IN 1916 A BOY TAKES TO THE ROAD IN SEARCH OF HIS FATHER, A WAYWARD MINSTREL HE NEVER KNEW. ALONG THE WAY HE ENCOUNTERS A CHARMING SALESMAN WHOSE PEARLY WHITES ARE FAKE, CONCEALING JAGGED SPIKES THAT HE USES TO CONSUME THE INNOCENT.

ComicMonsters.com reporter Stephanie Shamblin Gray caught up with the co-writer of Severed, Scott Tuft, to ask him a few questions about the book.

Stephanie Shamblin Gray: Can you tell us a little about the story of Severed and the main characters?

Scott Tuft: Sure. SEVERED is set in 1916 and centered around Jack Garron, a 12 year old boy who runs away from home in search of his natural father who is a traveling minstrel. Along the way he meets up with a charismatic salesman whose pearly whites are fake and behind them he hides his natural teeth - jagged spikes that he uses to eat children. 

Jack is a hopeful kid who feels out of place in his quiet suburban life. When he finds out that he was adopted as a baby and that his biological father is a traveling musician, everything seems to click for him. He tracks down the man and they start exchanging letters. At the beginning of the story, Jack decides to hit the road and meet up with his dad, eagerly embracing the hoboing musical lifestyle that he has somehow always felt deep down in his soul.

While Jack embodies the optimism of the early 20th century, the salesman is the flipside of the coin. Rather than using the openness of the road to find himself, he uses it to change his identity and prey on the innocent. He's the kind of guy who blends into a crowd but can turn the charm on when he wants to. He can figure out what you want and offer it to you. But be careful because there is true horror that exists behind that winning smile. 

Stephanie Shamblin Gray: In the book notes, you explain that this book is meant to work like a good horror movie and "slowly build up an unsettling creepy feeling before showing [its] teeth". That is a great description. What can you tell us about that without spoiling anything?

Scott Tuft: If you are looking for blood and guts... you're gonna have to wait a bit with SEVERED. The scares are supposed to come from a deeper more psychological place. The gore is not designed to be a source of the scares but a symptom. I can tell you that it progressively builds through the 7 issues and we hope that the restraint from the first issues allows for any gore that might happen later on to have more effect.

Stephanie Shamblin Gray: How did this writing collaboration begin between you and Scott Snyder?

Scott Tuft: Snyder and I came up with the idea and plotted out the entire story. As he was neck deep in Detective and Vampire at the time and I wanted to get my hands dirty... I took the first stab at the scripting. Then Scott would read, give notes and revisions and we went back and forth a couple times with each stage of the scripting.

Stephanie Shamblin Gray: Tell us about working with the artist, Attila Futaki.

Scott Tuft: Working with Attila is a dream. His storytelling sense is great and he really knows how to create tension with his layouts as well as the textures he uses. And he keeps getting better. We plan for the art to shift with the story but can't really discuss that at this point.

Stephanie Shamblin Gray: With your background in filmmaking, are you working on a screenplay for Severed yet?

Scott Tuft: Not yet... the story is imagined in a way that is conducive to a feature length film - probably because that was my frame of mind when we imagined the story. But it was written to work as a comic. So while all the pieces are in place for a feature script to evolve, right now we are focusing on making it the best comic that it can be.

Stephanie Shamblin Gray: This is a seven issue mini-series?

Scott Tuft: Yes ma'am. But we are having so much fun with it and we have ideas for extending it in the future.

Stephanie Shamblin Gray: Where can our readers go for more information on the book?

Scott Tuft: The best place is the facebook page... http://www.facebook.com/SeveredComic

Stephanie Shamblin Gray: Anything else you would like to say about Severed?

Scott Tuft: Just that it's a story really close to our hearts. We are aiming for a completely different comic here and we hope it hits close to the bone and resonates with people. 

Stephanie Shamblin Gray: Thank you, Scott, and good luck with the book! Comment on this interview here.

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Published on: 2011-08-11 (869 reads)