1) First off Bob, thank you for doing this interview, and while asking the questions I'm trying to keep in mind that most of your work on Ghost Rider took place thirty years ago. Your association with the character started fairly early in the book's run when you became the cover artist - I can only remember a handful of issues that didn't have covers by you once you started. How did you get the job handling the covers for all those years?
I believe Marvel Editor Roger Stern first gave me the opportunity to draw a Ghost Rider cover, beginning with issue #33. More precisely, I think it was his assistant editor, Jim Salicrup, who came up with the idea of asking me. I had a reputation that Jim was aware of for drawing detailed objects from my earlier stint on Captain Britain, a book on which I did backgrounds for penciler Ron Wilson--lots of scenes of London showing Big Ben, Piccadilly Circus, etc. This particular Ghost Rider cover featured a large spaceship, and I guess the spaceship drawn by the regular penciler, Don Perlin, lacked sufficient detail for Roger and Jim's liking. They wanted the spaceship to have more of the feel of the kind of craft seen in Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, two movies that had recently been released. Don Perlin liked what I did so much with the cover spaceship that he went back and added detail to his renderings of the spaceship on the inside of the book. Anyway, that's what brought Ghost Rider and me together for the first time--a spaceship!
2) I assume it was an easy transition going from cover artist to interior artist? Had you been lobbying to take over the full art chores on the title, or was it something Tom DeFalco (the book's editor at the time) offered to you?
I don't remember lobbying to take over the book, but I was happy to accept the offer. Around that time, for a couple of years, I had been bouncing back and forth between staff editorial jobs and freelance artist. At the time I was asked, I was Jim Salicrup's Assistant Editor (Jim had, by this time, been promoted to full editor and had asked me to leave the freelance life and become his assistant when he got the promotion a couple of years earlier). Tom wanted to restart Ghost Rider with a new creative team, so he asked me to pencil and Roger Stern to write. And so I quit my day job (as assistant editor), and Roger and I took over the book with issue #68. As for the transition from cover to interior artist--going from drawing a single cover a month to 20 or so pages a month was never easy for me. I was never very fast as a penciler.
3) You started your run on the book with Roger Stern coming on as the new writer, and this really seemed like Marvel's attempt to “relaunch” the series. What was the reaction from Marvel and the readers when you and Stern came on board?
I know Marvel editors who paid attention to the book, which would have included Editor Tom DeFalco and Editor in Chief Jim Shooter, were very happy with the new direction the book was taking. And the fans must have liked it, because sales steadily grew for many months.
4) For whatever reason, Roger Stern left the book pretty quickly and was replaced by another great writer, JM DeMatteis. When DeMatteis came on board, you became not only the artist but also the book's co-plotter, correct? How closely did you and JM work while producing the series?
Marc and I worked together very closely on the plots. Occasionally we'd meet to talk about the plots, but more typically, since we didn't live that close to each other, we'd get on the phone for a couple of hours a month and hash out the plots. Usually a plot developed like this: Marc would come up with an overall structure, would come up with the characters, their conflicts, the emotional changes they would go through in the story. Then, once he had explained all that to me, I would say, "Now, what would make a good cover scene?" And I'd add in some eye-grabbing cover scene, and figure out some action sequences and other bizarre visuals to pump a little juice into Marc's first draft. Not every plot strictly broke down that way--I'm sure there were many occasions when Marc offered the visual action scene and I threw in a character conflict or two. But you get the idea. It was a very pleasant collaboration.
5) Another important part of what made your work on the series so good was inker Dave Simons, who tragically passed away not long ago. Not to speak ill of the other finishers who worked after he left, but do you think the series lost something important when Dave moved on?
I'm very saddened by David's recent passing. He was much too young to leave us. We had just recently reconnected, and had even begun collaborating again on an occasional art commission. As for the series, I was devastated when Dave decided to move on. He brought so much to the look of Ghost Rider. All that great leathery feel of GR's costume--that was all due to Dave's inks. I can honestly say the book never recovered from Dave's departure; sales began falling soon after he left.
6) It seemed as if you and DeMatteis were really getting into a fantastic groove on the series when cancellation reared its ugly head. I know it was a long time ago, but what kinds of things would you have liked to do with Johnny Blaze had the book NOT been cancelled in 1983? Would you have remained as the book's artist for some time to come?
I don't really know what plans we had for the book when it was canceled. We probably had some, but I don't remember what they were. It's challenging enough to remember what we actually did; what we didn't do is impossible to remember, at least for me. At least we were given enough advance notice of the cancellation that we were able to bring the Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider story to a conclusion. If the book hadn't been canceled, I'm sure I would have remained on it, at least for a while. I enjoyed drawing Ghost Rider.
7) As part of the site's 8th anniversary this month, Vengeance Unbound did an article on the Top Ten Ghost Rider Comics of All Time - and your first issue as the interior artist, Ghost Rider # 68 written by Roger Stern, clocked in at the # 1 spot! What do you think about that? Do you think your work on that issue deserves the title “Best Ghost Rider Comic of All-Time”?
I'm shocked! As for whether that issue I drew deserves that ranking, I really can't say. There have been many other very talented artists who have drawn Ghost Rider over the years.
8) A question I ask every creator: what did you think of the Ghost Rider movie?
I didn't like it very much. Although I have liked Nicholas Cage in a lot of his movies, I think he was seriously miscast as Johnny Blaze. As for the rest of the movie, I really don't remember much about it. It didn't make much of an impression on me, at least not a positive one.
9) What kind of things are you working on these days? Have you moved on from the comics field or is it something you'd like to continue doing?
Other than an occasional art commission, I don't do much in the comic book field these days. Mostly I work as a freelance graphic designer. I'm also my town's Director of Recreation.
10) Mr. Budiansky, thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to do this interview with me. Any last words for all the Ghost Rider fans out there?
Just a few--I really enjoyed my time on Ghost Rider. With Roger Stern and JM DeMatteis, I had the opportunity to work with two tremendous writing talents. And I was lucky enough to have some great inkers embellish my pencils, Dave Simons being the most noteworthy. Looking back, I think we were really able to elevate the character and bring the book to new prominence, at least for a short while. And for those fans who have a special fondness for that run of Ghost Rider books after all these years (if such fans still exist), I'm glad that I was able to contribute to those books.
Thanks again to Mr. Budiansky for taking part in this interview!
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