Can the Real Spider-Artist Please Stand Up?

SpiderFan:We, at Spiderfan, proudly bring you an interview with the artist of Peter Parker Spider-Man and the upcoming Venom series.

Henrique: Err... My name is Henrique Ferreira, and I'm not doing any art for Spider-Man.

SpiderFan:I'm sorry, but the issues and the previews say otherwise.

Henrique:No, you see, that's really Francisco Herrera, not me.

SpiderFan:- Oh, I see. Then you're related, no?

Henrique: No, I don't know the guy, I live in Europe and he lives in the US (I guess).

SpiderFan: Then why are we interviewing you?

Henrique: I was about to ask you the same question, when you mentioned my pseudo art chores.

SpiderFan: Well, now that we're here, is there anything interesting that you can tell us so that our evening won't be a complete waste?

Henrique: Only that it isn't the first time I get mistaken with him.

SpiderFan: Well, that can be interesting. Care to tell us more?

Henrique: Sure, why not. I post at the Spider-Man Comicboards for a while now, but recently I dropped an alias I used and started posting under my real name. Not too long after (maybe a week), during the discussion of a spoiler for a future issue, I got this message from a fellow poster:

"(... spoiler subject we were discussing there ...) Also, please improve your art or get a better inker, thanks."

To which another poster and me replied jestfully:

"The art in your last issue could have been a lot better with a decent inker, Henrique! (Hey, what do I know? I'm just going with it! :-D)"

and...

"Hey! I'm doing my best here! And I'm the inker! But people keep asking for me to do tough stuff, like, you know, draw backgrounds, and make the heads smaller than the bodies! It's not easy!"

At this point, I just figured he was aiming at the artist of the book we were talking about, and somehow made a mistake. But when he replied:

"i think that you are trying your best, but, could not your style(especially when it comes to the facial features) be closer to john romita jr or mark bagley or at least mark buckingham?",

that's when it finally hit me. Then I said

"I *really* hope you're not confusing me with Francisco Herrera, the guy who'll be drawing Peter Parker: Spider-Man since #51... :-P"

and he finished with this

"sorry, my mistake; perhaps you could put in a word with that artist of peter parker #51 to do a better job. Thanks."

And I was speechless... Like... how the heck would I know the artist of PP #51 just because we have a similar name? Well, anyway, this stuff happens every so often. And it's probably an honest mistake, I think. After all, for the casual watcher, our names might look alike.

SpiderFan: *Ahem*... well yes... umm... You said you draw, or was that in jest too?

Henrique: Yeah, I draw, but I'm only an amateur. As I said, I get a lot of criticism, and my work is very very bad.

SpiderFan: Nonsense, you're probably being too hard on yourself. Everybody's a critic. Let's see what you've got. Perhaps we truly are uncovering the next Spider-Man artist!

Henrique:- Well, come here. It's all computer drawing, so you have to see it on screen.

SpiderFan: Computer? How next-gen! Maybe you truly are the future! What program do you use?

Henrique: Usually MS Paint.

SpiderFan:That's grea... err... Paint, you say?

Henrique: Yup, here's a sample.

SpiderFan:Um... well... that's, umm, very nice.

Henrique: See? I told you it sucked.

SpiderFan: Yeah, it really does.

Henrique: It does, doesn't it. Maybe with a little more shade and detail...

SpiderFan: Naw, it would still suck.

Henrique: You don't need to be that brutal.

SpiderFan: Gee, man, you couldn't draw to save your life!

Henrique: Hey!

SpiderFan:I bet you couldn't draw a straight line using a ruler!

Henrique: HEY! Stop it!

SpiderFan: *Ahem* -- Okay, sorry. I got carried away. Do you have any other mistaken message to share?

Henrique: Well, there was this one too. This came by e-mail, from the Comicboards too.

"Hi Henrique,

I have to admit, I'd never heard of you until your recent work on Spidey. I was blown away by your work. It's easy to see you are influenced by Ramos, but i gotta say, I like your work even better than his. I really love the way you lay out the page and do action sequences.

I collect commissions by my favorite artists, and was wondering if you'd be willing to do one. I have stuff from artists ranging from old school guys like Neal Adams and John Buscema, to today's artists like Jim Lee and Mike Wieringo. You can check out the stuff at my site, (his site snipped). There's some amazing stuff. Please let me know if you'd be willing to do one for me and how much it would be.

BTW, what upcoming work do you have coming out? Anything for Marvel. I am really looking forward to more of your work.

Thanks"

SpiderFan: Heh, this stuff just keeps coming, no?

Henrique: Tell me about it. Some guys even wanted to interview me.

SpiderFan:Umm... well... yeah. What about Herrera? What's your feeling on his art?

Henrique: You wouldn't want to know it.

SpiderFan: Yes we would.

Henrique: Ok. Quite franky, I don't like it one bit. It's too unproportional. Hey, Ramos' art is that way too, but not to that extent. I can tolerate Ramos, but I can't say the same about Herrera. That's okay, I guess. You can't please everyone, and as you see in the letter above, some people like it. I'm just on the other camp.

SpiderFan: Okay, fair enough. Anything you want to say to him?

Henrique: Sure. Drop by the Spider-Man Message Board or create a Francisco Herrera web page and get these guys off my back. Heh.

SpiderFan: Well, that's it. You weren't exactly what we wanted, but you weren't a bad interview either. And sorry about the name mistake.

Henrique: No problem. I quite like your work at Spider-Man.Info, so that's ok.

SpiderFan:Actually, we're from... ah, nevermind.