Last month SpyBoy went on hiatus for an undetermined amount of time, and Dark Horse heard from lots of fans who were unhappy that they wouldn't be able to enjoy Mhan's art in the immediate future. Fortunately, Dark Horse's Star Wars editor Dave Land was looking for just the right artist to draw a story called Jedi Quest, written by veteran Star Wars scribe Ryder Windham. Now, fans of the manga-influenced Mhan can see the work of their favorite artist as he tackles the early era of the Star Wars universe with this story about young Anakin Skywalker as he confronts his darkest fears on a mission from the Jedi Council.
Read on to learn more about Mhan's take on Star Wars and how SpyBoy helped him beat his own fear of being a bad artist!
Ivana Fanboy: Right now you're working on a new Star Wars story arc called Star Wars: Jedi Quest. Is this your first time illustrating a Star Wars story?
Pop Mhan: Yes, unless you count what I did for the Crimson Empire Handbook. But I only did two pieces -- spot illustrations -- for that. But this is my first time drawing an entire Star Wars story.
IF: Are you a Star Wars fan?
PM: Yes, ma'am.
IF: Which of the films is your favorite?
PM: The Empire Strikes Back -- it didn't have as much whining from Luke (laughs). And it didn't end on such a happy, Ewok-singing note. But I also liked Return of the Jedi a lot, so I guess I didn't really mind the Ewoks.
IF: You're becoming really well-known for your art style, which seems to be a hybrid mix of manga influence and Jack Kirby-style action. What are your biggest influences right now?
PM: I'd have to say manga artist Masakazu Katsura (creator and artist of Shadow Lady -- ed.) and Carlos Pacheco are the artists I'm most inspired by right now.
IF: I have a feeling you like the way Katsura draws the ladies.
PM: You're right. He draws gorgeous girls. But he's also just a fantastic artist. And the reason I say those two right now is because it always changes somewhat, but those two have been my favorite artists for the last four years or so.
IF: It sounds like your influences have remained fairly consistent. Is your art changing at all? Are you working on any specific element of it that you'd like to develop more?
PM: Well, I think I've always had a problem with consistency. For example, I have a problem drawing faces the same from one panel to the next. Some artists develop sort-of a "shorthand" for their style, and that seems to help. I know guys who can draw the same, identical face, panel after panel. I think these guys know the short form of how they draw, and they can draw things identically a million times.
I still work everything out on paper first, which isn't exactly bad, and I usually have to do that more when I'm working on new characters. But I'm getting a lot better at being consistent.
IF: It seems like SpyBoy might have helped you with that.
PM: Yes, SpyBoy did help. But, ever since I can remember I've had, I guess, low self-esteem about my art. I just don't think I'm all that, but I am becoming a lot more confident with what I can do.
In the past I kept changing styles, trying to find my commercial niche, I guess, but now I don't feel like I need to change my style. I don't want to stop evolving -- I always want to do better -- but I'm comfortable with my style now. I do think that has a lot to do with drawing SpyBoy for the past two years. Even within the series you can see that: issue #1 is a lot different from issue #17. On the first issue I was really going for a manga look, and by issue #17 I was working with a little different look because I'd found the style I wanted.
IF: When you're working on Star Wars projects or other licensed books, do you approach the art differently in any way than you would if you were working on a book like SpyBoy? For instance, Bombshell from SpyBoy is a very sexy character. Do you think differently about how you draw her versus how you'd draw a female Star Wars character?
PM: Actually, in the issue I'm drawing right now, Shiri jumps around a lot in a tank top...no, I'm kidding.
This may sound weird, but sometimes in a licensed project, I try not to be as creative, with, say, the panel layout. Generally when I start a new project, I have a lot of new ideas and I sort of want to go crazy with them. But eventually reality sets in, and I realize I'm working on someone else's story... and maybe all the things I have in mind won't work to tell this story.
I want people to see Jedi Quest almost as more of a movie than a comic book. And capturing the feel of a movie is different from a comic. I don't use the "camera" as dramatically as I would with SpyBoy.
Also, when I started Jedi Quest, I tried to draw the characters to look more like the actors, but that didn't feel exactly right, especially with my style.
IF: Well, the Star Wars manga series was incredibly popular -- both with manga fans and our tried-and-true Star Wars fans, and the respective characters didn't look exactly like the actors. I think your style works in a similar way.
PM: I hope so.
IF: How much character design did you get to do on Jedi Quest? I'm thinking specifically of the Krayn character...is this something you created or did Lucas Licensing give you guidelines for drawing him?
PM: Krayn existed already, but the guidelines were a little weird. They gave me three different designs to draw from, and I combined those to get what he looks like in the comic. I think his head is pretty cool!
Zora is the character I really got to develop. Dave (Land) told me they wanted her to look more Bouschh, so I kind of designed her to look a little like Princess Leia in Return of the Jedi.
IF: A few minutes ago we were talking about SpyBoy -- that book has been on hiatus for a few months. Do you miss working on it?
PM: Yes, very much so. For a while I kind of had a love/hate relationship with that book, I think (laughs), When I'm working on those characters, I hate them (laughs). You know, I get tired of drawing 'em and looking at them all the time. But now I miss it. Also, I never got to tell the SpyBoy stories I wanted to tell, but I've been talking a lot with Phil Amara, and he's developing ideas for SpyBoy stories we can hopefully do during the series' hiatus, so I hope that works out.
IF: One last question: will you be appearing at any conventions this year? We miss you at San Diego!
PM: No, I'm not going to San Diego, I'm working a lot, plus I'm getting married in September, so I'm saving money for that right now.
Fans of Pop Mhan's fantastic work on Dark Horse's SpyBoy can see the work of their favorite young artist come September 12, when the first issue of Star Wars: Jedi Quest hits the stands. Star Wars: Jedi Quest is a four-issue miniseries written by Ryder Windham, pencilled by Pop Mhan, and inked by Spy-Boy inker extraordinaire Norman Lee.