First Comics News: When did you first know you wanted to draw comic books?
Ron Charles Williams: I became a fan at age 6. Specifically Fantastic Four. Jack Kirby reprints and the new issues drawn by George Perez. The 1st character I learned to draw was the Thing.
I’ve always said, Jack Kirby made me want to draw. John Byrne made me want to draw professionally. I was about 16 when I decided I wanted to do it as a career.
1st: Which current artists do you admire the most?
Ron: Ivan Ries, Jason Fabok, David Finch
1st: How did you break into comics?
Ron: Extreme Studios in the mid-90s was my first job. I did a couple of things for them. I’m not sure if they were published. But I got paid. Then I did several independent comics.
1st: Which are some of your favorite Indie comics you’ve worked on?
Ron: Unit Zero, Argo Comics books, Notti & Nyce, The Pooh parody books, Savage Eve, Battle Fairy, Big Bang Adventures, pages for the Remastered editions for Brigade and Prophet, Grok comics, G-Man Comics ( Taranis).
1st: You are truly prolific as an artist. Do you ink your own work?
Ron: Thanks. Yes. Almost always.
1st: And a follow-up question, if I may. How many pages can you draw in a month?
Ron: Well over 60 pages in a month, judging by how many packs of Bristol board I have to purchase each month.
1st: Very impressive work ethic, and seemingly rare, I might add. I’ve noticed a lot of your work has been for Big Bang Comics, which you alluded to earlier. Do you feel you have a special relationship with publisher Gary Carlson?
Ron: Yeah he understands talent and knows how to bring out the best in the artist. I have co-plotted some of those stories and he published a couple of stories written & drawn by me of characters I created.
He’s probably the person I’ve done the most work for in comics.
1st: When you worked for Extreme/Awesome Comics, did you have direct contact with Rob Liefeld? If not, who was the editor you were in contact with?
Ron: No not directly with Rob. Matt Hawkins and Eric Stephenson were the editors I dealt with. But directly with Rob on the Prophet and Brigade remastered pages. Each page was drawn by a different artist from the past of Extreme.
1st: Do you have anything you’re currently working on that you’d like to plug?
Ron: A new issue of Big Bang Adventures is done. A Pooh ( Wolverine/ Venom) parody for Marat Mychaels’ Counterpoint comics and more commissions.
1st: It’s been an honor interviewing an artist whose work has meant so much to so many. Thank you for doing the interview, and I’ll be enjoying more of your work in the future.
Ron: Thank you very much.
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