Creator Interview: Don Perlin

In April of 2011, I got to interview Don Perlin, who has drawn more issues of Ghost Rider than any other artist.  He was an absolute pleasure to correspond with and he even sent me a scan of some original Ghost Rider art to go along with the interview!

(Again, the interview references the Top Ten Ghost Rider Comics article I ran years ago and is no longer available.  Don't worry, I'll be doing a new one soon!)

1) Mr. Perlin, thank you for taking the time to do this interview For some of our younger fans, what’s a quick way to sum up your artistic career?

 

Well Chris, the quickest way is to say, "over 60 years of drawing comics of every genre from werewolves to Scooby Doo," can't beat that. 

 

2) For many years, you set the artistic standard for Ghost Rider, and to this day you still hold the record for most issues of the series drawn by a single artist. How did you get the Ghost Rider assignment?

 

Marvel had just canceled Werewolf By Night, Jim Shooter decided to try to revive the Ghost Rider which had been down graded to a bi-monthly.  I needed another series sooo...the bald guy and the flaming skull bonded.

 

3) What was your favorite part of drawing the Ghost Rider series?

I would say that my favorite part was knowing that my work played a part in bringing the Ghost Rider from a bi-monthly to a monthly book and making it popular enough to rate a movie.

 

4) Most of your run on the series was with writer Michael Fleisher. What was it like working with him? Did you have any input on the plotting?

 

Mike did not like to write in plot form which gave the artist the opportunity to add to the plot, instead he wrote full scripts which I followed, this took some of the fun out of drawing it. The writers before Mike wrote plots which allowed for greater input from me. You will find that on various occasions, I have been given co- plotting credits on many of the titles I've worked on.

 

5) Did you ever have a desire to write as well as draw, whether it was Ghost Rider or any of the other titles you worked on over the years?

 

No, not really. On occasion I would come up with plot ideas and they were used at the writers discretion. Most of the writers I worked with were happy to have an illustrator take that kind of interest. I wrote and drew an issue of Conan the Barbarian, it was # 222. I did some writing for other publishers, but that is another story.

 

6) Last year this site did an article on the Top Ten Ghost Rider Comics of All Time and one of the issues you drew (# 36, “A Demon In Denver”) came in at # 3 on the list What do you think of that?

 

Gee only #3, shucks! Only kidding!! I am flattered and awed.

 

7) You’ve had such a long career, with artistic runs on Werewolf by Night, Defenders, Bloodshot, and others. What was your favorite series to draw? Were there any characters you wanted to work on but never had the opportunity to do so?

 

I have been asked that question many times and the answer is no favorite character, I enjoyed drawing them all. Each story had it's own challenges, my joy was in meeting them and solving them. "I was born to draw but not much more." 

 

8) What did you think of the Ghost Rider movie?

 

I enjoyed it. I like Nicholas Cage, and that Ghost Rider on the flaming horse kinda reminded me of the Bounty Hunter. When the movie was showing here in Jacksonville, the members of the Florida Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society came to Jacksonville from all over the state and SURPRISED me at the theater.  

 

9) Do you have any new projects in the works? Have you moved on from the comics field, or do you still do comic work?

 

I am semi-retired. I do commissions and any interesting projects that may come my way.

 

10) Thanks again for doing the interview, are there any parting words you’d like to give to Ghost Rider fans out there?

 

I would like to thank them all for making my run on Ghost Rider a success. Lets hope the flaming skull burns eternally!