BELIEVE IT!
ON THE BACK BU
WUMP!
BUDDA!
BUDDA!
BUDDA
PUM
THE CREATURE
THE BACK
LIKED T
He's never
experienced
emotions at
all so he's a
clean slate.
Interview by
Greg Jeffries
CREATOR DALE KEOWN SPEAKS OUT
KIKO
From outside another dimension, a huge alien warrior by the name of Pitt has come to Earth
to protect his genetic and spiritual brother-a boy named Timmy, a boy who has been tar-
geted for death by alien killers. The artist behind Pitt is a thirty-year-old rocker named Dale
Keown who lives in Toronto, Canada, where he and writer Brian Hotton create the other-
worldly comic book terror known as Pitt that decorates a new line of decks on Santa Cruz.
How did you get started drawing comic books?
I was in a band with Brian and drawing as a hobby
on the road to amuse myself. The band folded and
the news had a story about Aircel, they publish stuff
like Samurai and Elflord, Then I went to a comic
book store and saw a sign that says, "Comic Book
Artists Wanted." I talked with some guy who must
have thought I was ten because of my voice. But he
told me to come on down. I had this fantastic four-
page panel which Marvel had rejected with a form
letter, so I took it to Aircel and they hired me on
the spot and gave me a monthly book. Thinking
back, I probably wasn't ready for it because I'd
never worked on a production schedule before: It
was really tough for a while having to have the disc
pline to sit down and get everything done on a deadline
How did you hook up with Marvel?
I was doing Dragon-Force at Aircel and Joe Rubenstein
at Marvel told me to send some stuff and I sent him a Rick
Jones picture from The Hulk. Rubenstein hated my art but
Bobbie Chase, another editor at Marvel, liked it. She put
me on the active list and I got to work on Antman #8. Then
later, I took over drawing The Hulk
How did you join up with the rebels over at Image?
At Marvel I met Todd McFarlane (creator and artist of
Spawn) and we got along. Todd was into artists' creative
rights and asked if I had any characters in my head. He said
to do a pin-up of the character in his book, and later, if I
wanted, I could do a book of
that character with Image..
Weeks later, I got a call
from Rob Liefeld and he
said, "You got to come
over here." I thought
about it and said okay.
So you can see that I
wasn't financially moti-
vated, I wanted to
do my own
thing.
How did you come up with Pitt?
You can see a lot of Pitt in my previous work.
like to draw huge mouths for some reason.
As for the name, Brian and I have a biker
friend whose nickname is "Pitt." So I drew
this character and said, "Hey, this looks like
Pitt. The name is cool anyway.
How did you get your skills?
Tve been drawing since I was a toddler.
My mom gave me a lot of positive feedback
and my dad was a farmer, a real man's man,
but he never said anything negative about
my drawing. I had a huge comic book collec-
tion in my teans. I spent hours lifting panels
and turning them into wall-sized pieces. Also,
when I was in the band, drawing relaxed me. When
you're on the road, you've got a lot of free time, you go on
stage from nine to eleven at night, and when you're done,
your heart is pounding, you're high and you don't know
what to do. So I'd draw and then sleep in the mornings. I
guess that's how I got the weird hours I keep now.
Why is Pitt so burly?
just like drawing big muscles and sinewy veins. As for
the character, I like the contrast between this huge, muscle-
bound scary character and the little boy Timmy.
What's in the future for Pitt?
I don't want to give it away, but Pitt is the way that he is
because he's been brain-
washed. He was a test-
tube baby and he was
engineered. He's never
experienced emotions
at all so he's a clean
slate. Timmy is his
biological brother,
so there will be
a lot of inter-
esting stuff
there.
Brian
Hotton
Dale
Keown
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