Interview: Joe Caramagna
- Written by Royal Nonesuch on Thursday, August 02 2012 and posted in Features
The comic book letterer extraordinaire stops by to talk about his new line of Spider-Man books for Young Readers, as well as his career in comics!
JC: A couple of years ago, Nate Cosby, who was an editor at Marvel at the time, hired me to write a series of all ages Spider-Man short comic book stories, starting with his origin, to be published in France. I wrote and lettered the stories in English – I don't speak French at all – and they were translated later. What happened, though, was that the stories were adapted into prose as young readers novels. Somewhere down the line, Marvel wanted to try it here in the United States, and asked if I would be interested in re-writing them as prose stories and I jumped at the chance.
OH: These books are a mix of prose and comics/illustration. How did you approach the design of the books? Is there anything in common between the process of designing the Young Readers books and designing the letters for a comics page?
JC: I didn't have much input into the design of the books because they were published this way in France first. But my editor Cory Levine is very good about letting me see a pdf of the book before it goes to print to make sure that I'm okay with the way it looks, and I think they're great.
JC: To me, Spider-Man has the most tragic origin of any super hero. Batman's origin is pretty tragic, too, but imagine how Peter Parker must feel every day knowing that he is somewhat responsible for his Uncle Ben's death. That's a lot of guilt to carry around with you, especially for a teenager. And because of that, his credo becomes "with great power must come great responsibility." It's powerful stuff.
OH: How many more of these Young Readers Novels can we expect? When will the next one be out?
JC: The first two, Behind the Mask and Vulture came out in May and can be found at your local comic shop as well as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other major booksellers. The next two installments, Dr. Octopus and Sandman, will be on sale in October. After that, there are two more in the series, but whether or not they are put on the publishing schedule probably depends on sales, so please go to your LCS or Amazon and pre-order them so Marvel knows that you want more! They're a great tool to get kids to read because it's subject matter that they could get excited about, and they're very reasonably priced.
OH: Let's switch gears a bit: When did comics come into your life, and when and how did you decide that you'd be working in comics for a living?
OH: As far as lettering goes, they say that "you only notice lettering when it's bad." How do you approach the job of lettering? What design principles do you work with in your lettering?
JC: My approach to lettering is very basic, and that's to keep it simple, and be consistent. Anything more than is necessary is just showing off and nobody really cares about that. My job is to sell the words as best I can and help the art tell the story either through sound effects, or leading the reader's eye through the page. And I choose the font for each title based on the art and the tone of the writing. And as far as consistency, I try to make sure my balloon shapes are all sort of the same and there's the same amount of "air" around the letters in each one. And I like to keep the thickness of my tails the same. See? I bet you didn't know that much though went into lettering. Most people think it's just fitting the text into the panels!
OH: Letterers are as much a part of the visuals in a comic as the penciller, inker, and colorist. When lettering a book, do you communicate with those creators as you're working?
JC: Sometimes. But most of the time, it's just me and the editor. Though there are times when Mark Waid asks for a special effect or Matt Fraction asks for a type of balloon or text, like the creative way that Split-Lip uses profanity in Invincible Iron Man.
JC: Spider-Man, without a doubt. With Marvel characters, it's not even close. I grew up loving Superman and Batman too, but Spider-Man was always number one for me. He's the one I most identified with. And being able to write Spider-Man stories as my job is an incredible experience that I'll always cherish.
OH: Now that you've had multiple jobs in comics (writer/letterer), what next? Will you take on multiple jobs in other industries? Will we soon be saying, for example, "rapper/actor Joe Caramagna...?"
OH: Is there anything else you'd like to tell us that we didn't ask?
If there's anything more anybody wants to know, you can always find me on Twitter @JoeCaramagna. I answer any and all questions. If you take the time to ask me something, I promise I'll take the time to give you an answer. I love talking comics, writing, politics, etc. Come on over and chat!
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About the Author - Royal Nonesuch
As Senior Media Correspondent (which may be a made-up title), Royal Nonesuch tends to spearhead a lot of film and television content on The Outhouse. He's still a very active participant in the comic book section of the site, though. Nonesuch writes reviews of film, television, and comics, and conducts interviews for the site as well.
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