Geek Syndicate
Jennie Gyllad - Painter of a magical world
SO: Very well. Most of last year
was time for finishing off the
script and also working with
Jen on the characters’ looks.
This year, after our Kickstarter was successfully funded,
we’ve been powering through
the pages.
SO: I’d say there were two;
growing up and friendship.
There’s something quite special when a story unfolds and
there are children in the driving seat of narrative and character development because,
obviously, they’re still learning the way of the world themselves. When I was younger, I
really connected with stories
and plots that were focused
around young people and the
friendships they forge, so I
guess I wanted to mimic that.
GS: What would you say was the
central theme running through
Elysia?
GS: Were there any stories
that influenced you while you
developing the idea?
prevent the mass destruction
of two entire species - the angels and the humans.
GS: How is work progressing
on the project?
SO: Well, I was probably 17
when I came up with the idea
(yep, that long ago!) and I’ve
been mulling it over ever since.
I started writing it in 2005 and
have been working at it on and
off until 2012 when I worked
on it full time. Influences were
always superhero stories that
I always read from early teens
to mid-twenties – X-Men, Batman, Superman, etc. But, I was
always adamant that I didn’t
want to go down that path
with Elysia. Yes, she has amazing powers and, yes, she has
to learn to accept them, BUT
she is entirely fallible and her
life goes through many interesting journeys, so she’s not
exactly a superhero. An author that ties in with this and
influenced me heavily whilst
growing up in my twenties
was Craig Thompson. He was
actually the reason I wanted
to write Elysia’s story all in
one, the full 300 pages together. After I started writing it,
though, it was clear it was better as separate c hapters to depict the differing parts of her
journey.
GS: You’ve written poetry, short
stories, plays and short films. Why
did you decide upon comics as the
tool for telling Elysia’s story?
SO: The simple reason is because I grew up with comics
before anything else and it
was the only medium I hadn’t
had a stab at yet. Comics and
graphic novels mean a lot to
me personally, always having them around the house as
children because of my older
brother, so the nostalgia creates the meaning for itself.
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