Creator-Owned Spotlight: No Wonder [EXCLUSIVE] with Jeremy Hauck

Are we too plugged in? People are almost always staring at a screen of some kind, whether it be a phone, a tablet, or even an old fashioned laptop, believe it or not people still use them. Even in this wonderful world of comics, things are trending to the digital age. You can get any book you want and read it on any of your numerous electronic devices. A new creator owned comic, No Wonder, takes us to a world where we are jacked-in 24/7. I recently had the pleasure of asking No Wonder’s creator, Jeremy Hauck, some questions about his new project.

Hush Comics: When did you start the project? What was the most difficult process you found?

Jeremy Hauck: No Wonder actually started out as a TV script I wrote almost two years ago. The concept has drastically changed since then, but the message has remained the same.

As for the most difficult process, I’d say it was definitely building our world at an early stage. When most of our world’s population essentially knows “everything,” as a writer, you need to consider the repercussions that might have on a working society. There wouldn’t be any school, right? When there is nothing to teach, why would there be? What about the economy? How do you tackle internal conflict? These were difficult questions to answer, but they needed to be addressed if our audience was going to buy the concept.

HC: You have a full team for No Wonder. This isn’t so regular with small creator owned projects, especially picking up an editor and a web designer. What made you want to go all out with this? Was it hard assembling the right team?

JH: I knew that if I was actually going to attempt this and create my first comic book, I wasn’t going to half-ass it at any stage. Sure, the budget increases when more players join the collaboration, but that’s the sacrifice you make if you want to have a professional-looking, polished product. Luckily, I have an amazing team of polishers.

Finding a web designer was easy; he’s my best friend that happens to work in that field and has done an incredible job with our site so far. Finding our editor was easier since, well, she’s also my girlfriend. She has supported me since day one and I couldn’t have done this without her.

It took a few months to find our tremendously talented illustrator, Ellis Ray III, but he was well worth the wait. I brought Sean Callahan (our colorist) and Jamie Me (our letterer) into the fold after reviewing their extremely professional portfolios and, before I knew it, we had an actual team working on this project.

HC: In No Wonder, humanity is essentially wired together in a collective mind of sorts. Is this a virtual reality they all exist in?

JH: That was actually an idea I tossed around in No Wonder’s infancy, but when it started to feel too much like The Matrix, I decided against it. A.T.O.M isn’t virtual reality nor augmented. Think of it like this: before the user can even question about the dimensions of a table or ask how far Jupiter is from Earth, the answer is just…there; leapfrogging the learning process entirely.

I’ve done some research with how the mind works, and you’ll see that in later issues, but hopefully that answers your question because if I say anymore, we’ll be in Spoilertown.

HC: In the pages you’ve released we see the city streets being used as farmland. Obviously mankind still has to eat even if it’s plugged in 24/7. Who is planting, managing, and gathering the resources? How are they dispersed and administered to the populous?

JC: *Choo-choo* Next stop, Spoilertown.

I’d love to answer this because it’s such a good question, but I’m going to leave that one alone so the mystery remains. Besides, that’s what this comic is all about, right? Leaving you the opportunity to wonder instead of just giving you the answer?

HC: No Wonder stars Turner Lane, a teenager. What made you decide to have a younger protagonist? As a teenager, how naturally curious were you?

JH: Personally, I was pretty curious and skeptical as a teenager – questioning religion, fate, and what made the world tick on a day-to-day basis – but I don’t think that was unique to just me. Our teen years have always been depicted as the “developing age” of our lives. It’s a terrifying but exciting time for us because, although we’re developing, we don’t exactly know what we’re developing into. Turner’s age just felt like it should be right in the middle of that, especially since he’s being pulled away from a device that essentially fostered him through life.

There is also so much to wonder about when we were younger, so writing our protagonist as one of the youngest characters in our cast just made sense to me.

HC: Also something not often seen in comics is a Canadian setting. Why Vancouver?

JH: When I first looked into the process of creating a comic book, I was told early on that you should always “write what you know.” Growing up in Seattle, WA, Vancouver always felt like a Canadian cousin, geographically. You have a city near the water, surrounded by evergreen and mountains filling the background.

I also just really dug that town and the people I met when visiting. Vancouver deserves to be put in the spotlight, so I went with it.

HC: Webb looks like he’s been living off the grid for a while now. Has he ever been hooked up to A.T.O.M.?

JH: I love this question as well, but unfortunately, I can’t answer this one either, my friend.

What I can say is that Webb shows signs of being a Luddite in sequential issues.

HC: The custodians seem like a rather creepy group of people. Are they there to keep everyone in line? They seem like a Warriors-esque gang at first sight.

JH: Okay, I guess I can’t be “too” tight-lipped about everybody in our story, but I just don’t want to give too much away! It ruins the magic of our story as well as the message behind it.

I’ll tell you this about the Custodians: They are a religious group that established themselves in the wake of A.T.O.M going online.

That, and their design originally had no smiles. Ellis threw them in when we were working through our concept art when we first were getting started. When I say it, it just so creepy that I had to write in a reason as to why they have them in our world. Fortunately, I found an awesome one that just made sense to those characters.

HC: What’s your ultimate goal with No Wonder? Are you looking at publishers or just taking the reins on this project yourself?

JH: Right now, my focus is on our Kickstarter and actually funding the book. I’ve worked so hard to make this thing happen and it pretty much all comes down to the Kickstarter.

If our book is funded and we garner a bit of a following, I’ll definitely look into other publishers to help print/distribute more issues. It also helps, in my opinion, to have a finished product in your hand when introducing yourself to publishers. Hopefully Kickstarter will help make that a reality.

HC: Do you think as a society we’re too plugged in? No Wonder looks like it’s going to be a strong commentary on our digital existence.

JH: Absolutely; we have such a bizarre relationship to our electronic devices and the information consumed from them. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a guy who loves technology, its growth, and the gadgets that derive from it. But when those gadgets stifle healthy social behavior, or distract you from an intimate moment you can only have outside of the screens we carry around, it’s definitely a bad habit most people need to kick. No Wonder will amplify that obsession we have with staying-up-to-date, and hopefully tell an entertaining story that people can relate to by doing so.

HC: Your Kickstarter starts November 5th. What are your plans if it’s not successful the first time around?

JH: I’m not sure what will happen with No Wonder if we don’t meet our goal – I just don’t have that mentality right now. I’m probably blinded by the unbelievable support my family and friends have given me through this experience, but I think an optimistic outlook, blinded or not, is the best thing to have when taking on something like this. So for now, let’s just see what happens and hope for the best!

Exclusive! Here is a preview of some of the goodies you can get your hands on for pledging to the Kickstarter:

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No Wonder is sure to make us turn a mirror to ourselves when it comes to our attachment to the digital age. With a younger protagonist I personally think this would be a great new book for a younger crowd, hopefully to inspire some to put down the phone and look at the world around them. No Wonder hits Kickstarter on November 5^th. It only makes sense to get this one in paper form. You can check out their website, nowondercomic.com, or their Twitter page for all new updates. Check back for a link to their Kickstarter page once it goes live!

Creator-Owned Spotlight: Deadly Class and Blackhand Comics’ Wes Craig [EXCLUSIVE]

Hush Comics: What is your origin story?

Wes Craig:  Well I was a kid who always wanted to make comic books. I used to write and draw my own superhero stories in grade school. In my teens I made a comic called “J.D.” that was kind of based on me and my friends. I also did other comics like a Viking story, and a story about a man who meets the devil in a bar. 

When I graduated from high school I took a three-year course in Illustration & Design. While I was in there I started mailing away samples of work to DC and Marvel Comics. A had a few years of doing that, sending away samples, getting rejection letters. I got really close to a job when a DC editor called me and told me I was on the right track, I kept sending samples with no real response and then a year later I got a call from the same editor basically telling me the same thing but he’d forgotten that he called me the year before. Hahaha. 

I went to conventions and pitched ideas to Image Comics too, but I wasn’t quite ready yet so they never got green lit. Eventually I got a gig on a DC Comics title as my first paid gig [Ed Note: Wes’ first title was DC Comics’ Touch]. It got cancelled after only six issues. But my foot was in the door. Since then I’ve worked for DC and Marvel on a bunch of their titles – Guardians of the Galaxy was what I was most known for. When the offers weren’t coming in, I’d take jobs in video games, doing storyboards or character design, and work on my own comics.

Then one day, Rick Remender emailed me and asked if I’d be interested in working with him, I was a fan of his work so I was into it. And that brings us to Deadly Class.

HC: You have a very specific style. Which artists did you draw inspiration from when you were learning how to draw? Who continues to inspire you?

WC: It doesn’t feel like I do have a specific style honestly, but that’s probably something that a lot of artists feel. Anyway, when I was learning to draw I was a big fan of George Perez, his work on Teen Titans was the first comic I collected. Will Eisner’s The Spirit was a big one, I used to pick up black and white reprints of that from Kitchen Sink Press. 

I remember the first time I saw Moebius. Katsuhiro Otomo and Masamune Shirow. Brian Bolland. The Image guys like McFarlane were an influence early on. I still go back to a lot of Eisner, Moebius, and Otomo. I love anything from Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly. Jeff Smith. Paul Pope, David Lapham, David Mazzuchelli and a lot of the indie artists these days, people like Chris Ware, Adrian Tomine, Emily Carrol, Eleanore Davis. The Hernandez brothers. There’s a lot of great stuff out there.

Deadly Class #12

But it’s also funny because some of the stuff you don’t like as a kid can turn into your greatest influence. When I was young I didn’t like Jack Kirby or Mike Mignola. Now they’re two of my favourite artists of all time. I just didn’t get it back then. But that’s a lesson to me as an adult, too; just because you don’t like something right away, don’t automatically reject it – maybe it’s the “shock of the new” and your brain just isn’t willing to accept it yet.

HC: What supplies do you prefer to use? Do you like traditional or digital tools more?

WC: I prefer traditional. I have friends who tell me how fast digital is, but I like the feeling of paper and ink. I use digital too, though. Especially in later stages of Blackhand Comics to adjust colors. 

Credit to Twitter: @WesCraigComics

For Deadly Class, it’s deadline driven so I use standard bristol board and Sakura Calligraphy pens and brushes. Those get the job done the fastest for me. 

But for Blackhand or other personal stuff I like to change it up and try new things.

HC: What is your process when you sit down to create? Does this change when depending on what role you’re taking on for the project (writer vs artist)? Which is hardest for you?

WC: When I’m drawing Deadly Class, Rick and I usually get on the phone and talk out ideas a bit. Then I’ll get the script (page and panel breakdowns with basic description and dialogue). I usually have ideas for how I want the story to flow, changing page compositions and stuff, and Rick’s always very open to that. The final dialogue is done after I finish all the art. That’s one of my favourite aspects of Deadly Class, it feels very alive the whole time it’s being produced. When I’m doing my own work I tend to plan it to death at the beginning so when I’m doing the actual drawing it’s kind of boring, paint by numbers. So I’m trying to leave more room for improvisation now.

When I write and draw my own comics, I write description, dialogue, and do rough little thumbnail panels all at the same time, then I’ll compose it into a page and go over the dialogue and try to make it work together. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle to try and make it feel like something real is happening on the page, but that’s the challenge.

Credit to Twitter: @WesCraigComics

So yeah, the process changes completely depending on your role. I find writing and drawing my own stuff the hardest, but also the most rewarding. 

Creating something and seeing it through the whole way kind of IS comics at it’s purest for me.

HC:I noticed that on your Twitter feed, you love sharing your recent sketches with followers – not just Deadly Class and Blackhand material, but a lot of experimentation with techniques and content. Is there any specific experimental stuff you’ve been wanting to fit into your upcoming books?

WC: Yeah, I have a lot of little experiments I’d love to try out. The thing about it, though, is it has to fit the story. I don’t want to shoehorn anything in that doesn’t belong. But yeah, lots of ideas on layering and “cut-up,” for lack of a better word. 

“Layering” has to do with looking at the page and the images as a three dimensional space, layering images and panels on top of each other. Quietly did this very affectively in We3.

A panel from Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly’s We3

And “cut-up” just has to do with how comics work, were actions and sentences are broken up, and it creates this staccato effect.  Those are two areas I’d like to explore a lot more.

HC: Is Rick Remender really the biggest asshole in the industry? I know you guys like to give each other a hard time; do you have any stories that would give us an insight as to how your relationship works?

WC: Mr. Remender’s lawyers have informed me that I am to answer all such questions with nothing but glowing praise.

He is a saint.

HC: You, Rick and Lou are probably the best team in comic books right now. Are there any other creative teams in the business that you admire?

WC: Sure. Like I’ve said mostly I’m a fan of cartoonists that do the whole thing themselves but there are a few creative teams that work so well together you’d think it was one person. 

I think we’ve worked well together and gotten that effect sometimes. Unfortunately, Lee won’t be working with us going forward, but you can see his work on a bunch of other great Image series like Southern Cross and Wolf. But we have Jordan Boyd working with us now and he’s amazing, and I think we’ve managed to keep things very unified. Also, Rus Wooton on letters really helps bring it all together. That’s my favourite part of the process: seeing a page where we’re all coming together seamlessly. 

Anyway, I think Ed Brubaker, Sean Philips, and Elizabeth Breitweiser are great. Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly, too. 

HC: Why Image Comics? What about working with them do you enjoy?

WC: Working with Rick was a big draw, but so was working through Image. They’re just really strong right now, they’re making a lot of good decisions and publishing a lot of good books.

HC: If you could clone yourself and jump on to do art for another title in the industry, what would it be?

WC: Honestly, I’d just do more of my own stuff. Blackhand Comics, and other projects I have in mind for the future. I try and get as much of that done between issues of Deadly Class as I can, but it’s tough. 

HC: Deadly Class comments on homelessness and the lengths one will go for security. How do you think we can help our homeless population, especially our homeless youth?

WC: Well, I think affordable housing is the thing that stands out the most for me. Cities never invest enough in that kind of thing; they say they will then they just keep building condos for the rich. 

Really, I think the best thing is to ask homeless people what they think. But my thoughts on it are that people need dignity and a purpose. They don’t need to be coddled and treated like they’re incapable, they just need a little help, a leg up. And shelter where they can feel secure and human. 

HC: Deadly Class seems to be a lightning rod for teenage angst and rebellion. Do you feel the book has transcended to something beyond the book’s stories?

WC: Well, we hope so. It seems to have reached older people who can relive those experiences with some adult perspective. and younger people who are growing up now, and see things they can relate to. The letters we get really blow me away, how passionate people are about it.

That connection people have, I think that’s the part I’m most proud of. It’s a really violent series, but underneath there’s a lot of heart and real feelings. And we try not to treat the assassin angle like it’s “cool.” Killing is a terrible thing, so when it happens, it’s not some victorious moment; it makes the character physically sick, or it damages something inside of them. I don’t know if I’ve always put that across to the audience, but that’s what I try to do.

HC: If you had to choose one of your books’ worlds to live in, which would you choose and why? Who would you want as an ally?

WC: Man, definitely not Deadly Class, that school is terrible. I guess that short story in Blackhand I did called “Circus Day.” That place seemed pretty harmless. I’d just hand out with the clowns and the freaks all day.

HC: You’ve got a T-Shirt on the way, and I’ve been trying to get my hands on a skateboard deck for months now. Do you see Deadly Class ever being branded the way The Walking Dead is one day?

WC: If we ended up with a TV show or a movie, I’d imagine there’d be some more merchandising. Right now, I’d like to keep it pretty simple, though. 

You can pre-order these shirts, due in October, at your local comic shop.

HC:You have announced some new Blackhand stories, with more coming soon. How will these differ from the first published volume?

WC: I keep going back and forth on that. I have an overall concept in mind for a second volume, a kind of apocalyptic theme. But there’s other ideas I have too, sometimes I think I’ll just do the first volume and that’s it, other times I want to do it more than anything. So we’ll see. 

Right now it’s looking like I’ll be going ahead with it though.There would be a lot more stories in a second volume and a more standard format. But like the first volume, a lot of dark, pulpy weirdness.

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You can find Wes Craig on Twitter (@WesCraigComics), Tumblr (WesCraigComics), Facebook (Wes Craig Comics), or online at BlackhandComics.com. You can even buy original (or prints of) Deadly Class art at Cadence Comics.

Buy Blackhand Comics: Volume 1
Buy Deadly Class Volume 1: Reagan Youth & Volume 2: Kids of the Black Hole, pre-order Volume 3: Snake Pit

Creator-Owned Spotlight: 8:15 Comics [EXCLUSIVE]

Denver-based comic book creator Ryan Wise is bringing the zombie apocalypse right to our own back doors with 8:15. The zombie outbreak is global, happening simultaneously around the world. 8:15 focuses on the outbreak in Denver which is not a usual setting for most comics. As Ryan or any good writer will tell you, you have to write what you know. With a good cast of characters leading 8:15, Ryan is looking to make a big splash in a genre that sometimes seems overrun. I had a chance to ask him some questions about 8:15 recently.

Hush Comics: So the zombie apocalypse comes to Denver? Why did you choose to focus your story in Denver? 
Ryan Wise: One of the key points in 8:15 is the fact that the zombie event occurs around the entire globe at the same time: 8:15pm GMT. This is the the “outbreak getting out of control” scenario we have all become used to. Since the z-day event is global, we had the freedom to choose to set our story pretty much anywhere in the world. It became a matter of writing what you know and loving where you are. We try to source as much of our production process locally and that include the story and setting.

HC: We’ve seen an up-tick in horror comics recently. Why did you want to go with zombies?
RW: I, too, have noticed the increase in horror comic releases, but I do not think it is a bad thing. In fact, I feel like it reflects an increase in the amount of interest and demand for products like that, and that makes me very optimistic for 8:15. I knew that when we decided to write a zombie story we were entering a crowded genre. We felt like we would be able to cut through the noise and create something that zombie fans can really enjoy. With the release of Part 2, we can finally give people a glimpse of how thought-out and deep our zombie scenario is. Zombies provide a perfect medium for complex story telling like that.

HC: You have a pretty good size cast of characters. Was it always the plan to have a larger group? Why not do a smaller cast?
RW: When 8:15 was first conceptualized, it had a pretty small cast consisting of only the characters necessary to drive the main plot forward. As the idea was developed, more and more characters had to be added in order to allow us to highlight themes. Those newly conceived characters, developed well into the writing process, have ranged from mere zombie fodder to one character, Jordan, that has become a major force in the 8:15 universe.

HC: How difficult was it to get 8:15 up and running? What was it like going from concept to product?
RW: The most difficult part of getting 8:15 up and running was not the logistics or product development; those things can be easily overcome with persistence and effort. The hardest part was learning how to change the way I think and plan. Producing 8:15 was a process that requires many people and months to complete. By the time Part 1 was released on April 17th, 2015, I had learned that planning months and years into the future is something I needed to do to ensure the future and what 8:15 Comics wants to do, tell stories.

HC: It looks like a took a couple of tries to be successfully kickstarted; did you ever get discouraged?
RW: I did have a hard time initially getting funded on Kickstater.com, but I never got discouraged. I knew that in order to be successful anywhere, including Kickstarter.com, you need to have supporters and you need to have a strategy. It took me a few tries to develop both. Plus the experience I gained from those failed attempts was critical to my future success. It taught me to market and reach out to my audience in more effective ways.

Hush Comics’ EXCLUSIVE look at how 8:15 Comic’s Tacocat Plush (loosely based off Book 2) will look

HC: How far to plan on taking 8:15? Do you have a stopping point planned out?
RW: I am asked all the time, “Do you have the whole story written out?,” and I absolutely love this question!! Growing up in the 90’s, I was inundated with incomplete stories and season by season writing. Even contemporary programming falls into this trap. 8:15 is written out and an ending is planned! This was always a key principal while developing the story.

HC: What’s your ultimate goal with 8:15?
RW: The ultimate goal of 8:15 is to contribute to the overall success of 8:15 Comics and to help the company develop a fan base to help in the future success of our many forthcoming series and projects.

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With zombie and horror books really becoming a mass market thanks to the success of The Walking Dead it’s sometimes hard for anything new to make any headway. 8:15 is a different feel than most zombie stories. With its strong cast of characters and very unique art style 8:15 should be a power voice on a crowded stage. You can check out their website, 815comics.com, or their Facebook page for all new updates including new Kickstarter campaigns as new issues are ready to come out.

Creator-Owned Spotlight: After the Gold Rush [EXCLUSIVE] with Miles Greb

Every collector wants to be on top of the next big book. With the big two quickly becoming the big three, I’m looking at you Image, it’s easy to overlook more independent comics. Every creator cut their teeth somewhere. With the ability for creators to more easily find funding through crowd-funding sites like Kickstarter we’re really starting to see unbelievable expansion into creator owned series that are just as good as any big publisher series on the market. Feeling as if he was part of a group that doesn’t have a voice in comics Miles Greb felt a need to put his voice into culture. His comic After the Gold Rush will be on Kickstarter soon and I highly suggest you give it real consideration.

I recently asked Mr. Greb some questions about his intriguing new series:

So from the description After the Gold Rush is a pro-science, science fiction book. What brought this idea to the forefront of your mind?

I was at ECCC last year, I saw some wonderful and a few worrying trends in comics.

The prior was the focus on perspectives from all manner of sub-cultures. I am a huge fan of Silver Age books; the early Marvel books created the artistic dialect for most the medium. The good of this precedent is the optimistic sci-fi expansionism, heroic deeds, and fantastic ideas. The bad, was that these wonderful stages lack diversity in their actors. This is now changing in Comics. But while I saw this inclusion for so many groups, I did not see a signal book that was openly created by or for atheist, skeptics, and the hard science crowd.

The latter is fear. Science is playing the role of the atom bomb again, instead of the moon-lander. Tomorrow will be dark, there will be zombies, the buildings around you will be empty, you will be scavenging, the robots are coming, there is no help, the future will crush us, technology will twist and defame us – The end is now. Brothers, no! This is not how it’s going to be. I grew up watching Cosmos and Star Trek, and that’s the future I see. That is what I want to bring back.

Want to know more about the plot of After the Gold Rush? Here you go. #Science #Scifi #Comic #Atheist #Skeptic #ATGR. pic.twitter.com/I95IbpmaNK

— Miles Greb (@Goldrushcomic) May 15, 2015

Could you describe the characters? The main character appears very young. Why go with such a young protagonist?

Scout is the first daughter of Titan, only 18 years old, biologically – though she has been alive longer. I wanted a younger hero because I wanted to show the value of the society she came from. I could do this better by showing a less experienced member of it. Also, there is the benefit of her being more relatable to a group underrepresented in science.

I won’t give too much away about the shape of the bag, least you guess there is a cat in it. So I’ll just say – she is from a culture very different than the one we will be finding on earth in ATGR.

The other major players in our story are the Axman, Guttenberg, and another girl who we have not yet reveled. Our wonderful artist Isaac is still working on her concept art. Plus, I like mystery.

Our #Kickstarter will most likely go live in July or August. Just keeping everyone updated. #Scifi #comic #Skeptic pic.twitter.com/VdMCuUkFIf

— Miles Greb (@Goldrushcomic) May 23, 2015

Are you working on the book by yourself? How many roles do you have when it comes to the development of After the Gold Rush?

Luckily, since I can’t draw, I do not. Our main artist is Issac La Rossa. He has done all of our concept art, most of our promotional art, and will be doing the first few issues at the very least.

The story and scripts: that was me. I have a disappointing case of dyslexia, so my dear friends, Ben Rodgers and Andrew Pierce, have been working as my editors.

I am also financing the thing. Mostly by selling all of my Magic cards. But I can’t manage it all alone. That is why we will be doing a Kickstarter this August!

Scouts honor i will not write Scout the way they are writing Super Girl in that…show. #comics #Scifi #Science #ATGR pic.twitter.com/vzh9uXtHpH

— Miles Greb (@Goldrushcomic) May 15, 2015

How long has this been in development? If you’re using an artist that is not you how hard was it for you to find the right one?

I have had this story in my head for about 2 years, but I never wrote it down until about a year ago. I wasn’t sure all the logistics of making a comic, but after going to ECCC 2014, I was inspired to figure it out.

Finding an artist was hard, but we rolled a 20 on it. I found Issac on Deviant Art actually. I asked him to do some concept art for Scout – it came out great! So we started our relationship. He has many other projects, so I really appreciate all the time he has given us.

We also have other artists helping us with promotional material and our “scientist of the issues” section. UK illustrator Chris Lewis Lee is doing a poster for us, Backterria is doing some pixel art, and Fanny Hagdahl Sörebo will be doing our “scientist of the issue” page.

Here we have an exclusive look at the sketch for Page 3 of After the Gold Rush.

 

Is this your first project? Where are you hoping to debut After the Gold Rush?

Pretty much. I was going to school for Journalism, so I have some published stuff in papers. That’s about it though. So, hello everyone, I hope you like my debut story.

We won’t be releasing it digitally until people get a chance to have the real book in their hands. As much as I love technology, I fancy actual books. So I want to see it read as a true-blue comic first. Shortly after, we will distribute it digitally.

I just finished #writing the story in principle. Now, to actually turn it into #comics for you fine people. #Scifi pic.twitter.com/IbnyUOgkam

— Miles Greb (@Goldrushcomic) May 12, 2015

Obviously you’ve borrowed the title from the Neil Young album by the same name. How much of an inspiration was that album to you?

Personally, the album is very dear. I grew up listening to it while camping with my dad. Neil Young songs were some of the first I learned to play, and I will never stop listening to his stuff. However, there are no themes in the album that are directly linked to our book. The name was just perfect.

Do you have any plans on trying to sell this to publishers?

Do you know any? I am an outsider right now – I don’t have the contacts. I am not against pitching it, but I am not really sure how all that works.

After the Gold Rush looks like it’s going to be a very different take on science fiction and this could be a wonderful new series. We all like the idea of helping out our fellow comic lovers who decided to take that step to trying to become a creator themselves, but how often do we actually reach out? Other than buying some art at cons of course. After the Gold Rush looks like it will be an excellent opportunity get behind an innovative new creator.

This has been the first in what I hope will be many features on creator owned projects. If you have a new comic series you’d like to get off the ground, please let me know.

Science, meet the choir. A new #comic inspired by the #Science, #Skeptic, and #Atheist movements. #Scifi #ATGR pic.twitter.com/EVE1KiCchO

— Miles Greb (@Goldrushcomic) May 15, 2015

Stay tuned for the announcement of when After the Gold Rush will be live on Kickstarter. You can follow the progress on Twitter @Goldrushcomic