That’s Marvel BadAss! ~ Marcio Takara

I’m not the world’s foremost believer on fate, but today … I’m a convert. Several weeks ago, I interviewed Marcio Takara, a Brazilian illustrator living in Canada. He is currently penciling The Incredibles for Boom! I had found his “Tiny Heroes” sketches on DeviantArt and fallen deeply in love. The man has a style all his own that, in my humble opinion, captures much of what is fun and exciting about comics. And, today, Marcio and I were both featured on Ain’t It Cool Comics — he for The Incredibles and me (indirectly) for my daughters’ blog, 5 Minute Marvels.

So, here’s the part of “That’s Marvel BadAss” where I give you links and tell you to visit them after you read. But, not today. Stop reading. Go now and enjoy the art. Come back later. The words will be here and you’ll be deeply smitten with Marcio’s work.

Wha … what are you waiting for?!?!?! Go NOW and visit www.MarcioTakara.com

[Anticipated 15 minutes later …]

Okay. So you’ve seen the brilliance. You want him to be drawing, like, every comic you read. And, you want to know what makes the man tick. Now, you’re ready to read.

Marvel Smartass: What was your “conversion comic”? What ignited your passion?

Marcio Takara: Justice League International by Giffen, DeMatteis and Maguire. Back in the 80s I guess. That was the first comic book I ever read.  And, Superman The Movie was what made me love superheroes.  I still love it 🙂

Marvel Smartass:  Are American comics popular in Brazil?

Marcio Takara: I wouldn’t say as popular as in the U.S., but we do have people reading them. As far as I know, we always had companies translating all sorts of superheroes comics — mostly the big two companies. Nowadays with the web it’s even easier for people to read stuff.

Marvel Smartass: The FAQs on your Web site beg the question  — how DID you develop your style?

Marcio Takara: All I’ve been doing is trying to draw whatever I’m comfortable with. Actually, I don’t even worry about it that much. Just the fact that I’m drawing every day makes the evolution of my work something natural. Just practice, I guess.

Marvel Smartass: When you’re working, what’s your focus? Where do you start … and what is most important to you?

Marcio Takara: My focus is to make everything as clear as possible —  the action or the pose or the emotion. It goes on and on.

[As for] where I start — I start with an overall composition, then I’ll do some basic action lines for the characters, then structure everything. If you nail all these three, you’re halfway there with whatever you’re doing.

And, what’s most important to me — to meet the deadlines 🙂

Marvel Smartass: With respect to your distinctive style, what is it like working on The Incredibles –working with a house style? Is that limiting as an artist, or does it create creative opportunities one wouldn’t think of right off the bat?

Marcio Takara: It’s been great. I have to pretty much watch parts of the movie everyday for reference. And, it’s amazing to learn with whatever they did on that. Pixar is fantastic. I can say I learned a thing or two from watching the movie every day, so it’s worth it. It’s not exactly how I’m most comfortable drawing, but it’s still an excellent exercise.

Marvel Smartass: How did The Incredibles  gig with Boom! come about?

Marcio Takara: I got an email out of nowhere from Mark Waid. “Hi, this is Mark Waid here. Wanna’ work with me?” There’s no way I could refuse that!

Marvel Smartass: I have kids, so I’ve seen The Incredibles, like, 20 times. How about you?

Marcio Takara: 20 thousand 🙂

Marvel Smartass: Who are your favorite artists?

Marcio Takara: Adam Hughes, Mignola, Maguire, Jim Lee, Lafuente, Ivan Reis, Alex Raymond, John Buscema, Chris Bachalo… I don’t know the list goes on and on 🙂

Marvel Smartass: What books do you read now? What’s a “must” every month?

Marcio Takara: Uncanny X-Men. Matt Fraction is awesome! And, I love the Dodsons as well.

Marvel Smartass: You’ve done work with a variety of publishers, but, what is your dream property?

Marcio Takara: X-Men. No wait, JLA maybe. JLI I’d say.

Marvel Smartass: So, what sold me on you was your terrific “Tiny Heroes” version of the West Coast Avengers . So, an opportunity … give me the elevator pitch for an Incredibles/West Coast Avengers cross-over. Who would they fight? How would Hawkeye and Mr. Incredible get along. More importantly, would Mockingbird and Elastigirl kill each other?

Marcio Takara: I have no idea, man. But, one thing is for sure, I’d love to draw Elastigirl for grown ups. I don’t know Ultimate Incredibles, maybe 🙂