‘More than meets the eye’ as LCC alum illustrates ‘Transformers’ comic series
Meeting Robert Kirkman was a turning point in artist Jason Howard’s career.
“He was already established and liked my work,” said Howard, of Holt.
Kirkman is one of the six members of Image Comics’ board of directors, as well as its COO. He also co-founded Skybound Entertainment in 2010. He is a prolific creator, his most notable titles being “The Walking Dead” and “Invincible,” both of which have been adapted for the small screen.
With Kirkman writing, Howard is currently illustrating Image/Skybound’s “Transformers” comics, based on the Hasbro toy line. The titular characters are alien robots who can transform into vehicles, among other forms. The two factions of Transformers — the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons — are locked in a millennia-spanning war.
Howard began illustrating “Transformers” with the 32nd issue. “Transformers” No. 36 debuts today (Sept. 9).
“When Robert took over the title, he asked me to join him. It’s a good fit,” Howard said. “Working on ‘Transformers’ has really been fun. I grew up watching the original cartoon. Skybound is intentionally going back to basics on their look, which fits me perfectly because it’s how I picture them in my head.”
Illustrating the series isn’t without its challenges, however.’
“It’s not the easiest book to draw, as far as getting the characters on model. You have to make these boxy, robotic characters look dynamic and cool. The shapes are completely different,” Howard explained. “When drawing a character like the Hulk, human anatomy is the same, just bigger and exaggerated. With Transformers, there’s crazy shapes in different spaces, which takes a little bit of work. After drawing them three to four times, you see how it goes, but the first few times it was slow.”
Howard met Kirkman at Wizard Chicago (now called Fan Expo Chicago) in 2003, around the time “The Walking Dead” and “Invincible” debuted.
“I was aware of his previous comics and thought, ‘This guy’s a really good writer.’ I introduced myself, and we talked for a few minutes,” Howard recalled. “In his early issues of ‘Invincible,’ he’d run pinups in the back from artists I didn’t know who appeared to be beginners. I asked if I could do one. Robert said, ‘Here’s my email. I can’t pay you, but if you want to do one, send it. No promises.’ I went home and did the coolest Invincible drawing I was capable of doing at the time. He loved and published it.”
Howard pointed out that at the time, Kirkman wasn’t the prominent figure in the entertainment industry that he is now.
“Robert was just another comic book guy hustling and starting to make it. He was a couple steps ahead of me,” Howard said. “That eventually led us to do one issue of ‘The Pact,’ a team-up comic with Invincible and other Image characters. He told me that it probably wouldn’t make a lot of money, but I thought, ‘I get to draw Invincible and work with Robert? That’ll be fun.’ We got along well creatively and talked about doing other stuff.”
That led to Howard and Kirkman’s collaborations on 2007-2010’s “The Astounding Wolfman,” 2011’s “Super Dinosaur” and 2021’s “C.O.D.E” — all published by Image/Skybound — before their recent reunion on “Transformers.”
“Robert writes his stories like he’s an artist. He’s visualizing things not as a story with words, but as a visual story. As an artist, it’s really fun to draw what he visualized,” Howard said.
The eldest of four, Howard was born in Minnesota, but his family moved to Perry when he was young. A graduate of Perry Christian High School, he went on to earn an associate degree in illustration at Lansing Community College (where two of his three children are currently enrolled).
“I’ve been drawing ever since I was a little kid. A lot of people draw when they’re very young; I was one of those who didn’t stop,” Howard said. “Part of the reason was that I grew up on a farm outside of Perry, and there weren’t a lot of neighbors close by. After school and during the summers, there weren’t many kids my age to play with. We didn’t have cable out there, so TV was limited. You had to find other things to do with your time, and drawing was one of those things I stuck with.
“As I got older, I got better at drawing — ‘Oh, you’re good at that!’ That leads you to think, ‘I enjoy this, I’m decent at this, maybe that’s a direction,’” he continued.
One of Howard’s major influences is artist Todd McFarlane. A “rock star” of the comic book medium, McFarlane rose to prominence with his work on Marvel Comics’ “The Amazing Spider-Man” and “Spider-Man” (he wrote and illustrated the latter title). In 1992, McFarlane left Marvel and formed Image alongside six other fan-favorite artists who wanted to retain ownership and financial rights over their creations.
“I was right there when it was happening. I was graduating from high school around that time. I saw people doing comics as a job, and it felt like an achievable thing,” Howard said.
McFarlane’s “Spawn” was the second comic Image published. Its first issue sold 1.7 million copies, making Image a contender against Marvel and DC Comics.
“McFarlane’s ‘Spider-Man’ was so different-looking than all the other comics at the time. To my mind, it looked so cool and better than real life; it was exciting and dynamic. When I started, I didn’t want to draw comics — I wanted to be Todd McFarlane!” Howard recalled, laughing. “There’s still a big painting I did of Spider-Man in my old bedroom in my parents’ basement that’s based loosely on a McFarlane drawing. It’s very inspiring to look at.”
Upon graduating from LCC, Howard realized his craft wasn’t where it needed to be in terms of drawing comics professionally. His day job was working at Dart Container in Mason, eventually becoming its art director.
In 1996, he published his first comic book, “The Wraith,” through a now-defunct small press publisher in Detroit called Blink Comics.
“That got me doing comics. I enjoyed working with people, working from a script. I kept plugging away for different small presses like Caliber Press (also based in Detroit) and doing sample pages for Marvel and DC,” he said. “For 10 years, I had the day job, but I was getting more and more traction on the comics side. It was a little frustrating at times. In hindsight, it worked out well because we had our kids during the time I had a stable, normal job. It would’ve been more difficult if I had been a beginning comic book artist.”
Howard resigned from his day job in 2007 and has been illustrating comics full-time ever since. His art has appeared in Image’s “Trees” and DC’s “Batman,” “Absolute Green Lantern,” “Superman Red and Blue” and a “Flash” one-shot.
He said the best part of his job is getting to draw pictures all day.
“There are times when things can be frustrating, but when I sit down to work most days, I get to draw cool stuff. I feel very fortunate to be in that position. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time.”
Keep up with Howard at jasonhowardart.com.
