Creator Notes

This comic is about saving the world, or at least saving the world's culture and communication. A recent hybrid breed of tree has appeared worldwide and is releasing a pollen that is believed to settle in the human eardrum, resulting in deafness. The world's scientists have blamed the pollen for the earth's silence, when in reality it's the fault of a vacuum phonograph sucking the sound out of the atmosphere. The protagonist–Liam–is a passionate musician, determined that the scientists are wrong. He embarks on a journey to save the sound from a hideous demon protecting the phonograph stationed in a surreal world. The art is done in a very detailed manner because I felt as though anything less wouldn't do the story justice. Unfortunately for me, this meant the process would be ridiculously slow. Yet despite it's slowness, it has been very rewarding. I can look at each page and say to myself "why yes, that panel DID take me 3 hours to do! And it was well worth my time." The story came out of nowhere, really. Tucker had said something that sparked something in my brain, and the idea popped out, so I went with it because it was a journey worth going on.

The story indubitably came first. Everything unraveled out of that- Liam, the demon, phonographs- they all just made sense with the story. Then character development came around and boy was that a pain. But a necessary pain, since Liam would not be quite as neat-o without having done that first. I am so proud of how the story progresses with the silent panels. The images carry all of the story's weight, which is also why I chose a more detailed style of art. Nothing shows a surreal journey more than details. It was a journey both within and outside of the comic to create. On page 3- that big panel on the right? Yeah, that took me 3 hours to do. But I'll say it again: it was worth it. For my next comics, I may play with the concept of simplicity, and maybe even HUMOR. Though maybe not, because I won't have a time crunch next time.