Being the biggest doofus on the planet, first thing I asked him was "How does it feel to be awesome?" After laughing at my ridiculous question, he composes himself and says:
"You know, what I'll say is - I love being an artist. And that's great. I love being able to draw superheroes I loved as a kid. I love that I can go somewhere and you know, this is exactly just about halfway around the world for me, it's incredible for people to know me at all! I feel very, very lucky."
Duy Tano of The Comics Cube asked David "How does it feel to win the Shuster Award?" His response:
"I thought it was great. It was an honor. It's a Canadian award and I'm Canadian so it was very nice... I was actually at a book signing when they presented it, so it was a surprise. So, it was great."
Besides the prestigious Shuster Award, Mr. Finch has also been nominated for a number of different awards - The Wizard Award twice and the Harvey Award once, just to name a few.
Although I wasn't able to attend the earlier part of the panel interview and was pretty sure this question had already been asked, I just had to know if he had a favorite writer to work with. It was a pretty straightforward response - Brian Michael Bendis. He says what represents their collaboration the best would be the X-Men for the writing, but likes his art better on their New Avengers issues.
At around this point, Duy thanks David for making Electro bad ass. We all nodded in agreement. He added:
"I remember Bendis saying if I wanted to draw him with the costume on or not. I said definitely, [with the] costume [on]."
While on the topic of the Avengers, he said he'd like to stake his claim on the fact that he fought for Spider-Woman to be in costume. There was a bit of back and forth with Bendis to get Jessica in costume, and he says that Bendis is a great cooperator, and is very generous.
That led me to ask how much of his input goes into an storyline, because I was curious as to how the creative process really goes. I have an idea, but of course getting inside info like this just makes me geek out hard.
"It really depends on the project. I've had projects before where I get the script and I just draw straight from the script. I've worked with Craig Kyle and Chris Yost on an X-Men story, which was just one issue, and there were times when I would just... I actually didn't talk to them at all, because it was just a single issue so... And there are times where I'll say 'okay, okay this is not quite working, that's not quite working' and from a story teller's perspective, I just can't draw it properly. The best scripts... it was a great script. It was perfect. I didn't have to change anything. I did my best to draw it and it came out well; I was very happy with it."
I apologize for my lousy transcription. Maybe next time, I'll bring an actual recorder instead of using my phone. Anyway, he had this to add to that little question of mine:
"When a writer really knows what he's doing, I'd rather just sit back, you know?"
When he was asked about the New 52, DC's major reboot, he had a bunch of things and a lot of it was positive. It was Jim Lee and Geoff Johns who took a look at the numbers and where the audience is now; they took a risk and David was surprised DC was able to pull it off as well as they did. He says that management had great respect for a lot of the ongoing stories, and that's why there are a few that are still continuing in the New 52.
"They did a great job of creating something new and creating a feeling of something very new and still not crushing the work of a lot of people they really valued.
At the five minute mark, Duy asked if David could work with anyone at all, living or dead, who would it be? On what book? And who would his inker be?
David went on with practically every inker he's ever worked with, which shows how much he appreciates their work. He did, however, specify Rick Friend. For the writer, he specifically mentioned Gregg Hurwitz. He would've also picked Edgar Allan Poe, but he doesn't know how Edgar Allan Poe would be like to work with, so maybe that's a no go.
At the very end of the interview, he took some time to thank Fully Booked for bringing him out here and he's excited for all the stuff they've got lined up for him.
David Finch, holding John Vincent Villones' winning entry to the Batman drawing contest, and Jamie Daez, the managing director of Fully Booked
Comics Cube or FlipGeeks will have more comprehensive articles about our chat with him as they were with him longer (edit: They do! Click here for Comics Cube's full interview. Makes me wish I had teleportation powers to have been there on time). Check out their sites as well, if you want the full story.
I very much enjoyed my time with David Finch even though I came in late and asked the dumbest questions possible. I hope Fully Booked brings in more artists and writers from the comic book industry, just because it's fun and the interest in the medium in this part of the world needs a little spark.