Interview: Georges Jeanty Artist of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8

Published by Mike Fish March 25th, 2008 in COMIC BOOKS/MAGAZINES and Mike Fish's Archives

Interview by Mike Fish

HORROR YEARBOOK: Welcomes to Horror Yearbook, Georges. You're the artist on Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 for Dark Horse Comics. How's that going?

GEORGES JEANTY: It's going great! All of the people at Dark Horse have been incredibly gracious! This is my first gig with them and I couldn't be more pleased. My editor, Scott Allie, has been very patient while I've tried to meet certain deadlines.

HORROR YEARBOOK: Are you Canadian? I ask because the only other "Georges" I know if is UFC Champ, Georges St. Pierre, one of my favorite fighters. He's friends with red leaf flaggers, Terrance and Philip.

GEORGES JEANTY: Ha ha, that's funny. No, not Canadian unless you count being Canadian by way Haiti. My name is of French persuasion, but my heritage is Hispanic and my nationality is American. How's that for a melting pot? I'm not familar with St. Pierre, but I do know Terrance and Philip, we're old fart buddies!

HORROR YEARBOOK: Gotta love South Park. How long have you been drawing Buffy?

GEORGES JEANTY: I'm coming up on the two-year mark - as much as that is hard to believ! I got the job about six months before the book was scheduled to come out. So I've been involved with Buffy for quite some time now. She is a harsh mistress, but she keeps you coming back.

HORROR YEARBOOK: How did you land the job in bringing Buffy Summers back for another season on CBTV? (Comic Book TV - it's catchy)

GEORGES JEANTY: CBTV... yeah, I can see it now! I think that may just start a whole new trend! I wonder who owns the rights to the Love Boat? I'd love to see that continue. There were so manu unaswered questions from the show!

It's a long story about how I got the gig, but the short of it is I got an email from Editor Scott Allie asking if I'd be interested in this book called Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I didn't admit to Scott that I had never watched an episode of Buffy but I was looking around for my next project as I was finishing the book I was on - The American Way. I took the job thinking it would be a temporary thing; and here we are 2 years later and still about 25 issues to go! And here I thought I feared commitment...

HORROR YEARBOOK: What's it like working with Joss Whedon?

GEORGES JEANTY: Joss has been incredibly gracious - nothing like the "Superstar" status you would expect from a guy with his credits. The one thing about Joss that hit home with me was when we were e-mailing each other back and forth and I mentioned to him that I usually like to talk to the writer after reading a script, and if I could reach him through his office of his assistant...? Without missing a beat he said "Well here, here's my home phone and my cell - call if you need anything."

Joss loves comics as everyone knows and he has taken to the medium quite well writing the Astonishing X-Men and Runaways, but you can tell he's been wanting to continue the adventures of the Scoobys for quite some time! Working from his scripts has been a joy!

HORROR YEARBOOK: Are you a fan of the TV show?

GEORGES JEANTY: I'm a fan now, but like I said I had never watched an episode [before the comic book], well, I did see the movie and actually liked it, and I may have seen an episode with John Ritter, but that was because I was a fan of his. But now... I'm like a rabid fan! I've got numerous statues adorning my studio and I can answer trivia with the best of them! It's weird doing conventions with some of the actors like Juliet Landau, who I've become very friendly with, because I look at her out of the corner of my eye as a fan and I'm still a little afraid of Drusilla, which is funny because Juliet the person couldn't be nicer - and I find myself asking a lot of questions about her dad.

HORROR YEARBOOK: Who's your favorite character to draw?

GEORGES JEANTY: This answer has shifted quite a few times. I started out really comfortable drawing Xander, and I have to say now I can draw Buffy in my sleep, but many people seem to think that I handle Willow the best. I'm gonna have to stay with the girl I came to the dance with and say Buffy.

HORROR YEARBOOK: There's been some critism to you that when you draw the Scooby Gang, you don't meet the likeness of the actors. What do you say to that?

GEORGES JEANTY: What?! I hadn't heard about that! I thought I was so well insulated as to not hear the criticisms.... okay, now I'm depressed! I'll be the first one to say I don't get it right all the tine, but I can say with absolute honesty that I do make an effort to draw the in question. I never just fake it. As bad as some of the likenessess might look, I never skimp. So please, bear with me if a stray drawing doesn't meet up to standards.

I will say Joss said something to me early on that put me in the right frame of mind when drawing these characters, he told me he wasn't as interested in it looking like Sarah Michelle Gellar as he was in having the drawing looking like Buffy. That did it for me.

HORROR YEARBOOK: About how long does it take you to complete an issue of Buffy?

GEORGES JEANTY: Well, isn't that the 50,000 dollar questions? In theory it shouldn't take more than a month to finish a book. In reality I struggle with that every day. I've blown my share of deadlines, but I'm constantly working so it's never dire. It only becomes dire when the assistant editor Sierra Hahn sends me an email asking where the pages are - that girl cracks a mean whip!

HORROR YEARBOOK: Is Joss gonna freak out if I don't use the enture BTVS title?

GEORGES JEANTY: Just so long as the letters still stand for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and not something like "Bodacious Tales Visibly Shown", I don't think you'll have a problem.

HORROR YEARBOOK: Is there ever a time you want to tell Joss or Drew Goddard (Cloverfiled, Lost), "No, I will not redraw this scene?" If so, which one?

GEORGES JEANTY: Who have you been talking to...?! In the beginning there were a few pages that I elected to redraw. Such as the double page spread in issue #3 between Willow and Amy. In that case it was so my fault. I got the characters in the wrong position and didn't realize it till I finished the page. In these cases Joss and Dark Horse have been incredibly supportive and tried to think of ways around it, and it's been me who's said y'know what, it'll be easier if I just redraw it. I haven't liked it at times but I know how important it is to fans. And years from now when all is said and done, I want Joss to be leafing through the books and feel real proud about the work we did.

HORROR YEARBOOK: What were your feelings on Buffy sleeping with another female slayer, Satsu? Was it hard or easy for you to draw?

GEORGES JEANTY: This was the thing that I thought was going to be the climaz. I mean how do you come back from that? And we're only in the 12th issue! I knew how important this was going to become so I was thinking about this issue months before I was to draw it. When I did start to draw it I thought that first page of Buffy and Satsu in bed was somethign we were going to have to handle very delicately so there would be a lot of back and forth about what should be seen - or so I thought. I read the script from Drew, who is an absolute joy to wrk with, and sat down and drew out the page. I expected lots of changes when Joss, Drew and Scott saw it, but they thought it was perfect. Rarely do I hit something on the first try. I was on high the whole day after that!

HORROR YEARBOOK: Are you a fan of horror movies? Which ones?

GEORGES JEANTY: I grew up with a steady diet of horror and Sci-Fi. For a while there, I didn't know there were any other types of movies. I'll admit I'm not a huge fan of gore for gore's sake, like SAW - I like my horror more intellectual. Favorites? We could be here all day. I have to say I consider The Exorcist one of my all time favorites, but the ironic thing is I don't consider it a horror film but more of a study of three characters. The Omen (the original) is also a good one, and Rosemary's Baby. Fright Night, Nightmare on Elm Street 1, Halloween (the original), John Carpenter's The Thing most of Hitchcock's films, and so on... I just love cinema.

HORROR YEARBOOK: What comic book besides Buffy would you like to draw?

GEORGES JEANTY: I always see this question like asking an actor what role would he like to do. Actors like to act, no matter the role, and I feel the same way. I love to draw no matter what the title. But I don't want to seem like I'm copping out on the answer. I was a Marvel fan growing up so I'll say Daredevil, or the Fantastic Four - any of the second rate characters of the '70s.

HORROR YEARBOOK: Any other projects in the works? Pimp it now, bud!

GEORGES JEANTY: I wish I had more to say on this, but no. I'll be on Buffy for another couple of years, which really doesn't leave time for a whole lot else. I will be doing conventions so please, ask your readers to stop by and say hi if they get a chance. I would like to plug my website if I may: www.kabalounge.com where all the groovy people go.

HORROR YEARBOOK: Thanks for stopping by Horror Yearbook, Georges. Any last words to all those Buffy fans out there?

GEORGES JEANTY: If you're a Buffy fan and you've been reading the book, I don't think there is much left to say... only that you haven't seen anything yet!