Eric Canete on Absolute Batman, Designing Poison Ivy & Coming Back to Comics

Eric Canete returns to the Nerdy Mewzings Podcast following a trip to SuperManila Comic Con, which included a visit with family in the Philippines, and a year that saw him return to the world of comic books on Absolute Batman, featuring the debut of Absolute Poison Ivy! Eric talks about leaving a 15-year video-game job, getting pushed by longtime friends Matteo Scalera and Shawn Crystal to treat comics as the full-time gig, and how Ivan Brandon and Nick Dragotta opened the door for his return at New York Comic Con. We talked about the process of finding his rhythm on the project via sample pages he made while sick after the show, designing Absolute Poison Ivy as a monster first then using the “pretty construct” as a rug pull, as well as the one line from Nick Dragotta that unlocked his ability to properly portray Absolute Batman. He also covers his approach to using Otomo style screen tone, why he would train a new artist on six- and nine-panel pages before splash pages, creating Youngblood variants for Rob Liefeld, Skinbreaker variants with David Finch and Robert Kirkman, the possibility of Arc Athena collected editions, his time at Iconic Comics, and how storyboarding taught him to cut detail down to what the reader actually needs. Leave a 5 STAR review and share with a friend if this kind of process talk helps you, share with a friend, and Keep it Nerdy! Follow Eric: Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/ericcanete X - https://x.com/EricCanete TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@eric_canete Subscribe to Eric's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/ericcanete Patreon supporters get episodes early, have their name shouted out on the pod, and can submit questions for upcoming guests for only $5 per month! Join here: https://patreon.com/nerdymewzings Timestamps: 0:00 - Welcome back & SuperManila Comic Con 2:30 - Family, academics & choosing comics 7:30 - Getting back in after the game-studio years 11:00 - NYCC, Nick Dragotta & Scott Snyder 16:00 - Sample pages, Poison Ivy design & the construct 23:00 - Drawing Absolute Batman like the Hulk 29:00 - Deadlines, pressure & finding a rendering approach 34:30 - How Eric would train a new storyteller 40:30 - Youngblood variants & changing his mind on Liefeld 45:00 - Skinbreaker, Kirkman & David Finch 48:30 - Arc Athena editions, Iconic Comics & Patreon Questions 54:30 - Animation habits on the page 57:00 - More Absolute? Terminal? Current Marvel covers 1:01:00 - Where to follow Eric & outro