Issue 15 - World Building
Why I love The Strider and why I almost quit making comics
Since I have The Strider’s latest installment The Hunt & The Flame dropping on Kickstarter next week I figured I’d pop in and talk about world building.
The Strider - The Hunt & Flame on Kickstarter
Gonna kick this off by saying I’m not giving advice or instruction with this. It’s simply how I approach The Strider and why because it’s different than I would tackle other projects.
My approach and why.
I’m going to tell you my approach to The Strider and then a story for why I do it this way because there is intention behind. Every issue of The Strider the number one driving factor is to have fun and enjoy the comic making process and to make something super entertaining for the ready. That means if I think it would be cool to turn three moments into a splash page, a double splash page then another splash I’m absolutely gonna do it.
Those pages from issue two make me happy. I had so such a blast drawing them. Did it add more time and increase the page count and make printing more expensive? Yes, but it was so worth it.
The Why
Ok now let’s get in the why which is admittedly way less fun. I’ve been published on the direct market one time. It was the worst experience of my professional life. It was so collectively terrible my plan after turning in the last issue and putting in over one thousand plus hours of labor and love was to quit comics. I was sitting on the couch doing some very tiny composition studies from a pen and ink drawing book. After one of them I added a very tiny man walking through the scene. I gave him a cowboy hat, cloak and little circle on a stick attached to his back so he had a good asymetrical silhouette. I did a little mixed media piece of him just for fun that was 9x12.
I gave him a mask because I like mystery characters and sci-fi western vibes. I decided to do a single issue. I would draw a book just for fun, throw it online somewhere and then peace out as the saying goes.
The only plan I would draw him kind of walking into the book towards the reader and at the end of the issue walking away. In between that my plan was to have fun. Write and draw whatever popped in to my head that sounded awesome. Make a book I would personally love.
My writing and layout stage go hand in hand. That way I can keep it visual and make sure the comic is fundamentally executed. Things like page turns and talking order are important to me.
So he’s walking. Where is he walking? On a desolate road. Where is this road? Earth? Heh no. I wanted to get weird without Earthly constraints. Ok I need an enemy for my faceless wander to fight. Robots are cool. Star Wars is a deep love and some murder droids sound like a good time.
One? No six robot marauders attacking The Strider trying to rob him of his belongings on the road sounds fun. What do they look like? What if these robots were wearing patches of skin, hair and clothes almost like they are trying to be more human? Also is the hair and skin real or synthetic? That question matters more than the actual answer. All of these things were designed straight on the page as I was drawing it. If I thought of something and it sparked for me I did it.
Issue 2, The Town, is in a crumbling city. What do the non robot inhabitants of this world look like? How about humans but everyone has robot part enhancements. So the people are trying to be more robotic and the robots are trying to be more human. And some of the characters you look at you can’t tell if they are human or robot
.
Issue 3, The Hunt & The Flame, takes place in two locations. The Hunt shows a Warlord’s mountain top stronghold. The planet is ruled by Warlords and each one is after The Strider’s shapeshifting weapon.
The Hunt is a bit of an origin tale that takes place in small village that has rural Japan vibes.
So is this the best most organized way to make a comic? Heh no definitely not. Would I ever tell anyone to make a book this way? No, but Im also not big into telling creatives what to do. I will say that my plan was to make one issue and move on to something else. After getting done with the first issue I decided to throw it on Kickstarter and see what happens. The first issue funded in around 12 hours. I did issue two and it funded in about an hour and half. I don’t remember the exact times. Just know The Strider #3 hits Kickstarter June 2 and I’m enjoying this book more than anything I’ve ever worked on.
That hits me differently now than when I wrote it.
The Strider - The Hunt & Flame on Kickstarter
Thanks for reading! Please hit that link and give the campaign a follow.
Best,
Jeremy
