The origin of Howard Lovecraft & the Frozen Kingdom begins when I was co-writing several books with author Dwight L. MacPherson. Dwight had approached me about doing another book together that was a Lovecraftian tale. We talked on the phone about this new project when shortly into the conversation he asked me if I was a fan of Lovecraft. To his surprise, I responded that I hadn't read any of his work. Of course, before I could begin this project, Dwight strongly recommended a crash course in H.P.'s work. So, I quickly was off to the book store!

Upon reading H.P. Lovecraft's work, who could not fall in love with his amazing work of fiction?

Usually, when I find a book I love, I am very curious about the person that wrote it.

I always feel it gives you a little more insight into the story you are reading if you know about the author. So, I began to do a little research on H.P. Lovecraft himself.

I quickly learned that he was a child prodigy. At age two he could recite poetry and by age six he was writing it; clearly H.P. Lovecraft was a gifted child. But what really fascinated me even more, was the fact that his father, Winfield Lovecraft, suffered from a complete psychotic breakdown and had to be institutionalized when Howard was three years old. Later in life, Howard's mother suffered a nervous breakdown. One article I read wondered if H.P. had known what happened to his father because, I believe, Winfield Lovecraft was out of town on business at the time when he suffered his breakdown. I thought of Batman of all things. How he was shaped by a childhood trauma. I began to think, even though the facts didn't support it, what would happen if Howard was there at the time of Winfield's breakdown. Then I began thinking about a story, in my mind, of that moment. The idea intrigued me more with thoughts of how I could tell that story, and weave into it, Lovecraft mythos into the tale. Not a single word was on paper, when I ran across a thread on Arcana's forum about a horror anthology they were putting out called Velvet Rope. It seemed the perfect opportunity to tell my little Lovecraft tale.

I scrambled to find an artist for it and that is how I met Renzo Podesta. I had placed an ad for an artist to do a short Lovecraft story, in a short amount of time and Renzo applied for the job. Renzo's eerie, dark art appealed to me for this story. After I quickly worked up the script, it was sent to Renzo. When he returned with the first few pages of the story, I fell in love with his very eerie style of art. Quickly, we submitted a short story called: *Carry Me Softly Into the Land of Dreams* to the Velvet Rope anthology and it was accepted.

After this very short story was finished, I really wanted to do a full project with Renzo. I just wasn't sure what to do. The thought kept coming back to me of a young Howard Lovecraft. Something was there that I could just not let go. I began to jot down some notes of a story about young Howard. I definitely was not doing a sequel to this short story I wrote. I wanted to start over with this idea and build something with Howard from scratch. I began to jot down some notes of a story about a six year old Howard Lovecraft. Whenever possible, I wanted to incorporate as much of the people in H.P.'s life as possible, but still tell some twisted, eerie children's tale. Plus, the idea of weaving into this story, characters and mythology from Lovecraft's work made the project even more appealing to me.

I started to write Howard Lovecraft & The Frozen Kingdom. Once I finished the first script, I contacted Renzo. I told him of the story and asked him whether he would be interested in doing this project. Fortunately for me, Renzo agreed to do it. So, I shot him off the first script and he began with character sketches while I wrote up issue two. I pretty much had the whole concept of the story in my mind by now and just needed to put it on paper.

Character Sketches:

Howard:

I told Renzo that I envisioned a young Howard Lovecraft as the lead character to this story and Renzo proceeded to work up a version of Howard. Renzo had taken the photo that I had sent him of a young Howard Lovecraft and drew it. Honestly, the more I looked at it the more I felt I wanted Howard to be even more younger than this. I asked Renzo if he would go back to the drawing board and draft a much younger version of Howard. He dispatched me a version he jokingly referred to as Howard 2.0. I absolutely loved it. It conveyed that innocence of Howard that I was looking for.

Spot:

After we completed Howard, we were on to the much more difficult task of creating his sidekick; Spot. I envisioned Howard having a protective and of course, monstrous guardian for this story. Renzo and I discussed what we envisioned for Spot; specific features and characteristics. Then Renzo mentioned a few ideas he had thought up as well and asked if

I was fine with them. He wanted to give Spot tattoos and a jeweled rib cage.

In the end, besides the other things we discussed, I left it up to Renzo to see what he could come up with. Renzo did not disappoint to say the least!

After the initial character sketches of Howard and Spot, Renzo sent off the colored version.

Other Characters:

Lastly, I had tried to find as many actual photos of Lovecraft's family that I could find to send to Renzo to do the remaining characters in the book, but that was not easy. Renzo did the best he could with the descriptions and the few pictures I gave him.

Here are a few examples of the remaining characters:

Once we had the character sketches out of the way, it was time to get to work. If you are unfamiliar with the making of comics, let's go through a sample of the process.

Here is page three in script form:

PAGE 3 (6 Panels)

Panel 1: Howard's POV. Howard's father is in the corner of the room. He is slumped over in the corner and is frothing at the mouth. There is paper shredded everywhere and writing on the wall of a senseless language.

CAP: Father.

Winfield: (Small Font) They're coming... they're coming...

Panel 2: A medium shot. Howard is looking at his father in the corner. There are pieces of paper shredded all over .

Howard: Father, it's *me*, Howard. Your son.

Winfield: (Small Font) They're coming... they're coming...

Howard: *Who's* coming, father?

Panel 3: A close up shot. Winfield's eyes widen. I want this to be a small panel.

CAP: Father? Please speak to me.

Winfield: They're—uh—*Howard*?

Panel 4:Howard's POV. Winfield is crawling slowly over towards the slot where Howard is looking through. He has a saddened, confused look on his face.

CAP: Yes, father. Howard... your *son*.

Winfield: (Small Font) Howard—my son—listen to me...

Winfield: ...I made a *terrible* mistake!

Panel 5: A close up shot. Howard's hand is reaching out towards Winfield's hand who is reaching out to touch his hand. I want this to be a small panel.

CAP: Father... I missed you *so* much. I—

Panel 6: Howard's POV. Winfield grabs Howard's hand forcefully. Winfield has a crazed look in his eyes.

Winfield: (Small Font)

Listen to me, Howard my son. I wrote it all down in a book and I never should have done that! Swear you'll never read it!

Howard: F—father, please! You're *hurting*me!

Winfield: *SWEAR IT!*

Renzo takes the script and roughs out the page and sends it to me for approval.

Here is a sample of one of the page layouts that Renzo did on the book. Once I look over and approve the rough page, then Renzo will pencil, ink and paint the page.

Then, of course the final step is the lettering of the page.

So, there you have a little taste of what went into this book which is still in production.

Hopefully this will not only whet your appetite to read it when it comes out, but also know what went into the production along the way. As the book draws closer to that time, I will let everyone, especially everyone at comicmonsters.com, the news of it's impending release.

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