A Guided Tour of the Career of Melbourne's Own DANIEL REED

Daniel Reed sits down with Andrew Irvin, Interviews Editor, to chat about a storied career of fantastic tales and illustrations - check out more of his work at danielreed.carbonmade.com.

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COMIC BOOK YETI: Daniel, thanks for stepping into the Yeti Cave today. It’s good to have one of Melbourne’s finest local illustrators dropping in to chat. You’ve cultivated a unique, detailed style over your career - where did your interest in comics initially arise? What were your earliest influences amongst the cartoon and comic creators you encountered growing up? 

DANIEL REED:  Like many kids in the late seventies/early eighties, there were always comics around. Early memories for me were English magazines like Whizzer and Chips or Buster. There were some great comics in the Doctor Who magazines too that I always looked forward to reading. The illustrators I really became obsessed with in my early teens weren’t comic folk, but the artists that drew for the Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks that were hugely popular back then; guys like Iian McCaig, Russ Nicholson. It was such a big fascination for me. Iain McCaig‘s work in could really suck you into the story. I still find it hard to look past the ‘magic’ of those illustrations and see how they were constructed. He managed to marry up his understanding of anatomy and use of exaggeration for dramatic effect perfectly. He’s always represented a level for me to strive towards, even from an early age. 

I was probably about 16 when Todd McFarlane was doing Spider-Man, that was the only time I really went deep into a superhero title, he had such a great ‘in your face’ style that seemed so different to everything else at the time. 2000 AD was huge for me too, but now we're heading into my late teens. 

CBY: Now that you've mentioned them, I can definitely see where McCaig and Nicholson inspire your approach to composition and line work. To that topic, part of your style is an intricately hatched line work in your inking. You also have an extensive portfolio of oil paintings displaying your approach to working in color without hard black lines - what are your preferred techniques and materials for finishing your comic pages?   

DR: I can’t say that I have a preference for materials or techniques. It always comes back to what best suits the story. A couple of years ago I illustrated a one-off story called The Boatman, written by Sean Webley. It was centered around two characters in a dinghy, putting in and out of foggy docks. The story demanded the ethereal quality of ink washes, I don’t think it could’ve worked with hard lines. There was also a strange philosophical dreaminess about the story which that technique suited.  In contrast, The Chain written by the same author involved a bunch of men imprisoned in a cell within a crumbling mission building, lit only by a tiny, barred window. That story required large slabs of black and stark highlights, which in turn enhanced the sense of doom. I enjoyed both equally and often settle on a technique that shares elements with both, but it always comes back to how it improves the storytelling. 

Paintings I approach differently; for me they serve a different purpose. With an oil painting, I’m trying to create an illusion rather than tell a story. I’m trying to convince the viewer that a character is looking at them from a 3-dimensional space. For it to work, you need colours and tones that the eye sees in real life. Comic illustrations are more like a type of graphic language in some ways.

CBY: Right - different tools for different jobs; it seems like having the intent laid out from the outset becomes very important in that context. Across both your standalone illustrations and your comic work, your relation to your subjects is unbound from the confines of realistic depictions. Often, the inanimate objects of your scenery claim the focus over the characters interacting amidst each setting. What sort of reference imagery do you tend to employ when creating the range of fantastical settings across your stories?  

DR:  With the post-apocalyptic graphic novel Evermore, I was conscious that everyday objects were useful in telling the story of Rose and Enzo’s world. The reader knows what the broken exercise bike is, but the characters, who live in a kind of ‘new dark age’ probably have no idea.

In Grubby Little Smudges of Filth, there was an ongoing thing with the enormous fruit and veg that was stolen from the Giants’ Garden. As the caravan journeyed on towards the King’s Palace the fruit acted as a contrast between the ‘have’s and have nots’ in the land.

With The Crumpleton Experiments it was more about placing things in strange situations to heighten the surreal aspects of the dream sequences. One issue I remember there being a shadowy figure at Wendy’s bedroom window with an eggbeater. I still don’t know why he would have that with him, but it’s kind of strange enough to be unsettling.

A fair bit of effort has gone into researching items for The Mycelium Complex; given the time jumps, it’s important to remind the reader of where (when) they are. Time-specific brands, technologies, and fashion are important. It doesn’t have to be too obvious, but there are times I have a bit of fun with it. I remember in Issue #2, I put the question out on one of the comic creator FB pages; “what are some Australian products from the eighties that you remember?” I explained that I was setting up a spread where the crew drive down a shopping strip and hit a trolley, sending products flying towards the reader. People really engaged with the question, and I included as many suggestions as I could. It was a fun spread to put together and I still chuckle to myself when I see the guy in double denim squeezing his Prima in surprise as a polly-woffle sails past his head.

CBY: Discontinued product lines and the whims of the market have long been a fascination of mine, so that sounds like a particularly fun engagement opportunity with the community to inform your resultant art. You’ve written and illustrated many of your comics independently, but I’d like to chat briefly about Evermore and your work with writer, Isobelle Carmody. How did the two of you meet and solidify this collaboration? The title is full of beautiful splash pages and spreads, what sort of direction and guidance notes did she provide to yield the resultant graphic novel?

DR: Yeah, Isobelle was great to work with. There were only a few degrees of separation through my sister-in-law, who showed Isobelle Grubby which began a dialogue between us both. I think Evermore already existed as a novella that didn’t yet have a home. Early on there was an exchange of drafts and chats over coffees. ‘Enzo’ was very different at the start and I’m glad he ended up how he did. 

After Isobelle rewrote the story as a manuscript, I had free reign to develop the visual side of the world. I was much less ‘directed’ than I have been with some other projects, so it did feel like a true collaboration.  I developed a new technique with the book which incorporated pencils, ink washes,  line work and digital colour multiplied together. The result is a deep and textured look that is kind of rich and gritty at the same time. I was lucky to work with such a great writer, and I learnt a lot. I think we created something unique; people often approach me at conventions to tell me how they borrowed it from the library and have fond memories of it.

CBY: You're certainly no slouch as a writer on your own merit. Grubby Little Smudges of Filth is an effectively paced meditation on beauty and civility. Framed as a fairy tale, with art examined both as a means of presenting the narrative and serving as a subject of the narrative, itself. What other writers or artists lent some inspiration when you were designing the characters and working through the plot?

DR: Grubby drew inspiration from a few different sources. At the time I was feeling nostalgic for the great Jim Henson movies of the eighties; The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth. I think even today they are beautiful in a way that hasn’t yet been achieved through digital effects. Those movies are so dense with things to look at. Every scene has little details all over the screen.

I was big into Cerebus at one point too. I loved the intricate Gerhard backgrounds and how they contrast with the simple Dave Sim characters. It’s funny how some comics have characters that are drawn with different levels of detail, Cerebus did that as did Bone (Jeff Smith), it’s almost as if some characters are more ‘fictional’ than others. Not sure why I was thinking about that at the time, but that look appealed to me. ‘Grubby’ came out of a mashup of those design sensibilities. 

In terms of the story, one thing I wanted to explore was this whole ‘revenge’ thing that is prevalent in so many action movies and our culture on a broader level. What I love most about Grubby, though, is that initial idea of a guy in prison who creates something so amazing on his cell door that it can’t be ignored. In a roundabout sort of way it could be the most amazing escape plan ever.

CBY: I'd been wondering about how (or why) the characters looked so distinct from each other, so knowing what inspired that variance makes it all clear. The Mycelium Complex is an absolute timebender - how did you organize the different narrative components with causality in mind? You mentioned the amount of research that went into capturing the details of each period covered across the issues. You mention the Great Depression as the setting for issue #4, when can we expect its release, and is there anything else you’d like to share about the ongoing story arc?

DR: The Mycelium Complex is, in some ways a simple story, especially compared to many time travel stories, but causality does play an important role in its overall structure.

Why is Patrick the violent man he is? It’s a question posed to the reader that I don’t necessarily know the answer to. Patrick thinks he knows (i.e. - it's someone else’s fault). He is traveling back down his maternal lineage learning about where his flaws come from or perhaps he is playing a role in who his future flawed self becomes.

When someone asks me about it at a con, I give them a spiel about how time is biological, it’s structured like fungal hyphae, looping and branching beneath the soil. While I do love that idea, the story also works on other levels.

I’m loving putting it together, doing the research and creating these brief vignettes of life in each period. In some ways it’s a reflection of my own family history; there are familiar places, tensions and relationships (there aren’t any ‘Patricks’ though - I need to point that out). You could say I’m learning about my history at the same time as Patrick. 

If I ‘pull it off,’ it should be enjoyed as a sci-fi action series where there is a ‘monster of the week’ and a different setting each issue. Over time, the broader narrative will become more important.

Issue #4 is set in the Great Depression, and should be out later in the year. I’ve been looking at some incredible photos taken at the time by a Methodist social reformer. Slum areas in places like Richmond, Fitzroy, Collingwood; really haunting, evocative images. I’m nearly halfway through the pencils/inks, so it’s tracking along ok. Keep an eye on my insta for news.

CBY: I hope our readers put it on their radar - it's a wild ride! You mention in the foreword to The Crumpleton Experiments the evocation of music alongside the memories of putting the drawings and pages together. What does the soundtrack sound like for your work? Do you associate certain songs or musicians with certain images across your portfolio? 

DR: Hmm, that’s a tough one. Revisiting past art projects certainly does take me back to a time and place, in the same way that hearing an old song does. I think the reason that I don’t have an immediate answer is that I don’t tend to mix music with my art process. I listen to heaps of music and it is a big part of my life, but it’s something that happens at the end of the day or on weekends, most often while cooking. For some reason music really suits cooking and driving, go figure.

When I’m drawing I listen to people talking, whether it be podcasts, radio or audiobooks, perhaps because it’s such a solitary task. The language centres are such a different part of the brain that you use while drawing, it feels appropriate and in no way distracting.

Having said that, The Crumpleton Experiments is a very ‘Tom Waitsy’ comic. Ramshackle, experimental. I’m sure the character ‘Mangus’ would probably sound like Tom Waits too. I was listening to a lot of Tom Waits back then too, so it makes sense, I guess.

This September will see the release of The Boar, written by filmmaker Lee Roy Kunz. I’d call that a ‘Bad Seedsy’ comic. A dark American nightmare filled with religious imagery, bad people and bad trips. Possibly the edgiest comic ever written. The Boar is an epic crime thriller which has come in at well over 500 pages. I’ve been working on it with Lee for many years and it’s cool that its finally coming to fruition. 

CBY: The Crumpleton Experiments also provides a longitudinal view of your career development, as you released new issues over more than a decade. Are there any stories you have conceptualized in the past that you’ve been waiting to tackle? What ideas may have seemed too ambitious in your less experienced days that now may benefit from your years of skill? What long-brewing stories have you envisioned?

DR: Oh man, I have plenty of stories fighting for attention at the back of my head, some have been germinating for many years. I think that there are five that I could start drafting tomorrow if I had time; stories that have almost complete skeletons. As it stands, they all have their folders that I slip notes into from time to time. They vary in size and ambition, but I’m up for the challenge, it’s just time that I lack. I kind of feel like I don’t want to talk about them in any detail because others have fallen by the wayside before they were properly started, superseded by better ideas before they had a chance. I really want to get more Mycelium under my belt before I start anything too big. One other comic I can talk about though is Once & for All. Issue #1 was only recently released (you can get it on Amazon). I illustrated it for Daniel Benedon, a very talented writer from the U.S. It’s a futuristic setting with a corrupt militaristic police force but at its core a great good vs. evil series. I’m working on issue #2 at the moment.

CBY: I'm glad to learn about the latest - it sounds right up the alley of any Judge Dredd fans. Now, we’ve had the benefit of meeting around Melbourne, to which I’ve relatively recently immigrated. As someone who has a long personal history with the city (in which The Mycelium Complex is specified as the setting), what relationship do you find your surroundings have with your creative voice and perspective on your work?

DR: Yes, Melbourne’s influence on The Mycelium Complex is readily apparent. The Mycelium Complex will become more expansive as the story continues, but it’s been nice having the first batch of stories in Melbourne. I try to be subtle about incorporating landmarks, not too obvious or cringy, but I did let loose a bit more in Issue #3. I hesitated at including a tram, but they are so ubiquitous it’s hard to avoid. The old St Vincent's building was great to include, as was the Myer building and the Chevron, all less well known. I had to dig a bit to get a reference for the U.S. Consulate building that no longer exists. Issue #1 was more suburban, and I managed to include one of the concrete commission houses built during the 50’s at the time of the Olympics; they feel very Melbourne to me.

Culturally, I’m sure Melbourne has had a big influence. Early 2000’s, around the time I began Crumpleton, I discovered these great Melbourne creators through the Silent Army and Tango collections. People like Ben Hutchings, Mandy Ord, and Bruce Mutard; it was such an exciting rabbit hole to crawl down at the time. Other creators were really ‘bearing their souls’ in a confronting way within those same collections. They had a real punk sensibility. The ‘Sticky Comic and Zine Fairs’ were an awesome way to meet other creators. It felt like a proper ‘scene’. The monthly meetups were also great; I still go occasionally to the Clyde in Carlton and chat with fellow comic folk. 

CBY: I need to make a point of going to more of those in the coming months! To close, what creative work unrelated to your own have you most been captivated by lately? What other comics, films, music, literature, etc., should our readers check out once they’ve given your publications their attention?

DR: Gosh, I consume a lot of stuff, let’s see… Novels; I had my mind blown by Liu Cixin Three Body Problem trilogy. Truly thought provoking and scary. I’m about to start the fourth and final Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe. Written in the eighties, it is so strange, colourful and memorable. I’m enjoying not fully understanding it, which makes it kind of challenging and mysterious at the same time. I’m not even sure how much of it the reader is supposed to understand. I hope someone makes a comic out of it one day as Gene Wolfe has an incredibly visual form of writing.

In terms of comics, I just finished ROOK Exodus, which I bought purely for Jason Fabok art, but I did enjoy the story and world building as well. I don’t know how Fabok gets his proportions so spot on, even when he’s drawing tiny figures, they are always so perfect.  I also bought Helen of Wyndhorn, mostly for the art. Great to see Bilquis Evely win that Eisner award for penciller and inker. Not being much of a superhero guy, I was surprised how much I enjoyed the Supergirl book she did with Tom King, so I’m hoping I enjoy this one as much. Deadsheet is a great local comic by Bajorek which I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend as well.

The last gig I saw was MJ Lenderman in April; great alt country/ indie rock. The album Manning Fireworks is much loved in our house. At the concert he played a cover of the Dylan song "Something There Is About You", which I’d never heard, but I knew instantly was a Dylan song. Later I tracked it down on ‘Planet Waves’, a Dylan album wasn’t familiar with, but I now am hooked on. It took me by surprise that it had so many great songs on it, given that it’s a lesser known album.

I’ve gone off movies a bit lately, but I loved the Andor series. Not alone there, I guess.

CBY: Daniel, it’s been a pleasure and you've put a lot of great work on the radar for our readers! If you have any portfolio, publication, and social media links you’d like to share with our readers so they may connect with your work, this is the time and place.

DR: Sure! The best place to keep up to date with my news is to follow me on Instagram: insta@dan_nautilus

Here’s a link to my folio: 

https://danielreed.carbonmade.com

Finally, I have an online store where you can pick up most of my books: https://danielreed.bigcartel.com/

Thanks heaps, it’s been great chatting, come and say ‘hi’ the next time you see me at a Con!

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