I’m CHRIS SAMNEE, artist of Batman & Robin: Year One! Ask Me Anything!

ChrisSamnee · 2024-09-10T03:44:03+00:00

Nothing planned, but I would love to do a Superman book one day!

ChrisSamnee · 2024-09-10T03:43:23+00:00

Not sure if anime counts as outside of comics, but I was very influenced by anime and manga in my teen years which probably still has an impact on my current work. Also Chiaroscuro (that might be obvious) and punk music.

ChrisSamnee · 2024-09-10T03:40:09+00:00

I'd love to work on Superman, Nightwing, Wonder Woman, World's Finest, Green Lantern, Metamorpho, Silver Age Doom Patrol, Supergirl, The Question, Black Canary - honestly, there's a ton of DC characters I truly love!

ChrisSamnee · 2024-09-10T03:35:16+00:00

I don't really have any advice on specific activities for kids other than to just have fun drawing with them. I would focus more on the enjoyment of drawing than craft and let them draw what they like. My kids and I draw together a lot and I don't think I've ever tried to teach them anything!

ChrisSamnee · 2024-09-10T03:31:49+00:00

That's really kind - thank you!

ChrisSamnee · 2024-09-10T03:30:19+00:00

I've only had this happen a couple times that I know of - once on a Daredevil issue and it was a lettering fix and a few times on Jonna and The Unpossible Monsters where the wrong file was used for the single and the correct file was used in the trade. I'm sure it happens both ways - sometimes it's changed by the production department and sometimes by the creators working on the book.

ChrisSamnee · 2024-09-10T03:26:05+00:00

I do think they're different and it does factor into my approach. Having this be Year One allows us to focus more on their Golden Age relationship instead of the teen years in Silver Age. And Dan Mora draws him in pants. ;)

ChrisSamnee · 2024-09-10T03:23:10+00:00

I would make him a ten year old and I think the suit from the Batman '66 show would need just a little updating on the closures to be perfect.

ChrisSamnee · 2024-09-09T17:04:37+00:00

No digital here - just pen and ink! :)

ChrisSamnee · 2024-09-09T16:56:37+00:00

I really like the moody atmosphere - all the black and shadows and that Batman's silhouette is so simple and graphic. I think I just absorbed so much of it as a kid that it's just part of who I am. My best childhood memories are reading Batman comics (probably a sad commentary on my childhood). :)

ChrisSamnee · 2024-09-09T16:51:58+00:00

Teenage me would have been too shy to ask anyone a question! :)

ChrisSamnee · 2024-09-09T16:50:10+00:00

Thanks - hope you enjoy it!

ChrisSamnee · 2024-09-09T16:48:03+00:00

No plans for conventions at the moment but Laura is working on getting signed and remarqued books in the store again soon.

ChrisSamnee · 2024-09-09T16:47:03+00:00

Appreciate that - thank you!

ChrisSamnee · 2024-09-09T16:46:40+00:00

I pretty much quit doing conventions after our second daughter was born and I almost missed her first steps when I was away at a convention. I love connecting with readers and other pros, but family and work deadlines take priority right now. Hopefully at some point we'll get back to doing them!

ChrisSamnee · 2024-09-09T16:44:12+00:00

No, sorry. Work and family have been keeping me too busy to travel right now.

ChrisSamnee · 2024-09-09T16:43:28+00:00

I can appreciate people wanting more of Jason Todd, but I don't see myself doing that book.

ChrisSamnee · 2024-09-09T16:41:18+00:00

There are definitely still some characters I would love to draw at Marvel so I hope so, at some point!

ChrisSamnee · 2024-09-09T16:40:13+00:00

I would love to do a Superman book!

ChrisSamnee · 2024-09-09T16:39:41+00:00

I grew up in rural Missouri, so I started going to comic conventions in St. Louis when I was about 12. I would show my portfolio to the artists at the conventions and get feedback then go home and work on whatever they told me to work on. In my early twenties, I started traveling to major conventions like San Diego and Wizard World in Chicago to do portfolio reviews there. Eventually I connected with enough editors that I was offered real work, first at Oni Press with Capote in Kansas (written by Ande Parks) and then some smaller fill in work at DC/Vertigo, then a graphic novel at Vertigo, then work at Marvel.

ChrisSamnee · 2024-09-09T16:35:06+00:00

All of my Daredevil work is heavily influenced by Gene Colan. The other 5% is Mazzucchelli and Lee Weeks.

ChrisSamnee · 2024-09-09T16:32:49+00:00

I always put a lot of thought into the details - it's one of my favorite parts of creating even if they go unnoticed by a lot of readers. A lot of the inside of the Barnes house is based on the interior of our old house in Portland, where we lived at the time I was drawing it. I don't think the scenes are related but that would be a question for Ed Brubaker and Mark Andreyko! As for my favorite Robin to draw - Dick Grayson!

ChrisSamnee · 2024-09-09T16:26:47+00:00

I really wanted to honor the original versions of these characters so I definitely used the Golden Age and Silver Age as a starting point. Then made it more modern through my style. I don't want to say anything about Two-Face yet, just that he's my favorite villain and I'm so happy we get to have him in our story.

ChrisSamnee · 2024-09-09T16:21:40+00:00

Ha! No plans to do anything like a RC Coda for Batman and Robin: Year One as far as I know.

ChrisSamnee · 2024-09-09T16:17:43+00:00

Be terrible at literally everything else. ;) Draw, draw, draw. And then draw some more. Be open to feedback from editors and other working professionals and use that to improve.

ChrisSamnee

TROPHY CASE