Carl’s Comix is filling the summer long with conversations with some of your favorite artists since you can’t go meet them at comic book shows. We have a bunch of Carl’s Comix Classics from back before things got crazy out there! Be sure to subscribe here or on YouTube so you don’t miss out!

I’m here at Garden State Comic Fest with designer and illustrator Diana Leto, who has worked for Nickelodeon, IDW, Dark Horse and even Sesame Street! Diana, I’d like to ask you a few questions for my readers.

Carl: Did you want to become a comic book artist when you were a kid?

Ms. Leto: I was always drawing when I was little, and I think somewhere around 6 or 7 I started reading comics, probably the Peanuts  first and then Popeye, and then I got into a lot of action comics like X-Men.

Carl: I like Peanuts too!

Ms. Leto: Yeah! It’s fun, right?

Carl: Yeah!

Carl: What comic books did you read when you were a kid?

Ms. Leto: I was a huge fan of Popeye growing up, both the comics and the television show. Then I read a lot of Swamp Thing and X-Men when I grew up. I kind of liked the drama and the horror and the adventure all mixed together.

Carl: What comics do you read now?

Ms. Leto: What comics do I read now? I read a lot of independent comics, have you ever heard of any of those?

Carl: No. [Edit – Of course I do – sorry about that, I don’t know what I was thinking!]

Ms. Leto: That’s when artists do autobiographical comics, and I like Miss Lasko-Gross so, independent artists mostly.

Interesting! I saw on your website that you drew a character study of Beast Boy and Raven for Teen Titans Go! and said you really like Raven. What do you like so much about her?

Ms. Leto: Raven, I like that she does such a monotone voice because I can’t do a monotone voice at all! I’m super squeaky!

Do you like the show?

Ms. Leto: I love the show!

Me too!

Ms. Leto: I love Beast Boy and Raven the most, though. How about you, who’s your favorite?

Cyborg, no wait, Beast Boy!

Ms. Leto: It’s hard to tell, right? Especially when there playing video games.  That’s the best part!

Yeah! When you design a character, how do you decide what it should look like and what the world around it should look like?

Ms. Leto: That’s a tough one, because usually I have an idea in my head and I start to draw it and it doesn’t come out anything like I wanted to draw, and I will erase it and start over. I usually have 4 or 5 versions before I have a final version. But that’s okay! I try to tell myself it’s okay to make mistakes, you just start over and then I end up making nice covers like this.

Wow! Neat!

Ms. Leto: Thank-you!

You worked on Sesame Street, so you might have some advice for me. Whenever my dad wants to tease me, he talks to me like Elmo. How can I get him to stop?

Ms. Leto: Have you tried to combat him with Cookie Monster?

No.

Ms. Leto: You should try that. I think, yeah, maybe just take some cookies and throw them or something like that. How does that sound?

OK. Maybe I’ll just load my nerf gun.

Ms. Leto: I like that, too!

I love pancakes and my mom makes them every Sunday for breakfast – How did you get involved with PancakeBot?

Ms. Leto: Oh my gosh! Pancakes are my favorite! Do you love pancakes, too?

Yes!

Ms. Leto: So, I’m drawing pancakes all the time. I have a bunch of silly ones including my angry pancake. Where is he? He’s here somewhere. But I also have a pancake comic and when I drew all those pancakes I reached out to PancakeBot and we started talking and they said, “Oh, you have to do a bunch of illustrations for PancakeBot!” So, we started talking on Twitter. Because of all the pancake illustration work I do.

Neat! Thank you for answering my questions. It was nice to meet you.

Ms. Leto: It was awesome to meet you! You’re the coolest!

Thanks!