I M A G E A S S O C I AT E
Scott Williams Behind every great penciler, there’s a great inker; when you think of Jim Lee’s exquisite pencils, you’ll usually find Scott Williams’s bold finishes right besides it. The legendary comic book artist entered the business by assisting his pal, Whilce Portacio, on inking Longshot. During his busy time at Marvel, Scott formed Homage Studios with Whilce (and later a new guy named Jim Lee); this would formalize their bond as an art studio to be reckoned with. First paired with Lee on Punisher War Journal, the duo made their mark, having enormous success on Uncanny X-Men and X-Men. As Homage would eventually morph into WildStorm Studios, the birth of Image Comics showcased Scott’s relentless tenacity, making him the backbone of the company when he was the only inker man enough to ink Jim Lee (on WildC.A.T.s), Marc Silvestri (on Cyberforce), Whilce Portacio (on Wetworks), and Dale Keown (on Pitt) virtually simultaneously. It’s evident from his contributions to Batman: Hush, Superman, WildC.A.T.s, and All-Star Batman and Robin, that he hasn’t slowed down one iota. For almost 20 years, Scott Williams has been the crème de la crème in this business — the inker against which all other inkers will forever be measured. How did you get into comics originally? Like most other professionals, I started off as a fan. I read comics, bought comics, collected comics, and borrowed comics from my older brothers. I became a fan of the medium, the art form, but also had a bit of a desire to be an artist, and some talent; it seemed like an obvious marriage. I enjoyed buying and reading and being entertained by the entire concept of comics as an art form, and combining that with a natural desire and love of drawing, with a certain amount of talent sprinkled in. And it took some hard work to hone that talent. It was a natural progression. Frankly, it’s one of those things where, if I hadn’t found comics, I don’t know if I would have taken my artistic skills and talent to a level that would have allowed me to have a career in art, and therefore I have no idea what I would have done with my life, because I’m not sure what else I would be good at. So thank God for comics and thank God for art. You connected with what Neal Adams was at DC in the ’70s? Yeah, I definitely was a two-pronged comic aficionado. I was a fan primarily of Marvel Comics, specifically in my early years. I liked the whole continuity aspect of their universe. I liked the approach to their comics. I liked the fact that if something happened in one book, it somehow inevitably affected some of the other books. There seemed to be cohesion about it. I liked some of the character traits, where Peter Parker would have growing up problems and girl problems, and the Fantastic Four fought with each other, and the Avengers roster, which would continually change over. I found that an appealing approach to comics, whereas with DC — as much as I enjoyed some of the iconic characters — it seemed like each issue
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Scott Williams. Courtesy of Scott Williams. WildC.A.T.s pin-up (from #50, vol. 1) with pencil & inks by Scott Williams. ©2007 WildStorm Productions.