When I set out to interview Mike Cavallaro, I knew a little bit about him. But I’ll be the first to admit I was surprised at how much I did not know about him and his career to date. Some folks may recognize the name from various projects he has worked on, but once we got into the email interview questions, it pleasantly surprised me just how deep his industry experience goes. When I contacted him for the interview in the first place, he quickly brought me up to speed on his current projects: He recently put the finishing touches on the Parade (with Fireworks) 72-page trade paperback, due out in November from Shadowline/Image Comics. As noted by Cavallaro: “PARADE originally debuted on ACT-I-VATE, our webcomics site, and was serialized there weekly in 2007. Shadowline picked up on it pretty early in the run, and released it as a two-issue limited series that was later nominated for a 2008 Eisner Award for ‘Best Limited Series’ (Gerard Way’s UMBRELLA ACADEMY won).”

He is currently working on Foiled, a 160-page graphic novel, with author Jane Yolen for First Second Books–a project that he’s penciling, lettering, inking and coloring. “I’m also penciling and inking a co-created six-issue limited series written by J.M. DeMatteis for IDW titled, ‘The Life And Times Of Savior 28′,” said Cavallaro. “My work on LOVIATHAN also continues for ACT-I-VATE. LOV is my superhero-sci-fi-fantasy-romance homage to the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby comics that I love, and is serialized weekly online.” And if that’s not enough for ya, he also has been doing some coloring work at Marvel. And with that substantial ground covered, on with the interview.

Tim O’Shea: Back in February 2008, you wrote at the First Second blog about working in the Deep Six Studio: “I’ve worked off and on at my own desk or at various studios here in NYC for almost 15 years, but this past spring I took a slightly different step. I rented a separate workspace with five other artists and moved my old art table in, along with a pile of the usual art-making stuff.” You touch upon it in the post, but I’m curious how much has your work–and to a larger extent–has your career been boosted by the experience?

Mike Cavallaro: I’m not sure I would currently have a career in comics if not for Deep Six and ACT-I-VATE, the two things being difficult to separate for me.

Read the rest of this entry »