Franck sent this to me. It's an interview Paul gave to the magazine Whizzard issue #14 winter 1981. Enjoy and thanks Franck!

   Paul Gulacy, at 27, is widely acclaimed for his powerful, cinematic storytelling. Although best known for Marvel Comics' Master Of Kung Fu and Eclipse Entreprises' Sabre, his work has ranged from Siro Agnew t-shirts and Rawhide Kid drawings to honer Hooker.

   Since performing in a barbershop quartet when he was 12, he has worked profesionally as a drummer and also master 81 impersonations.

   Blood On Black Satin, his favorite comics story, was recently published by Warren. His work will soon be appearing in epic Illustrated and Marvel Preview.

   Currently in his New Jersey studio, he is storyboarding films and painting covers.

   The following interview was conducted by Jerry Durrwachter on Sept. 8, 1980. The Paul gulacy index was compiled by Jerry Durrwachter with assistance from Paul Gulacy, Gary Johannigmeir, and the B&R Comix Center.

Whizzard : How did your work for Hustler come about
Gulacy : The editor and the art director were into comics and they approached Jim [Steranko] at a convention to do something for their October [1977] issue. Steranko was busy so he gave me a call and asked me if I wanted to do this work. I said "Sure, why not?". I needed the money at the time.
               It started out with a double-page illustration. At that time, I was beginning to paint and I was curious to see how my work would look reproduced. I took it on. Next, I did an ad for a projector - a hand-held projector that you can watch blue movies through. Initially it was sent to Continuity [Associates]. Al Weiss had done the original illustration and they didin't like it so they handed it to me and said, "Take over". The third drawing was the cover of Honey Hooker, I seemed to go from bad to worse (laughter).
               They offered me Honey Hooker strip, which is just a parody of Little Annie Fanny for $500 a week. I said "No, I don't want to touch it at this point". Then they called back two or three days later and said "We'll give you $600", I said "No way, I'm not interested". The final phonecall it was up to $700. They said "We can't go any higher, this our final figure". I still turned it down. I didn't want it.

Whizzard : Have you ever considered working for Playboy?
Gulacy : I think with Playboy, they contact you.
               Doug Moench [pronounced Mench] and I are planning to put together a one page cartoon. Doug had worked at the Sun Times in Chicago with a lot of the guys who are now in the editorial department at Playboy. He did send me a bunch of jokes about three years ago. They wenren't funny, and I told him. He didn't like it (laugher). That's the way Doug and I get along.
               We're still shuffling ideas around.We'll start at the top and if Playboy doesn't like it we'll go to Oui and probably eventually end up sending it to Hustler. Then they'll end up rejecting us (laughter)

Whizzard : Would you be interested in doing a humorous strip?
Gulacy : Yes, I do like the humor aspect. I like to let loose once in a while.
               Not long ago I offered a strip to Epic [illustrated], to Archie [Goodwin], and expalined the joke and it didin't get a smile out of him. It kind of ended right there. It was intended to be in color and they're not buying color material right now. They're not buying a lot of material because they have a big backlog of unprinted things.

Whizzard : Will you be doing any more work for epic?
Gulacy : I had started a second story with Doug, a black and white job, but I got halfway through with it and quit. I'm like that. I get into these weird moods and it strikes me that I cannot do a particular thing. something cliks and tells me "Don't do this stuff". So I listened to myself and said "You're right, I souldn't do this anymore".
               However, I have another story in mind for Epic. I'll be adapting a turn of the century poem and put a science fiction theme to it. It's called The Listeners written by Walter De LaMare. It's a timeless piece. I just read it and said "Hey, I gotta do this".

Whizzard : Have you been satisfied with the reproduction of your work in Epic?
Gulacy : The cover does not look like the painting. They left the black plate out, which means all the dark values have been diminished. They're not there. It still came out nice, but a little different from what I expected.

Whizzard : How did you feel following the work of Frank Frazetta and Richard Corben?
Gulacy : (laughter) When Archie Asked me to do tha painting I said "I can't follow Frazetta anc Corben". He said "Give it a shot". So I did, I wasn't happy with the initial concept.
               I had some personal problems at the time, I was very depressed, and I had a hell of a time coming up with an idea. After sumitting three sketches, tree rough drawings, Archie went with the Alien Girl.

Whizzard : Is Orange your favorite color?
Gulacy : I do seem to drift toward orange. I just like those monochromatic values. I feel if an artist is painting he must know one color as well as 30 or 40 colors. It's just as difficult working with one color.
               I don't know why I choose orange. It worked for that painting. I wanted a very warm color. When you think in terms of a parched desert landscape you think of oranges and yellows. I went with that.

Whizzard : How much painting work have you done? It said in Master of Kung Fu 51 that you were leaving the book to do painting.
Gulacy : I did. The first year I left Master of Kung Fu I took the entire year off. I felt I needed the vacation. I wanted to get the dust blown off and push myself away from the drawing table. Every other day I played tennis and then I started picking up the paint brush.
               I had painted before I entered the comic field but I didn't have a very educated approach. If someone young is painting a picture or composing music they do it by ear and by what they see by instinct. They don't know why they chose that chord or that color, but instinctively they know it should be that way. That's more or less where I was with painting.
               When you figure out why, it becomes very difficult. You're involved in a learning process.
               I did a few commision paintings for churches, religious paintings.
               Then I started working on some paperback samples. I wanted the challenge. Even before entering comics. I had the inclination of entering that field. So I did. I worked up a dozen paintings - detective, western and gothic - and took them out to different publishing companies. I sold one to a small outfit called Belmont Tower Productions.

Whizzard : Did they have plans to publish it?
Gulacy : No, because they switched art directors. The art directors who hired me to do some things had left and when the other art director came in he brought his own artists. He wasn't terribly fond of my work so I had trouble getting work from him.

Whizzard : Do you have any plans to work for paperback publishers in the near future?
Gulacy : I've lost total interest in paperbacks. The reason is because I find that I'm given work that I really don't want to do. I don't want to paint something I don't want to, just to paint and have my name on the cover.
               The other aspect is the fact that if you do a large painting it's reduced down to two or three inches. It's not worth getting the ulcer.
               Another reason is the pay on publication, which can range from three weeks to six months before you're paid. I just found that discouraging.
               I'm making more money doing covers for Marvel that I would be paperback work.

Whizzard : Is that what you're doing now, painting cover for Marvel?
Gulacy : Yes. I'm also doing work for Marvel Preview. I'm doing a Black Widow story and cover. I just turned in a cover today. It's for a story called Paradox (Marvel Previews #24) written by Bill Mantlo and illustrated by Val Mayerik.

Whizzard : The Comic Journal reported you would be doing a SHIELD story for a new magazine called Marvel Universe?
Gulacy : That's not true. I wouldn't touch SHIELD for all the money in the world.

Whizzard : Wy is that?
Gulacy : To be honest with you I think there's no need for me to try to top it. There's no reason for me to do it. It was great when Steranko handled it but I have no interst in it.

Whizzard : When did you first run across Steranko's work?
Gulacy : A guy in high school wanted to trade an issue of SHIELD for a Captain America by Kirby. It was the first time I saw his work and it really knoked me out. I tought to myself if I was ever to draw comics this is the way I would do it. That was the feeling I got from Steranko's work.
               I adopted Steranko style because it was exiting and I could do it easily and quicqly. But I feel by the third issue, I was going into another direction.
               A lot of artists have their own special ties. Steranko is great at layouts, I had the cinematic storytelling, Corben had the color, Wrightson had the monsters and so forth. That's the way I look at it. My main thing was telling stories cinematically. That's all I was intersted in.

Whizzard : Would you say that your work is an extension of his?
Gulacy : Maybe it was at the beginning, but not anymore. An artist can't do another artist's thinking for him. You can look at Boris [Vallejo] and Jeff Jones, who vere terribly influenced by Frank Frazetta, and they went off totally on their own course. Every artist has a different approach. You can't duplicate it - visually or emotionnaly, if my work is an extension of Jim's, I just hope that it is in terms of entertainement value. Maybe that's what I've been after all along, to entertain the readers as much as he did.

Whizzard : Isn't Don McGregor a pretty big fan os Steranko's work?
Gulacy : Yeah.

Whizzard : How long ago did you met with him?
Gulacy : I met Don About 1976. I bumped into him at Marvel's office shortly brfore I quit and he told me about this character he had in mind, a swashbuckling black character. it was intended to be in a weekly newspaper tabloid that Jim Salierup was putting together but something came up and it never developed. So we were on our own. We had to find our own printer.

Whizzard : Who arranged for the Sabre exerpt to be printed in Heavy Metal?
Gulacy : McGregor had arranged that. He had approached Heavy Metal and Julie Simmons, who was the art director at the time, was impressed with it and liked it. In fact, she wanted to print it as a serial. Don said "No, we have our printer"; and screew up everything.
               They received a percentage of any orders that came in through Heavy Metal.

Whizzard : Was the book a big success?
Gulacy : Yes, it's in its third printing now and it's also in a French version.

Whizzard : Does McGregor take up more space in French or in English?
Gulacy : (laughter) Jan and Dean [Mullaney] met with the guy from Paris and he told them that they had a hell of a time. He said it was the most difficult time they ever had trying to translate Don's copy into French.

Whizzard : Was Sabre designed from a finished script?
Gulacy : No, it wasn't. I prefer working from a finished script, which means most of the dialog is included. With Sabre you could make another book with all the art that was covered by Don's balloons.

Whizzard : Have you seen the secoind printing of Sabre?
Gulacy : Yes. The cover reproduced poorly. The painting did not look good.
               In fact, I'm a victim of bad reproduction. "Epic" suffered. The Vampirella I had done for Warren really suffered.
               On the cover I did for Rook The entire background was eliminated. It was an Alamo battle with about a hundred people. They're not there.

Whizzard : How were you paid on Sabre?
Gulacy : I was paid up half up front and half on completion. I have also reiving royalties.

Whizzard : Was the main model for Sabre Jimi Hendrix or Clint Eastwood?
Gulacy : Hendrix. In fact, around the time I was drawing Sabre I had just read a biography on Hendrix. I had a rock and roll band when I was young and we played a lot of Hendrix's tunes. It was all coming back to me. The sixties were hitting me like a hammer on the head. I felt that here's another guy that I've got to salute (laughter).

Whizzard : He seemed to have Eastwood's eyes.
Gulacy : Those are my eyes. I squint in the sunlight quite a bit.
               I was a combination of things. I wanted to do a black guy who on one hand was handsome and on the other hang rugged. One of the reasons I took it on is because I had received a lot of letters and phone calls from friends of mine who were readers of Kung Fu requesting a black charatcer in the Kung Fu series. Somehow it never worked out so I felt I had to oblige their reaquests.

Whizzard : Was it your idea to maje Sabre black?
Gulacy : There was a period where he started out black and was going to become white half way through rhe book (laughter). there were just countless phonecalls and arguments that seemed to delay that book more and more.

Whizzard : Did Eclipse Enterprises raise any objections about Sabre being black?
Gulacy : No. they didn't care. They were mainly interested in the final product.

Whizzard : What type of editorial control did Eclipse have over what would appear in Sabre?
Gulacy : We had total control. In fact, that is what created a lot of arguments. I felt that thing should be deleted and things should be deleted and things should be added. It needed editorial overseeing badly. I had to speak up. Someone had to. The over-all appearance ot it was, more or less, on my shoulders.

Whizzard : How succesful do you think the book was, in terms of storytelling?
Gulacy : It was just a good thing to get away from Master of Kung Fu, to be able to do another character. I didn't want to be constantly shadowed by Master of Kung Fu.
               I don't think there was anything spectacular about the storytellingin Sabre. There was two or three pages that I personally liked.

Whizzard : Were you approached to do the Sabre sequel?
Gulacy : Don and Dean came over about a month ago and presented me with the synopsis. It was a good story. In fact, it's probably better than the original.
               But Don expects me to personify his little fantaisies and I won't I refuse to do that sort of things. I said, "Look, we gotta change this. We have to get rid of the transexual" (laughter). There's also a scene were Melissa is giving birth to a child while at the same time a gun battle is going on in the same room. He wanted me to draw that, I said, "Listen, Don, you can't have this. You can't be serious. Come to your senses". He refused to change a few things and I told him he'd have to find another artist. They're scouting around now.

Whizzard : In Mediascene you said, "I'm tired of making alll these comic book writers famoius". Do you still maintain that view?
Gulacy : (laughter) You would bring that up. That was my little Muhammad Ali routine. Don and Doug were infuriated to say the least (laughter).
               What I mean is that whenever you see my name next to a writer's, it means that i'mcollaborating with this person. I'm very concerned with what the storyline is about, the characters involved, and so forth. I feel that I invest enough effort and creativity into a lot of the stories to receive a co-plot credit on the opening page. But I don't ask for it because it's not that important to me.

Whizzard : How did you replace the pages of Sabre that were lost in the mail?
Gulacy : The first seven were lost. They were redrawn from memory.

Whizzard : Other than the first seven pages of Sabre, has any of your other work been lost or damaged in the mail?
Gulacy : (laughter) Before that, I think two pages from on of the Kung Fu specials were lost because I sent it to Marvel without addressing it in care of anyone. It should have been sent to Romita at the time. The package was lost in the fan mail and no one could find it so it was redrawn by Romita.

Whizzard : Is it true that Craig Russell had done some work on Sabre?
Gulacy : Yes. He inked several pages towards the end of the story.

Whizzard : Didn't you have time to finish it?
Gulacy : I was tired and willing to pay Craig his price. Then he became tired.

Whizzard : Have you done any substantial amount of comic work that has been purchased but never printed?
Gulacy : I did a horror story for Marvel that Marv Wolfman had written. It's filed awy in a cabinet somewhere. I also did a ten page Rook story for Warren that was never used.

Whizzard : Do they have any house policies at Warren that make working there different tahn anywhere else?
Gulacy : Yes. They enjoy artists who come in and want to work without asking for money (laughter).
               Actually, they're very responsible as far as paying. A few years ago I understand the artists and writers were not getting paid at all. It eventually became better but now they went into a slump again and that's why I'm currently not working over there.
               Warren had a large inventory of scripts that date back ten years ago and still haven't been used. If I wanted to work for Warren tomorrow I would be handed one of these scripts and I wouldn't that right now. I have to work with someone I'm compatible with.

Whizzard : What writers do you feel most compatible with??
Gulacy : So far Don McGregor and Doug Moench, but I'm sure there will be others in the future.

Whizzard : Is there anything like a self-imposed Comics Code Authority at Warren?
Gulacy : Yes. Jim Warren does not allow ladies of the night to be drawn. No prostitutes. that's one policy that's always baffled me.

Whizzard : Are there any other things that Jim Warren doesn't allow in his books besides bookers?
Gulacy : He doesn't allow good stories. He's like Heavy Metal, he soens't want anything that makes sense. If it's got a beginning, a middle and an ending he doesn't want to deal with it. I'm only kidding, just a jiko (laughter).

Whizzard : Was "The Trepassers" in Eeriemeant to ba series?
Gulacy : That was originally a 12 page short story for Heavy Metal Julie Simmons was semi-interested but she was losing her seat to another art director at the time. They didn't like it because it was a realistic story. It wouldn't fit in.
               That's just an example of what it's like working with Don. You start out with a 12 page story and it ends up being an epic. I went over 30 pages.

Whizzard : Do you feel that story was more succesful than "Blood on Black Satin"?
Gulacy : "Blood on Black Satin" was definitely the best story that Warren had ever ran of all time. Of all time (laughter).
               I'm talking about storyline. I'm not talking about looking at it from an artistic point of view. You have to read the story and relate the pictures with the words. I thought it was a powerful horror story.

Whizzard : Do you have any plans of doing a sequel?
Gulacy : No, but there are other horror stories that I would like to do.
               That story developed like a lot of the Kung Fu issues Doug and I worked on. We would start out with a very nebulous idea. That the way we work. That's the way I enjoy working.
               I would call Doug and Say, "Let's do a horror story for Warren". He'd say, "What do you think?". then I'd say, "Let's try this. A guy drives into an old English towns and all of sudden there's ghosts and demons and broads and knives. You take it from here" (laughter).
               They usually come in at a spur of the moment like that. We could talk about it for an hour without coming up with any ideas and during the last ten minutes of our conversation we come up with this perfect plotline.

Whizzard : That story was unique in that none of the characters were patterned after movie celebrities. Did you have your hands slapped for doing that??
Gulacy : I was never warned about that at Warren.
               At Marvel they were upset about Shang-Chi resembling Bruce Lee.
               There was even a rumour going around that's Bruce Lee's wife had called Stan Lee and told him to knock it off. I don't know how true that is.

Whizzard : Were you officially told to stop?
Gulacy : I was told about it when Marv Wolfman was editor. He told me to stop it but I didn't. I kept on doing it.
               In fatc, since Bruce Lee had died I found that it was a good outlet to keep the mystique alive. I attribute the large sales figures to the fact that the Shang-Chi character resembled Bruce Lee.

Whizzard : Why do you pattern characters after celebrities?
Gulacy : The reason I do that is because I grew up watching these people's movies. I feel it's my tribute to those actors, my salute to them.
               The reason I didn't do it in "Blood on Black Satin" is because people got on me about the Coburn thing. They said, "It's silly". I said, "Oh, you're crazy".
               If there was a role in a television pilot or a movie I thought Coburn would be perfect for a role like that; the quiet intense doctor who comes in as a loner figure. I decided to knock it off. But I'm back at it again.

Whizzard : At the time did the large fan popularity of Jim Starlin, present any problems working on the series?
Gulacy : At the time I wasn't aware of the popularity that he had achieved. I was anxious for a monthly book and it seemed to be right up my alley. Don't ask me the thing thatle up to Starlin leeaving the book. He did tell me one nightin a bar in a Ramada Inn. We were both drinking heavily. I do remember asking the question but the answer went in one ear and out the other.

Whizzard : Was the visualization of the Brynocki character totally yours?
Gulacy : Yea.

Whizzard : Were they many letters asking that that character make a return appearance?
Gulacy : I had a few

Whizzard : In Master of Kung Fu there was hardly ever any letters printed that commented on the artwork of the nonGulacy issues. Were they that unfavorable??
Gulacy : I think that speak for itself (laughter). whenver I inked one of my stories I would get so far behind they would have to slip in an inventory piece by another artist. It might have upset the readers when a stranger came in and broke the continuity.

Whizzard : When Shang-Chi defeated the Chankar character in Master of Kung Fu 46 it seemed he did so with a low blow. Wouldn't something like that be considered outside the realm of decencu by the Comics Code?
Gulacy : (laughter) Not outside the realm of sales figures. readers loved it. It wasn't drawn graphically, it was only hinted at.

Whizzard : Since there were four differents editors on Marster of Kung Fu, were they any significant policy changes? Did anyone ever say, "We've been doing this book totally wrong. Let's scrap all that an do this now?"
Gulacy : Not a chance. Stan Lee would fire them.

Whizzard : Stan Lee was proud of the book?
Gulacy : He loved it. In fact, he still brings it up. He still talks about it at staff meeting

Whizzard : Do you have a good relationship with Stan Lee?
Gulacy : I've spoken with him only once. When I quit the book he called me and ask me whi I quit. He wished me luck with my other endeavors and gave me a raise.

Whizzard : Will you be doing any more four-color comics?
Gulacy : No.

Whizzard : What factors kept you off the covers while you were doing the book?
Gulacy : My splash page was essentially my cover. At the time they weren't crazy about me doing covers. they wouldn't go with any king of montage design. After they had seen the splashes they were finally convinced that it was a nice thing.
               Another thing is that I just didn't have enough time.

Whizzard : When you started doing covers, did the computer price codes present any problems?
Gulacy : It was a minor thing; But I'm not doing any profound art. It's only a comic cover. You know who your readers are and you just try and make it as appealing as possible.

Whizzard : Which do you feel was the best issue of that series?
Gulacy : There's only one issue that I consider my personal favorite. It was "The Murder Agency" (Master of Kung Fu 40). It was one of the few stories that held up from beginning to end, like "Blood on Black Satin". It just flowed.
               I got turned on to the cinematic approach to comics and that's where I felt it reach its peak during my stay at Marvel. It came together well on that particular issue.

Whizzard : Besides the Master of Kung Fu covers, you did covres at Marvel for Logan's Run, Spectacular Spiderman, and Rawhide Kid.Were these simply assignments or were you personally in these books?
Gulacy : Jim Shooter call and ask, "Do you want covers?". I would say, "Sure send me a couple".

Whizzard : Are you a Rawhide Kid fan?
Gulacy : I wanted to do a western. It's nice to do something different for a change. I also always wanted to draw Spiderman, or do something with the character. If I couldn't do a story I wanted to do at least a pinup, wich I did, a calendar drawing.

Whizzard : What inkers have you been most satisfied with?
Gulacy : I thought Pablo Marcos did a good job. Dan Adkins probably did the best.

Whizzard : What was your relationship with Dan Adkins?
Gulacy : Dan Adkins was more responsible than anyomne for getting me into the business. I've been beating him severly ever since.

Whizzard : Did you work with him at the same time as Craig Russel and Val Mayerick?
Gulacy : No, Craig was the first. He lived near Adkins.

Whizzard : Did the three of you perform the same function?
Gulacy : Right. We'd take turn driving Dan to see Elvis Presley films (laughter).

Whizzard : Were you officially an assistant?
Gulacy : I never worked with or for Adkins. Craig and Val had studied with Adkins but i would just meet with Dan once a week while I was going to art school. I would drive back and forth and show him my work. Finally, he felt it looked good enough, he gave Roy [Thomas] a call and things went on from there.

Whizzard : Why did you leave Marvel Comics?
Gulacy : I was just tired. When it becomes nauseous that's when you know you have to quit. You have to say goodbye. You have to do something different. That's what was happening with me.

Whizzard : When you design a page you frequently divide up sinle pictures into several different panels. What effect are you striving for with this technique?
Gulacy : That's usually just camera movement - a pan. I've been criticized in the past for doing that.
               It's not meant to be sequential. I'm not moving characters around within the individual panels. It's just one scene that's slowed down.

Whizzard : Have you ever considered doing any storyboarding for films?
Gulacy : Yes, that's one of my main goals. In fact I just completed some pre-production artwork involving costume design and storyboard work for a film being written and directed by Ed Summer. He's got Gary Kurtz intersted in producing it and they're on the verge of selling it to Hollywood now. But other than that, I also do advertising work that occasionally calls for storyboards.

Whizzard : Do you like that field better than drawing comics?
Gulacy : The money is much better; I can do the work more quickly, also.

Whizzard : Do you have any general rules about what should happen within a page?
Gulacy : Yeah. For one thing, I agree with Steranko when he says that the storytelling is more important than the art. You have to let the readers use their imaginations which Jim was an expert at. He wouldn't explain how Nick Fury got from a rocket sled to a futuristic motorcycle in a turn of a page. It was just there. Bang. It doesn't need explanation. You accept it. That's called pacing a story.
               You also hav to know how to use space because you're restricted in size wich is good because you can't have composition without limitation. Lighting is also very important for dramatic effect. Large closeups at the beginning of a story should also be used to famaliarize the readers with the characters.
               All these things I take into consideration. I try to make the reader an eyewitness to the events taking place. But also you have to keep in mind that the plotline, the dialog, and the color are equally important to make a good story. Each of these things should complement the other.

Whizzard : With artists who use a cinematic approach, there seems to be a lot of gimmicks that are overdone?
Gulacy : That's true. I remember seeing a panel that an artist had drawn on an army tank moving towards a bright sunset. On the right-hand side of the panel was a large glistening reflection off a camera lens. Now to me that's a little too gimmicky and ludicrous.
               You know, cinematic storytelling doesn't necessarily mean that it has to be four or five panels with someone or something moving within the content of those given spaces. You could be very consevative in your panel arrangements and still be cinematic. It all depends on how you set up the composition of the shot and where the supposed camera eye is fixed.

Whizzard : Have you studied any films?
Gulacy : I wanted to, but I haven't.

Whizzard : Do you feel you're a frustated filmmaker working on comics?
Gulacy : I'm frustated in many things. I'm a frustated tennis player. I'm a frustated musician, singer, comedian. I'll find my plateau one of these days.
               Right now, I'd hate to abandon art for film. I feel my art is stronger.Plus there's already an abundance of marvelous directors. At this point in my life I just don't feel like going to film school but I would like to get involved with film one way or another.

Whizzard : Since you model your characters after movie actors do you ever pattern your artistic style after a specific director?
Gulacy : No, I will steal various techniques from various directors from movies that I remember and incorporate them into the comic. there's a lot of thechniques that I use that are used over and over again, even on television. It's just my approach. I have notea and notes of things.
               For Example, there's a scene in "Blood on Black Satin" where the girl was on the altar. I started panning at the bottom of the altar with a very close shot of the rats and the cobwebs. It goes along the engraving on the side of the altar and finally we get to the girl's shoulder and her breast and we see this profile of her laying on the altar. There's flames in the background. Finally it opens to the full scene.
               It's a technique that John Ford had always used. The camera would always pan up the mountain side and when you get to the peak of the mountain you would see smoke. The scene would open up when the camera goes above the mountain to a village of Indians. Those kind of things I grab onto and incorporate into the comics.

Whizzard : Do you consider film art?
Gulacy : Yes. It's an abused art form. Look at the $30 million spent on The blues Brothers. You couls reconstruct a ghetto in a major city for that amount of money and they wasted it.

Whizzard : Do you consider comics art?
Gulacy : No. It's not art. It's just drawings created for entertainment purposes.

Whizzard : Is there room for an art in mainstream comics?
Gulacy : There's no room for it. Though it's not an improbability.

Whizzard : In your opinion, can comics accomplish storytelling?
Gulacy : Of course.

Whizzard : Isn't storytelling also the object of films?
Gulacy : Yes, but films can also move people emotionally. That's what art is
               Also, there's acting in a film. There's an art of conveying emotions across celluoid to affect people. that's what makes acting an art form.
               Charles Schulte has the ability to make people happy with very simple lines. He's creating art without ten million lines.
               There a re certain artistic ways to look at comics as far as storytelling. If I moved somebody then it can be considered art. But I'm not a true artist.I'm an interpretative artist. Many people who draw comics are clever drafisman, but they're not artists.

Whizzard : It's the medium itself that won't convey the art?
Gulacy : That's right.

Whizzard : What comic story do you feel has achieved the best storytelling?
Gulacy : There are a lot of stories that achieved good storytelling. For example, the little horror story that Steranko did in Tower of Shadows was probably the closest to perfect graphic storytelling.
               But it's nothing new. He wasn't breaking new ground as far as the story itself. That's what makes it flawed there's nothing terribly unique about it. it's something we've read and seen in movies a hundred times over.

Whizzard : Art can only be a first thing?
Gulacy : Art can only be a first time experience in the yese of the beholder.

Whizzard : What projects will you be doing in the near future?
Gulacy : Right now I'm doing a lot of things outside the industry. Curently, I'm storyboarding a film for an industrial firm in New Jersey.
               I'd like to do a Conan story sometime for Savage Sword someday.
               Roy called me not long ago to discuss a story about the suicide of Robert E. Howard. All of these flashes came to mind of how I would do the prairie, the dust blowing, the shack where he lived, and the whole atmosphere. Hitchcock and Ford were coming into mind right away. When I got the plotline it wasn't what I expected. Since then, they've given it to Gil Kane.

Whizzard : Do you have any plans for portfolios?
Gulacy : I'm tired of looking at portfolios. I'd like to just wait and accumulate my art and put it together in a book directed towards fandom.

Whizzard : Did you have any involvment in the comic guild?
Gulacy : No.
               I belong to an organization called the Graphic Artists' Guild, wich covers aspects of commercial art. Actually, you don't need a comic guild because any problem that an artist would confront at a comic company could be dealt with throiugh the guil. If its legal advice ore layer's fees the Grapgic Artists' Guild would provide it.

Whizzard : How long has that organization exsited?
Gulacy : i believe it's been around for about ten years now. I've been a member for three years. The main headquarters is in New York, but there are provisions to assist companies all around the country.

Whizzard : Have you ever spoken to any of your contemporaries about this?
Gulacy : It's such a fragmented industry. Since most of the writers and artists are freelance it's hard to unite these people. Writers would have to join a Writer's Guild. If comics artists were wise, and I'm sure artists in New York must know about it they's join up.

Whizzard : Would it protect people who signed Marvel's work-for-hire clause?
Gulacy : No. But I personally feel if I do an Avengers story I have no right to do an Avengers story anywhere else. that's Marvel's property. Stan Lee created those characters and it's Marvel's. I have no rights to that whatsoever. that does not belong to me.
               That's why Marvel created Epic, to give artists the opportunity to retian the rights to their material.
               It's just not the comics people who do fashion, textile designs, all variation of advertising and commecial artwork. They have always been the peons, the lackeys. Finally, we're getting organized. It's finally being Done