The Making of BANE OF THE WEREWOLF
It's no big secret where my inspirations lie for Bane of the Werewolf.
Silver age classic horror comics and early black and white classic monster
films.
I grew up reading Werewolf By Night, Ghost Rider, Son of Satan, Adam
Warlock, (Warlock not really being in the horror genre, but look at those
shadows!) Creepy, Eerie, and many others. I feel my art is heavily influenced
by the creators of those mags. Mike Ploog, Berni Wrightson, Jim Starlin,
Murphy Anderson, and most recently in my life, Hal Foster, Wally Wood,
Reed Crandall and Will Eisner. There are many others, not all belonging
to the horror genre obviously, but we'll restrict the list to these distinguished
few.
The old gothic horror movies from the 1930s - 1960s
play a huge role as well. When referring to set design, atmosphere and mood,
the Universal classics, Hammer, RKO and Columbia have a wide range of untold
wealth which originates from German expressionists dating back to the time
of the silents. Yea, they're a lot of cheesy fun (which lends to their charm)...
however, look past that, and you will find amazing sets amplifying an 'old
world' ambiance lurking in the background. The creators of these films were
under the strictest of codes during their time. They were unable to produce
unsupervised gore-feasts. Instead, time and effort went into every aspect
of the film to generate the necessary atmosphere to perpetuate the story
and to meld the viewer's imagination therein.
I have always been drawn to the lone, suffering character. In particular,
the idea of a suffering character that must continually struggle just
to hold on to his or her identity. I feel this circumstance always makes
for the most compelling stories and tend to deliver personal impact in
a more altering cohesion than the alternatives. I haven't given up on
our 'hero'. I just plan to beat him up a lot. And there are many ways
in which one can suffer. Did you make the right choice? Do you sacrifice
yourself over another? The continual longing for a friend that has passed
over into the after-life. Physical suffering from a good beating by a
monster or two - many ways.
Style and presentation can personify a work. Thats the kinda thing I
hope to capture. Ideally, when reading Bane of the Werewolf, you will
see and experience the influences I have attempted to imbue. Once you
are done, step back, view the product in it's entirety. Look at it as
a complete package and see where that leaves you.
Wanting to collect and utilize these ideas/influences for a modern comic
book gave birth to BotW - writing and illustrating it myself was the only
way to ensure that it would be presented in the manner in-which I envision.
The publishers at Silver
Phoenix Entertainment gave me the opportunity to do just that.
To begin, I am a visual person. So as I begin to formulate/take notes
on certain key story elements, visuals begin to generate along with. I
then go to the drawing board for small, rough layouts on 8 1/2 x 11, 28#
typing paper, graphically depicting my notes for each chapter. I know
where I want the story to go, so I work mainly at this point to connect
it all in cohesive, sequential panel art. I breakdown each scene before
moving to the next (sometimes I skip around from scene to scene - just
whatever seems to be working best at that moment). Story notes and verbiage
are written in my margins, and I enjoy using text as a graphic element.
Utilizing this method has given me a lot of freedom producing the work.
Giving yourself this kind of flexibility allows quick adjustment for those
moments when it seems the story begins to write itself. Essentially, this
is my plotting stage.
In our splash page, I wanted to present the main character as a christ-like
figure. He appears to us immediately as a suffering character. Note how
the text area at the top almost frames him - it gives him strong emphasis
and keeps in-line with comic design elements from the 1970s. Once I am
satisfied with my roughs, I then blow them up and transfer the layouts
to 11 x 17 art board.
Once the roughs are transferred, I then work out the kinks in the layouts
themselves. I don't have a finished pencil stage in this presentation
because I am able to move quickly to the ink for the finished art, but
the finished penciled stage is certainly there. Note the working title
in the roughs, 'Black Sabbath'. This was changed later to 'Head of The
Magus'.
As I am working on the penciling/inking, on the side, I begin the first
draft of the story for each page as I go. Once the line art is finished,
I scan the work into my mac and prepare the image to be placed into Indesign
for the lettering. I then return to my first draft of story and begin
the second. Note the panel change in the top left.
Note the insertion of the two head shots on this page. After I complete
2 to 3 drafts of the story, I begin placing word balloons and letters.
Some of the verbiage will be re-wrote as its placed but not much. Once
I have the letters complete, and am totally satisfied with the result,
I export the book into pdf format and send it to the publisher for editing.
Sneak peak at the cover for issue 2.
Ultimately, Bane of the Werewolf is a mix of previously stated influences
and my own personal mojo. To me, it represents all the things we loved
in the past and re-packages them for present day. If your familiar with
the silver age horror books, maybe, just maybe you'll experience something
new that will hold you fast to your seat as you enjoy the ride to the
series' finally.
Many thanks to comicmonsters.com for giving me the opportunity to share
with you the creative process for BotW.
Until next time,
Let There Be Monsters!
Rob E. Brown [REB]
thedamned@silverphoenix.net
View the Bane of the Werewolf comic book trailer:
Official
Bane of the Werewolf Trailer
Keep up-to-date with Bane of the Werewolf online:
Official
Press Release
Official
Bane of the Werewolf Website
Comicmonsters.com January interview:
Bane
of the Werewolf Interview
Comment on The
making of Bane of the Werewolf.
