If there’s an award for Most Valuable All-Rounder in Comics, Klaus Janson would be a pretty sure bet to win. Janson - who’s worked as a penciler, inker, colorist, writer, and teacher across his decades-long career – broke into comics 40 years ago with an uncredited appearance in Marvel’s Jungle Action #6; soon afterwards, he became the ongoing inker on The Defenders, before beginning a long term association with Daredevil in 1975.

It’s his work on Daredevil – specifically the work finishing the pencils and layouts of Frank Miller during the his career-making run in the early '80s – that many still go to as a prime example of what Janson is capable of, but that’s underselling his talents significantly. Outside of being an accomplished an inker and finisher (something he’s also done on titles including Fantastic Four, The Avengers, Spider-Man, Superman, and Detective Comics, where he famously worked wonders over Gene Colan’s pencils), he’s also an extremely accomplished penciller in his own right, having illustrated projects as diverse as The Punisher, Batman/Spawn: War Devil, and the short lived Epic superhero series, St. George.

But that’s not all! If that wasn’t impressive enough, Janson has also been shaping the next generation of comic book artists since the '90s, when he started teaching at the School of Visual Arts in New York City; something of a second career to him since then, with his offering additional courses at Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art and even holding storytelling seminars for new creators and editors at Marvel on an irregular basis. He’s even written How-To books The DC Comics Guide to Pencilling Comics and The DC Comics Guide to Inking Comics.

I don’t think I’m pulling your leg when I tell you that Klaus Janson has quite a resume; but now he can add another category: being interviewed by Popverse. Chloe Maveal caught up with him at Fan Expo New Orleans earlier this year for a quick conversation about what he’s done so far, and what brings him the most pleasure out of all of it.

Popverse: So we’re here at Fan Expo ! Klaus, you’ve obviously been doing things like this for quite some time considering your time spent in comics.

I only started really going to conventions about maybe six, seven years ago when I met Jason [Janson’s manager, sat next to him at the booth]. And part of the reason was just because it was so convenient for me not to do anything. He makes the arrangements. He makes the travel plans, and he has the conventions lined up. I've just come and enjoy myself [laughs]





You get the best of it then, don’t you? Just seeing people come up to the table while we’re talking here – you've been told that you’re a legend twice in two minutes. Does it feel just as special now as it did when you first started doing the work and getting recognition for it?





No. It’s better. It feels so much better.

Better now than it was back when you were on the come-up?





Yeah, because when I was younger I didn't really let it in. I kind of pushed it back because I was kind of shy and introverted and not sure I felt I deserved it…but now I feel like I deserve it [laughs]





You’ve paid your dues! You earned that legend status.





Exactly right. That's exactly right. I paid my dues and now I'm enjoying it. So it is better.

That's got to be an artist thing, right? Just in general? I've met so many talented artists who have these amazing careers, and they all have that self-deprecating period of like, 'No, no. Don't tell me I'm amazing.'

You know what, that period is actually beneficial because the ability or the dysfunction of being self-critical spurs you on to be better and to improve your work and to fuel that ambition that you generally have as an artist anyways. I don’t know. I found that very true in my case. I try not to get too comfortable just yet though.

Those laurels aren’t comfy enough yet?

[laughs] No, but the time will definitely come soon. Get me while you can!

No kidding. I mean you've worn so many hats, and you're primarily, of course, known for your incredible inking, but you've also done pencil work and colors and all of this amazing stuff. Are each of those things rewarding in different ways for you?

Yeah, they certainly are. And also writing! I'm co-writing Sacred Creatures with Pablo Raimondi for Image Comics. The second volume will be out… oh, God knows when. But all of it sort of goes to the same place where it satisfies a creative urge.




But you know what's interesting? There's been a lot of studies done about what kind of provokes people to be creative, and part of it is, I could never work in an office, so that's part of it. But the other part i, I think there's something about having the ability to be creatively expressive.




Really, the older I get, the more I really appreciate that and acknowledge it, that I'm very, very lucky to be able to do this. When I was 25, I thought, 'Eh, by the time I'm 30, I'll be directing.' Everybody that's 25 thinks that. And I found that storytelling on paper, drawing pictures, was so interesting that I just found myself continuing and not making any kind of career switch. So I think I'm very, very lucky. I think most creative people feel that way.




Most definitely. Does inking satisfy a different creative instinct in you than say, writing or coloring something or penciling? Does each individual aspect give you a different sort of thrill, I guess?




Yeah. The inking is very, in a lot of ways ... Of course, you can't separate storytelling from any of those characters. So it is always about storytelling, the bottom line is, it's always about that. But inking to me is very decorative. So I get to play much more in inking than I would say in writing where you have to construct a story or penciling where you have to design a page. And certainly being decorative comes into, say, laying out a page, but not as much as inking. Inking is very much, for me, finding a way to use a line in an interesting way. That's how I look at it. Interesting.




That's a really good way of putting it.




Thanks. Yeah. And then here's why I screwed it up. And also the thing about lines and shapes and black and white is not just how they work in isolation, but how they relate to each other within the defined space of a panel. And so it's like ... Do you have siblings?




Nope. Just me.




Oh, you're lucky. I do. [laughs] I have three brothers and a sister. And it's like a family where we all ping pong off each other, and that's what inking is like. Lines and shapes and black and white and all of those ingredients ping pong off each other to form a whole, and very much different from panel to panel.




You teach as well, correct? So how does teaching play into that?




Teaching. I find teaching ... I have very mixed feelings about teaching, but I think that teaching is probably something that I'm the most proud of.

Really? Out of the whole of your career?

Yeah. I find that, I think, number one, the ability to be able to, or the opportunity, the chance to influence and impart a piece of myself in someone else, and have that other person carry it forward, is an amazing privilege.

That's a hell of a way to carry on a legacy too – being able to give that little piece of yourself like that.

I'd like to think so. I would. I'd like to think so. And the students that have been successful, I very much idolize what they've done. Chloe, it's a funny thing, as artists or especially comic book artists, we have a reference file. We look at comics and almost every comic book artist that I know will look at something, another artist's work, before they start to work. Or they'll have stuff on their table. I now have stuff on my table from students that I taught.

Oh come on, that's incredibly cool.

Isn’t it? And I get to swipe THEIR ideas! [laughs] I figure if I don’t swipe it then who will? I’m really lucky.

Like a circle of creativity! Just seems to keep going in that respect, doesn’t it?

That's right, and so I've imparted something to them and now they are imparting something to me.

That’s just lovely to think about isn’t it? I guess that's comics in general, isn't it? Everybody's constantly learning from each other all the time. You’ve just taken it to the best route.

I think that's very true, actually. It’s a big concept. That's a very good point, Chloe. I really do hope that I get to keep on going and that things keep on going with me too.