Geek Syndicate
life was a tough one to crack.
In future chapters, she grows
even older and still has many
story and character arcs – she
never seems to catch a break!
GS: How important was it to you
that Elysia is an all-ages title?
SO: Very. It’s hard for me to
imagine this as anything less.
Without sounding like a snob,
I’m a little fed up of comics and
graphic novels being aimed at
adults OR children only. It just
seems like an easy way out. I’d
much rather write compelling
characters that don’t swear,
get naked or have sex to drive
interest to my story. In the
same breath, it’s much harder to get adults to care about
something that seems like
it’s aimed at children (since
it stars young children), so
the battle for me there was to
add in topics like death, being
lonely and loss without losing
or scaring the younger audience. I felt as though being
sarcastic and witty was a good
way to get all ages interested
regardless.
GS: Even though a lot of the aspects feel very unique the central
core of Guardian angels is not a
new concept. What is it about Elysia that you think will help it to
stand out?
SO: People had the option of
buying into the graphic novel with Kickstarter rewards – I
doubt this has ever been done
before. The Kickstarter backers
have our hearts, so we wanted
to give back as best we could.
I think the story is also unique
92
because of the world we’ve
created. Guardian angels and
humans live side-by-side and
interact every day. Correct me
if I’m wrong, but I have yet
to see this be explored in the
English-speaking
language
within the comic book realm.
Also, comic books and graphic novels tend to have quite
simplistic artwork and we’ve
smashed that by offering
great story and great artwork
all in one.
GS: What has the response been
so far to the preview pages?
SO: Overwhelmingly positive
– by adults, teens and tweens.
I’m actually pretty shocked
at the response, to be quite
honest. It’s very humbling to
receive feedback from those
who’ve been in the industry
for many years to offer feedback that’s 80% amazing and
the final 20% is their professional opinion on what words
they think I could change, or
panels I can move around, to
make the story stand out more.
I’ve had this story locked inside my skull for over a decade
and to release it now and have
people say nice things about
it can reduce me to tears (this
may also be because I’m quite
massively
sleep-deprived,
hah!). To know all this hard
work is paying off after so
long is honestly one of the
nicest feelings ever.
GS: How did Jennie become involved with the project?
SO: I met Jen through a mutual friend who also makes
comics, at a convention in
Bristol in early 2012. We talked
it through and after telling her
all about the story; she was
excited to be involved. Since
then, we’ve had two more get
involved too, simply because
they love the project – Jessica
Wormley is our lovely apprentice who would like to learn
all things comics to make her
own some day and the super
aw