As a kid I started off reading Sonic The Comic, I think it was a title only on sale in Ireland and the UK. I loved it and I still credit Richard Elson’s Sonic Design as the best Sonic’s ever looked and for teaching me how to draw hands. To look back at it now, I can see it was kind of Sonic meets Judge Dredd and it kind of served as a gateway into 2000AD comics. After some dabbling with them I then discovered Astonishing Spider-man and Wolverine Unleashed. I haven’t thought about Wolverine Unleashed for a while but now that I’m looking back on it, that berserker mode that Wolverine can tap into feels very Zanzi-esque to me.
List your favorite graphic novels from last year and why you like them.
There was a lot of great books out last year, I’m still trying to catch up on them. One that I’m currently catching up on is Human Target by Tom King and Greg Smallwood and I can confirm it’s as good as everyone says it is, there’s not a millimeter in this book that isn’t absolutely stunning.
Daniel Warren Johnson’s Do a Powerbomb! With a title like this I thought it would just be a bit of a laugh, but it had more heartfelt moments than most books shows films or games.
Chip Zdarsky & Marco Checchetto run on Daredevil was incredible. It’s hard to make a book this good when it’s tied up in so many years of cannon.
I finally picked up Tynion & Dell’Edrera’s Something is Killing the Children last year as well, that’s a really fun book, I get the feeling Erica Slaughter and Zanzi Vuiline would be a hell of a PPV title fight!
List the graphic novels and/or prose books that you’re looking forward to this year.
Clears throat* cough GODFELL cough. Ahem sorry I have a bit of a cough.
I CAN’T WAIT for Jay Kristoff’s EMPIRE OF THE DAMNED. I love dark fantasy (obviously) and Empire of the Vampire was something I picked up on a whim last year and I couldn’t put it down. I’ve read all of Sapkowski’s Witcher books, multiple times, I love fantasy monster hunter stories. This book is exactly that and then some, I loved it.
Ben: Talk about your favorite (and least favorite) type of character to create/draw.
I can’t say that I have a least favorite, as the point of being a character designer is I should be able to find something in the character to like so I can render them appropriately. Finding the character is actually a really fun part of the job. It doesn’t matter if they’re the wimpy pathetic worm who is out for themselves, or the quick witted, charismatic hero, who puts everyone else’s needs above their own. They’re all fun to draw.
My favorite type of character to draw… Hmmm I might not have a least favourite but I definitely have a favourite. It’s Bad ass Heroines. Lucky for me GODFELL had two of them!
About Ben Hennessy:
Ben Hennessy is an Irish-based illustrator and podcaster. He has primarily worked as a storyboard artist in the animation industry and he has worked on shows for RTE jr, Cbeebies, Nickelodeon, PBS and Adult Swim. He co-hosts THE ODDS POD, a podcast where he discusses all things apocalyptic with guests from the film and comic book industries. His comic book titles include The ODDS and the fantasy epic GODFELL.
Ben works and lives at home with his family in Wexford, the sunny south east of Ireland. When you can't find him there, you can find him online as @Bennessy. He is based in Wexford, Ireland.
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