The Evolution of Shawn McManus’s Work in Comic Art

Transmission 130: Interview with Shawn McManus

Comic artist Shawn McManus shares his 30-year journey at DC Comics, horror influences, and groundbreaking work on Vertigo’s darkest titles.

• Vertigo Pioneer: Best known for his definitive work on Fables and his critical collaboration with Neil Gaiman on The Sandman (“A Game of You”).
• Horror Roots: McManus’s style is deeply influenced by horror legends Jack Davis and Bernie Wrightson, leading to his acclaimed run on Alan Moore’s The Saga of the Swamp Thing.
• Traditional-Digital Hybrid: Despite 30+ years in the industry, he maintains a traditional ink-and-brush workflow, utilizing Photoshop primarily for coloring and refinements.

American comic book artist Shawn McManus has contributed to DC Comics and other companies for more than thirty years. He is best recognized for his work on DC’s Vertigo label, which includes the Fables series. Early in the 1980s, McManus made his first appearance in comic books by contributing to DC Comics and Heavy Metal magazine. He worked with John Coffey and Bhob Stewart on Zenobia for the June 1983 edition of Heavy Metal. Jim McDermott later collaborated with McManus and Stewart on Symbiosis, another Heavy Metal project. In addition, he was the illustrator for Detective Comics’ 1983–1984 Green Arrow serial. 

However it was his illustrations of two issues of The Saga of the Swamp Thing during the Alan Moore-penned (read our interview with Alan Moore) run that garnered him the most critical and popular praise, and he was nominated for a 1985 Jack Kirby Award for his artwork on the series. Additionally, McManus and Todd Klein collaborated on Omega Men, developing Zirral and other characters for the show. He also illustrated Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight and Doctor Fate issues. Furthermore, he worked with Neil Gaiman on The Sandman’s “A Game of You” and “Fables & Reflections” storylines. Notable Sandman credits for McManus include two limited series featuring the witch Thessaly by Bill Willingham and The Sandman Presents: Taller Tales. Daredevil #351 and Peter Parker: Spider-Man Annual ’97 are two of McManus’s Marvel Comics artworks. Additionally, he collaborated with J. H. Williams III on Leah Moore and John Reppion’s Wild Girl (Wildstorm, 2004–2005), which starred 13-year-old Rosa Torez, who learns she can talk with animals. 

During his time at DC, McManus got to know Mark McKenna, with whom he would later collaborate on Banana Tail: The Early Years. Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love and Cinderella: Fables Are Forever were both illustrated by him in 2010. He contributed artwork to the graphic novel Fairest in All the Land. He worked on the Fables spin-off, Fables: The Wolf Among Us, from 2015 to 2016. He was spotted contributing to Black Crown Quarterly, an anthology published by IDW Publishing, in 2018. McManus has completed a few television projects outside of comics. He contributed to the animated series Dinosaucers in 1987. McManus and Mike Vosburg created comic book covers for the television show Tales from the Crypt that were meant to look like the original comics from the 1950s. “The Man Who Was Death” is the first episode that features McManus’s Crypt cover.

John Rozum in an interview recalled the issue of Daredevil and said  “I thought Shawn McManus’s art was great. I’d like to work with him again sometime, though we didn’t really work together here…Shawn actually pays attention to the script. I think his artwork was a nice pairing with the story.”

Have you been interested in drawing since your childhood? Who were your early artistic inspirations? How did their work influence your way to see the world, style and storytelling approach?

Yes. I’ve been drawing ever since I can remember. When I was really young, maybe 5 or 6, I would draw Fred Flinstone and Woody Woodpecker a lot. My earliest inspiration was probably Jack Davis. I can remember seeing and recognizing his artwork at the grocery and department stores, because he would draw a lot of advertising illustrations for various products. Board games, record album covers (boy, I’m really showing my age) trading cards etc. and I could spot a Jack Davis drawing at an early age because of the way he drew people’s feet in his cartoony style. That style was very appealing to me, and still is to this very day. Jack Davis was the first, and then I saw a comic book called Swamp Thing written by Len Wein drawn by Bernie Wrightson. 

The first time I saw artwork by Bernie Wrightson, it was like getting hit with a thunderbolt between the eyes! …and then, when I was in art school in the late 70’s I discovered the great Frank Frazetta through a series of art books by Ballantine books featuring his painted covers for Warren magazines and Paperbacks. Those three artists’ styles have lived in my brain for many years and have been my main influences for my whole life, and continue to be. Those are not the only influences, there are many others, but those are at the top of the list and the most important to me.

Your work with DC Comics extensively over three decades. How did you first get involved, and what drew you to this line of comics?

Yes, the bulk of my comic book work has been for DC comics. I’ve always liked DC comics, but my favourite comics from DC were mystery and horror comics. Titles like “House of Mystery”, “House of Secrets”, “The witching Hour”, “Unexpected” etc. although I liked Superman, mostly for nostalgia reasons like seeing reruns of the 50’s tv series. Visually Superman was my favourite superhero. But what I really wanted to do was to draw mystery and horror comics. Unfortunately, by the time I broke into the business of drawing comics, there were very few mystery titles and lots of superhero titles mixed with some sci-fi and fantasy. 

Although I wasn’t very good at illustrating superhero or sci-fi or fantasy, I did my best with the books I was lucky enough to have been given, which were very few mystery or horror titles. My first love has always been horror comics. I owe my comic career to folks like Pat Bestine, Len Wein, Karen Berger and Shelly Bond, among others. I’ll always be grateful to these editors for allowing me to carve out a career drawing comics and do what I truly love to do and have always had a passion for. Thank you.

His most notable works include the titles Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love and Thing, among others.

What challenges have you faced in the comic book industry at the beginning, and how have you overcome them? What were the biggest satisfactions?

You know, I have to say, there have not been a lot of challenges to overcome. The only obstacle I’ve really faced was getting into the business in the first place. I moved to NYC in the early 80’s just so I could get a job drawing comics. In the early 80’s if you wanted to write or draw for DC or Marvel you had to move to NYC. When I first moved to NYC I got a job doing graphics for a sign company. After my day was done at the sign company I would take a subway up to the DC offices with my portfolio and sit in the lobby and chat with a lovely young lady, Ruthie the receptionist and ask if the art director was in and willing to look at my portfolio. 

I did this a few times a week for a month or so until I was finally met by Sal Amandola who came out to the lobby to look at my samples. He seemed to like them and from then on I got small jobs and then a few bigger jobs and finally I got assigned to a series to draw. From then on I quit my job at the sign company and only drew comics for a living. It’s been pretty smooth sailing since then and I honestly can’t think of anything else I’d rather be doing on a daily basis.

How did your work on Vertigo differ from your other projects? Can you share with us some anecdotes?

I’ve always thought of myself as a hired gun so I always did the best job I could when illustrating a book. In my mind, there was not a lot of difference between Vertigo and other titles. The best thing for me doing work for Vertigo was that I got to work with two of the best editors that I’ve ever had the pleasure to work for, Karen Berger and Shelly Bond.

You illustrated issues of The Saga of the Swamp Thing written by Alan Moore. What are the best memories of this period?

First of all, Swamp Thing by Wein and Wrightson was my favourite comic book. Alan Moore’s vision as I saw it was more of a horror comic book than the earlier Wein Wrightson take, which was more of a classic monster book. I loved what the artists on the Moore Swamp Thing title, Steve Bissette and John Totleben, were doing so my thought was that those guys were sure a tough act to follow. I believe that the reason I filled in for a couple of issues was to give Bissette and Totleben a break from the incredibly detailed artwork they were producing on a monthly basis. 

I’m sure I got the assignment because the editor, Karen Berger, knew I was a huge Swamp Thing fan so she threw me a bone and made this comic artist very happy. Lucky me. It was a lot of fun to draw those two issues from Alan Moore’s very descriptive and phone book sized script. It was easy to draw because everything was there perfectly on the page. Right there on the first page before the story started, Alan wrote something like: Shawn, if you see a better way to draw any of these panels that I’ve described, please feel free to do it your way. No worries. Or something to that effect. The thing is, the script and his panel descriptions were so good that I just stuck to every word. No need for anything different.

Atomeka Press (A1), Dark Horse Comics (Cheval Noir), Exhibit A Press (Wolff & Byrd: Counselors of the Macabre), First Comics (Grimjack), Image Comics (Supreme), Malibu Comics (The Man Called AX), and DC Comics’ Paradox Press (The Big Book Of Freaks) are just a few of the companies to which McManus has contributed.

You worked on The Sandman: A Game of You, surreal and dreamlike stories  dominated by female  points of view and characters. How did you approach visually interpreting the intricate and abstract concepts presented in the story? Were there specific challenges in bringing Neil Gaiman’s vision to life in this particular angle?

Kind of the same approach that I take with every book, I feel like I’m an extension of the writer. So I read and re-read and re-read the script again until I really know the story. As I’m reading I make mental notes and sometimes small sketches on the script pages as a reminder of what I was thinking when it comes time to draw a particular page or panel. and I do my very best to give the writer exactly what they’ve written. Neil, like Alan Moore, is very descriptive and delivers a thick script. Both Neil and Alan think very visually (at least that’s what comes through in the scripts) so they leave room for whatever needs to be illustrated without being overcrowded. Everything seems to fit very well visually on the comic page when it’s drawn.

Since you have been drawing these specific Sandman stories, what is your opinion of the concerns expressed by some viewers about the inclusion of LGBTQ+ characters in the Netflix series?

I can’t comment on the Netflix series since I haven’t seen any episodes.

How do you balance staying true to a writer’s vision while also getting into your own personal creative vision artwork? You were the eyes of Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, etc.  Can you share how you balance world-building with character-driven storytelling? How do you approach translating a script into your visual art?

I kind of alluded to it earlier, but speaking only for myself, I feel like I’m an extension of the writer and my job is to serve the writer and give the best visuals that I can to bring his story to life. I like to work in different styles from cartoony to exaggerated to more realistic, so I try to find a style that I think fits a particular story the best.

In your long career you’ve worked on a wide range of genres and characters. Is there a specific genre or type of character you particularly enjoy illustrating, and why? 

My style and preference have changed throughout my time drawing comics. For the past few years I’ve enjoyed drawing in a more cartoony style. I’ve been working on a six issue series with writer/artist Duncan Rouleau. He’s writing and I’m drawing and colouring. I’ve finished drawing and colouring the six issues. It’s being scripted and I’m not sure when it’s coming out but it’s the most fun I’ve ever had drawing a comic book. It’s in a more cartoony style than I usually work in. So much fun. I seem to change from week to week depending on what I’ve seen to influence me. It could be heavy blacks or light pen and ink lines or thick brush strokes. 

There are a lot of really great talented people out there that anyone can learn from or draw inspiration from by just looking or studying what you like from comics, books, online posts, movies. anywhere really.

He contributed to one issue of The Creeper and eight issues of the Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis series for DC Comics in 2007.

Can you  share how your artistic voice evolved, and what key influences have shaped this evolution? You’re known for your ability to convey complex narratives through visuals. Can you walk us through your creative process when starting on a new project or character design? 

I’ve always enjoyed experimenting with different styles. I’ve tried to stay fresh and try new tools and techniques but I seem to have a default which is a sable brush and ink. I always come back to that. There are a lot of comic artists that were very good at one time and peaked at a certain point and then were never that good again. There are a small handful of artists that have been working for years and never peaked. They just remain consistently good and continue to get better: the late Moebius, the late Frank Godwin and Arthur Adams among others are some of these artists. I’m not putting myself in this category, but lucky for me I’m a very slow learner. 

I’ve enjoyed the ride but after decades of drawing I’m finally doing what I think is my best work. My creative process for comics is to read the script 4 or 5 times until I see it visually in my head. I then make small thumbnail layouts of each page, 2inch x 3inch. Then I scan each small thumbnail and blow up to 10inch x 15inch and print on thin paper and with a colorerase blue pencil  I loosely trace onto a piece of 11inch x 17inch bristol board using a lightbox. Then I tighten up the loose pencil using that same blue pencil. Then the page gets inked, usually with a Winsor and Newton series 7 number one brush with calli ink.

Has the shift towards digital art impacted your creative process? Do you prefer one medium over the other?

The computer is a good tool for me. I work with traditional drawing and inking tools and enhance them with digital. For instance, when I colour my own comic book pages, I scan the black and white inked artwork and colour the pages digitally in photoshop.I also do traditional watercolour painting and scan the painting and enhance it in photoshop. Maybe change the colour slightly or lighten or darken an area or generally tweak the painting. It’s easy to do in photoshop. I never work exclusively digital.

The comic book industry has seen significant changes over the past decades. How have you adapted to these changes, particularly with the rise of digital comics? What are the biggest challenges and opportunities for artists today?

I feel like I still have one foot firmly planted in the past when it comes to the whole industry. When I first got into the comics biz before the internet someone would show a physical portfolio filled with pages of their artwork to an editor. since those way back days, all the work that i get is through the internet, like everyone else. I honestly wouldn’t know how to direct someone towards getting work other than posting new drawings often on social media. Just out of curiosity, I went to Marvel’s website a few years ago to see what their submission guidelines were. Their site said that they don’t take submissions but said to post samples online and if you were good enough for Marvel, they’ll find you.

Shawn McManus’ official website, and Instagram
Photo and images courtesy of Shawn McManus

Dominique Musorrafiti

Ciao! My name is Dominique. I’m Italian and I’m proud to be a mix. My father was an Italian chemical engineer and high school teacher, with Greek and Polish heritage. My mother is Haitian, she was high school language teacher, with Dominican, Spanish, French, Portuguese, African and Native American heritage. Being a mix makes me appreciate to want to understand different cultures and lifestyles. I grew up in Italy, lived few years in Haiti, travel around main European capitals, lived many years in China, in Spain and UK. Traveling makes me feel that we can learn something from every situation in every part of the world.