Dærick Gröss Sr. has 50 years experience the commercial art field, Dærick has worked as an illustrator, instructor, and art director. He has painted, drawn, written and edited comics for Marvel, DC, Image, Malibu, Studio G, Heroic, Revolutionary, Chaos, Innovation, Topps, and numerous other companies. Dærick is well known for the creations of Murciélaga She-Bat. Currently, he is the Art Director for both InDELLible Comics and ACP Comics.
First Comics News: You are the Visual Editor at inDELible Comics, what is a visual editor?
Dærick Gröss Sr: It is similar to art director, but specifically encompasses ‘all visual elements’ and not solely the art, even though ‘art director’ has grown into that same definition.
1st: What is All New Popular Comics?
Dærick: It is an outgrowth line from the InDELLible group. There was an old comic series called Popular Comics, and this hails back to it.
1st: You are also the Art Director at ACP Comics. How did you get involved with William Mull?
Dærick: From the Charlton Arrow and Charlton Neo groups of people. I was working with Mort Todd, Paul Kupperberg, and Roger McKenzie on a couple of stories for their planned rebirth of the Charlton line. I met William during a get-together one evening in LA. I agreed to do an 8-page story for a similar project he was starting up. It grew into helping with more of the coloring and development into being Art Director.
1st: Are inDELible and ACP ok with you working for both companies at the same time?
Dærick: Of course they would prefer exclusivity, but since I am a free-lance creator, and am not on the payroll for either one, they are ok with it… provided that I don’t abuse the situation and am totally dedicated to their specific project and it’s time-table … allowing a little lee-way for my fluctuating focus issues.
1st: As art director what are your duties at ACP?
Dærick: With ACP, the parent grouping, I do the same things as I do on the individual titles, like Forbidden Gallery, plus company promotional art, tile logos and art direction,
1st: What is Forbidden Gallery?
Dærick: A comic book collection of stories that have a dark or horror slant to them, usually with a surprise ending, much like the old Twilight Zone TV series had. It is not an exclusive genre as there have been some adventure stories, but it mostly dwells there.
1st: What parts do you work on with Forbidden Gallery?
Dærick: Primarily I oversee the art and work with the artists to bring forth their best efforts, to be sure that everything is in proper scale, create the cover compilations, to letter and/or check the lettering of others, create titles and credits, create the contents page, do the pagination layouts and create the back cover if needed. After which I convert all the pages into print files and also a locked PDF for the creators and reviewers.
1st: Each chapter starts with a Pin-Up. Does the Pin-Up work as a defacto cover, or is it designed to move you out of the mood of one story before the next story begins?
Dærick: Both, actually…. I am not sure which was the foremost consideration in William’s mind in the beginning. For me, it changes the tone and sets the mood for the next story.
1st: What type of stories are you looking for in Forbidden Gallery?
Dærick: I’m not personally looking for anything in particular, that for all to the editorial minds.
1st: How do you choose the artist for each chapter?
Dærick: To this point, the choices have been William’s from his established connections. I had some input on the viability standards, initially, and have grown into a more substantial input on the initial contact. From my personal viewpoint, the artist needs to be consistent in his art, able to do sequential storytelling beyond the level of ‘talking heads’, and be at least near ‘competitive level’ in his skillset. I can settle for a lower level if the look of the art is emotional and grows the story.
1st: What makes Forbidden Gallery so cool, everyone reading this interview need to stop and pre-order Forbidden Gallery #2 right now?
Dærick: Vincent Price and Boris Karloff. These are the kinds of stories that these two iconic Masters should be narrating… and probably would be if these were filmed back in the day. Despite the range of story tone and visual style, the book has the wonderful ability to bring that special ‘tingle’ that these two giants always gave us. It’s ‘good reads’ for sure.
Pre-Order Forbidden Gallery #2
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