Interview - Jason Johnson

Jason Johnson is a professional comic book illustrator that started at WildStorm in 1995, just in time to get to work on art duties for the CCG! We were very fortunate to ask Jason a few questions about his involvement with the game!

By World Of WildStorm Staff

How did your internship with WildStorm first come about?

I sent in tons of submissions to every company back in 1993-1995. I wanted to make sure I was in comics by the time I graduated high school. Wildstorm was at the top of my list. After 100 or so rejection letters from everyone, Jim gave me a call a couple weeks before graduation to say I was hired for the internship program. I was so excited. I left for San Diego the day after graduation.

Once you were in the door, how long before you were given work on the WildStorms CCG?

It was pretty much immediately. I believe within a couple days I was working on my first card.

What types of instructions were you given when creating the art for the cards? For non-character cards, were you given free reign to design what you wanted?

It's a bit hard to remember, but I believe they pretty much let us loose on them. As long as it wasn't really bad, any shot or scenario was fine. It just had to meet the requirements of the card.

Were there any panels you drew for the game that were not included? Or any you had to redraw?

No. They printed all of the ones I drew from what I remember.

Jason at his booth at the 2016 Long Beach Comic Con.

If you can recall, did you have a piece that stands out as being your favorite?

I remember having lots of fun drawing the one with Grunge juggling the grenades.

Was there ever any in-house competition to have more card pages added to your workload?

Not that I recall, but there was plenty of competition among us interns to out-do each other!

Were there any characters/cards that you wanted to draw but didn't?

I was just happy to be there, so everything was cool. I guess drawing Maul more would have been cool. I liked him a lot back then.

Were you involved at all with any play testing? Or did you play the game after it was released?

I'm ashamed to say I never once played the game. But, I was never into that kind of game, anyway.

Did you think this game would continue to have a loyal community 20+ years later?

I'm actually not surprised about that. Wildstorm was cream of the crop in that era. The artists that came in and out of that studio are amazing. Some are legends. Wildstorm for life!

Thank you Jason for taking a trip back in time with us!

Full art page of Plot Twist cards penciled by Jason Johnson. Cards include "Psi-Op Tracking", "Strength Of Will", "Determination", "Call In A Favor", "Emergency First Aid", and "Emergency Repair".

Art page for Plot Twist cards "Dud" and "Get The Goliath" penciled by Jason Johnson.