Our next Iron Fist 50th Anniversary interview is Carlo Pagulayan, who has illustrated some of the top titles in Marvel and DC Comics history, including the recently released Marvel 85th Anniversary Special. Among his notable works include drawing Elektra, Emma Frost, Red She-Hulk, Convergence, the Eisner-nominated series Deathstroke, and recently, Superman: Lost.

Pagulayan, however, is best known for penciling the epic storyline, Planet Hulk, which was written by Greg Pak in the pages of The Incredible Hulk. The story has since been adapted into animation in 2010, and parts of the story played out in Marvel Studios’ Thor: Ragnarok (2017). 

Though Pagulayan hasn’t been an Iron Fist artist (yet), he was the penciler on The New Avengers Annual (2005) #2 in which the Living Weapon was a major player, having been a team member since issue 27. I decided to interview him, nonetheless, to gain his perspective on drawing martial artists like Iron Fist while also finding out how he first discovered the character.

IAMIRONFIST: Hi Carlo! As an artist, whose work inspired you the most?

PAGULAYAN: The very first artist who influenced me was Rick Leonardi. It was back in the 80s with The Vision and Scarlet Witch mini-series that I became a fan of him. My brother brought home a back issue of that series so that’s where I learned how to draw. He was a major influence. 

Then, when I saw he was the artist on Spider-Man 2099, I was thrilled about it.

IAIF: How did you become involved in The New Avengers Annual #2 project?

CARLO PAGULAYAN: I was offered the job by Mark Paniccia, who was the editor at the time. He asked me if I was available to take on the assignment. I think I also spoke with Tom Brevoort, and they were looking for an artist to pair with [New Avengers writer Brian Michael] Bendis for the [New] Avengers. Since it was an annual issue and Doctor Strange, my favorite character, was also going to be there, I accepted the project outright.

IAIF: I was hoping you were given the cover assignment also since you were the interior artist, but unfortunately, it didn’t happen. 

PAGULAYAN: At that time, Marvel would usually select a different cover artist from the one who did the interiors. Especially back then, Jim Cheung was a more well-known artist than I was so he naturally got the cover assignment.

IAIF: Of course, I can’t complain about Marvel’s choice because that’s a beautiful cover by Jim Cheung. But I still wish you were given the cover assignment especially since I’m biased towards a fellow Filipino, and it would have been great to have your signature on that cover.

How were you introduced to Iron Fist as a Marvel character?

PAGULAYAN: If I remember correctly, I believe I was introduced to Iron Fist in one of the Spider-Man animated series. I never got to read his comic books but knew about his powers and background, mostly because of the Marvel trading cards.

Oh wait, I remember now. That’s where I first heard of Iron Fist through the trading cards.

IAIF: Oh cool! You had a similar introduction to Iron Fist as Stephen Segovia. He also learned about Iron Fist through the Marvel trading cards. I guess many fans became familiar with Marvel Comics characters via the cards they produced.

PAGULAYAN: Yes, those trading cards were all the craze before. And there were a lot of bootleg cards at the time, too (laughs)!

IAIF: (Laughs) So true! Sometimes I even look for those bootleg cards because they’re harder to find. After all, they’re like variants of the authentic ones!

How would you differentiate drawing Iron Fist compared to other fighters?

PAGULAYAN: When I would draw Iron Fist in the New Avengers Annual, my thinking was always to consider his power set. He’s called Iron Fist for a reason so my emphasis is on the type of strikes he would deliver, given that his powers were different from the others.

IAIF: Are you always conscious of the differences in the fighting forms of the characters that you draw?

PAGULAYAN: Yes. And with Iron Fist, I was aided by my exposure to kung fu movies. But my poses for him are more extreme compared to other martial artists like Shang-Chi and the Mandarin’s son Temugin, who I illustrated in Agents of Atlas (2009). 

With Temugin, I would draw him in a similar way to how one would draw master martial artists who look very calm when they’re fighting an opponent. Kinda like Ip Man.

So in drawing Iron Fist, martial arts films are a natural source of inspiration, and I’m always thinking about the type of fight sequence that a panel dictates. In the annual, if my memory serves me right, I drew a lot of Iron Fist as he was flying through the air, and I would often use generic power poses.

IAIF: Did you use the works of former Iron Fist artists like John Byrne as references when drawing the character?

PAGULAYAN: I didn’t use anyone’s work as a reference. My version of Iron Fist was mostly my interpretation of how a martial artist should move. I also asked myself what would make him look cool to me, you know?

I was heavily influenced, too, by kung fu and martial arts films that I used to watch. I consider myself lucky because those films opened my eyes to many things an artist would need to know like the flow of the action and stuff.

IAIF: Movies are a great reference for artists. I remember speaking with Harvey Tolibao, who drew the Psylocke (2010) mini-series. I remember he said he was so inspired by Zhang Ziyi in the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon that when he drew Psylocke, in his mind he was picturing Zhang Ziyi who had several great scenes wielding a sword.

So it’s Iron Fist’s 50th Anniversary this year. Is there something that you would like to see happen for the character?

PAGULAYAN: I don’t have any expectations but I hope he can have his own TV series again. I think that the Netflix series was a wasted opportunity. The choreography was good but the movements were too slow.

The actor was good because I think he fits the character. After all, Danny Rand is Caucasian in the comic books. I just hope that the movements were faster and had more impact. I didn’t get to watch season 2 anymore.

IAIF: The action scenes were much improved in season 2. The choreography was really good. But personally, I wish the way choreography for the fight scenes were much closer to the kung fu films we used to watch when we were kids, and much closer to the Bruce Lee films, too.

Anyway, thank you so much for your time, Carlo. I truly appreciate this.

PAGULAYAN: No problem!

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