Interview with Muppet King Arthur #1 Artist Dave Alvarez

Lisa Alexander - Today on The Muppet Mindset we interview artist Dave Alvarez. Dave has been involved with BOOM! Studios and the Muppet comics since the very first issue of "The Muppet Show Comic Book" when he drew a variant cover for "Kermit's Story." Most recently, Dave drew the interior artwork for Muppet King Arthur #1.

Dave Alvarez Interview

LISA:   First of all, Dave, thank you so much for taking the time to sit down with the Mindset. We really appreciate it. Do you prefer to be called Dave or David?

DAVE:   I got used to Dave. It’s different. I grew up listening to the name “David” attached to a “clean up your room!” way too many times.

LISA:   You did a beautiful variant cover for the first issue of Muppet Robin Hood. How did that come about? Did someone approach you to do it, or did you wave Semaphore flags around until someone noticed you were interested?

DAVE:   Why, thank you, I’m glad that you like it! I was “waving flags” like you said way before that to see if I could fit with their “Muppet Show” series at first.

Eventually, BOOM’s editor saw my Muppet fan-made- comic strips and asked me if I could do a variant cover for “The Muppet Show” and then they asked one for Muppet Robin Hood. 

LISA:   What about your variant covers for Kermit’s and Gonzo’s stories? How did those come about?

DAVE:   They came about the same way. Disney liked what I did for Muppet Robin Hood so they asked for variants as well. These were very limited since they were used for some specific stores but at least I got a couple of copies.

LISA:   How much did you know about the content of those issues when you did the covers? Obviously you knew Kermit and Sweetums were in Robin Hood… (Not that Kermit was much of a surprise…)

DAVE:   BOOM sends me all kinds of visual references and the script as well. I saw one cover sample of Kermit fighting with Sweetums on a bridge and it brought my attention. So I decided to go with that.

LISA:   Now you’re doing ALL of the art for Muppet King Arthur. How is it different, from your perspective, to do the entire series, as opposed to a few covers?

DAVE:   It’s way different. I’m only in charge of pencils and inks. Colors will be provided by another artist. It’s interesting because the story demanded the intervention of many “generic” Muppets, so I made my research and drew some obscure characters from way back. Let’s see how many of them can you recognize.

LISA:   Who picks the “camera angle,” so to speak, of any given frame in the comic? Do the writers choose, or do you decide what’s in the “shot”?

DAVE:   Although the writer gives you a guideline, like for example, “establishing shot of town” or “wide shot of castle”, sometimes, one as the artist needs to modify certain angles in order for them to fit the page.

LISA:   Building off of the last question a little, how much of a say do you have in which background characters appear, for example, in a group of spectators or passers-by?

DAVE:   I got a free hand in that. Sometimes the writer wanted certain obscure characters as well. Others I just chose by my own.

LISA:   Any chance we’ll see Angus McGonagle the gargling gargoyle?

DAVE:   Aaaah, maybe! Who knows?

LISA:   King Arthur requires a lot of period clothing, even for characters who don’t usually dress at all (i.e. Kermit, Fozzie…). Kermit’s, Fozzie’s, and Gonzo’s armor all look fantastic. Do you decide what the characters wear? Or do Benjamin and Storck say, for example, “Give Kermit a red cape, and put a chicken on Gonzo’s shield”?

DAVE:   Although I also got a free ticket on some of those many of them were beautifully rendered by Amy. Some sharp-eyed readers will notice the Disney reference that I chose for Kermit’s first clothes.

LISA:   Clothing aside, there’s a huge style difference between the cover art you’ve done and the comics you’ve posted on DeviantArt and Muppet Central, and even between King Arthur and your other covers. Was that your choice, or someone else’s? Do you prefer drawing one style more than another?

DAVE:   The cover arts were done entirely by me but the interiors will be colored by another artist so you might find a slight difference in style. In the covers I combine many composition elements and was given more time.

LISA:   Speaking of your own comics—which are hilarious , by the way—where do you find your inspiration for those? Would you ever consider writing a full story arc, if given the opportunity?

DAVE:   It’s easy once you know the characters. You just think of a situation and how the characters will react to them. I’ve been working on my daily comic strip Yenny since 2003, so it’s easy to think how Yenny or Zacha will react to certain situations.

With the Muppets is basically the same. I grew up with them so I sort of know what Kermit will say to a burned Gonzo.

LISA:   Do you look at anything as a reference when you draw the Muppets? Does what you look at vary for different styles?

DAVE:   I have a lot (if not all) of the Muppet movies, videos and books. The internet is very helpful when it comes to obscure characters. You can easily detect which Muppets have the Don Sahlin touch and which not.

LISA:   Which character, would you say, is the most difficult to draw? Which is the easiest?

DAVE:   Sweetums was the most…uhm… I won’t say difficult, but tricky. I doodled a lot first before choosing a final design. I will add myself to a list of people who say that Muppets were not meant to be drawn. That’s why I decided to go very cartoony. Just to feel as if I was making a parody of them.

LISA:   Drawing aside, who is your favorite Muppet?

DAVE:   Kermit the Frog. He always knows what to do and has the nerve to deal with millions of mentally impaired Muppets. LOL

LISA:   What’s your favorite Muppet production?

DAVE:   I would say The Muppet Movie because Jim Henson made magic when computers were not around. But somehow I love “Muppets take Manhattan” mainly because I was a small kid when it came out. I remember that my grandma used to keep all the newspaper movie reviews and pictures for me. There was even a headline that said “La Rana René por fin se Casa” which means “Kermit finally got married” and had a picture of him and Piggy in bride and groom clothes.

LISA:   You’ve done a lot of non-Muppet work, too. Tell us about some of that. What’s your favorite group of characters to draw?

DAVE:   I’ve been working in the Looney Tunes comics for 12 years now. I’ve also worked on other characters like Tomb Raider and some Paul Dini creations.  It’s difficult to say which characters are my favorite to draw. I like it when I can have a free creative input on them.

LISA:   You’re also a member of Muppet Central. What drew you into THAT insanity?

DAVE:   I don’t know. My psychiatrist says that is a good therapy. It keeps me from bungee jumping in Greek robes.

LISA:   Any suggestions for other fan artists who want to actually work for the Muppets?

DAVE:   Find your own style and show what you can do by just being yourself.

LISA:   Thanks again for taking the time to do this interview with us. Any final thoughts you’d like to share?

DAVE:   I think that’s all that we have for today so we’ll see you next time in The Muppet Show!! YAAAAAAAAAY!!!!

Thanks again to Dave Alvarez for this fantastic interview! Check out Dave's work in Muppet King Arthur #1, on shelves now!











The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier

Muppet Comic Mondays: Muppet King Arthur #1

Muppet King Arthur #1

Comic Book Review
Written by Paul Benjamin and Peter Stork
Illustrated by Dave Alvarez

James Gannon - After tackling Robin Hood and Peter Pan, BOOM! Comics has taken Kermit and Co. to the days of King Arthur and his well rounded night tables. Right off the bat, you can tell the tone is much different than the previous fairy tales. Pretty obvious when it starts as an infomercial, then jumps into crazy snappy word play.  Paul Benjamin and Peter Stork have decidedly taken a raucous comedy path that really showcases the off the wall wackiness of the Muppets. Kermit is cast as Arthur, and the legend starts out with him being a page (and a page worth of groan inducing “page” puns ensue). Sam, being his master, sends him out to find a new sword after a training session with Sir Perciful (Fozzie as a combination knight/ Jester, and his weapon, a large plastic chicken shaped like a baseball bat).

This leads to the chance meeting of the Lady of the Lake (Janice, fer shure), who instructs Kermit to grab the magical Excalibur (From United Kingdom, I’m looking for him… Soul Eater fans know what I’m talking about). Which leads to another Jay Wardian pun about why it’s jammed in a stone in the first place. He becomes king, as the legend goes, with extreme protest from Sam, who will clearly stop at nothing to become king himself. Even making a sharp jab at Town Hall meetings (I had a feeling some of those guys were paid off). Now, Merlin the Magician (a role played by Rowlf, who was actually cast beforehand in The Jim Henson Hour) has to train Kermit to become king, and instructs him on using the magical sword,  And even more crazy antics ensue, with all your favorites and fun little cameos, including Miss Piggy who’s tailor made to play the role of Morgana.

Having been through two fairy tale adaptations already, the side projects to The Muppet Show Comic Book have become quite breezy and fun to read. While Robin Hood had the misfortune of being the first one (and therefore being the test comic), Peter Pan came out much more fluid (in writing and art). King Arthur is just as fluid as Peter Pan was. Robin Hood, long story short, tried to cram in too much legend into 4 smaller issues, leading to lengthy dialogue balloons that detracted from the action. Peter Pan, however, took the barest parts of the story and managed to get everything into those 4 issues, shortening and omitting parts of the story. But it didn’t exactly need them to get their point across, and I hardly even missed the Crocodile (he wouldn’t have worked in their version anyway). 

Now, King Arthur is a legend that has been completely inconstant to begin with, with half the characters added in by different writers (Lancelot came from a French epic for example).  The story combines the Lady of the Lake and the Sword in the Stone, and manages (so far) to take bare bones parts of the story, leaving the writers to adapt the rest of the story as they please.

And I can’t close this without mentioning the art. If Roger Langride is schooled in underground Comix and Amy Mebberson is clearly inspired by Disney, Dave Alvarez is a follower of the old Tex Avery Looney Tunes style. And it works just as well as the other adaptations. I swear, if the Muppets ever got another animated cartoon, this would be the style they’d use. The illustrations looks like they’re moving, and can barely stay on the page. Now, Dave is a veteran of this, and has a bunch of great fan Muppet Strips online somewhere, and he really brings that same visual humor to this one. I’d almost say it’s a shame he’s not doing the rest of the series, but I can’t wait to see the next artist take a crack at is as well.

Be sure to check back on The Muppet Mindset tomorrow for our exclusive interview with Dave Alvarez, artist of Muppet King Arthur #1!












The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier