Steve Lieber

Steve Lieber is best known now as the artist of the graphic novel WHITEOUT and its sequel, WHITEOUT: MELT, which were nominated for six Eisner Awards-the comics industry's version of the Oscar. MELT won the award for "Best Limited Series". The feature film rights for WHITEOUT were recently sold to Universal with Reese Witherspoon attached to star and produce. In 2001, his collaboration with novelist Sara Ryan on ME AND EDITH HEAD landed an Eisner nomination for best short story. Lieber first gained recognition in the comic book industry with his work on HAWKMAN (DC Comics). This earned him a nomination for the Russ Manning Award for "Most Promising New Talent". He has worked on titles including DETECTIVE, SUPERMAN, CONAN, STAR TREK, THE TWILIGHT ZONE and G.I.JOE. He studied fine art at Penn State and cartooning at the Joe Kubert School initially pursuing a career in commercial art, working for such clients as Heinz, GE, PPG and The Pittsburgh Pirates. More of his work can be seen at http://unrewarding.com/steve/.

How did you get involved in creating comics and how long have you been doing them?

SL: I've been obsessed with comics for as long as I can remember, studying whatever reprints I could find. I eventually wound up studying at the Joe Kubert School, and after finishing up there in 1990, I didn't even think of pursuing anything else.

How did you get involved with SPX?

SL: I had heard good things about it for years, but I didn't attend until I'd worked on Whiteout for Oni Press.

You had the honour of illustrating the cover to this year's SPX anthology: Tell us about your cover and what thoughts ran through your mind when you were creating it.

SL: Charles Brownstein had told me that he wanted me for the "War" edition because I had one foot in the alternative comics world, and the other in traditional war comics. I tried to come up with something that brought in elements of both, and commented on what tends to happen when cartoonists take on a subject like war.

I'm eager to see if anyone can name them all. Part of the fun of drawing it was seeing how little I could show of each character and still make them recognizable.

I'm not aware on how the cover artist is chosen each year: Were you hand picked to do the cover or did you have to submit a proposal?

SL: Charles asked me. It was short notice, but I wasn't about to say no. If he can give 365 days a year to the fund, I can certainly give one or two.

What's your opinion on the US / coalition forces' military presence in Iraq?

SL: I don't think we should've gone in, but now that we're there, I think we're going to be there for a very, very long time.

I've read and loved your work on Whiteout and Whiteout: Melt, but missed out on your Batman series: What else have you worked on?

SL: Lot's of small projects here and there. Beyond what you mentioned, the books I'm proudest of are Two Fisted-Science and Fallout for G.T. Labs, Me and Edith Head with Sara Ryan, and Family Reunion with Sean Stewart. I'm also very happy with a textbook on comics creation and publishing that I co-wrote for the Complete Idiot' s Guide series. It's in the "books" section of the October Previews and has the cringeworthy title The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creating Graphic Novels, but I promise anyone reading this that the book is absolutely not intended for idiots. There are some short essays about comics creation on my website here: http://stevelieber.com/rants.html that are typical of my writing in the book.

What are you currently working on?

SL: Several short stories for a number of publishers, trying to clear my plate so I can get going on a new graphic novel: a thriller I'll be co-creating with Jeff Parker.

What was your earliest exposure to comics?

SL: The Sunday comics. Peanuts, Dennis the Menace. The usual. I'd sit and copy them for hours.

What inspires you to work in comics?

SL: I love telling stories with pictures. The nuts and bolts of the medium fascinate me, as do the endless possibilities of lines on paper.

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