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Keep On Swimming, Swimming, Swimming!

Bk2-P 13-5Simon Birks writes,

Life goes forward, relentlessly. It's like a tidal wave of minutiae that most of the time has us in its wake, and if we're not careful, it'll take us to a place whilst we weren't looking, and we'll look up and think, 'How did I get here? This wasn't where I wanted to be."

To counter it requires concentration, support, and determination. To (mis)quote Dory, you've got to keep swimming!

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So, even with my comic series Sinners and Gone doing well, I wanted to create something different, to literally bring something new to the (comic-con) table.

Firstly, what style of comic? Feedback is often hard to take. However, one thing that stuck in my mind were the many curious con-goers who would look at my comics, ask if they were complete stories, and then lose interest when I explained they weren't.

It made sense to try and address that with this new title.

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Decision 1: Write a series of one-shots, to give people more options.

Next, what type of stories? I generally make my stories as accessible to as many people as possible, but perhaps this time they could be aimed at a more mature audience, which meant being able to explore new genres?

It's sometimes hard to summarise my comics when convention-goers come by to browse, but I've got the patter down to a couple of sentences for each. Sinners is a supernatural/noir, and Gone is a sci-fi/mystery.

Describing them as two genres increases the amount of people who'd be interested in those styles, whilst encapsulating the essence of the stories. It made sense to extend this idea to the new comics.

I enjoy writing genres. The next biggie after supernatural and sci-fi is horror. But what to match it with? Whilst writing Hexes, I realised that, essentially, horror and supernatural go hand-in-(whose-hand-am-I-holding?)-hand.

Front Covers

Decision 2: Make Hexes a Supernatural/Horror comic.

Lastly, who would I get to draw it? Asking artists to sign-up to a series is difficult. They have a lot of commitments, and ongoing titles can take a long time to complete. Plus, using different artists means the comics appear fresh.

I've known Lyndon White for a few years, and recently connected with Ege Avci online. Both were happy to do an issue. Different artists also meant they can work on the comics at the same time, thus both would be ready to do a Kickstarter at the same time.

Panel 2-4

Decision 3: Use multiple artists.

With these decisions made, Hexes would be something different to entice people. It would be my way of swimming against the current of life.

The campaign is over halfway funded now, and the reviews for the comics are fantastic to say the least.

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Of course, that doesn't stop me swimming! There are many more comics in the pipeline, and I've got my thinking hat on to find more ways to change things a little.

Come on in, the water's dangerous!

Panel 10-7Any Bleeding Cool user who backs us this weekend will get a free PDF of Gone Issue 1, our Sci-Fi mystery comic!

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Rich JohnstonAbout Rich Johnston

Founder of Bleeding Cool. The longest-serving digital news reporter in the world, since 1992. Author of The Flying Friar, Holed Up, The Avengefuls, Doctor Who: Room With A Deja Vu, The Many Murders Of Miss Cranbourne, Chase Variant. Lives in South-West London, works from Blacks on Dean Street, shops at Piranha Comics. Father of two. Political cartoonist.
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