TRANSFORMERS HISPANOS FORUMS [http://forostransformers.mforos.com]
Synapse interviews Nick Roche [http://www.idwpublishing.com]


1. Well well, we finally get some questions answered, it’s been a hard task to bring Nick Roche to make this interview but he’s here at last. So, before we proceed with the real questions, let’s allow him to properly introduce himself: where is he from, how old is he, what’s his medical history?

Ha! Funny you mention the medical history…it’s definitely been a contributing factory to my limited output earlier in the year, and me finally knuckling down to addressing your questions. After all this time, these are the best you can come up with? Wow…

So, yeah, I am called Nicholas Roche, and I hail from Wexford Town in the Sunny South-East of Ireland. I have recently become twenty-nine years of age, and have hated nearly every second of it.

2. When did you first know you wanted to be a comic book artist? What was your first professional (art) work?

Ever since I can remember, I wanted to be a comic book artist. When I was like four, or five, I’d make little story books where the bottom half of the page was text, and the top half was a drawing. Minor classics these little tales were too, chronicling as they did the further adventures of Herbie or Knight Rider (cars with minds of their own…do you see the beginnings of a life-altering affliction here?) But it wasn’t until I was about six or so that I discovered comics, or at least ‘got’ them, and how the stories and art merged as one.  In fact the discovery was made a few issues into my initial ‘run’ on Excellent Comics Transformers series. (Excellent Comics was my own publishing company, aged six.) So suddenly, the stories switched from provocative prose to sizzling strip action. (Man, I wish I’d been smart enough to stick that on the cover of issue #9…it would have saved a lot of confusion amongst my readers. You that the All Hail Megatron heat was bad…? Phew! My dad didn’t talk to me until the Headmasters were introduced…)

I self-published a series when I was about fifteen, and I made money off that. It was called…Oh Jesus…it was called ‘Captain Ireland’. It was a three issue miniseries. Only two came out (Summer ended and I had to go back to school.) But that sort of thing happened in the nineties. I was the Liefeld of Wexford, appearing in jeans advertisements in the local newspaper. I may finish the series off next year for it’s fifteenth anniversary. The change in art will be jarring. I’d better warn Dad now.

So Captain Ireland’s kinda my first work, but I’d count the initial drawing of Chrischarger in Infiltration #0 as my proper debut, with the variant cover for Infiltration #1 my big introduction to the world. Funny; I handed in that cover on 11 September, 2005, and it was only the following day that I realised I’d submitted an image of aeroplanes destroying buildings left, right and centre to the American company I hoped to start a career with. Chris Ryall saw the funny side of my subsequent freak-out.

3. Now, what’s your first memory of the Transformers, your favourite episode (of any of the TV series) and of course your favourite character?

I think I may have covered this in an older interview somewhere else, but I was first aware of the Transformers after seeing the TV ads when they first came out. The image of Jazz from those commercials just stay with me; a robot with the front end of a Porsche hanging off his chest! And even though I could clearly see these toy cars becoming robots in front of my impossibly cute eyes, I refused to believe (until I saw one over a year later) that the figures could conceivably do that for real, and imagine that you’d get an action figure of, say, Bumblebee, and an accompanying toy VW Beetle car, so you could pretend they changed. And until I got my first Transformer (which was Hot Rod, so that tells you how late to the toy-collecting party I was), I used to make my own out of knock-off Lego.

Favourite episode of the original cartoon is the pilot, More Than Meets The Eye, or as I like to remember it, ‘Arrival from Cybertron’, the UK video title of that story. In the Nickverse Transformers, I used the cartoon origin, and followed it up with the comic adventures. I never saw much of the TV show as a kid, and so have never felt any real attachment to it. Except the Movie, of course, which I adore.

But Beast Wars was great, and I probably like the same episodes everyone else likes, such as The Agenda, for example. It was a great show from the start, but once they started weaving in the legacy elements, and you knew the stakes were higher, that’s when it rose to its untouchable status as the best TFs have been on telly. I never got into any of the other shows, bar beast machines which I really loved too. So, I know nothing about Armada/Energon/Cybertron, though I used to download Car Robots back in the day. I just love the look and feel of that series, without any clue what was going on. And TF Animated has been perfect, from what I’ve seen. A cartoon with Transformers the way I wanna draw ‘em! Lovely!

And I think everyone knows by now that Hot Rod’s my favourite character. Simon Furman definitely knows this. And yet he’s written some very upsetting scenes for Rodders in Maximum Dinobots. Why would you do that to him, Simon? Why would you do that to me?

4. What do you like and dislike most about Transformers... and about your work?

I like the current variety of ranges of TF toys and product available; something for everyone.

I don’t like that I will never be able to collect it all.

I like IDW and the different directions they’ve taken Transformers, and how willing they’ve been to stretch things and try something new.

I don’t like that for some reason, it’s hard to make regular comic-buyers take a chance and stick with a TF book, despite how obviously good they are. I don’t know if it’s snobbery from some quarters that think that TFs isn’t a legitimate universe, or whether no comic company has cracked the formula to create mass appeal, without letting down the very important Transformers die-hards.

And about my own stuff…? I like that my artwork is slightly cartoony, something that hasn’t been done much in 21st Century TFs. You see a lot of experimentation with styles in mainstream comics, but I’m quite proud that my stuff’s unique in Transformerworld. Not everyone likes it, but hey…!

What do I dislike…Jeepers, most of it! I mainly dislike how long it takes me; I find drawing TFs easy, it’s just time-consuming.  Plus, I never know which style I’m gonna be drawing in until the day I sit down to it, so I guess I’d like to be more consistent. Yeah, I wish my stuff looked more original, rather than magpied from other places. I’m probably the only one who notices that, but it does annoy me.

5. How did you get to work with IDW? You had submitted some samples to Dreamwave before... well, before it disappeared. Can you tell us about that, too?

The Dreamwave thing was fortuitous, as it turned out, though I was gutted at the time that I wasn’t working on TFs. But I never heard anything officially, yay or nay, from them. I had made contact with Simon by stalking him at various cons and signings, and he, and laterally, I’ve heard, Andrew Wildman, were as vocal as they could be about bigging me up. But I don’t think I would’ve fitted it with Dreamwave, Firstly, I’m old-fashioned, and I like getting paid for work. But secondly, stylistically, I wasn’t a good fit for them, and I often wondered how I would have felt if I’d worked with them, because I would have been made conform to the house-style. But the pieces I submitted, the redraw of Marvel’s G1 #2, the Target:2006 samples, and a few pin-ups, are all floating about on the web.

Being assimilated by IDW happened when I was starting work on a project with a writer chum of mine, Dave Hendrick. Dave’s a gentleman of the highest order, and when he heard that IDW had got the TF license, and he remembered he had some contacts with folk working there, he dutifully joined the dots, and hooked me up. After that, Chris got in touch, demanding I draw him, and draw him pretty, for Infiltration #0, and Dave is still waiting for me to turn some pages in. That’ll happen someday, too.  

6. What’s the usual process when you receive a new script? Maybe sit down and take your time to read it a couple of times before you start sketching? Any established protocol you follow when working on a comic issue? ;)

I never read ‘em. They’re invariably boring, and only serve to stifle my art.

Nah…I read through a script, quite fast first time, usually taking in the dialogue and getting an idea of the story’s framework. I never know if it’s good or bad on the first read through, it’s just a list of directions for me to draw, as far as I’m concerned. I’ll give the script more time later, and go through every bit of it slowly and mentally freaking out at certain bits. I’ll thumbnail a few pages at a time, so I’ll scribble guides out for five pages and the go draw ‘em. And I try and get the hardest ones done early, so if my energy levels are flagging, or the deadline is upon me, I’ve got easier pages towards the end.

7. What are your tools for the trade? Also is your technique traditional, digital, bit of both...?

I only really use digital means for scanning and cleaning up the artwork at the end of the process, or for duplicating backgrounds or repeated objects. But my four Revelation covers were done with Photoshop, using a really loose guideline drawing, only about 5cm high, blown up, and then made transparent. I underlaid the blocky shapes that I used to create the collage style for those covers, and then used a coarse airbrush option to do the speckly colouring.

For the traditional side, I use a 0.5 HB Mechanical Pencil, and Pigment Liner pens (005-03) and Pitt Pens for inking. Oh, and Blue-Line Pro supply the paper. Muffins and Tea are my fuel.

8. What are your favourite artists / main influences? Same goes for writers!

I like all those cartoony chaps, like Joe Madureira, Humberto Ramos, Damien Scott, Jeff Matsuda…I like looking at detail divas like Bryan Hitch and Jim Lee, but I prefer Steve McNiven, just because he adds a bit more character to his people. My big crush at the moment is Ryan Ottley, and for storytelling inspiration, John Romita Jr, Pie Guerra and Steve Dillon are my go-to guys and girls.

On the robots though, my faves are Senior for energy, Wildman for storytelling, and Yaniger for badassedness.

I guess of the current crop of writers I like, I’m pretty whitebread with my choices. Mark Millar’s always solid and entertaining; I love Brian Michael Bendis’ dialogue; Robert Kirkman is a great ideas man, and Brian K Vaughn floats my world too. I also read anything Neil Gaiman puts out. So you could maybe see a bit of all of ‘em in Kup; it was high concept, with a horror twist, that had lots of bitchy dialogue between Springer and Prowl.

Simon Furman’s a huge influence, obviously. Not so much stylistically, but just because he was the writer I read a lot of when I was forming a reading habit. For me, he defined the voice of Transformers. And should I get the chance to write more, you’re bound to see some follow-on in my work. (I’m stating that now, so I don’t get done for ripping him off later.)

Oh, and I will not rest until James Roberts has a stab at shattering some trousers in a Transformers-style. Eugenesis, his novel, is the very best the bots can get.

9. Spotlight: Kup got such good reaction from fans! I know! What the hell…?!
Were you nervous when it hit the shelves? How did you approach the boss with your proposal for the poor old-timer? Do you plan on writing any other TF story anytime soon?

I said “Chris, these photos of you on my harddrive are gonna get me arrested. Either you give me my own comic, and I mean now, buster, or I go public with these babies. And the Terrier Protection Society Of America won’t be impressed with your antics…”

Nah, I knew someone who wanted to pitch a series to IDW, and I brought it to Chris’ attention. He passed on the series, but said that my buddy could submit a Spotlight pitch. I asked if I could have a stab at it, and I got lucky. I heard nothing about the pitch for months, and then it got greenlit, just as I was in the middle of writing a play I was due to perform in, and at Christmas time. It was a nightmare getting all my stuff together during that time, but it worked out, I guess.

I got a few other ideas, but the art side takes so long, that I miss a lot of windows by being attached to pencilling jobs. That’s no complaint, obviously, but it’d be great to have another stab at the writing side. I’ve got ideas that tie into, and spin off from the Kup oneshot, as well as a couple of new concepts. We’ll see. Hopefully IDW will have me back. Keep writing those letters, kids!

Thanks to everyone who supported and enjoyed Kup, by the way. And if it wasn’t your Kup of tea, whatever I do next will be very different, so feel free to come back and gimme a chance, huh? :)

10. You read Furman’s stories as a kid and now are one of those lucky bast-- I mean, great artists drawing them. How does that feel? Also, about Maximum Dinobots, what’s the experience of getting your first whole miniseries (yes, you MUST ruthlessly tease us)?!?!

I feel like a lucky bastard. Yeah, it’s been great getting to know Simon over the last coupla years (Wotta voice, wotta mover!) and it always feels like a privilege to work on anything he can come up with. The other overriding feeling I have is, “Don’t choke! Don’t choke!” I was due to handle Doctor Who last year, and I just came down with some odd illness (possibly Black Death) that flattened me for nigh-on half a year. But I’m feeling good right now, and very territorial. This one;s mine! It’s weird; I wasn’t the world’s biggest Dinobot fan, but introducing them to the IDW-niverse in Spotlight Shockwave has made me very maternal toward them. As for a tease…man, I dunno what I can say…it’s gonna be like a Nick Roche Greatest Hits; bar Kup, I pretty much get to bring back everyone I’ve worked on in this series…and I mean everyone. I can definitely reveal that Grimlock’s got a new look; he’s tarted himself up in the CR chamber since his Spotlight, so I’m intrigued to see how that’ll go down. There’s nothing drastic. He’s still Grimlock…just more so!

11. Now, sorry to commit plagiarism here but I’ve seen this somewhere else and liked how it turned out. So let’s do some word association if that’s ok with you.
- Animated  The Best Since Beast Wars. (They robbed my style!)
- Masterforce Getting hooked on it almost derailed my final year in school.
- Beast Wars As good as it gets.
- Chris Ryall  I owe him.
- Simon Furman But not as much as this guy.
- Scorponok Frigging hard to draw!!!!

12. Last question is about your toys! Are you a picky collector? A completist? Toys in your room take up so much space it makes you take the couch?

Wow…I need to be pickier, that’s for sure. I’ve got very understanding parents…and a less-understanding girlfriend, and that’s why most of my collection lives with my folks. They’re on display in their living room, man! And their front room, as well as my old bedroom. And there are quite a few in my place too. I used to be a completist, but I dropped the ball round about Energon. I’ve got all of G1, bar Swoop and Sky Lynx, as far as 1987, and pretty much anything I want after that. I’ve definitely hit the thousand mark this year. They’re all so gorgeous though! It’s so desirable having 3-d representations of these characters to fool around with. They’re works of art. (Well, a lot of ‘em are…) And it’s never been a better time, choice-wise, to be a collector. I just wish those wacky US dollars IDW pay me with were worth something…


Thanks a lot for your time. Bring on the Dinobots! :D

Oh, I’m a-bringing sir. Consider ‘em brought.

And I haveta take this opportunity to thank you, Carlos, ‘cos you’ve always been a very vocal and much appreciated supporter. So thanks for all those message board big-ups!

Nick Roche, Dinobot Wrangler.