Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Purpah, romantasy, Suitor Armor, ten speed graphic, Webtoon, young adult

Suitor Armor: Interview with Purpah on Vol. 3 of the Webtoon Hit

Suitor Armor vol. 3 is now out, and we interviewed creator Purpah about the long-running Webtoon romantasy and the darkening storyline.

The hit Webtoon romantasy series Suitor Armor has been collected into a third printed graphic novel collection with more to come. After the light first volume and gradual darkening of the second volume, things get even worse once lady-in-waiting Lucia learns that she has been living in complete ignorance: Fairies are being tortured, mutilated, and killed as a consequence of the war. Lucia is ridden with immense guilt and emotional turmoil, and she has survived for so long in secrecy as one of the last of the monarch faeries with her wings still intact. With the arrival of King Reimund's terrifyingly suspicious uncle, Lord Ricon, Lucia fears she is no longer safe both within and beyond the castle. Modeus, the resurrected spirit in the suit of armor, continues to serve as a pillar of comfort and safety for her, but he begins to develop his own complicated emotions while wrestling with his true violent inclinations. Lucia's relationship with Princess Kirsi is strained as the future queen begins to assert herself and the power of her status, leaving Lucia feeling utterly alone.

We spoke to series creator Purpah about the long-running saga.

Hi Purpah, we're getting deeper into the story of Suitor Armor with Volume 3 and even further for readers of the WEBTOON serialisation. The story seems to fit romantasy tropes, but the common theme here seems to be discrimination and racism. Why do you think the fantasy genre is used so often to deal with that nowadays, more than ever?

I think that the fantasy genre is used so often to deal with discrimination and racism because it makes it 'easier' to digest. Not to say that these topics are ever really, truly 'easy' to digest, let alone write. But setting it in a world that is coupled with magic, fairies, mythical creatures – it allows for these kinds of messages to be delivered under the scope of a fantastical adventure rather than one-to-one relayings of real-life events. As much as it is important to discuss these real topics in real-world settings, it is sometimes easier for people to take in these kinds of themes through the lens of a fantasy setting. Addressing these through fantasy in a broader sense also allows for people of all kinds of experiences and backgrounds to come together and relate to one another. I've had so many people tell me how they relate to the fairies in Suitor Armor, be it because of their own experience with racism, their sexuality, their upbringing, their mental health – and that is the biggest success for me. Fantasy does not need to be a one-to-one example of one kind of experience. It can be a way for us to relate to one another through that lens of the genre.

The story changes from the lighter tone of the beginning to the darker tone hinted at in the early chapters. Volume 3 is when the turn starts to really twist as Lucia's world drops out from under her, while she struggles to keep her sense of normality, and her friendship with Kirsi starts to get strained. Can you talk about how you spent a lot of chapters laying the groundwork for the turn? 

Suitor Armor is very much a slow burn. The turn Lucia experiences as her world changes would have felt less impactful if I hadn't really given the 'staus-quo' time to breath. Witnessing Lucia in that 'before time' lets us see what she is used to. What is normal? What she was raised to believe and the reality that she thinks she is content with. As she learns more and more about the world, the realities of it, it changes that reality and leaves her, and the reader, wondering if she was ever really happy with how things were. My goal with the lead-up chapters, apart from making that turn hit hard, was that if you go back and reread it with full context, there is a general sense of unease. That this 'idyllic time' was not as happy as it seemed. Especially when it comes to Lucia and Kirsi's friendship, despite all this new and hard information Lucia is presented with, she would not take the option of going back to the way things were.

The general arc of Suitor Armor follows class melodrama where the bad guy(s) – in this case Lord Ricon – are very dastardly and get away with doing lots of evil for a long time while the heroes suffer and look on helplessly until the latter part of the story when the bad guys overreach and the good guys finally rise up and fight back. How do you decide how long the bad guy gets away with doing awful things before the good guys finally rise up, especially when Webtoon seems to encourage prolonging the story for as long as possible? Do you work with editors to decide on the pace of the story and when to pull the trigger of the good guys fighting back and the bad guys starting to fail? 

When it comes to villains, the rat Lord Ricon, the pacing has been very much left up to me! Suitor Armor's pacing is perhaps a tad wonky compared to other stories in a classic sense. I didn't even introduce my main villain until VERY late into the story. Something that dictates the pacing in Suitor Armor is the fear of acting. That inaction by the heroes, because of the fear of what might happen after and the uncertainty, is what guides a lot of the consequences. Let's just say that when that lesson is learned, there will be a turning point in the pacing, and things will get a little breakneck! I let the story dictate the pacing and go with what feels right for the characters and the story.

Do you have the ending planned, or do you let things play out and allow for discovering new things that might affect how you end the story?

I do have an ending planned! Suitor Armor is an oddity in that I knew the beginning, middle, and end when I planned it out. When Suitor Armor was on canvas, I was actually writing it episode by episode, which I think gave me the freedom and wiggle room to explore the project before I locked in and figured out the entire story when it moved over into being an Original series.

How do you decide on the bonus story material for the printed graphic novel that's not in the Webtoon serialisation?

For the bonus material, I chose stories and characters that I do not get to feature in the main comic! There is a lot going on in the main story of Suitor Armor that I don't really have the time to cover some backstories in the detail I wish I could. In terms of Volume 1, 2, and 3 I was able to write and draw how Baynard and Peres first met and fell in love! Something that I felt deserved to be told and drawn and the bonus material in the published editions allowed for me to do that!

Suitor Armor Vol. 3 is now available. The serial continues to run on WEBTOON.

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