Since his first appearance in Tales of Suspense back in 1963, Iron Man has always been a big fan favorite. His initial success was always credited to the creative team that originally launched him—Stan Lee, Don Heck and Larry Lieber. With the recent release of the hit Marvel Studios motion picture, we think a few more names will forever be attached to the character—director Jon Favreau, actor Robert Downey, Jr, and talented artist and designer Adi Granov.
Once Adi got his hands on ol' Shellhead, the look of the hero and the sales of his comics were never the same—in the best way! Adi's redesigns made Iron Man's armor sleek, functional, tech-savvy and just plain kick-ass! So much so, that Jon Favreau eventually brought him on with the design team for the film, to make Iron Man really come off for the big screen (thank you, Jon!).
We became fans of Granov's art like the rest of the...well, fanboys. In 2004, as a cover artist, he put his special magic on many a Marvel character and fandom lost its mind! Nova, She-Hulk, FF, New Avengers, Inhumans and the Silver Surfer were just a few of the titles that year to recieve "Granovision". In '05, his covers and interiors for the Extremis series with collaborator Warren Ellis were a slam dunk. We thought "Hey, this guy is bringing the funk!"
We chatted with the Bosnian-born artist at his home in the U.K. and got the skinny on his background working for Nintendo, his adventures at the 2007 Comic Con and being a big fish in the gargantuan pond of Hollywood.
**In the interview, Adi mentions meeting the great special effects wizard, Stan Winston, who passed away after this was recorded. We too are big fans of Stan's work and are saddened by his passing. He was a real pioneer and visionary, and he will be missed.
http://www.adigranov.net/news.php
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Really cool interview, guys. I've always liked Adi's art ever since I saw some of his RPG work online even before he started doing the Iron Man covers for Marvel. He seems to be a really cool, nice, intelligent guy. I really liked his views on the differences between the working process in comic books and the working process in movies. I was surprised that he felt that the Extremis armor was just a transitory armor that was only good for that specific story but it kind of makes sense when you think about it.
Great job guys.
Posted by: RLS | July 08, 2008 at 07:27 AM
I have to say I'd written Ironman off a long time ago until I saw Extremis. My last fond memories of the character date all the way back to those classic face offs between Dr Doom and shellhead during the Bob Layton era. Anyway great interview as always guys, can't wait to see who's next.
Posted by: Mark | July 11, 2008 at 10:10 PM