Kevin LaPorte - Story & Letters
A lifelong resident of Mobile, Alabama, I fell in love with comics in the late 70’s while still in elementary school. Even at that age, I was drawn to the tragically flawed characters in the Marvel Comics stable, primarily the Hulk and Iron Man, relating to those characters forced to overcome demons of rage and compulsion. It’s no coincidence I hold an M.S. in psychology and have worked in mental health since 1995. In high school, it was the work of the great J. M. DeMatteis that truly moved me. His Gargoyle for Marvel Comics and Martian Manhunter for DC Comics, both illustrated by Mark Badger, remain two of the most poignant comic stories I ever read and are the standards by which I judge all others. These creators took two flat, stock characters – team book fillers – and made them into people to care about, to feel for.
My dream was always to write characters that readers would love with the same depth I always loved these…but I never even tried. Whether it was school, family or career that I used as an excuse, it simply did not happen. Every now and then, momentary inspiration pushed me to pen a short, prose story of a few pages, but never a comic script…not until 2007, when Amanda Rachels asked me to scratch out a few pages so she could put together a submission portfolio for showing at conventions.
Amanda Rachels – Art & Colors
Raised in an artistically-gifted family in Magnolia Springs, Alabama, there was no time in my life when I didn’t feel art was a part of my identity. I wanted to be an animator since I was a girl of only five years. I absolutely adored Disney’s stable of animated films and cartoons, and I was fascinated with learning how they were made. When I was introduced to comic books by my cousins, I was drawn to Batman, Detective Comics, Wolverine and EC Comics’ creepy horror collections. Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman film warped my eight-year-old mind! And in the best possible way! Villains and monsters always appealed to me more than the heroes. The Joker was my guy long before Heath Ledger defined him (I still love you, Jack…and even you, Cesar…). I longed for Cobra Commander to be my prom date, and I have a picture to prove my wish came true! Seriously.
My own initiative to create comics ignited in that signature year of 1992, when the art firm of Lee, McFarland, Larsen, Liefeld, Valentino and Silvestri christened themselves Image Comics. I remember my cousins and I sitting around the kitchen table, each with our own copy of Spawn #1 and describing how we’d someday create our own comics. I followed through! I wrote short stories and translated them into pictures, learning a ton from my talented older cousins. Working in my Dad’s comic shop as a teenager, my professional artistic heroes were Jim Aparo, Jim Lee, Katsuhiro Otomo, Graham Ingles, Neal Adams, Brian Bolland, Bill Sienkiewicz, among many others. To this day, my single favorite comic story remains The Killing Joke. I eventually collaborated to illustrate and self-publish a story, The Chronicles of Limbo, on a local level, but that was my only organized effort at publishing my work until 2007, when I asked Kevin LaPorte to pen a brief script for me to draw for showing at conventions.
We put Zuda, and comics creation in general, down for a year. Maskers was fun to produce, but it was not a story that matched up well with our collective sensibilities. To generate characters and situations that spark emotion on the screen and in the reader, we needed a tale that spoke to us first. The ideas that spawned such characters and situations eventually coalesced into The Blind Eye, our ongoing webcomic. During this process, our participation in the larger internet world of comics exposed us to other opportunities. We submitted a four-page story, Light’s Speed, for inclusion in the Reading With Pictures Anthology Vol. 1, and it was accepted. Beyond the sheer joy of having a story primed for publication, the editorial guidance and tutelage provided by Reading With Pictures Executive Director Josh Elder improved Kevin as a writer in virtually all areas technical and creative. We owe him a great debt for his generosity of time and thought when exhaustively editing the script of a consummate novice.
Then, in February, 2010, Kevin stumbled across a forum post about something called Small Press Idol. He hit the link, read the rules and instantly set about jotting down story ideas, crossing fingers that Amanda could fit art for the contest into her cramped work schedule. She didn’t hesitate to commit. Game on. Early in the production process, we agreed to a horror plot based on the then-ambiguous concept of spirits avenging abused children. The decision to use clowns came during a Fed Ex TV commercial featuring an especially creepy clown doll. The connection between clowns and kids, the weird fear of clowns experienced by so many adults, the wild creative possibilities of using clown motifs in the most bizarre ways possible – it all gelled perfectly. We put together the rough cover for Clown Town in a crowded Starbucks and surprised no one more than ourselves with the success we experienced in each round of Small Press Idol 2010. What a terrific experience it’s been – expert critiques and direct exposure to producing and marketing an independent comic within a supported, guided framework. We are creators of an entirely different order for having been a part.
Amy Rachels – Color Separations
If the name seems familiar, it’s because I’m Amanda’s little sister. Although I’m still sort of a beginner skill-wise, I am learning a lot and improving working with Amanda and Kevin. I’ve always loved horror and mysteries, books and movies that would seriously make most sane men run away crying like a little girl! Contributing to a horror comic is my dream job even if it doesn’t pay (but I hope one day it does!). I just have too much fun making things look like bloody hell. My biggest influences, heroes to me really, are Junji Ito, Kazzuo Umezu, Steven King, Andre Farquin, Kazuma Kaneko, Yoshitaka Amano…well, there are just too many to list, really. And, of course, there’s Amanda. Though our styles are drastically different, just about everything I know I learned from her. It’s a little scary when someone you look up to puts their faith in you to handle their work, but it’s also a great honor. I hope everyone has as much fun reading these comics as I have had getting to work on them.
