JLI Podcast – Meanwhile… Bart Sears interview on Justice League Europe

Bart Sears -- famed artist of comic books and toys -- joins Shag for a fantastic interview about his career and his time drawing the Justice League Europe comic book!

Watch this interview on the Fire & Water YouTube Channel: https://youtu.be/463twOoHahg

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10 responses to “JLI Podcast – Meanwhile… Bart Sears interview on Justice League Europe

  1. I’VE always been more a marvel guy but DC HAS Marvel beat on company wide crossovers as i bought every elclipso crossover and evrey zero hour wheas the secret wars 2 is the only marvel crossover ive bought all of. And I STILL think elclipso is the only one ether company has done that had a built in reason for all the heroes to be there. WHY did the beyonder show up in micronaughts?

  2. Superb episode, what a great chat with Bart. Also, I got a real thrill of living vicariously or by proxy with our listener input. Big smile.
    I have two big takeaways from this: first, the credit that Bart gives to Giffen’s layouts for improving his storytelling.
    The other, his take on “fantasy physique” for fantasy characters. It’s a great insight and allows me to understand and appreciate even more his art.
    Finally, great question about Eclipso, and I did notice at the time the art style change, never would have figured it was intended as a “simplification”.

  3. Well…. 5 Episodes in 3 months Shag must be zooming towards the end of the run by now….. What’s that ? 2 Interviews, 1 Meanwhile for a GAME and another Meanwhile for a Quarterly ? So only 1 episode of 5 opportunities over 3 months on the main books ? Well somehow that seems as efficient as the JLI I guess!

    Seriously this was a great interview to listen to as I decided to go out for a run in the cold Edinburgh morning. I had no sooner turned the corner from my street as the podcast loaded and I heard “This interview is also on Youtube”! Argh I could have had an excuse to sit at home and watch this on a screen? Damn it Shag! Well at least I won’t be envious of Shag’s action figures behind him (I wondered the Alpha Flight busts were hidden out of view).

    As to the interview itself. While I’m disappointed you didn’t really get in to any depth on the Crossgen Years of Bart Sears ( look it rhymes am I actually a Demon?) I was delighted we got to hear about C.O.P.s a Toy Range, Comic and Cartoon that I only remember seeing on vacation in Florida. Perhaps some of the other UK residents of these boards will recall C.O.P.s on our Toy shelves but I don’t think I saw them. I actually have a few issues of C.O.P.s somewhere and in was interesting it led to Spectre and then Invasion! I recall the change of artists from MacFarlane to Sears on Invasion and at the time I hadn’t figured out what had happened or why. But I recall preferring Sears’ work more.

    The other stories from Mr Sears’ time on JLE made me laugh and I have to now wonder what on earth the original Power Girl pencils looked like before Andy Helfer’s Rubber (that’s a UK word for an eraser which I assure you is hilarious in UK/US discussions in the 90s of young people from across the pond meeting up for the first time).

    I don’t have much else to say on this episode other than Mr Sears was great. If there is any actual art on the video please let me know and I’ll give it a watch, otherwise I don’t want to risk having to look at Shag’s Man cave with envy for too long!

    Oh wait Shag was good as well I guess.

  4. Congratulations on one of the best artist interviews I’ve heard, Shag. What a lovely guest Bart was… and your first video interview! That takes confidence, and you pulled it off.

    It was fascinating to hear about Bart’s beginnings, and how he taught himself how to draw as a kid – he made it sound easy, but it takes a certain type of brain, and hard work.

    The anecdote about Pablo Marcos’s kids inking part of the background was hilarious, and how great to hear that George Tuska and Vince Colletta – a taken-for-granted penciller and a scorned inker – made some of his favourite pages ever, in Iron Man. I’ve always been fond of Tuska, and no one did a better job on Jack Kirby’s Thor than Colletta. I also enjoyed hearing how Bart realised Ross Andru was a subconscious influence.

    Did Bart say DC wanted him on a seven-year exclusive? Wow! Talk about being valued.

    The best-ever cover enhancement was, of course, dangly Lobo.

    The fish bowl of Giffen ideas blew my tiny mind.

    May we have Bart on again? And in the words of another of your fine shows, who’s next?

    (And what’s a guy gotta to to be asked to contribute a question, for cripes’ sake?)

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  5. This was such a great listen. Excellent job, Shagg!

    Now I keep thinking, in another timeline, Bart Sears got the gig drawing Spider-Man rather than Todd McFarlane, and how that would have change not just Bart’s and Todd’s careers, but the creation of Image Comics. Craziness! But it so could have happened. Picture Spidey with Bart muscles, and MJ’s ahem attributes. Whoa!

  6. Great interview and great episode.
    Good job one and all .
    Nothing major to report here just the usal stuff rain , snow , evil snow men and dogs wielding flame Throwers . Yep nothing werid here Bucky749 signing off

  7. Fun and informative talk. Bart clearly enjoyed talking with you Shag. (To each his own, I guess)

    Bart mentioned one of his friends, Mark McNabb, who helped hook him up at Wizard. I worked for Mark from 1994-1997 in his studio, one of the most fun experiences I’ve ever had. 25+ years later, McNabb was at my wedding.

    Re: Bart’s time at JKS–he’s being modest. All the guys WORSHIPPED him. Part of it was his art style, which was very bold, macho superhero action, but also because he working on a current book on the shelves, which really seemed magical to all of us trying to break into the business. It was one thing to hear about how things were in comics in the 1960s or 70s, it was another to hear from a guy who was working on a book that you could see for yourself every month.

    Great get,Shag!

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  8. Wonderful episode, Shag. What a great interview. You did a fantastic job, and Bart was a great guest. Loved listening to him speak about his experience.

  9. I’m a little behind but I finally got to WATCH this episode! What a fantastic interview, Shag. I don’t think there is anything else I could that other people in this comments section haven’t already mentioned. This was an aural/visual treat!

    Well, I guess I do have one thing to add; I’m guessing that Bart’s time at Hasbro honed his design chops so that when he finally quit to work on comics, any costume designs he made were pretty solid. While I know we have fun ragging on you for Power Girl’s yellow and white costume, I can admit that the design of it is pretty solid. I just didn’t like the change. And, of course, all the Extremist designs!

    Well done again, Shag! I can’t wait to see who you interview next! *cough*Kevin Maguire*cough*

    Keep up the great work!

  10. Great Interview! I did not know the stuff about GI Joes, lol. Loved his stories about the rush job on Spectre leading into Invasion!

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