Neil Vokes Interview

How did you become involved with Impact Comics?
thru insight studios-I’d been friends with Mark Wheatley and Hempel already and we had worked on a few things together-it was mark who helped me get the gig.
What was your first introduction to the MLJ/Archie heroes?
like everyone else, as a kid-I read the Archies / the Fly / the Jaguar(my favorite), etc.
What kind of research did you do for this project?
as much as possible, thanks to mark-but, for me, when doing a book that’s been done before, basically a remake, it’s not good to be too bogged down by what came before-that way, my take on it becomes more “original”. -for the “Black Hood” I just followed what the regular fellas were doing on the book-“the Fox” was mine and mark’s, so I researched foxes and stuff, then took what I needed from mark’s plot/script.
Did you have any story input into the series?
well, we only did the one story, unfortunately-but mark is very good about getting the artist’s input-he played to my strengths.
What part did you have in the creation of the Fox’s look?
it was my design, thru mark’s suggestions-we wanted someone sleek, agile looking, like a real fox-and a style very non costume-yet, it COULD be a suit.
Did Rick Burchett still do anything on the book while you were penciling it?
with the Fox, no-that was ours-and originally, he was to have inked my pencils on the hoodish-but, schedules didn’t permit it-too bad-I loved what Rick did on the series.
How was working with Mark Wheatley?
I’ve always hated him…lol no, he’s been a friend for nearly as long as I’ve been in comics-we’ve done a lot of stuff together-some of which may never see print, sadly- it’s a chore sometimes, because we’re both very opinionated as to what we want-but I usually got my way…by doing what he said-lol.
Did you have any interaction with the editors about the work you did there?
not much-I did my work thru mark-but I’ve never had any major problems with editors-I just grumble about them behind their back-lol
What is your opinion on why the Impact line was cancelled?
they didn’t produce the numbers that a major company desires-at least that’s my understanding-considering all the work involved behind the scenes (and mark and the crew did a LOT of preliminary work) I think that they didn’t give them a chance to prove themselves-the books needed more time to grab an audience-but everything in business is based on NUMBERS…NOW!…sad.