If you look at the great superheroes in any universe, you will always find that they have the very best super villains opposing them. It’s because they are foils; they are people that the heroes play off of. – Jim Lee
As an artist, as I design and lay out a page, the less-important things, things I want you to spend less time looking at, I draw them very small, maybe even silhouette them. The more-important pivotal scenes, I draw them larger, maybe even a double-page spread. – Jim Lee
Once I started down the path of co-founding Image Comics, and even co-publisher, it just seems a lot more like a career path that isn’t that atypical for someone with a college degree. Whereas, someone who draws comic books as a freelancer and lives from job to job is a more unusual story. – Jim Lee
When you try to do something bigger and more grandiose, a lot of times it’s more apt to fall apart. It’s a lot easier to lay down a bunch of singles than it is to get a home run. – Jim Lee
‘The Dark Knight,’ ‘The Rocketeer’ and definitely the first ‘Superman’ movie by Richard Donner are the best. I tend to be softer in my judgment about what’s a bad movie – I don’t think anyone intends to make a bad movie, and sometimes it just doesn’t click for some reason. – Jim Lee
Back in the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s, you had clear-cut heroes, clear-cut supervillains. Today, you have more of a blend, more of a gray area between the two. You have the rise of the sympathetic villain and the rise of the antihero. – Jim Lee
From ‘The Sandman’ and ‘Black Orchid’ to ‘Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?,’ Neil Gaiman has provided some of the most memorable stories of the comic book industry. – Jim Lee
One of DC’s strengths is our archive of storylines ranging from ‘Watchmen’ to ‘Arkham Asylum’ to ‘Sandman.’ – Jim Lee
So much of comics are dictated by characters talking to one another – or in focused spaces where ‘the camera’ has to stay in pretty close on what’s going on. – Jim Lee
One of the most difficult things for any artist to do is create a world that looks both completely alien yet real and possible. – Jim Lee
Superheroes are modern mythological characters, so you’re going to make them look impossible. Even my Krypto The Superdog is the idealisation of the canine form. – Jim Lee
When I was a kid, I never felt that what I was drawing really represented me; it was just something I enjoyed. – Jim Lee
As lifelong fans of comic books, Dan Didio and myself, we definitely have our own takes on what make for successful comics and the kind of comics that we want to publish. – Jim Lee
The video game market is huge, and the ability to tell stories, and tell different kinds of stories in the gaming space is quickly evolving and changing for the better. – Jim Lee
Costumes are all about identifying which force in a conflict you’re on. That’s where banners and flags came from – so people rushing into battle knew who to follow and who was on their side. – Jim Lee
Jerry Robinson illustrated some of the defining images of pop culture’s greatest icons. As an artist myself, it’s impossible not to feel humbled by his body of work. Everyone who loves comics owes Jerry a debt of gratitude for the rich legacy that he leaves behind. – Jim Lee
I tend not to look at my work after I’ve done it. In fact, the only time I typically get to review it is when the fans bring up comics at shows, and I kind of flip through it and be like, ‘Oh, I remember doing this!’ – Jim Lee
I’ve been trying to make this argument that digital comics and print comics are both art, but there are subtle differences. – Jim Lee
Prior to ‘Action’ and ‘Justice League 1,’ there was no label ‘superhero’ for a superpowered being. It’s really the emergence of Superman and the Justice League that gets the public comfortable with the idea of people amongst us who have extraordinary power and that they’ve agreed to be our champions. – Jim Lee
You can see how he changed on the surface. But at the core of it all, I think Superman has remained the same – a character with incredible powers but almost superhuman humility and restraint. – Jim Lee
Superman tends to stand very upright, and he’s very symmetrical, and those are actually the most difficult poses for me to draw. – Jim Lee
The way you challenge Superman is by having things happen very, very quickly in different places and then asking, ‘Who does he save first? What powers must he use to save each person or stop each disaster?’ That’s one of the ways you make him interesting beyond the thematic and moral issues that make Superman. – Jim Lee
The first time I drew a Superman story was ‘For Tomorrow’ with Brian Azzarello in 2004. It didn’t really hit me how important it was until I drew a scene early-on in the book that featured Superman crossing paths with a giant, intergalactic space armada. – Jim Lee
Nick Cardy’s work helped define some of the things we see in comics today and take for granted. He broke out of the mold in terms of covers and layout and created a truly interactive experience for the reader that directly points back to his time with the Eisner studio. – Jim Lee
Not everyone reads comics, although most people know the major superheroes, but the majority of people play video games. – Jim Lee
One of the strengths of the DC Universe has been the strength of the rogues’ gallery. Often times they’re as famous – if not more infamous – than our heroes. – Jim Lee
I want all my stuff to be converted into digital format so I can have my reference library to carry with me wherever I go. – Jim Lee
No true fan wants to go to Comic-Con and get assaulted with a marketing blitz about just any old show. – Jim Lee
