

FANS OF THE SIMPSONS UNITE! THE COMICS ARE FUNNY! (Especially the issues written by Ian Boothby, darn, that boy's hella drole!)

O’Shea: Are there any other projects on the horizon that you're willing and able to discuss?

Templeton: I've got a project starting up in the spring, which is based on one of my favorite films of all time. A local publisher here in Toronto has secured the rights to one of the best SF movies ever made, and has asked me to help out with some scripting and art on all new stories featuring the characters from the film. I can't say what it is yet, while we're still working out the publishing schedule and budget, but I'll be scripting and laying out an issue or two, working with former New Warriors and PITT artist Richard Pace, and RoboCop screen writer Joseph O'Brien.

Ask me about this one again in a couple of months, and I'll gab about it so much you'll wonder how to shut me up.

Oh, and tell your readers to pick up Bloodhound by Dan Jolley and Leonard Kirk. Leonard is doing the BEST storytelling in a comic that isn't in the top twenty. It's solid, solid, solid drawing like it SHOULD be drawn. OY, if only comics were all this well crafted! [Sadly, as reported at Newsarama, DC is canceling Bloodhound--effective with issue 10. That being said, I totally agree with Templeton’s assessment of this vastly underappreciated series.]