M O D E R N

M A S T E R S

V O L U M E

F O U R T E E N :

FRANK CHO

By
Eric Nolen-Weathington

Modern Masters Volume Fourteen:

FRANK CHO

Table of Contents
Introduction by Brandon Peterson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Part One: Tales of a Fifth Grade Comic Book Artist. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Interlude: Under the Influence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Part Two: Taking Shelter in Liberty Meadows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Part Three: You Never Forget Your First Love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Part Four: Storytelling and the Creative Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Art Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Part 1:

Tales of a Fifth Grade

Comic Book Artist

MODERN MASTERS: Do you remember anything

about your childhood in Korea? You moved when you
were about six years old, right?

school, so you had to get used to a new kind of school

system, new people, not to mention the language barrier. Did you have any problems making the transition?

FRANK CHO: Right. I was born near Seoul, South

Korea. When I was six, we immigrated to the United
States.

FRANK: It was pretty tough. I remember I had to go to

English As a Second Language class, up until fourth
grade, I believe. That was pretty tough.... It was comic
books that helped me learn the English language,
because of the pictures and words.

MM: Do you remember anything about Korea?

FRANK: A little bit. I remember kindergarten. I remember just little stuff, nothing concrete.

MM: So when did you start becoming interested in art?

FRANK: Pretty much, as far back as I can remember. My
dad is artistic. I inherited my artistic talent from him. I
started drawing at an early age and didnt stop.
As I got older, it just increased in intensity. I
guess my first real awareness of my passion
for art, oddly, came right around the time we
left for the United States; it was around the same
time Norman Rockwell died, and his art was all
over the place. I remember seeing some of his paintings and I was just amazed that those were paintings
and not photographs, and feelings it invoked from a
single image. So I think that was my first real awareness of art, of the power of art. And
from then on, it just snowballed.

MM: Have you ever had any kind of interest in

going back and exploring your heritage?
FRANK: Not really. My parents get on
my case about it, but Ive been in this
country for almost 30 years now, and I
still havent seen a lot of the major
landmarks. So Id like to explore
the United States before I go to
Korea. I still havent gone to
Disneyworld or the Grand
Canyonthe big stuff.
MM: So what was
Beltsville, Maryland
like for you as a sixyear-old moving from
Korea?

MM: Did it take you a

while to make
friends, since you
werent able to communicate as well? Plus it appears you
moved around a bit early on. Do
you think that added to your interest in art, because its such an isolated pastime?

FRANK: Actually, we
first moved in with my
mothers sister, my aunt
and her husband, in
Philly. We lived there
for a few months, and
then we moved to Prince
Georges County in
MarylandLandover,
Maryland. Its right next
to Largo, Maryland. And
from there we moved
to Beltsville.

FRANK: No. Im a pretty social

and friendly guy. I didnt have any
trouble making friends. I drew
a lot. Language wasnt
really too much of a
barrier. Many of the
kids I grew up with
were very patient and friendly, and
helped me overcome the language barrier. I was extremely lucky to have friends
who were very patient with me.

MM: Did you have any trouble integrating? I mean,

youd already started
6

MM: You said your father was artistic. Did he draw much while you
were growing up? Did he tell you, This is the brush that you use, and
that kind of thing?
FRANK: Not really. My dad had taken many art classes in his youth and
was a standout art student, but he never became a professional artist.
MM: It was more of a hobby for him?
FRANK: Well, even as a hobby, he didnt really draw
much. My first memory of my father doing something
artistic was right before we left for the United
States. I guess he got suckered into building a
model boat for one of his friends or co-workers. It
was this historic Korean warship that was shaped
like a turtle with a dragons head at the bow. I
remember him carving this boat from a block of
wood. It was about two feet long. It was
pretty impressive. Im pretty sure that, looking at it with adult eyes, it wasnt as intricate as my childhood memory remembers it being, but
as a child, I remember just being blown away by it. I
remember my dad shaping the pencils into miniature cannons and carving the powerful and fearsome dragons head
all the little details that he put in. My dad was a great artist....
When we came to the United States, we were pretty poor. We didnt
know anyone. No money or free time. We didnt really do any traveling. My dad had two jobs.
He was a janitor at night for Greyhound, and he was a carpenter during the day, and my mom
worked at a shoe factory. So the only times that I saw my dad using his artistic ability was
when I had a science fair or science project to do and he would help me. I would screw up, and
my dad would help me build or fix something. I
remember a couple of times he actually drew
the poster that I was supposed to hand in,
and I was just amazed at the posters that he
drew. It was pretty impressive.
MM: You said you used comics to
help you learn English. What were
the comics you were reading as a kid when
you first started reading them?
FRANK: I remember my dad bringing
comics home from his work when he
worked as the janitor at the
Greyhound station. He would bring
home these old comics that people
just left at the station. But it wasnt
until fifth grade that I became really
interested in comics, because all my
friends started collecting comics at the
time. So it was about 83 that I really
started collecting comics, when I really
became aware of comics. My friends and
I only collected Marvel titles: Fantastic
Four, Uncanny X-Men, Spider-Man. I think
Walt Simonsons Thor started up around
7

Previous Page and

Above: Sketches from
high school.
Left: Preliminary sketch
for a Conan illustration.
Conan and 2007 Conan
Properties International, LLC.

Below and Next Page:

Pencil drawings from
Franks high school art
classthough the
drawing of the girl below
was probably done in
Franks spare time in
between class
assignments.
Artwork 2007 Frank Cho.

that time. A lot of Conan. Oddly enough, I

didnt care for Daredevil or The Hulk. I read
pretty much everything that Marvel was
putting out. I never read DC comics, I dont
know why. Well, I can tell you why: DC
comics were boring as hell. [laughter]
MM: Were you looking at the credits right
away to see who your favorite artists were,
or was it just about the characters?
FRANK: I think I noticed the artists right
away. The artists that I really liked growing
up were the artists that really made a huge
impact on me, John
Buscema and Don
Newton. Don
Newtons Detective
Comics #509 blew
my mind away. I
came across some
old Batman comics
at my local library,
and I remember
flipping through that
issue and being just
stunned at the

artistry of Don Newton, with his clean, classic figure work, and inked beautifully by
Dan Adkins. I tried to hunt down more of
Newtons Batman comics, but unfortunately
it was right around the time that he passed
away. So I guess his work kind of rekindled
my love affair with classical drawing. And
then, around that same time, I discovered
John Buscemas How to Draw the Marvel Way.
As I remember, it was around fourth, fifth
grade. That was the big turning point of my
life. And then I discovered Frank Frazetta
and Al Williamson shortly afterward.
MM: What did you see in them?
FRANK: It was probably sixth grade when I
discovered Williamson and Frazetta. I saw
their work in an old Creepy reprint. I think it
was one of those small pocket-book sized....
MM: Oh, yeah, the digest-sized Best of
Creepy book.
FRANK: Yeah, it was a Frazetta cover of
Wolfman fighting Dracula. Inside there
was one of those few Frazetta comic stories that he did for Warren. It also had an
Al Williamson story, Sand Doom. When
I saw that Williamson and Frazetta work, it
was a revelation. I was stunned, just rooted
to the spot. And then I came across the
Fantastic Art of Frank Frazetta Ballantine book
at the local library, and the rest is history.
From fifth grade through middle school, I
was discovering one artist after another,
absorbing everything I could about those
artists. I started to refine my taste in high
school.
MM: Did you see the Williamson Star Wars
newspaper strips at all during that time?
Did Star Wars have any kind of impact on
you at all?
FRANK: No, I missed Star Wars because I
came to the United States
MM: Oh, yeah, you came over right after
the first movie was released.
FRANK: Star Wars was what, 76, 77? So I
missed the whole Star Wars revolution. And
none of my buddies were crazy about Star
Wars. My first Star Wars movie was Empire
Strikes Back, and I didnt see that at the theaters, I saw it on videotape, which I thought

2007 respective owner.

Interlude:

Under the
Influence

Norman Rockwell
I connected with Norman Rockwells art early on. My earliest
memory of art in any form was Norman Rockwells paintings. Not
only was he a flawless painter but he was a brilliant storyteller.
Each of his paintings told a story, which is an incredible feat. He
may be the greatest American illustrator of the 20th century.
Norman Rockwell is still a constant source of inspiration for me.

17

Part 2:

Taking Shelter
in Liberty Meadows

MM: What kind of input did the syndicate have on the

development of Liberty Meadows?

Post-it notes on my art with little arrows pointing to

Brandys breasts and butt saying reduce breasts, reduce
butt. [laughter] So I would go back and white out Brandys
figure and try to change her from a D cup to B cup.

FRANK: Some, but not too much. The main thing that I
changed was turning Frank the Duck, the duck boy, into
a human character. Liberty Meadows was an animal
sanctuary, and I wanted to make Frank into an animal
doctor. The rest of the characters
were the same as they were in
University2, the college
strip. The big change
that the syndicate
made me do was turning Leslie the
Laughing Lima Bean
into Leslie the Bullfrog,
which was funny as hell.
I said, Why do you want
me to change Leslie? I
thought a talking vegetable was so strange that
it was funny. But they said
it didnt make sense. They
said a talking vegetable
doesnt make sense, but a
talking frog does.

MM: That didnt last terribly long, though.

FRANK: As time went by, I gradually made Brandys boobs
and her butt bigger. I did it under
the radar and my editors didnt really notice it. By year
five, Brandy had more
curves than the beltway.
MM: Were you able to use
those strips that you had
sent in as the first part of
the continuity for the strip?
At what point, from the time
you signed the contract, did
you actually start running
in the papers?
FRANK: They gave me a
year. Actually, I requested a
year before they launched,
because, again, my dream
was to be a comic book artist.
Normally the syndicates only
give you maybe six months lead
time to stockpile your strips
before the launch. But I
requested a little over
a year because I
wanted to break into
the comic book market and scratch my
comic book itch. I
tried out for the Dark
Horse Tarzan. I was
and still am a huge
Edgar Rice Burroughs fan.
Brandy and Frank Cho.
My good friend, Al Gross,
wanted to break into comics, too and he had a contact
at Dark Horse. So he and I joined together and submitted Burroughs related stuff to Dark Horse. Al got
accepted, but Dark Horse turned me down. So I said,

MM: Well, he is on an animal sanctuary, so I guess I

can see their point, to an
extent.
FRANK: I had a setup for Leslie.
Brandy was gardening and she had
some new fertilizer, and then while
she was gardening, one of the vegetables started talking to her. That
was my setup for Leslie, but they
didnt like that. They said, Youve
got to turn it into a talking animal. I go, Whats the difference
between a talking vegetable and a
talking animal? We fought over that, and
I gave in. You guys know what youre talking about, so Ill
change it, so I did. And then theyd keep telling me to
tone Brandy down. When I sent them the first five weeks
of the strip, they sent most of the strips back with little
21

Eh, I guess it wasnt meant to be. In hindsight, I agree

with Dark Horse, because I wasnt quite ready to do an
actual full comic book.
MM: Was it Tom Yeates that did that?
FRANK: No, it was.... What was his name, Shenk?
Chris Shenk, I think, was his name. This was 1997,
around that time period. So my whole comic book
dream bubble had burst, and I just said, Ill just start
concentrating on the comic strip.
MM: So you didnt send a portfolio to Marvel or DC?
FRANK: No, I didnt send anything to Marvel or DC,
because I just didnt have the same passion for superheroes. I still liked them, but I liked Tarzan better. And
also, Al and I kind of teamed up, and he had a way into
the Dark Horse office, whereas neither of us knew anyone at Marvel or DC. So I gave up my comic book
dream and went back to Liberty Meadows full time.
Actually, Im kind of going ahead of myself. When I was
in college, I joined Insight
Studios Group,
which was headed
by Mark
Wheatley, Marc
Hempel, and
Al Gross.
MM: What
year did you
join Insight?
FRANK: That would be about 94. Around that time period. Wheatley, Hempel, and Al Gross were at Insight
Studios. I met them through the Small Press Expo and the
local Edgar Rice Burroughs Fan Club, the National
Panthans. At Insight Studios, thats where I put
together the University2 collection book. Which,
again, I didnt know I was a cult hit on campus, so when
I put together the University2 collection book and sold it
to the University of Maryland book store, they bought
500 copies, which I thought was insane. Id thought,
Maybe Ill sell 50 copies. They ordered 500 and said,
Would you like to do a signing? And I said, Sure.
I remember coming onto campus, and there was a
huge line. They said about 600 people showed up. It
was a huge line coming out of the bookstore. And my
first thought was, Hmm, they must be having some sort
of a sale. I kept walking and walking, and then the store
manager waved me over to the table and I said, Whats
going on? They said, These people are here for you. It
was like, wow. I was floored, and the store bought a couple hundred more copies. That was a great experience.
22

MM: Wheatley and Hempel were fairly

well established at that point. Did you get a
lot of stories from them? Were you quizzing
them to see what they thought of...?
FRANK: Yeah, I was like a little kid bugging them. Hempel was never around.
Marc Hempel is like a hermit. He would
only come in at night, when everyone was
gone, to check his mail and do his computer stuff. It was mostly Mark
Wheatley and me at Insight
Studios. The only reason I
joined Insight Studios was
because it was only a quarter
mile from my girlfriends
house, and I would go see
my girlfriend almost every
day and end up stopping by
Insight Studios, so thats how
I became a member. My girlfriend later became my wife.
Mark Wheatley educated
me on the whole comic book
business, which Im thankful
for. It was really interesting
to get the whole history of
the comic book business
through the eyes of an independent artist/writer. Hear
him recount all the pitfalls
and all the stuff to watch out
for. Just the general hell he
has experienced as an unsuccessful comic creator.
Wheatley would tell me horror story after horror story
about what he went through,
and that I should expect the
same or worse. So I braced
myself for failures. But it didnt happen to me. As I mentioned before, Ive been
extremely lucky in my career.
I was relatively successful in
most of my ventures. When
he was helping put together
the University2 book, he was
saying that an independent,
black-&-white humor book
would fail. And me being
stubborn, I said, Its going to
work out. I think its funny.
And Wheatley would say,
Just brace yourself for when

its a failure and youve lost the thousands of

dollars that you invested in it. And it
turned out to be a big hit, and it went
through seven or eight printings. For that
year-and-a-half period, I actually lived off
the money made by University2.
MM: What kind of distribution did you
have? Were you getting it into bookstores
and that kind of thing?

23

Previous Page: Page 1

of Franks Tarzan try-out
samples for Dark Horse,
and a 1998 illustration of
Tarzans girl, Jane.
Below: Page 2 of Franks
Tarzan try-out.
Jane, Tarzan and 2007 ERB,
Inc.

original ending ended with Marc DeRail getting

mauled by a bear. But parodying the Misery
movie elevated the whole storyline to something a lot more sophisticated and funnier.
MM: Then you ended it with the Twilight Zone
the Movie ending.
FRANK: Yeah, exactly, the Twilight Zone ending.
MM: You also had a little cameo with Fearless
Richard Stacey, the cross between Fearless
Fosdick and Dick Tracy.
FRANK: Right, right. Actually, it was Fearless
Fosdick from Lil Abner that I was parodying, so it
was a parody of a parody.
MM: Exactly. [laughter] I guess that was your love for Al Capp showing.
FRANK: Oh, yeah. I mean, Al Capps Lil Abner was a huge influence on me.
When I was going through my Frazetta period, I discovered Al Capp,
because Frazetta drew for Al Capp for nine or eleven years. He drew Lil Abner women hot.
They looked greatthe body caricatures and facial
expressions, great stuff.
MM: In 97, you started formatting the strips into
the comics. What led to that decision to producing
comics, and what kind of difficulties did you
have as far as getting them reprinted?
FRANK: It was because my syndicate was
having trouble getting Liberty
Meadows collected into a book,
and a lot of fans wanted some
sort of collection book. So the
decision was made to collect
my Liberty Meadows strips in a
comic book, collect 48 strips at
a time. That way the fans would
get some sort of a collection
book in a timely fashion, and also
it wouldnt kill the big, thick collection book down the road. It was
one of those things that I really didnt plan on. I was just trying to use
the comic book to buy time for the
collection book. Instead, the comic
book became more popular
and profitable than the
syndicate collection
books. Each issue
increased in circulation.
The Liberty Meadows
comic book suddenly
put me on the comic
book map.

Previous Page: Cow

entered the strip as part
of the Marc DeRail
storyline and became an
instant hit.
Above: Panel featuring
the first appearance of
Fearless Detective Richard
Stacey.
Left: Cover art for the
second printing of Liberty
Meadows: Eden, the first
collection book of Liberty
Meadows strips.
Liberty Meadows and 2007
Frank Cho.

MM: [laughs] Too nice for some of your cruder jokes?

old Warren magazines, Creepy or Eerie, where Al did this

strip about this hack cartoonist whose name was Baldo
Smudge. So I basically took that as a nod to Al
Williamson. Not that many people got that reference.

FRANK: Yeah, it can be too much for her sensibilities.

Shell get mad at me. You wrote that? Thats disgusting!
And, of course, I show it to my buddies and they think
its hilarious. So if it pisses off my wife, then I know its
good. [laughter]

MM: Lets get back to the storylines. The Evil Brandy

storyline, where did that idea come
from? Was that one of your key
points that you had laid out
early on?

just put it out. One thing I wont do anymore is show the

strips to my wife, because shes a lady....

MM: How do you keep coming up with all the Dean in

the bar jokes? Because there are so many one-liners. Did
you have people writing in telling you their cheesy pickup lines?
FRANK: When I
was in college I had
a dorm mate, Dean
Markos, who is a
great guy. Hes a
pharmacist now, Dr.
Dean Markos. Its kind of
scary. He was one of the
funniest guys Ive ever
met, and he would tell me
all these one-liners. He
was like Henny
Youngman. And that
kind of got the ball
rolling. So I used the real
Dean to build upon the cartoon Dean. Over time, you get
to know the characters voices and personalities and know who and what the each characters would say. Dean was the easiest since he was
based on a real person.
MM: Baldo Smudge, what is that a reference to?
FRANK: Baldo Smudge. [laughs] Im a big fan of Al
Williamson. Ive considered him one of my art
heroes and a good friend. Theres a story in those
38

dent in my writing abilities. Also, my art

style was evolving, too, at the same clip.
Looking at my old stuff, the artwork is just
horrendous. Its only until about halfway
through the third year that I realized that
my artwork was becoming very distinct.
MM: Yeah, exactly. You started using a lot
of thin line in your approach, and there
was a little more subtlety in the details.
FRANK: Yeah, exactly. I became very confident with the inked line, how the characters looked. I really enjoyed the last yearand-a-half, two years of the newspaper
strip, because everything came together.
Some of my favorite storylines are from
the last two years of my syndicated career.
Frank and the snowstorm, the return of the
cow, Frank going out with Jen, Brandy
reveals her feelings for Frank, and Jens
revenge. One after another, everything just
clicked.
MM: Sunday, December 30 of 2001 was
the last appearance of the newspaper strip.
FRANK: Was it 2001? Yeah.

that had never been done before? [laughter]

I was only in about 20 newspapers at that
point, and a lot of the newspaper readers
didnt know that I was doing the Liberty
Meadows comic book. So one of the big reasons that I left with cliffhanger was to
advertise my comic book and bring my
newspaper audience over. The strip isnt
dead. You can still follow it in the comic
book. That was the big reason for the
Previous Page:
Highlights from the
infamous Jen seduces
Frank sequence.
Above: Will she or
wont she? Readers of
the daily newspaper were
left wondering unless
they found a comic shop
and a copy of the Liberty
Meadows Wedding Special.
Left: A happy Brandy
runs from the altar.
Illustration from the
Liberty Meadows Wedding
Special.

MM: Why did you decide to end

with the cliffhanger in the last
comic strip and conclude the story
in the comic book?
FRANK: Um... it was something

Liberty Meadows and all related

characters and 2007 Frank
Cho.

41

Part 3:

You Never Forget

Your First Love

MM: From what I can tell, your first comics job outside
of your Liberty Meadows stuff was a pin-up for Batman: No
Mans Land. Is that the first thing you remember doing, or
is there something else? This is back in 1999, I think.
Oh, no, actually, you did a Cavewoman story first, right?

and it was about an alien that could transfer its mind and
take over bodies. Kind of like Deadman. It was a light, comedy adventure written by Al Gross and Mark Wheatley. I
was doing that when I was finishing up nursing school.
MM: Was that an ongoing feature, or was that just a
one-shot thing? I know Penthouse Comix usually had several four- or fivepage stories.

FRANK: Yeah, I handled

Cavewoman stuff first. I met
Bud Root in North Carolina. I
think there was a small convention
called Dream Con or something like
that, and Bud and I were
guests. We hit it off
right away. This was
in 97, I think. And I
started doing a bunch
of pin-ups and short
stories for Bud just for
fun. I think my first
real, professional job
in comics was for DC. I
think I did a Wonder
Woman pin-up.

FRANK: I think it
was a 12-chapter story. I
did the first two chapters
and was working on the third
one when we got
orders to stop it.
And thank God it
was never published. They canceled Penthouse
Comix an issue or
two before our
debut, so the
story never saw
print.

MM: That was for the

JSA Secret Files book.

MM: After being

in that comic
strip mindset for
so long, did you
have any problems
adjusting to the format? Just in terms
of pacing and that
kind of thing?

FRANK: Yeah. Is
that the first one?
Im not sure.
MM: They came out
around the same
time, so it could
have been either
onethe Batman
pin-up or the
Wonder Woman
pin-up.

FRANK: A little
bit. It was very exciting, because I had
always felt trapped in
that four-panel
comic strip grid, and
suddenly I got these
big, open pages to do
whatever I wanted. So it
was a little bit overwhelming, but it wasnt too bad of
a transition.

FRANK: Well, if
you really want to
get technical, my
first professional
comics job was for
Penthouse Comix. That
was around 1995, I think.
It was called The Body,
44

MM: Did you pencil and ink that story?

FRANK: Yeah, I penciled and inked it, and
Mark Wheatley colored it
MM: Did Penthouse pay you?
FRANK: Penthouse paid Mark, and Mark
paid me. Mark got the lions share since he
created it.
MM: Gotcha. They paid quite a bit more
than the average comic company.
FRANK: Yeah, I think they easily paid
double the average comic rate at that time.
Maybe triple the rate, something like that.
MM: So you were kind of spoiled right off
the bat.
FRANK: Yeah, being a college kid, it was
pretty exciting. I wasnt rich, but I did
okay for a college kid.
MM: After you those first two DC pinups, you started doing covers and pin-ups
for a lot of different people. Were you just
doing them for people you knew, or for
anybody who asked? You did something
for Wolff & Byrd, Jingle Belle, and things like
that.
FRANK: Well, pretty much anyone who
asked. And half the jobs I didnt charge for
because I knew the people well and considered them my friends. Like Bud Root, I
didnt charge him for any of the covers or
pin-ups. Wolff & Byrd, the same deal. Yeah,
DC was pretty good about it. They paid
me promptly. However, I was surprised
that DC never hired me for a story.
MM: You did the three pages of Worlds
Funnest.
FRANK: That was through Evan Dorkin.
Evan Dorkin personally invited me. I honestly dont think DC knew who I was. And
it was only after Marvel put me under an
exclusive contract that DC actually
showed any interest, aside from the couple
of pin-ups and covers that I did prior to
Marvel. And I got those DC jobs from
people who knew me. Usually it was the
writers who personally asked for meI
dont think DC editors really knew who I
was.

MM: How was that Worlds Funnest job? I

mean, you only did three pages, but it
looked pretty fun. And you got to draw
Phantom Lady. Im sure thats why Evan
thought of you.
FRANK: Yeah, Evan said, Youre going to
love Phantom Lady.
MM: Did you know who the Freedom
Fighters were at that time?
FRANK: Yeah, I knew. I did a lot of reading when I was a kid, so I knew all the
characters. But its just one of those things
that you never thought of drawing: the
45

Previous Page:
Cavewoman pin-up.
Above: Page from
Cavewoman.
Cavewoman and 2007 Budd
Root.

Spider-Man look like John Romita Sr.s as much

as possible. John Romita Sr. defined Spider-Man
for me and gave Spider-Man that classic SpiderMan look. I was trying my best to make it look
like Romitas, and not to disappoint him. You
have to understand John Romita Sr. was one of
the architects who visually defined the Marvel
universe.
Now, Steve Ditko, on the other hand, I
hated his art growing up, and I still hate his art.
No, I take that back. I dont hate Ditkos work. I
just dont understand his art and its appeal. I
cant see what people see in his stuff. I just see
ugly people, clunky drawing and uneven inking.
The only thing he kind of succeeded at with his
drawing, I guess, is Spider-Man and Dr. Strange.
Both were quirky and somewhat weird characters and Ditkos ugly and distorted style
matched well. My friends and I used to have
arguments about different artists, and most of
them kind of side with me, saying, We understand Kirby. Kirby is the man. But Steve Ditko
is justwe cant quite place him. Hes just an
odd, odd bird. But some of these hardcore art
collectors, they just rave about Steve Ditko. As
a comic fan, I cant see it, and, as an artist, I still
cant see it. I guess its just nostalgia and history
that the art collectors see.
MM: Well, Ive heard you say that SpiderMan is one of your favorite characters, so
was this something special for you to do,
to be working on Spider-Man, finally?
FRANK: Yeah. It was a great honor to
work on Spider-Man because Spider-Man
was one of the first super-hero comics that
I started collecting when I was a kid. Just
reading and dreaming about Spider-Man,
and then growing up to draw Spider-Man.
It was a kick in the pants. It was an awesome experience.
MM: And you followed that up by doing
the three covers for Amazing Spider-Man, as
well.
FRANK: Right, right. And then I went to
do Spider-Man with Mark Millar.
MM: Marvel Knights Spider-Man came a little
bit later actually. In the mean time you did
a little section of The Many Worlds of Tesla
Strong.
FRANK: Oh, thats right.
49

MM: That was a great group of artists in that

book. Did you feel any intimidation knowing who
was in the book?
FRANK: Not really. Many of my friends were
drawing that book. So I was just happy to be
included in the company.
MM: Did that just get you even more excited to
work on it?
FRANK: It did. Originally I was supposed to do
the mermaid chapter, but I didnt want to draw
people swimming and asked for a different story.
Scott Dunbier was the editor, right?
MM: Yes.
FRANK: They had various stories they were trying
to match the artists with, and there was a jungle
story. I said, Well, let me do that one. Im more
comfortable around jungle stuff.
MM: Yeah, I would have thought they would have
picked you for that to begin with.
FRANK: Thats what I thought, too. And so I got to
draw Jungle Tesla. The mermaid story went to
Adam Hughes who did a brilliant job on it.
MM: Did you have any visual input as far as, say,
the spider priestess? Did you make her up whole
cloth, or was there some direction given as to what
they wanted?
FRANK: They pretty much left it wide open, so I just
made up the spider priestess costume as I drew her. I
had her wear a big ol bone necklace to cover her...

50

Right: Buildings,
buildings, buildings!
Marvel Knights Spider-Man
#8, page 26.
Below: Cover art for
Shanna the She-Devil #4.
Next Page: And the
cover art for Shanna the
She-Devil #5.
Shanna the She-Devil, Venom
and 2007 Marvel Characters,
Inc.

FRANK: I was happy to get back on

Shanna. Its like, I love to visit New York
City, but I wouldnt want to live there. I
love Spider-Man, but I dont want to draw
Spider-Man for a prolonged period. Too
many buildings, cityscape, and cars....
MM: And Spider-Man has the ultimate
urban setting.
FRANK: Hes swinging around buildings,
everything that I hate to draw. Plus, I had
already started working on Shanna the SheDevil. I took a break to do the two issues
of Spider-Man. It was actually kind of
freaky how everything got started. Well, let me tell you how I
met Axel Alonso. Scott
Sava, who does
Dreamland
Chronicleshes
the computer
animator guy
did a Spider-Man
story, I forget what
that was called, with digital illustration. It was
through him that I met Axel. Axel was trying to get hold of me, and Scott
got us together. It turned out Axel Alonso was a big fan of minehe loved
all the sexy illustrationsand he got me an exclusive contract with
Marvel. I remember meeting him and Joe Quesada at the Pittsburgh
Con. I think it was 2002, around that time. They took me out to eat at
Hooters of all places. Axel wanted me to
restart Shanna and said, I want you
to revamp her, recreate her. And
thats how I came on board Marvel.
Axels one of the best editors Ive had
the pleasure of working with because hes so laid back with me. He
gave me just the right amount of encouragement, and if I was straying, he would kind of nudge me back gently onto the path. Yeah, hes
a good guy.
Shanna was originally an 8-issue mini-series, which got cut down to
seven when it was all said and done. I did the first five issues of Shanna
as a MAX book, which was Marvels mature audience, rated-R
book line. And then the whole Bill Jemas expulsion
happened. I think I was one of the last Jemasapproved projects to come on board. When
Jemas got firedthis is just my gut feeling
they were trying to get rid of or undo
everything Jemas approved. So they
decided to change Shanna from a
MAX book to a Marvel Knights
book. Thats where the rating change
happened. Overnight, Shanna went
from rated-R to rated-PG. Axel fought
54

Above: A nice Sterankoesque two-page spread

from New Avengers #14.
Next Page Left: Ms.
Marvel sporting one of
the best costumes in
comics.
Next Page Right: Not
only does Frank get his
best buddy Mike
McSwiggins name on the
page from Marvel Knights
Spider-Man #8, but he has
Truman run out into the
action. Not to worry
though, Spidey saves him
on the next page.
Madame Hydra, Nick Fury,
Spider-Man, Spider-Woman,
Tigra, Venom, Wolverine and
2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.
Truman and 2007 Frank
Cho.

FRANK: No, I dont recall. Spider-Woman

is a visually fun character to draw, but
beyond that I dont have any nostalgic fondness for that character like Brian Bendis
does. I did a big Spider-Woman pin-up for
Wizard magazine, and Brian saw that and
absolutely loved it. Thats how I got the New
Avengers fill-in gig. He just wanted to see me
draw Spider-Woman in my zaftig style.
MM: Besides that big two-page spread, she
wasnt really in costume all that much. There
isnt a whole lot of action going on, there.
FRANK: Right. I mean, there was some
action on the operating table. Dont forget
the boob implants. [laughter]
MM: You also snuck in a cameo of Jen in
the office of the Daily Bugle.
FRANK: Yeah. In every issue I draw, I try
to sneak in a Liberty Meadows character, or
62

my best friends name, Mike McSwiggin.

Its kind of like Al Hirschfeld and Nina, he
put the his nieces name Nina in all of his
illustrations. So thats what Im trying to do.
My buddy Mike gets a big thrill out of it.
MM: The next issue has a little more
action with Ms. Marvel. I think the current
Ms. Marvel costume is one of the best costumes in comics. What do you think of the
costume?
FRANK: I think its a beautiful costume. Is
it Dave Cockrums design?
MM: I think he came up with the original
concept, but its been tweaked a bit over
the years.
FRANK: I think its one of the most iconic
costumes in the Marvel Universe. If Marvel
plays their cards right, I think Ms. Marvel
can become the female icon character for

them. I was discussing this with somebody recently, saying that there were no iconic female characters at
Marvel. DC has Supergirl, Wonder Woman, and Power
Girl, but there arent any standout female characters in
the Marvel Universe. The closest they have is Phoenix
and Storm. I think Ms. Marvel has the potential to be the
big standout iconic female character for Marvel. Im having a great time drawing her in Mighty Avengers because of
her bold, graphic costume. Its such a striking costume,
with the big lightning bolt on her chest. And, oh, my,
does she have a chest. [laughter] DC has Power Girl, so
Im gonna make Ms. Marvel Marvels Power Girl.

about three months off just to work on creator-owned

projects, like Liberty Meadows. I was doing the Liberty
Meadows animated show pitch. I wrote the first full pilot
script and put the bible together, drew all the character
models, and wrote the synopses for the next 15 episodes.
I also worked on Zombie King and other quick projects.
Dont forget I have two young children at home so if they
get sick, I dont work that day. But Marvel gave me plenty
of time. Its completely my fault that the book is late.

MM: How far in advance did you start working on Mighty

Avengers before it actually started publication? Did they
give you enough time to get a couple of issues ahead?

FRANK: Yeah, a little bit. This is a good analogy of

how things came about on Mighty Avengers: Brian poured
the foundation and built the framework for the house,
and Im just helping him put up the drywall and maybe
helping him move some stuff around, like moving a window to a different place. Brian pretty much had everything all outlined when I came on board. Im just going
in and helping him plug in the holes. Brian had a list of
Avengers that he wanted on the Mighty Avengers team,
and he asked me which characters I wanted to draw. I
pretty much wanted to draw all the classic characters
like Yellowjacket, the Vision, the blue ape Beast, etc. But

MM: Did you have any input at all as to who made the
team?

FRANK: Oh, they gave me plenty of time.

Its just that I keep getting sidetracked by other projects. Mighty
Avengers launched in
March of 2007, and I
got my first script
back in May of
2006. I took

63

Part 4:

Storytelling and
the Creative Process

MM: Do you have a regular routine you try to stick to?

Im sure it isnt exactly the same from day to day, but do
you have a certain order you like to do things?

home. Then shortly after that I go pick up Samantha

from daycare. I keep them occupied until dinner time,
around 6:00. My wife comes home and we have dinner,
play with the kids, put them to bed. and then I spend
some time with my wife. Around 9:30 I go back to
workmy second shift. This is when I really work,
because the phones not ringing. This is when I do the
bulk of my drawingIm a night-owl. I draw from 9:30
til three in the morning. Then I go to sleep and start the
whole routine over again.

FRANK: Its pretty much a seven-days-a-week job. It

drives my wife crazy, because I really dont get any
break at all. Going to a convention is my break, so to
speak.
MM: And thats a working vacation.
FRANK: Yeah, exactly. Its pretty non-stop. I get up
around 7:30 with the kids and help them get ready for
school and day carefix their breakfast and get them
dressed. I drop Emily off at the bus stop and make sure
she gets on the bus. After that I drive my other daughter, Samantha,
to daycare. By
the time I get home,
its around 9:00, I start
my first shift of work.

MM: Do you change your tools depending on the job,

or are there a set number of things you use no matter
what type of job youre working on?
FRANK: I use the same things no matter what Im
doing. My paper of choice is Stratford Bristol board,
vellum surface, 300 series. It has a slight tooth
which I like. I use a regular mechanical
pencila 0.7mm Pentel P207.
MM: Do you like a softer lead
or a harder lead?

MM: Do you do warmup sketches?

FRANK: I use whatever

lead is in the mechanical
pencil. [laughter] The lead
that I use is the Pentel 0.7
refill leads, medium HB
hardness. For inking, I
use Micron Pigma
pens, three sizes: 01,
05, and 08. I use
the 08 for everything, and use 01
and 05 for details. To
fill in large black
areas, I use #2 watercolor brush with
Speedball Super Black
India ink.

FRANK: I just jump into

it. I know that Mike
Wieringo used to do a lot of
warm-up drawings, but I could
never do that. I just jump
into it, and if I make a
mistake, I just erase it.
[laughter] Im not really a morning person,
so I dont do a lot of
drawing in the morning. I try to, but I usually end up just reading a
script and doing a lot of
writing. Maybe block out
figures, make calls, and
stuff like that. From 1:00
to 2:00, I grab something to eat and then
usually end up taking a
nap. Around 3:00, I walk
down to the bus stop and
wait for Emily to get

MM: So you dont do any

feathering with the
brush?
FRANK: No, no, I just
dont have the patience.
69

Below: Layout sketch

for an oil painting.
Right and Next Page:
Preliminary sketch and
final line art for Shanna
the She-Devil #1.
Napoleon Duck 2007 Frank
Cho. Shanna the She-Devil
and 2007 Marvel Characters,
Inc.

Nor do I have the talent or skills like

Mark Schultz, who can create all
kinds of ink lines with his brush. I just
use my Micron Pigma pens to mimic the
brush lines. I press down hard on my pen
to create fat lines and ease the pressure
to create thin lines. Ive been doing it so
long that most people think I use a brush.
The only real time I use a brush is
when Im oil painting, which I do
just for fun. Ive got tons of oil
paintings at home. Oil painting is
relaxing for me.
MM: When do you find the time
to paint?
FRANK: I dont. [laughter] I try
to make time once a month to do a
couple hours of oil painting. I cant
wait until my Marvel commitment is over so

I can take some time off and concentrate on my oil paintings.

MM: What kind of subjects do you
paint? Do you do still life, or fantasy...?
FRANK: Everything. I usually work on
three oil paintings at once. I have three
oil paintings set up on the easels in my
studio right now. If I get tired of one,
Ill just move on to the next one. Right
now Im working on a giant King Kong
oil painting. Its like 4' x 5'. That one
Im really excited about. Im also working on a Napoleon ducka mad
duckas a wedding gift for my friend,
Marc Nathan. And Im also working on
a painting of the Grand Canyon. All
three are about 4' x 5'. I found out I
cant paint small. [laughter] I just like the
physical process of slapping paint on
the canvas. Its very relaxing.
MM: When did you start painting? Did
you just pick it up one day?
FRANK: I just picked it up. Being a
self-taught artist, Im very conscious of
my lack of formal training. So I try to
70

Right and Below:

Franks layout of the
money shot for page 9 of
Mighty Avengers #3 and
the finished page in its
entirety.
Next Page: Preliminary
sketches for Amazing
Spider-Man cover work.
Hank Pym, Mary Jane Parker,
Spider-Man, Tigra and 2007
Marvel Characters, Inc.

FRANK: I do all the action sequences first.

[laughs]
MM: Do you thumbnail the story all the way
through, or do you even bother doing that?
FRANK: I dont thumbnail, I go straight to the
Bristol board. I block out the figures right on
the final sheet. I guess thats my thumbnails, so
to speak. On each page I look for the money
shot and make sure that shot is the biggest
panel of the page. Once I figure out which
panel will be the money shot, I build the other
panels around that. Its pretty straightforward.
MM: You start with the action sequences and
save the talking heads for later. So youre
jumping around from page to page, not working in sequential order.
FRANK: Right, Im all over the page and all
over the story. Im just now finishing up issue
#6, and Im drawing page 9 and 10, jumping
around constantly.
MM: Will you do any inking between penciling, or do you save inking until the end?
FRANK: No, I ink as I pencil.
MM: You do kind of loose pencils and then
you do most of the drawing with the ink?
74

MM: Do you actively look for illustration

work, or is it just one of those things
where you take it as it comes?
FRANK: Ive been lucky. They usually
come to me. Lately, I just make the project I
want to work on happen. I actually have a
couple of jobs lined uptheyre just waiting
for me. One is with Christopher Golden.
He recently did the book, Baltimore.
MM: Right, with Mignola illustrations.
FRANK: Chris and I are doing an actionmystery novel set in the Victoria era. Ill be
illustrating it in a Franklin Booth style, like
Bernie Wrightsons Frankenstein. Im really
excited about working on it, but Ive got to
finish some comic book work first. I also
have a Burroughs type project a friend and
I have been talking about, but its way too
early to make any announcement.
Some days Im really excited about
doing comic book work, some days Im really excited about doing comic strip work,
and then there are other days when Im
really excited about doing illustration work.
I often end up juggling all three at once.
MM: When youre writing for comic
strips, youre pulling stuff from everywhere. Do you keep a notebook with ideas
for gags, or do you just take it a week at a
time? How do you work?
FRANK: I used to keep a notebook, but
that quickly fell apart. What ended up
happening is I would scribble on scrap
pieces of paper and on the backs of
envelopes, and completely neglect my
notebooks. So I gave up on keeping a
notebook. If you look at my desk, youd
see piles of post-it notes with little sketches and phrases and stuff like that. My desk
is a mess, bunch of scrap pieces of paper
everywhere.
When I was doing Liberty Meadows for
the newspaper, I would write and draw one
week at a time. It was pretty stressful. I
made sure to try to get two really funny
ideas for that week, and then try to build a
story around them to support those two
strips. For each individual strip, I would
write the punchline on the final panel and
try to figure out the set-up for that punchline. So I wrote everything in reverse. And,

of course, the actual execution of your idea

on paper is another whole set of trouble.
Theres still further evolution, because you
still have to figure out the physical pacing
and timing. Thats always fun. If something
is off, you can kind of sense it right away.
When I was doing Liberty Meadows for
the newspaper syndication, I would kill
myself every week. First part of the week, I
would watch TV, read books, and just
wander around trying to get an idea and a
story for the week. Then, the last two days
I would crank out seven stripsthree-anda-half strips a day. There were several
times where I ended up doing all seven
strips in a little over a day, and you can
tell. During that five-year period, I would
try to spend two days writing and do five
days of drawing, but that never worked
out. It was always five days of writing and
two days of drawing.
77

Previous Page:
Illustration for Jimgrim
and the Devil at Ludd.
Above: Preliminary
sketch and finished inks
of a panel for a Liberty
Meadows Sunday strip. In
the preliminary sketch,
Frank draws Jens entire
body to ensure proper
placement of her knees
in the final drawing.

Jimgrim illustration 2007 Frank

Cho. Liberty Meadows and
2007 Frank Cho.

Above: Preliminary
sketches for the Liberty
Meadows pool party
storyline.
Next Page: Another
money shot layout
along with its finished art
for Mighty Avengers #4,
page 16.
Liberty Meadows and all related
characters and 2007 Frank
Cho. Lindy Reynolds, Ultron
and 2007 Marvel Characters,
Inc.

MM: When you actually sit down at the

drawing table and youve got the gags
more or less worked out, is there a lot of
trial and error trying to work the timing
and the visuals out?

three strips at a time, and work on those

simultaneously. Sometimes I would just
concentrate on one strip at a time. A week
with a lot of physical gags, I would do two
or three at a time.

FRANK: In the beginning, yes, lots of trial

and error on separate papers. But as things
progressed and I got into a routine, I would
work out the dialogue, the panel breakdowns, the timing, the character placements, everything on the actual board or
on the margins of the board. Lots of erasing and white-outs. You should see some of
my Liberty Meadows originals; they look like
they went through World War III.

MM: Was that to make sure you werent

repeating yourself?

MM: Would you draw them in consecutive

order, or would you go back and forth
between them?
FRANK: I would loosely thumbnail two or
78

FRANK: Yes, and just to make sure theres

a certain flow.
MM: Does your approach to writing
change when youre writing for comics as
opposed to newspaper strips?
FRANK: It really doesnt change much. I
have to kind of switch gears around a bit.
Instead of four panels, I have to think of
the overall 22-page story for a comic
book. Once I have the story in mindthis
is when Im writing and drawing my own

Frank Cho

Liberty Meadows and 2007 Frank Cho

Art Gallery
85

Below: Cover layout for Liberty Meadows, Vol. 2: Creature

Comforts.
Right and Next Page: Layout and line art for the cover of
Liberty Meadows, Vol. 4: Cold, Cold Heart.
Page 90: Cover art for Liberty Meadows: Cover Girl, a
collection of cover art in its various stages from the Liberty
Meadows comics and books.
Page 91: Cover art for Marvels Trouble #1 (the Second
Chances edition).
Page 92: Phantom Lady convention sketch and an usual
commission piece showing the first meeting of Phantom
Lady and Casper the Friendly Ghost!
Page 93: Cover art for Amazing Spider-Man #48.

Liberty Meadows and all related characters and 2007 Frank Cho. Mary
Parker, May Parker, Spider-Man and 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. Phantom
Lady and 2007 DC Comics. Casper the Friendly Ghost and 2007
Harvey Entertainment, Inc.

88

89

91

97

Dejah Thoris and 2007 ERB, Inc.

IF YOU ENJOYED THIS PREVIEW, CLICK THE LINK

BELOW TO ORDER THIS BOOK!

Modern Masters:

Frank Cho

Artwork 2007 Frank Cho.

Monkeys! Dinosaurs! Beautiful

women! These are the things Frank
Cho loves to draw... especially beautiful women! Luckily for his fans, he excels at it. In 1997, the writer and artist
introduced Liberty Meadows to the
world, which quickly gathered a dedicated following. The winner of many
prestigious awards - including The National Cartoonist Society Award and
the Charles Schulz Award - Frank Cho
ranks as one of Marvel Comics' top
current artists, and his work on Liberty
Meadows, Shanna the She-Devil, Spider-Man, and The Mighty Avengers,
among others, is simply irresistible.
Now, learn about the man behind the monkey in Modern Masters Vol. 14: Frank Cho,
as Eric Nolen-Weathington takes an extensive look into Chos career and creative
process. The 120-page book features a career-spanning interview with tons of art, including many rare and unpublished pieces, a large gallery, and an 8-page color section
on this true Modern Master: Frank Cho!
104

(120-page trade paperback with COLOR) $15.95

(Digital Edition) $5.95
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