Boston Comic Con: Of Banana Tails and Dynamic Duos: artist Mark McKenna discusses life in children's books and comic books

By Mike Gelbwasser on August 27, 2009 at 11:00am

Artist Mark McKenna has redefined "crossover."

Known best for a 24-year inking career covering such titles as Dr. Strange: Sorceror Supreme and Countdown, Mark has moved into children's books as well.

He and his father co-created Banana Tail, an ongoing children's book series about a monkey who awakens to find that "his brown tail has turned yellow," Mark says. "He thinks that because of his love for bananas that the old adage that 'you are what eat' is coming to fruition," Mark says.

"Once he gets settled with his new banana-colored tail and realizes that he isn't turning into a banana, he and his buddies, Tic Tac the plaid zebra and Reena, a mood-color changing girl rhino get to explore friendship and the many wonders on their island. "

"The first book deals completely with Banana Tail coming to terms with the tail.

"Then there is a second book, Banana Tail's Tales and Activities, which is full of short stories and activities for kids to do, while familiarizing themselves with BTail's world.

"My second storybook is coming out in April of 2010 and spotlights BTail's friendship with Reena and will be done in the 3D digital style format like a Pixar storybook. I will be revealing teaser sample art for this book on my Web site (www.bananatail.com) later in the year."

Mark will be appearing at the Boston Comic Con, scheduled for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 24-25 at Boston's Back Bay Events Center, 180 Berkeley St.

Admission is $10 each day. Children 10 and under are free. For more information, visit www.bostoncomiccon.com.

Mark recently sat down with the 'Word, continuing our Boston Comic Con coverage.

MIKE: You've said your father helped create the series. To what degree does his advice continue influencing the books?

MARK: My father was a great idea man. He had so many "off the wall" ideas and for such a grounded man, I dont know where this imagination came from.

One thing that he came up with for Banana Tail, which I initially told him was just too weird, was the name of the island that Banana Tail lives on...Ooops-'N-Ouch Island.

I had asked him, "Why Ooops-'N-Ouch?" He said because all the other island's animals are always slipping and sliding and falling on Banana Tail's banana peels. I told him he was just too silly to use. Of course, three years later, I thought, "Wow, I really like the name Ooops-'N-Ouch!"

I hope that if anything rubbed off on me from my dad, it would be to reflect his "out of the box" thinking and make this an extremely fun ride.

MIKE: What is it like, working both in comic books and children's books?

MARK: They both have their merits.

Of course, working with my own licensed characters, I don't have to answer to anybody or worry that I'm using a character when I shouldn't. With comics creating, it's strictly a work for hire environment. I have no say in what Batman does or says and certainly can't use him for anything I do outside of the comics I'm working on with him.

MIKE: You're also doing workshops in the community. What inspired this? What sort of feedback have you gotten?

MARK: Well I just completed my fourth week of teaching comic book creating classes in my county. I was not only looking to move into teaching as a form of extra income, but also a way of sharing my 25 years of experience in the business with kids of different ages.

I think there's very limited opporunities for kids to learn how to create art outside of the school classroom and to draw super heroes. What healthy creative kid with a keen imagination, wouldn't want to explore that?

I was hoping to get into some local colleges here in Orange County, N.Y. and teach comic art as an adjunct professor, but I'm finding that the colleges that I send my resumes to either aren't paying attention or that there is simply no availability. I met with the chair head at one college, who, when he saw my portfolio immediately told me I could be teaching his teachers.

Locally when I teach at these private art schools for 2 or 3 days to 8-15 year olds there is a buzz around the class with the parents who understand that this could be special. I start reminiscing 80's comics with the dads, its fun!

MIKE: Your comic book assignments have run the gamut from icons such as Batman and Spiderman to more Vertigo-like characters such as Animal Man and the Doom Patrol. Do you have a preference as an artist?

MARK: Honestly, I like the cosmic characters like the Silver Surfer and Adam Warlock or at DC, Deadman or the Spectre. I also like the Creeper at DC and the Inhumans at Marvel, but I can't deny that I love working on the flagship titles, like Batman and Spidey. I had a short run on Detective, which is the orignal Batman title from 1937. I worked on #769 to #774 and it was an incredible badge of honor for me to work on that title because of the rich history of the book.

MIKE: How has your style evolved from your early days on Power Pack and Dr. Fate?

MARK: Oh, without a doubt, I know what I'm doing now, LOL.

I used to experiment a lot more with what my style would be like. I did a lot of inking where I would use negative space to define a form, splatter ink on a page to give textures, overlay textures and ask for another color other then the black outlines. If there was a storm scene, I would have no issue creating a separate page of a storm and ask the editor to incorporate that into the final art.

Today, many pencillers have a very clear cut visual of what they want the art to look like. Couple that with time constraints that make deadlines tighter and tighter, and it's more and more difficult to think outside of the box.

MIKE: You've got Batman Annual #27 coming out in October. What was it like drawing a Dynamic Duo that isn't Bruce Wayne and Tim Drake?

MARK: Well, for me growing up it was always Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson, so now Dick is Batman and Bruce is dead(?).

It's confusing. Throw in Azrael and it's really a who's who in the Bat universe.

With their outfits on, they still look like the same guys and are still called Baman and Robin, so I'll just play pretend.

MIKE: Which other projects are on your drawing board?

MARK: I finally got to work for Archie Comics, which I had an affinity for in my pre-teens. I worked on three issues of Archie and Friends, two issues which are already out and the third is a September-shipping book.

I'm especially excited about Archie and Friends #135 because it's kinda like their Halloween edition and Archie and Friends turn into Universal Monsters, which is another favorite of mine. Think of Jughead as Dracula and Archie as the Wolfman.

I was working on half issues of DC's Secret Six to help with the deadlines. and I hope that continues, but my next Banana Tail book will be my biggest project to date!