There's a great line by Joss Whedon: "Make it dark, make it grim, make it tough, but then, for the love of God, tell a joke." Even for a reader, there's only so much punishment they can take. You've got to give them a break here and there.

You get to play with shadow, mood, and tone. And this [Batman All-Stars] is such a moody story.

In a way, I'm glad I'm first because I won't have to panic about following anybody other than industry legend John Romita Jr. And he drew Daredevil: The Man Without Fear, which is one of the books that had a massive effect on me as a reader and an artist. It has been intimidating, scary, exciting, and incredibly satisfying.

Weirdly, I'm not a horror fan, but those kind of horror leanings are something that are very easy for me to get into.

That's the type of thing you need to keep in mind when drawing comics. The storytelling. Consider the action and the space available to you, that's what will make it a great comics page. Once you've figured that out, you can always find/make the reference to support your storytelling decisions. So by all means, study film, but as with any reference, the results are better when they inform the craft and not dictate it.

For me, I'm a fan of really dark, depressing stuff. Even something like The Wire, which can be hugely depressing and really serious, the bits I always remember are the jokes, you know?

Some guys can do digital things where they make some tricks work, but I work on paper and I work with washes. You can't just change things afterwards. You have to get it right on the page.