The comic event of the year, the Big Apple Comic-Con , attracts the best and the brightest comic writers and fans. Held in New York City Nov. 16-18, I was able to interview some important comic figures, including Walter Koenig, Neal Adams and Adam Hughes.
Walter Koenig is most famous for his role in the original “Star Trek” series and the first seven “Star Trek” films playing the part of Checkov.
The Mirror: How did you get involved with the original Star Trek series?
Walter Koenig: Well, I played the part of a Russian in another television series, a guest-starring role in a series called “Mr. Novak,” and three years later the same casting director hired me for “Star Trek.”
TM: How much of an effect did that have on your life? Did you ever think it would be as big as it ended up?
WK: Well, no one had any idea how big “Star Trek” would be, and yes, it did change my life completely. It changed my career; it changed my life for the next 40 years.
TM: What was your favorite episode or movie you were involved in?
WK: On television it was probably “The Specter of the Gun” and in the movies it was “The Voyage Home,” “Star Trek 4.”
Neal Adams is a classic comic book artist. He is most noted for his work during the ’70s and ’80s on “Batman” with writer Denny O’Neil.
TM: I heard recently that you are working on a project with Frank Miller , a Batman project. Is that true?
Neil Adams: Yes, it’s a series of graphic novels, it’s going to be six. I am doing the story, I am doing the art, and Frank is dialoguing.
TM: What was your favorite thing to work on during the ’70s and ’80s?
NA: Anything that I am working on now is what I am happiest working on, so all that other stuff is for the historians and the fans to talk about and for the movie makers to make movies about, because it seems as though anything that I’ve worked on in the past either has been made into a movie or is about to be made into a movie.
The funny thing is that, in comic books, if you do something 10 or 15 or 20 years in the past and you do a good job, then 10 or 15 or 20 years later suddenly they discover it, and they realize that it’s a big money maker and they ought to make a movie on it, so all of the stuff that I’ve done pretty much is becoming movies.
Probably, I am going to get involved in making movies myself. It is not something that I am going to talk about now because that would be like cursing myself.
Adam Hughes , is a popular comic book artist. His fame is thanks to no particular work but to his diverse body of work, which stretches from Wonder Woman to “Star Wars.”
TM: What projects are you presently working on?
AH: I am still the cover artist on DC comics’ Catwoman. I am slowly but surely making progress on All-Star Wonder Woman and designing comiquette statues of female Marvel characters for Sideshow Collectibles.
TM: I remember a few months ago there was some controversy over the Mary Jane Comiquette . Any comments?
AH: I think it was perceived as offensive; I don’t think it was actually an offense. I believe what happened was somebody who doesn’t understand comics or know the characters saw the statue, misinterpreted what the statue is about and then started a soapbox; and that sort of was a snowball effect because what happens is that by the time it gets to CNN or Fox News, the rumor has passed through 15 or 20 hands and it isn’t a matter of looking at a statue and going on about how “that looks unusual” or “that looks odd” or “could I possibly be misinterpreting something”; it’s a matter of, “Oh, I’ve heard about this really offensive laundry statue, let me go Google it.” So, you are already predisposed to think that the offense is there.
TM: Who’s your favorite character to draw?
AH: My favorite character to draw is probably Wonder Woman. You know, after all this time, I still love drawing her so that’s got to be something true blue going on there because I literally have the attention deficit disorder of a small child watching Sesame Street. I get distracted really easily and I get bored real fast, but I’ve been doing Wonder Woman stuff for about five or six years, and that’s not slacking off any time soon.
TM: What’s the weirdest sketch request you’ve ever gotten?
AH: Lois Lane in a diaper.
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