Eric Johnson: Oh, man, that part of my life seems like a million years ago these days. Honestly, I’ve wanted to draw comics for as long as I can remember, and I was trying to break in to the industry long before I joined my band, so the question should really probably be, “how does a comic artist become a vocalist?” The band was more of a very, very cool diversion along the road to drawing comics. I’ve always been very in to music, wanted to join a band, met some of the coolest guys I’ve ever known, who are still some of my best friends, and the rest makes up probably the best 5-7 years of my life, really. I miss it. Being in a band is about as completely opposite an experience from drawing comics as you can get. I love drawing comics, but it’s a very, very solitary experience, and the collaboration tends to feel like it’s happening in a vacuum, and that’s assuming the writer is even interested in collaborating; in comparison, being in the band was very immediate, the collaboration was tangible, and we were all together all the time, including our extended circle of friends. I used to be, anyway, a very social person, so that aspect is missed badly sometimes, it’s pretty much the hardest part of being a comic artist because I spent pretty much all day every day working these days, but it’s worth it when the pages are finished, when the books come out, it’s all worth it.

NRAMA: You co-created Rex Mundi, how did that collaboration come about?

EJ: I met Arvid (Nelson) at the San Diego Comic-Con in ‘99 and he e-mailed me when he got back to New York. He said that he had an idea that he thought I might like, and as soon as I heard it, he was right, it was right up my alley. I had a couple of other opportunities that I was considering at the time, but as soon as I read what he had in mind I got back to all of them and turned them down and from there Arvid and I got deep into creating everything that would become Rex Mundi. It was a great time, and I’m enormously proud of what we created together. Makes me sad about the way it ended up, although it’s been a good thing for just about everyone involved and it’s good to see the book continue on.

NRAMA: Have you always been interested in religious history?

EJ: Oh yeah, it’s absolutely fascinating stuff. I can’t get enough. I’m not religious myself, but the why’s and where fore's of how these ideas captivate so many people are so interesting, and, let’s be honest, so much of the history of Christianity, not bible history, but actual history, make for some very dramatic stories. Stranger than fiction, you might say.

NRAMA: What type of research went into drawing those kind of stories? Your pencils always looked quite intricate...

EJ: For that book it was a matter of getting as much reference as I could on all the historical stuff and figuring out what elements were sort of signatures that would make things that I had to make up seem believable. Otherwise it’s just a matter of digging and getting as much photo reference as possible. Really not so different from any other book I’ve drawn or will draw.

NRAMA: As co-creator, why would you leave before the series is finished?

EJ: Honestly, that wasn’t my choice, it was Arvid’s. If I’d had my way I would have finished the book or died trying. I’d be lying if I said I don’t miss it, or that I’m not at all bummed about it or how it went down, but, like I said, it’s ended up being good for just about all involved. I wish them nothing but the best and hope that the great Rex fans that we had don’t forget about me.

NRAMA: You are about to start a 2 issue run on the Phantom, how did that come about?

EJ: I had just finished, or was getting close to finishing issue #2 of Revisionary and I was trying to figure out what project I’d do next. I was keenly interested in doing something a little more in the super-hero arena because I was sick to death of drawing “real people”, endless talking scenes, and so on, although, to be fair, bother issues of Revisionary had their share of fun things to draw, but I want to draw super-heroes, that’s why I started drawing in the first place lo those many, many moons ago. So I wanted a project that would be action packed, preferably with some cat running around in spandex, and since I was already doing work for Moonstone I mentioned to my editor, Lori G, that I’d really like to draw some Phantom issues if the opportunity arose. She said she’d see what she could do, but not to hold my breath. Then a little later we were again talking and she mentioned that Moonstone was doing Wyatt Earp and that it was being written by Chuck Dixon. I think I immediately started gushing about Chuck, his Nightwing run with Scott McDaniel is amongst my favorites in all of comics, just to name one reason for the embarrassing gushing. Anyway, I started not-so-subtly dropping hints that I’d really like the opportunity to work with Chuck, which she, again, said she would see about, but didn’t sound to optimistic about the possibility for a variety of reasons.

Not too long after that the opportunity to do a couple of issues of the Ghost who Walks, did come about because Pat Quinn, the regular artist on the title at the time, was drawing the illustrations for The upcoming origin retelling, The Phantom: Legacy, I think it’s called. So Lori called and said that Joe (Gentile, Moonstone, Publisher/EIC) asked if I’d like to them, to which I said, "of course". Initially I thought I’d be working with Ben Raab, the then regular writer on the book, which I was looking forward to, but I think Ben was still busy with the Legacy book himself, I could be mistaken, but for whatever reason Ben wasn’t able to write the two issues I was going to be drawing, so, bless them, Joe and Lori asked Chuck if he’d like to do them and, bless him, he said yes. The rest, now is history, but it was a great experience. I’ve worked with some very good writers in my young career, but Chuck is on another level, and it was a pleasure drawing what he wrote. I’m very proud of those two issues, and I hope I get the opportunity to do it again soon.

NRAMA: How did you discover the Phantom?

EJ: The first time I encountered The Phantom was in the Defenders of the Earth cartoon back in the eighties.

NRAMA: What is it about drawing the Phantom that is most appealing to you?

EJ: He has a great costume, in my opinion, and, honestly as strange as it sounds I dig that he rides a horse. That’s actually kind of ironic, because I didn’t dig that go in, in fact I was dreading drawing Hero, but Chuck only wrote him into the book on the last page of my second issue, and I had such a blast, I kind of wish he’d been more prominently featured. I have to say that I also dig the fact that he is a straight up hero, in the classical sense. It’s a refreshing thing these days. That’s not to say that I need or want all costumed heroes to be like that, not at all, but it’s nice that he still is.

NRAMA: It's the Phantom’s 70th Anniversary, what is your part in this celebration?

EJ: Well, the first of the two issues that Chuck and I did will be came out not too long ago, and issue #10 should be out in just a couple of weeks. I would never claim anything like “they’re the best issues ever”, I will say that I’m very proud of them, that, for better or worse, this is a Phantom like you’ve never seen, and I hope everyone grabs a copy. For my part I’ve really put everything I have into these two issues, and now all I can do is sit back and hope that the readers dig it, old “phans” as well as new.

NRAMA: You also have another comic coming out, this one throught Narwain, called Free Fall, what is that about?

EJ: Free Fall is a bank heist caper. It reminds me of, like Ocean’s 11 and The Italian Job. It’s a neat little story with some pretty effed up bad guys, and some very, hopefully, sympathetic characters caught in the middle. The plot of the story is cool, but what grabs me about it, thus far anyway, and what seems to be grabbing the readers that I’ve heard from is the humanity of the book. Gianluca’s brought that level of humanity to the characters and the story, hopefully enhanced by my art, that is rarely seen in comics these days where the focus so often seems to be on plots and action, rather than on how those things affect the character’s “living” through them. It’s nice and I’m really proud to be a part of it. I really hope a lot of folks check it out, because it’s good stuff.

NRAMA: How did Free Fall change from a 3 issues mini series to 5 issues?

EJ: Honestly, I think that was just a miscommunication or a typo in the solicitation. When Dario, our editor, and Gianluca first approached me to draw the book it was very clearly stated as a 5 issue mini, and I had to ask Dario myself what the deal was when I saw that first solicitation. But, yeah, it was always intended to be 5 issues, but it’s starting to seem to me that it wouldn’t be comics if SOMETHING weird like that didn’t happen.

NRAMA: After you are done with the Phantom and Free Fall, what can fans expect to see you doing next?

EJ: Honestly, for the first time in a long time I don’t know for sure. There are a couple of projects that I’m mulling over, including one of my own creation, which I’ve very interested in starting at this point, but the others would be working with guys that I like very much and would love to work with, so we’ll see. One thing I’m really looking forward to, though, is some MUCH needed downtime after Free Fall #5 is finished. I haven’t had any substantial time off since Arvid and I started Rex Mundi back in ‘99, so I’m very keen to take at least a couple of weeks to recharge the ol’ batteries. After that, we’ll see. I’d love for my next project to be for either DC or Marvel, but there are other fun things to do if not, there’ll definitely be something from me out there soon after Free Fall ends. And I should mention that  anyone that’s interested in keeping up with my current projects can go to my website at http://ericj-art.com. That’ll be the first place I’ll be posting what the next project will be; thanks to all of the readers that have supported me so nicely over the last few years, I couldn’t do it if all weren’t out there reading and buying, so, sincerely, thank you!