Broken Frontier

Some comic fans hardly realize what goes into producing a seemingly simple 22-page comic book. Often dismissed by the broad public as mere ‘floppies’, the production process behind the monthlies we all hold dear is a stressful one. So stressful, it’s even difficult for creators to focus on much beyond honing their craft. One may be the next Brian Bendis or Jim Lee, but being able to write or draw someone’s socks off, doesn’t mean you know how to sell your game.

That’s where Shon C. Bury comes in. As the man behind talent agency Space Goat Productions, he’s all about putting his creators in the best situation possible, allowing them to focus on what they do best: be creative.

Read Part One

BROKEN FRONTIER: How does working with all the different companies work? Is there a difference in handling Marvel and DC vs. IDW or Devil’s Due?

SHON BURY: Not only is every publisher different, but every editorial office and every book is different.  There’s definitely a different process working for Marvel and DC. First, Marvel has a very effective talent management program that helps coordinate artist on books, where DC is more of a cloistered affair where the editor maintains their traditional roles as pivot man.

Working on a high-profile book like Mighty Avengers is very different from working on a second-tier book like, say, Heroes For Hire due to the approval process. And if you’re working on a licensed book...things can get crazy (read: hurry up and wait) with approval and revisions.

This could be a long response... [laughs]

BF: Which artists are part of your stable?

SB: We have many, many artists working in and out of comics. There are eight guys in our roster that are really starting to blow up in very, very good ways.

From the top (and in no particular order):

Rafa Sandoval is Space Goat’s marquee artist. He’s been with Space Goat for a few years and is a 2009 Marvel Young Gun. He’s currently jamming out some AMAZING pages for Avengers: Initiative with his long-time inker (and childhood friend) Roger Bonet. Their run goes through issues 26 – 31. They’re just wrapping up issue 26, and it looks delicious.

You can keep up with Rafa on his blog.

Roger Bonet is an amazing inker—and the only inker Rafa Sandoval will work with. They’ve been friends for years and their careers in comics closely parallel each other. Roger is quickly proving to be the inker to beat at Marvel and his fluid inks are a perfect match for Rafa’s pencils.

If you want to follow Roger’s career AND bone up on Spanish, check out his blog.

Jason Metcalf is one of my few domestic artists. He comes from the Top Cow school, and is taking that house look and turning it into something uniquely his own. He’s currently working on one of Space Goat’s custom comics for British metal band Eternal Descent.  He’s being inked by another former Top Cow intern, David Rivera, and colored by soon-to-be coloring superstar Javier Tartaglia. Spearheaded by Jason, they’re knocking out some amazing pages on this project. It’s a cool project that we’re shopping around that co-stars various big name metal bands like Atreyu and God Forbid.

Jason’s become a formidable penciler over the year that I’ve repped him. Big things are going to happen for him.

You can keep up with him here.

Javier Tartaglia is an amazing colorist who just got snagged up by Marvel. He’s been working with Space Goat for a few years and has long been my go-to colorist. His color pallet is bold and rich and holds the reader’s attention. He’s done some Marvel Adventure work and some fill-in colors on War Machine #7 as well as a host of small press projects. He’s currently pulling double duty on Eternal Descent and an issue of She-Hulk.  He’ll be beginning a six-issue run on a Spidey project with Tom DeFalco and Todd Nauck shortly.  It has to do with clones, which is fitting because with the amount of work being thrown at Javier we need to clone him.

And he blogs.

Jheremy Raapack recently joined Space Goat after working on some pretty big projects at Marvel, like X-Men vs. Hulk and Skaar—Son of Hulk. Although well on his way to establishing himself all on his own, we discussed things and he felt it would be better if he just focused on his art and Space Goat handled the wrangling of jobs and paychecks. Jheremy’s currently hunkered down in a secure location penciling the first issue of a six issue arc for a WildStorm project that is too cool to mention without DC’s approval. Pages are rolling in, and they look haaaaawt.

I’m sure he’ll be spilling beans soon here, so dust off your Portuguese to English dictionary.

Gabriel Guzman is another penciler who has recently joined Space Goat after finding a fair amount of success without representation. Like Jheremy, Gabriel decided to make me do all the administrative work for him while he focused on producing the best art he can produce. He was recently teamed with childhood friends Mariano Taibo and Javier Tartaglia (him again!) to respectively pencil, ink, and color She-Hulk #4. Gabriel and Mariano have moved on to a four-issue run of Cable starting with issue #18. They’re about half done with the issue—and, man, I’ve never seen Cable look so good. Not since Gene Ha.

Allan Jefferson has been displeasing no one with his recent work at Marvel on War Machine. His fill-in work on issues #6 and #7 led to him becoming the newly minted, regular fill-in artist for Leonardo Manco on War Machine. He’s currently scheduled to pencil issues #9 and #10. He’s got some Teen Titans and JSA work coming out from DC this year as well.

He’s a busy, up-and-coming penciler and has no time for the blogging. [Laughs]

RB Silva is last but not least. This 23-year-old Brazilian kid is blowing my damn mind. He’s helped out Marvel in a couple tight spots on Timestorm 2099 and War Machine. The level of quality that RB works at—even under extremely tight deadlines—is a thing to behold. He’s brand new to the business, but his level of professionalism belies his youth and inexperience. If only all new artists rocked this hard.

Keep an eye out for RB here.

BF: Was it difficult to get all of your artists to join?

SB: It was for some of them!  Gabriel particularly I had to harass for YEARS!

Every artist has their own needs and goals, and it’s a big decision to decide whether to go with an agent or not. I know this because I went through this same process ten years ago when I decided to be represented by an agent. I was doing just fine finding my own work and dealing with editors, but the time came when I really just wanted to focus on my writing.

There’s always lots of questions about how jobs will be found and who’s getting the paycheck. Frankly, whether the commission cut is warranted. All those questions need to be answered, and it very clearly needs to be spelt out how working with an agent is very much a value-added arrangement.

The relationship between an artist and his agent is very much a partnership. I’m here to make sure their career goals are being met and they have paying work on their table. Once I’m able to prove to a prospective artist that Space Goat is capable of providing this month-after-month, I can usually get a guy to join my studio. And stay. It’s, mostly, easy to get people to try an agent. The real goal is getting them to stay over the long haul. I’m a long haul kinda guy.

BF: How do interested creators apply to become part of Space Goat? And what credentials do they need to have?

SB: We’re always looking for new talent, as well as established artists who don’t want to deal with the rat race side of things. We can be reached through our website. We don’t rep writers and are not looking for un-established inkers, but if an artist thinks they’re ready for Marvel and DC they should not be shy about sending us some links to their work.

You can hit me up on Facebook, too.