Comic Book Day: Getting Down to Business with Simon Bisley

Talking Tower with The Biz himself.

Legendary Comics’ first original title, The Tower Chronicles, is nearly upon us! It’s T-minus one week until your local comic book store is faced with the grim, steely-eyed stare of John Tower, supernatural bounty hunter by day…and also supernatural bounty hunter by night. This book has been a long time coming – we’ve previously spoken to editor-in-chief Bob Schreck and series writer Matt Wagner – so we were understandably excited to talk to one of the best in the biz, The Biz himself. Known for his work on titles like 2000 A.D., Lobo and Slaine, Simon Bisley is one of the UK’s top talents and his signature style brings The Tower Chronicles to brutal, brooding life. Just how did Bisley get involved and what else is he up to across the pond? Read on and find out.

Nerdist News: Tell us, how did you get involved in the project? Did you mail Bob Schreck a picture of a robot holding a baby?

Simon Bisley: [laughs] Well, I wasn’t sure initially if I could commit myself to it because I was doing Hellblazer. It was really a fantastic gig. I wasn’t sure if I could handle another gig; that was one of my concerns. I’m not sure how it happened; I just started doing it. [laughs] They called me. That’s pretty much it. [laughs] Are you okay? You seem like you were expecting something more.

NN: What is more challenging – breathing new life into a long-running character or making a brand new character visually exciting and appealing to new readers?

SB: You know, I don’t find much of anything to be a challenge to be honest with you. [laughs] I’ve always found it a snap; just draw what the characters would do. What do you mean making them “visually exciting?” It’s my job to make them dynamic. You have to be careful because I have a tendency to go a bit too cartoony. You don’t want to look like MAD magazine. In Hellblazer, I had to be very careful with some of the more complex imagery. I think I do both well.

Read our complete interview with Simon Bisley on Nerdist.com. You can see a sneak preview of 12 pages of Bisley’s art now and be sure to snag The Tower Chronicles: Geist Hawk #1 on September 26th!

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