Interview with Veteran Comic Book Artist Herb Trimpe
Joey: He seems some of the greatest common book characters of all time. Hi, I'm Joey Streetzy and welcome to watchmojo.com. Our host Mike got to sit down with veteran illustrator Herb Trimpe to discuss some of his favorite comic book characters.
Mike Petel: Do you have any standout creations that for you were a real joy to make and that you would like to revisit?
Herb Trimpe: Most of the ways I generate in comics by doing commissions. When you do commissions, you're constantly reworking old stuff because that’s what the fans want. I think the Hulk, I did that for eight years. There’s a certain comfort level with that and we had the character molding into a certain way that with appealing to both the artist and the writers. We want you to establish a character. You almost don’t have to think about it. The character dictates what happens.
Mike Petel: You're popularly known as the first person to ink Wolverine.
Herb Trimpe: In those issues, the last panel in Hulk 180 and then the whole issue, number 181 which were devoted primarily to Wolverine and Battle with the Wendigo. Jack Abel inked those books, as far as the penciling goes, as far as what I was doing. We did a lot of throwaway characters. There was no expectation that they might continue on in another issue. It came about that the writer Len Wein decided that we should have a Canadian superhero. When the character first appeared, there was not an unusual reaction but you as we all know, he didn’t become the Wolverine we know until he became a member of the X-Men. The yellow spandex character is almost a totally different character. Although I’d like to think of Hugh Jackman in that outfit and then him saying this is ridiculous and throwing a thing in the garbage.
Mike Petel: Did you actually find that Hugh Jackman portrays the character truly?
Herb Trimpe: Yes super, I think everybody that came out to that first movie, first X-Men movie that he was in scene. I mean the idea that I said, this character can handle a movie solo. I think it got sort of millions of line reviews. The people that made the movie, that’s their fault because the character is dynamite as far as Hugh Jackman is an actor, I've seen him in other things and it just shows how versatile and how much variety he can put into a portrayal.
Mike Petel: In terms of reboots, I'm just wondering do you feel that reboots every once in a while are warranted for a series.
Herb Trimpe: I'm not comfortable with it because nobody likes to change but I think it's absolutely necessary, every generation for the characters in the stories to be in the language of that generation. If you read a comic book in you know from the 1930’s or 40’s it just doesn’t speak to the times. I think every generation and that goes for everything. Everything has to be redefined. Nations have to reexamine constitutions. Religions have to reexamine dogma. You need to keep it so that it has a meaning for generations that are here now. Not that you should dispense with tradition and the heritage that led to the present. No, there should be an appreciation there.
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