Dave Johnson & Howard Chaykin Pull No Punches

It’s no secret that I’m a Dave Johnson fan.  It’s no secret that I’m a Howard Chaykin fan.  Up until today I did not know that Howard Chaykin is a HUGE Dave Johnson fan.  At WonderCon this past weekend Chaykin helped moderate a panel along with and about Dave Johnson.  As you can imagine, it was insightful, funny, informative and pulled no punches.  Here’s a taste from a CBR.com report:

Chaykin: . “Dave is consistently the finest cover designer working in the field today. He finds the bridge between the intellectual and the emotional.”

Johnson {when he was praised and not fired after submitting a radical cover): “I realized I just had to be fearless (when creating a cover).”

Johnson (on his influences): “John Byrne, Michael Golden. Byrne is a total *******, though—I met him once and I vowed never to do that again.” Chaykin chimed in again: “The good thing about Byrne is, as long as he’s alive, you know you never have to be the most despised man in comics.”

The piece by Dave Sikula is really well written and informative.  It goes on to tell how Steranko vindicated Johnson after he was over-ruled by an editor, why it’s tough to be the cover artist for Eduardo Risso, what Byrne, Art Adams and Michael Golden have in common, how Johnson approaches covers and much more.  You can read the whole piece right here.