Three Questions with Steve Rude

Steve (the Dude) Rude is an icon in the comics industry. Co-creator of sci-fi superhero Nexus, Rude’s art feels like a 60′s Hanna-Barbera action cartoon like Space Ghost or The Herculoids. My favorite work of his has to be the World’s Finest mini-series he did with Dave Gibbons. Rarely has story and art worked so perfectly together to craft a story about the two greatest superheroes working together. It is absolute poetry.

Given how much I admire his work, I felt absolutely fortunate to be able to interview the Dude even if it was for only three questions. 

Popgun Chaos: Bleeding Cool ran a story on June 16th about your post on Facebook regarding your interest in working with DC comics where you stated, ”In the time that I’ve been gone, comics seem to have only gotten worse in terms of art and story, which is what made me back off in the first place.” What do you think has contributed to this shift in quality? What can be done to change this?

Steve Rude: The shift into things undesirable in today’s comics are perceived on a level almost internally by me and seem to be composed of things almost intangible at times.  Kind of like the feeling you’re left with when you get done watching a movie or TV show with far too much violence and cruelty in getting their point across.  The show 24 would be a prime example of this.  The more the show progressed, the more oppressive and bleaker it became.  Not a feeling I want to carry around inside me.  That’s the kind of junk I want to escape in life, not suck in more of.

Certainly the physical package of comics today, with their dark, overrendered color; the art styles that alternate between the tasteless exaggeration of the human form, particularly in females, combined with the photo-like stylings that leaves me feeling pretty empty inside, makes present-day comics almost unrecognizable compared to the ones from my youth.  The difference in my physical reaction in simply reading today’s books is completely different than the heroic, optimistic and idealistic feelings that I felt from with the comics I grew up on.  Sadly, it’s a very different world today, and to perhaps reinstate myself back into drawing them is my best solution for change.

PC: Why have you specifically sought out DC? A few years ago, you did an interview with the Comics Reporter and there was a sense of a struggle in your relationship with Marvel. You mentioned that you felt unwelcome at times, that their artwork leaned more towards realistic sensibilities which cut out a younger demographic.

SR: I specifically sought out DC, for two reasons.  One, they would pay a subsistent page rate, and Two; they seemed like the friendliest of the two big companies.  Regarding my feelings about Marvel, whose thinking seems even more corporate and elitist than DC, the beginnings of the dark, reality- based ethic which I find so unpleasant these days, seems mostly due to them and the start of the Quesada regime.  Though I’ve had two recent offers to work on Marvel projects, they were politely declined.

PC: The titles you mentioned that you wanted to work on were: 1) Supergirl 2) Superman 3) Big Barda and her Female Furies 4) OMAC. Both Barda and OMAC seem obvious in that they were both Kirby-creations and you’ve always stated that he was an influence on your art, but why Supergirl and Superman? What fascinates you about those characters? 

SR: Since you’ve already surmised my reasons for doing the two Kirby characters, Big Barda and Omac for DC, I go right into my choices of drawing either Supergirl or Superman.  They are as follows:  With Supergirl, I just love drawing my pretty blondes and could perhaps introduce a non-jagged freshness to the “graphic presence” in her book.  With Superman, it would quite simply be a way to make the biggest statement to the comics industry to return a sense of fun (and perhaps clear storytelling) to this timeless and heroic American icon.  Comics can make any statement they want, but they should also be fun.  Leaving you with a great feeling when you turn the last page, as you await next months installment, wouldn’t hurt either.