Interview: Artist James Silvani Talks Drawing ‘Darkwing Duck’ & ‘The Muppets’

Originally a cartoon, Darkwing Duck ran from 1991 to 1995 and again from 1996 to 1997. A darker, cooler version of the Duck Tales universe, Darkwing gave Disney its very own super hero character who wasn’t a total boy scout like Gizmo Duck.

Recently, Boom launched the Darkwing Duck miniseries which was quickly indefinitely extended to an ongoing series. Take a peek below at our interview with James Silvani, the current artist on the book, as he discusses with us his work on the project, the character, and the tremendous fan support the title has received.

The Flickcast: Recently Boom has been having a lot of success with their licensed products, especially with the Disney series. How did you get approached about working on the Darkwing Duck series?

James Silvani: Actually, I started off doing The Muppets and was working on a few Muppet ideas and the editors had asked, “Hey do you mind throwing in a Darkwing Duck cover? It’s something of a pet project of ours”. Once we had the approval, we went ahead with it and it became a nice little fluke.

TF: Now Darkwing Duck is one of those niche characters for the Disney universe. He doesn’t have the gigantic following like Duck Tales has had but he does seem to have a loyal fan base. How familiar were you with the character before you were approached to do the work on it?

JS: Unfortunately I’m older than most of the people that are into this. I was into Batman: The Animated Series. I was into Duck Tales. And then Darkwing Duck came around and it was the perfect mixture of the two. I stayed home and scheduled my classes around the Disney afternoons. I was pretty familiar.

TF: Do you have a favorite character from the original series that has always stood out to you that you are thrilled to get the chance to work on or want to work on in the future?

JS: I always thought Megavolt was the most fun because I loved the voice. I was thinking, “Ah, that’s the Krusty the Clown voice.” He fits the character so perfectly. Coming around to this, I’m having so much fun with the Quakerjack stuff. Ian wrote a whole new chapter for this character. He really did a great job with it.

TF: Originally the book was supposed to be a miniseries. Now you guys have gotten word that it is going to be ongoing. How did that feel that you took something that was limited and made it a full series?

JS: I think the momentum would have gone on without me because the swell. The love everybody was showing for it out there was just unbelievable. I’m just coming along for the ride.

FC: How did it feel knowing a lot of stores actually under ordered and now there are so many people coming to Comic Con because it’s the only spot to actually get a hold of the book because no one had it and those that did sold out of it?

JS: I know how everybody feels. I live in Hawaii and I don’t have a comic book store near me and I have to get mail order or whatever to get my comics. I feel for the people. I’m just blown away by the response for it. When we started this, I had no idea what it was going to turn into and if the worst-case scenario is a sell out then that’s the happiest worse case news I’ve ever heard.

TF: Are you currently working on any other projects for Boom right now?

JS: I do a couple of covers here and there. I do a couple of Duck Tales covers. I just finished some Muppets and Snow White covers and I think an Incredibles cover coming out which was the first thing I did for Boom last year. Otherwise, its Darkwing Duck 24-7. Penciling and inking takes something outta ya. That’s what I got time for. If this is the project that I’m burdened down with then I’m more than happy to be doing it.