![]() ![]() He taught me how to use Zip-a-tone shading films to create textures and more subtle values. The most valuable thing I learned as his apprentice was how to work for reproduction and to utilize black and white values to combat the poor color process of that era. He was an accomplished folk guitarist and his style was reminiscent of a Wood Guthrie and Pete Segar. In the evening, Woody and I would sit out on his porch and play guitar together. That served me well in the years that followed. Woody hammered one, basic concept into my head Time and again, he imparted to me that a good artist should be in service to the tale being told… a “slave to the story”. He was a brilliant teacher whose formula for clear, concise inking set the stage for the look of the modern age of comics. How was he? What do you think it was the most valuable lesson he gave you?īob: The close association with Charlton (and production wizard, Bill Pearson) led to my meeting Wally Wood and becoming one of his apprentices. Vicente: You were an apprentice of Wally Wood. I DID, however, live about two blocks away from their Derby, CT. But I never actually worked in the Charlton offices. While I was producing Bullseye, I began taking on inking work on their anthology books. They gave us unlimited access to unpublished material from their vaults by the likes of Steve Ditko, Jeff Jones and a host of others. ![]() Charlton wanted to establish a fan presence, as well and formed an alliance with our Indianapolis, Indiana-based CPL/Gang to produce the Charlton Bullseye. Marvel and DC had house fan publications of their own, namely F.O.O.M. It was an extremely popular fan publication for its day and eventually led us into a working alliance with Charlton Comics, with Sterno and I producing and publishing the now-famous Charlton Bullseye magazine.īob: At that time in the mid ’70’s, Charlton was struggling to re-establish some sort of footing in the superhero market. CPL (an overblown title which stands for Contemporary Pictorial Literature) was our main ‘zine. Vicente: How did you begin professionally? I understand that you started as a comic book seller and with a fanzine named CPL with Roger Stern.īob: I met Roger Stern (who worked for a local radio station in Indianapolis.) and we began publishing fanzines out of my little apartment. As I matured, I began to comprehend the true potential that the medium had and became obsessed with becoming part of it Subsequently, I was skipped a grade when I entered the school system and wound up graduating High School at barely 17 years old. That comic was a Showcase issue featuring The Challengers of the Unknown. Vicente: How did you begin reading comics?īob: I learned to read from comics when I was only four years old, after my older sister Sue Ann became bored with reading the same comic to me about fifty times. Since it was published in Spanish, we decided to reissue the most comprehensive interview that Bob Layton has done to date in its original English version. Dolmen is produced and distributed in Spain and is nearly the last comic-book fan magazine of its kind, with a distinguished, 22-year history in publishing. This interview was conducted in April of 2014 by Vicente García, Editor of Dolmen Magazine.
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