Light The Fire, Gather Round! It's A Halloween Triple Feature!

All Hallow's Eve! When the darkness comes knocking, when the air smells of pumpkins and fallen leaves, it's time to explore the grim and the ghastly. Which is what we plan to do today!
Today, we'll be posting a Halloween Double Feature review of 'Patrick The Vampire' and 'Hopeless Maine', followed by a Monthly Matinee feature, 'The Masks We Hide Behind' after dark.
Snuggle down, dim the lights and hold on tight, Halloween has come to town!
And as an extra special gift for our Strip Show readers, here's four spooky Ray Bradbury stories. When the sun goes down, listen. Feel the turning of the world, and the shiver in your blood.Happy Halloween!
From The Dust Returned-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0jW-MOCRWU
The Halloween Tree-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p09F0GXY7vc
Something Wicked This Way Comes-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmGQ2IZCxmk
The October Country- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNegOsA74j4

Halloween Double Feature Revue: Hopeless Maine

Are You Ready For A Story?

Listen Close, And I'll Tell You Of Hopeless, Maine...

So glad to have you come to town. Mind your step, you don't want to trip on a tentacle.Oh, her? She's the nanny for a local family. Didn't you know ghosts make the best nannies? Oh by the way, the town witch's selling curses at half price this week. Only the best quality of course. None of this mass produced plague rubbish.
Welcome to Hopeless, Maine. It was imagined by Tom Brown, written by a woman he ensnared in his imagination (she's now Nimue Brown) and ready to ensnare you....
According to the creators, 'The small island of Hopeless, off the coast of Maine, is a breeding ground for demons, freaks, vampires, and other creatures of the night. Our story follows Salamandra, a young girl with one foot in our world and one foot in the otherworld, as she navigates a life on the edge of reality.'
You were warned. 

The Rating

Spooktakular!

The Raves

Dark. Shadowed. Things you can't name moving out of the corner of your eye. In a word: atmosphere. This work has it in spades. Every panel, even the most mundane, has a sense of something shivering on the edge of your vision: something unseen, unnamed and all the more disturbing for it. And then of course there are the blatant dissonances with reality: the family (skeleton) dog, the dead nanny who sometimes forgets to hide the fact that her face is a skull. The neighbors sleeping in their coffins. The tentacles in the bay. All these things are accepted with perfect equanimity by the residents of Hopeless, lending the work an air of macabre magical realism reminiscent of Ray Bradbury's 'From The Dust Returned' and 'Something Wicked This Way Comes' as well as a hint of Neil Gaiman and Brom, a dash of Lovecraft, and a little Addams Family in there somewhere too.  It's a truly thrilling and beautiful work. Oh, and the characters are pretty thrilling too! The town witch, the preacher's son, the girl who plays with lightning, each of them is at once an archetype and a character in their own right; stubborn Owen, dreamy Salamandra, each with their own yearnings and kennings. 

The storytelling beautifully balances the mundane and the mysterious, playing on the unique human ability to accept almost anything as 'normal' if it's presented right. The storyline explores many of our deepest human motivations: to fit in, to have power, to feel safe. And it explores the dark uses those needs can be turned to: combine the need to feel like part of the group and the need to do something in the face of an event that makes you feel helpless-a plague, say- and you have witch burnings. Combine the fear of death and the invitation of a friendly smile, and you might just sell your soul.
But it's really the art that sells this fantastic and fanciful world where the veil between real and unreal has been shredded to ribbons and left to twist in the wind.

The Razzes

I would have liked to give this comic a ten, but there's a snag. The art's stunning. The writing's superb. But the reading platform? That flies like a lead balloon, and no amount of magic is going to make it less of a burden.
Here's what happens: You go to the Hopeless Maine site. You get a page with eerily beautiful illustration, an introductory explanation...and no comic. Puzzled, you begin to poke about. Under the 'books' section, you find a list, click one. 

Another beautiful illustration with a link to 'read the book here'. You're then redirected to a yumpu.com digital image of the book, and your torture begins. Click to read and you get an insanely blown up version of each page with text that's grainy. Not unreadable, mind you...but awfully close. It doesn't help that the text is somewhat crammed in its word bubble to begin with, but I believe the fault lies with the upload. The art's fared far, far better than the text has when being scanned in. You click again...and the image arbitrarily shrinks again because apparently you clicked the wrong spot. Surprise. The fact that you spend a lot of time mucking about with your mouse, frowning, clicking and frowning again to read each page or properly view each image....you begin to see the problem.
I can see the creators' reasoning: they want to sell books. They want you to see how beautiful the books are, but they want to give you a reason to buy the better quality version. All that said, as a reader if what I remember about your work is being annoyed, I'm less likely to buy it. Dear Mr. and Mrs. Brown, if something is to be hosted on the web, please make it easily readable on the web. It's a terrible amount of work to redo all that text...but it might just be worth it.

The Revue

A must read. Eerie beauty that shivers in your bones and sticks to your dreams. The perfect read on a Hallowed night....with all the candles lit.

Backstage Pass October: Meredith Moriarty

Hurry Hurry Hurry! Grab Your Ticket Quick!

Ghoulies And Ghosties And Long-Legged Beasties, Come Along For Your Halloween Treat!
Meet The Wondrous Weaver Of Frights And Sights,

Meredith Moriarty!

Do we have a spooky treat for you today! Boys and ghouls, take a seat with Meredith Moriarty and listen to her tales. Meredith, take it away!

I'm a graphic designer by day, comic book artist and illustrator by night, from Philadelphia, PA. I graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 2011 with a B.S. in Information Sciences with a focus on web design and programming, but decided I'd rather do art stuff instead.

Main Project

Third Shift Society is a supernatural action comic about two paranormal investigators: Ellie, a young college dropout struggling to find her place in life; and Ichabod, a calm, intelligent man who happens to have a pumpkin for a head. Together they navigate a world full of ghosts, vampires, witches, and demons...and those are just the clients! You can find it at www.thirdshiftsociety.com, ortapastic.com/series/ ThirdShiftSociety

Other Hobbies, Guilty Pleasures and Obsessions

Video games, baking, watching cartoons, knitting and crochet. I am tremendously boring. :P

So, tell me about your early experience. How did you fall in love with telling stories in pictures?

I'm...not entirely sure. I think it was the result of impatience and vague misanthropy. Haha, that probably needs some elaboration. So I always loved reading and making up stories, and cartoons were basically my favorite form of entertainment. Animation seemed like the natural path to go down, but then I learned how much time goes into making a few seconds of content, and how many people are involved in the process, and that was a big turn-off. I wanted my picture stories and I wanted them now, damn it! :P So comics it was! Later on I discovered how nuanced and beautiful the medium could be, and I'm definitely happy to be working in the field. It's just funny where the choices of our younger selves can lead.

What media and programs do you work in to produce your project?

Photoshop and Manga Studio.

As a reader I really appreciate your crisp and colorful art style; what were your major influences as this style evolved for you? Did you set out consciously to master a specific style, or did it evolve organically from the art you were exposed to?

A little of both, I think. I grew up watching a lot of Bruce Timm's work, and I think elements of that style have definitely stuck with me in little ways. I was also pretty big into anime in my middle school years and into high school, and I sought to emulate the art of shows I saw on Toonami and Adult Swim. The results were...less than wonderful. But I think the biggest influence on my style over the past ten years has been the online art community. Being exposed to so many techniques and approaches, you can't help but be inspired!

Can you tell me about your typical day or strip-creation session? How does your work process flow from idea to finished page?

Although most of my scripts are scribbled out on notebook paper,

 the actual comic pages are entirely digital. Using Photoshop and an 11"x17" comic template, I do a quick thumbnail sketch to work out the paneling, speech bubble placement, and flow of the action. I then do a loose sketch to more fully block out the figures, followed by a tighter sketch to nail down the details. If the script calls for characters to spend a lot of time in a particular environment, I might whip up a Sketchup model to use as a base for my backgrounds. Doing this ensures that the surroundings are consistent from page to page, and it's also a big time-saver! Once I'm satisfied with my "pencils", I take the file into Manga Studio for inks. Technically I could do this part in Photoshop too, but I find Manga Studio has crisper inks, and the stabilization option is super helpful. After that it's back to Photoshop for colors, text, and speech bubbles. Sound effects are usually last. I like to make my own by drawing out the letters in black, then using layer styles to add color and effects. If only I had more interesting handwriting. :P

What’s the most difficult part of your work?

TIME. I work a 9-5 job and try to squeeze in some exercise and family time every day,

Art By Randy Coffey

 which usually leaves me a few half-asleep hours a night to work on comics.

 It's definitely exhausting, but I really enjoy it. There are some days I can hardly wait to get home and draw! 

Can you tell me about your storytelling process? Do you prefer to script your stories, fly by the seat of your pants, or somewhere in between?

Definitely somewhere in between. I do my scripts one chapter at a time, and they tend to be formatted more like screenplays: mostly dialogue with a few stage directions interspersed throughout. Sometimes I'll indicate where a page turn should be, but usually I leave it pretty open ended and figure out the divisions as I go. I rarely change the content while I'm drawing the page, but if I think of something better than what I've previously written, I'm definitely open to making edits (after letting it sit for a couple days, of course - sleep deprived me is not always to be trusted XD).

You use a lot of interesting mythology from a variety of cultures; how do you go about researching it?

There are a ton of great documentaries out there, and I like to put them on in the background while I work - multitasking at its finest! I'm also a big reader, and usually around this time of year I'll get on an "educational spooky books" kick. Last time I learned way more about the scientific origins of vampires in the European tradition than I'll probably ever need to know. :P

  Does getting mythology ‘wrong’ or being accused of cultural misinterpretation/ appropriation ever scare you off an idea?

Nah, not really. I like to use mythology as a starting point, but never set out to present my comic as an accurate guide to folklore. The characters in TSS may be vampires or demons, for example, and although they might abide by certain mythological conventions, ultimately I prefer to focus on their individual personalities and stories rather than getting hung up on their place in the folkloric tradition.

You have a wonderfully lucid way of getting your character’s personalities across. How do you go about designing a character’s personality and/or features?

Ah, there are so many books and guides that do a better job explaining this than I ever could. But there is one thing I find really helpful but don't usually see mentioned: know what your character's voice sounds like. I'm not sure it works for everyone, but personally, if I can "hear" their voice, I can write their lines, which in turn helps me flesh out their personality. I suppose it has something to do with how much our accents, vocabulary, and speech patterns are a product of our personal histories.

How much of a buffer do you like to keep?

Haha, I'd LIKE to have at least a couple pages of buffer, but the reality is closer to zero. And by "closer", I mean it's zero. No buffer. The page you see is the one I've been working on that week. One day I will have a true buffer, and it will be glorious. XD

Has anyone told you that you'll never be a successful artist and you'd be better off studying a real field and/or getting a real job?

Not exactly, but I was frequently encouraged to get a job doing something that pays well and just do art on the side. I suppose the rationale was that if the art thing takes off, you can always quit your day job. If not, well, at least you won't starve. Happily, my day job is also art related, so I guess that worked out ok. :D

What message do you hope readers take away from your work?

Hmm...I don't know that Third Shift Society has a message, per se. At its core it's a story about finding your place in the world, and I hope that resonates with my audience, but ultimately my goal is to tell an engaging story that people enjoy reading!

What keeps you devoted to telling the story you’re telling?

Latent masochistic tendencies? Haha, seriously though, I'm not entirely sure. I guess I just get really excited about sharing stories with people, and drawing comics is super rewarding. It's my creative outlet, and my way of relaxing and having fun. But I wouldn't enjoy it half as much without the fantastic support from my wonderful readers. <3

Thanks for the thrills and chills Meredith! Happy Halloween!

Backstage Pass September: Rosi Kampe

Psst! I Snagged Us A Pass!

Come On, Keep Up! Let's Go Meet

Rosi Kämpe!

Rosi Kämpe, or 'Toherrys', as you pen your art handle, it's so great to get to chat with you. So, tell us a bit about yourself?

To be honest my main comic project right now is drawing a series for Top Cow, but my main personal project is Unknown Lands
http://unknownlands.thecomicseries.com/ or on Tapastic: https://tapastic.com/series/Unknown-Lands or even Smackjeeves: http://unknownlands.smackjeeves.com/

Other Hobbies and Obsessions

Comics rule my life so they are my work and only hobby, heh. But I am obsessed with reading up on various mythologies and pagan beliefs and practices, although most of that is for Unknown Lands so... yea, comics rule everything.So, tell me about your early experience. How did you fall in love with telling stories in pictures? What was the seed of the idea for Unknown Lands?
I've enjoyed comics ever since I could read. Donald Duck comics are a staple in Finnish homes and I also read my dad's old and faded Phantom comics. But the first time I realized it'd be fun to make them myself was when I saw a Spice Girls fancomic back in the 90s, hehe.

I started building the idea to Unknown Lands over 10 years ago when I first sketched my main character Vard in my biology notebook and wanted to create my own shounen manga, because back then I felt they were the epitome of comics. Since then the story's matured a bit.

What media and programs do you work in to produce your project?

Unknown Lands is made completely digitally in Photoshop.

 You've got such a lot of research and world building going on in this work; what are your favorite sources of inspiration and/or research? How much research do you put in to make sure your concepts hold up?

Reading literally anything is enough to inspire me, but since Unknown Lands is a combination of ancient Scandinavia and a modern fantasy world, I have amassed books about Scandinavian, specifically Finnish, folklore, mythology and traditions. It's near impossible to find any proper information on them online. My favorite is probably a massive book full of drawings of objects found in ancient Finnish graves.

Can you tell me about your typical day or strip-creation session? How does your working process flow?

Usually I first figure out the page layouts for the next update, then I refine the sketches, and then do the “inks”. I have panel border lines, character lines, background lines, and special effect lines on separate layers. Then it's the grueling task of flatting, followed by the fun of shading aaaand finally letters. It takes really long to finish a page...

What’s the most difficult part of your work?

Page layouts, definitely. It's like figuring out a puzzle, while the rest is more creative.

Can you tell me about your storytelling process? Do you prefer to script your stories, fly by the seat of your pants, or somewhere in between?

I like to have the entire chapter scripted out before starting to draw it. Anything beyond that is all in my head and the farther things go the more vague they are. I keep to certain important plot points, but otherwise I like to keep the story loose so I can change and adapt details to fit how the story evolves.

How much of a buffer do you like to keep?

I have no buffer, I like to live on the edge.

Has anyone told you that you'll never be a successful artist and you'd be better off studying a real field and/or getting a real job? How do you cope with negative commentary?

Oh yes, so many times. By pretty much all family members and many friends. It's also impossible to convince these people otherwise, until you actually have any success. I have wonderful parents who did all they could to support me, while waiting for me to fail and come to my senses. It's annoying when you seem to be the only one who believes in you, but when you find your thing no one can talk you out of doing it.
Support from strangers on the internet helps a lot too.

Negative comments on my comic, I usually try to ignore. If they were particularly rude I'll passionately rant about it to my friends, and then ignore them.

What message do you hope readers take away from your work?

Unknown Lands has environmental, feminist, and LGBTQ+ themes, but I want those to come off less as a message and more for people to see it as the norm, something that doesn't need to be explained. I hope readers enjoy the characters and their reckless lives, and the chaos those lives bring about.

What keeps you devoted to telling the story you’re telling?

I'm way too deeply in love with my characters to stop. But really, I've had variations of this story in my head for so long I pretty much need to get it out there.

Rock On Rosie, And Thanks For All The Great Thrills And Chills!

Backstage Pass June: Daniel Sharp

Hey, Guys! We Got You A Pass!

Let's Go Backstage And Meet Daniel Sharp!

So Dan, tell us about yourself!

Rockwell had it right 

I'm a husband, father, and MD/PhD student (school forever!). In my "spare" time I write our comic, volunteer as the Scoutmaster for the Boy Scout troop my church sponsors. 

Main Project

 The Demon Archives, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi story featuring powered armor and snarky AIs. 

Other Hobbies And Obsessions

 Alongside the classics of reading and video games, I guess, I recently discovered/decided that table top gaming (a la Dungeons and Dragons) is actually a rather enjoyable way to spend time with friends. So I run and play in a couple of games in person and even online with distant friends.

So, tell us about your early experience. How did you fall in love with telling stories in pictures?

  So, first off, I am not an artist. Horribly rendered stick figures are my forte. I am a writer, and work WITH a talented artist, Sebastian Piriz (http://sebasp.deviantart.com) to make our comic.

The mighty Seba

We got started when I took a creative writing class from Fantasy author Brandon Sanderson back in my last year of undergrad. My brother and I had been talking about this world/story, so I developed it into a novel. While working on that, I realized that my biggest weakness was in conveying the visual feel and setting of the story, and that it would be cool to have it as a graphic novel. So we ended up contacting and hiring Seba to draw it, and have been posting it online ever since.

The interesting Nick

What media and programs do you work in to produce your project?

This doesn't apply to me as much (Microsoft Word?), but I know that Seba uses Manga Studio and Photoshop for his inks and colors, respectively. We also make use of a site called Basecamp that allows us to coordinate effectively.

Can you tell me about your typical day or strip-creation session? How does your working process flow?

 I can't speak too much for Seba's visual process. Normally what we'll do is I'll plot out the chapter, giving it to him in chunks I think fit about a page. He is better at page and panel plotting than I, so normally he'll draw a quick sketch breaking it down visually. We'll talk about it, and he'll start doing inks while I finalize dialogue. Then he'll do the colors. It's a lot of back and forth.

Can you tell me about your storytelling process? Do you prefer to script your stories, fly by the seat of your pants, or somewhere in between?

In terms of the story planning, I initially wrote a large chunk of the story as a novel. We've since passed that point, and while I know where the story is going and have major plot points plotted out, I'm letting the story and characters grow a bit organically, one chapter at a time, for the most part. It allows me to make adjustments as I see a page, or as a reader makes a comment that makes me rethink something, etc. Plus, Seba often has great ideas for the story and characters.

You explore both the future of technology and the twists and turns of human psychology with amazing skill; your understanding of the concepts is some of the best out there. How do you go about researching ideas you'd like to use in your work?

 A lot of it just started with my brother and me chatting and spitballing about what the future could conceivably be like. While there is a lot of "rule of cool" in our choices, most of it is honestly just me extrapolating off of existing tech and possibilities. I'm rather well educated (school forever!), especially in the ability to read scientific journals and whatnot, and enjoy just thinking about things. I also try to recognize my limitations and look for expert counsel on topics I am unfamiliar with. Some of this is through books, much of it is from connecting with individuals online (in topic-oriented communities like reddit, for example).

Do your ideas grow from your reading, or do you get ideas and then research them?

 A little of both? Sometimes it's "man wouldn't it be cool if Tenzin's suit could do X? Let's look for the science about that!" Sometimes it's "Huh, neat! Scientists made prototype/proof of concept for Y. Given 100 years and some sci-fi, that could totally be Z. Let's give Tenzin Z." On average, probably more of the first variety.

What are some of your most reliable research sources?

Because of my scientific education, I feel rather confident in my ability to weed thru Google and Wikipedia to find good data. Often that means finding some popular science article and then delving past it to the original source material. Similar to how I tell my friends and family to let ME put their symptoms into WebMD, because I am more able to filter out the junk and find the useful tidbits.

What’s the most difficult part of your work?

The most difficult part for me is just making time for everything. Researching, writing, managing the site, the community interaction, advertising, marketing, etc. So much stuff to do for my hobby in my "spare" time not working on my degrees or spent with my family.

How much of a buffer do you like to keep? 

 Personally, I prefer having almost a full chapter of buffer. But a lot of that is out of my hands. Seba is a full time freelance illustrator. We can't pay him enough to work on our stuff full time (plus he'd get bored, and has his own stuff), so sometimes it's hard to keep a buffer going. Lately we've been going week to week.

What message do you hope readers take away from your work?

 Hmm, I'm not sure if I have any particular message I'm trying to get across. I'm mostly just trying to tell a fun story I came up with in what I imagine is a semi-plausible future. If people want to take away something, that's on them and how they engage with the story.

That said, there are definitely some themes I guess that we're trying to hit. Things like what it means to be a person, bodily autonomy, dealing with stress/depression/PTSD, thinking about a potential cybernetic future (iBrain, anyone?), etc. Readers are welcome to take away whatever conclusion and implication they want, I'm just presenting a story with themes and events I like. I often try to actually present multiple sides to these themes, as well.

What keeps you devoted to telling the story you’re telling?

 Can't stop now! If nothing else, I need to finish the current story, and have it all printed up on my shelf someday :)

Rock On, Dan and your awesome team. We look forward to the next big bang in your story!

Saturday Revue May 21: Unknown Lands

Need A Little Something To Perk You Up?
Sit Up And Pay Attention For

Whoooo boy. Blood magic. Sex magic. Sigils and soul stealing.  Hang onto your hats and send the kiddies home, it's going to be a wild night...

Unknown Lands, the creation of Rosi Kämpe, bills itself as dark fantasy. Dark? This one's pitch black! It'll thrill you, it'll chill you, and it'll make you laugh. This, lads and ladies, is what modern fantasy should be; witty, wild, clever and dangerous.
It all begins simply enough: three old friends. Trouble on the horizon. A bargain made. And then it gets a little...well....

The Rating

Oooooh are you in for a treat.

The Raves

The story begins with a premise common in urban fantasy; all the old stories come back out of the closet, and we have to learn to live with them.
But that's when it goes right off the trail and into the deep, dark woods. Just when you were settling down for a niiiice fantasy full of elves and talking trees, you find out that elves are assholes, there's people out to eat other people's hearts and blood is spattering the scenery. The story sets up all of this without a hitch, telling a completely organic story that flows from event to event with the logic of the old folktales we don't read the kiddies anymore.
If you ever read Runaways or Bordertown, Unknown Lands has much of that flavor, but this is all grown up. This story is decidedly 18 and up only, both in word and deed. If you like Saga and Sandman, you're going to want to read Unknown Lands; it has a similar depth, skill and wit to the work.
The plotting and pace is flawless; it wraps its protagonists up in a Grecian tragedy net of cause and effect. At every step their decisions are logical, but where they end up is not a pretty place.
 Characterization in this story is another one of its great features. They may be pawns of Fate and the Champion they now serve, but Vard, Kai and Maryna are no dolls. Vard in particular handles life with a sardonic humor, while Kai...

Kai endears himself in other ways. And Mischief and Inara are some of THE BEST plausibly amoral and inhuman character writing I have ever seen. They really aren't crazy, they really aren't bad guys. They just play out of a whole different rule book than you and I.

The world around them is also wholly organic and plausible in feel. Take for instance the panel below.

You could sit there and buy a drink. It's a world you can connect with. 

And by the way, THE ART. When this comes out in print, I'm buying. It's dark, it's twisted and it's gorgeous. Every page is a treat for the eyes.  Anatomy (and I mean all the anatomy, did I mention this is rated R?) is perfect, coloring effects are gorgeous, line work is expressive and full of character, and the lighting does remind me of Runaways and Saga quite a lot. Read that as beautiful and stylish.

The Razzes

I have only one area for the creator to seriously work on, and that's their word bubbles. They're legible sure, but they're cramped, awkwardly shaped and  detracting from the rest of the work. They look cut directly our of a script and pasted over gorgeous art. I'd love to see that change.

To the creator, I'd suggest this: Try laying out your dialogue out in the shape of a diamond. This immediately fixes the cutout look, and forms your dialogue into something that will easily fit into a word balloon. 

After that, make sure there's at least a few millimeters of white space between each letter and the edge of the balloon to avoid the cramped, claustrophobic reading experience. It'll really give that extra professional gloss to pages that are already darkly delicious.

The Revue

A real eye catcher, brain bender and rollercoaster. A must read.