What's the story about?
The story is about two people who hate each other for what each thinks the
other is about. Paula believes that Racheal is a pagan heretic who needs to
be saved and goes about saving her in the worst way possible. Racheal
believes that Paula is a shallow, hateful person who uses the Bible as a
crutch to justify her own selfishness. One October morning, the proverbial
wrench gets thrown and their worlds lose definition. At first
inspection, the little girl is a homeless street rat, but the dirty coat
hides a pair of fleshy wings.
The story is intended to be an exploration of the holds religion has on
society and how it shapes people's views. It is also intended to show how
people can step outside the boundaries of the normal world and accept
something fantastic at face value. This earth may not be as lonely as it once
seemed. Or, humans may have blinded themselves by
setting up barriers against the things they do not understand.
Where/When is this story set?
The story is set in Saint Louis, MO, U.S.A. in late 1985. The Apple II and
Commodore 64 were THE home computer. The Nintendo Entertainment System was
officially released in the U.S.A. Ronald Regan was in his second term as
president. The previous year he had made the statement "I've signed
legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five
minutes." The Berlin wall was still standing and the name Beirut was
still fresh in people's minds. Crack cocaine was the drug of choice. The
Cosby Show was on television. Micheal J. Fox was a espiring Republican
evangelist on Family Ties. Dire Straits released Brothers in Arms.
Madonna was on the radio with Like a Virigin. The Bangles sang
Walk like an Egyptian. Dr. Demento was on the air with KSHE 95 in
Saint Louis. Oprah Winfrey was not yet a talk show host and Chernobyl was
not yet a word that meant "nuclear meltdown." And I had just
started 7th grade with 15 other kids in another part of the state.
Who are the characters?
See the Characters Page for more information.
How do you make the comic?
Since I can't trust myself to draw the entire page together, everything is
drawn in pieces which later get arranged on computer to form the final page.
My tools include:
0.5 mechanical pencil
White plastic erasers (block style and pen style)
8.5" x 11" sketchbook
12" x 18" sketch pad for perspective based backgrounds
A metal, cork-backed straight edge and a short plastic straight edge
I have other tools. I generally choose not to use them because a) it's
inconvenient for me to carry around a large box of pencils and b) I'm
starting to like the texture that the mechanical pencil creates. It's quite
a bit different than using a regular pencil that changes width as you use
it.
"Do you use photos as a reference or is all that detail the product
of a horribly meticulous mind?"
I don't normally use photos.
However, for the outside view on page one, I did take a picture of a strip
mall in Columbia, MO. I copy the photo exactly, of course, but it did give
me a good idea of how the Fallen Angels strip mall should be arranged. The
backgrounds used for the inside of the store are just me and a straight edge
over the course of about 4 hours a shot. I thought I was going to have
nightmares about those books. You might notice that the walls are lined
with books about the size of a textbook. These are supposed to be $2
paperbacks but I didn't want to draw ten shelves full of these things.
For the people, I used one photograph for Racheal of an acquaintence from
Truman State University. She was working in a small, used book store at the
time. Paula is just an impression of an old fundamentalist woman (kinda
like Grandma from Beverly Hillbillies). Sandy is the product of repeatedly
drawing the same girls over and over. Rob the cop came from a photograph
because I was hoping to find something that showed all the stuff on a cop's
belt.
"Do you plan on publishing some time soon?"
Publishing Fallen Angels to paper is an eventual goal. However, there are a
few things preventing me from doing so:
Money. It will cost an easy $700 for me to get a first run of 500
comics published through a publisher. More if I wanted to self-publish. I
would have to consider that money gone as well because there is no guarantee
that any will ever get sold. I should expect to receive the comics in large
boxes that I would only be able to take to conventions and give away.
Realisticly, I would sell a few at least to stores like Splash Page, Rock
Bottom and Fantasy Shop where I know the people. Since I'm looking for a
house right now, I can't afford that expense and a down payment.
Page Requirements. A randomly selected Hellblazer has 26 pages.
A randomly selected Blade of the Immortal has 30. If I assume that a single
issue should have 28 pages then I still have a way to go before I can get up
enough pages for a single issue. If I wanted to publish in tankoban or
graphic novel format, I would need at least 4 issues or 112 pages completed.
I'm not producing pages fast enough to put out a monthly comic book.
A Publisher. I have never published anything in my life. After
reading sites like The
Burning Void you find out that the publishing industry is a really nasty
place for a newbie. Keenspace is one of the best publishers out there
because they don't want anything from you. There is no contract involved
other than "don't store warez here." It's not paper, but it's
advertisement of a sort.
What I expect to do is print off a copy for myself at Kinko's and take it
with me to Anime Iowa in August just to see if I can get a reaction.
