Electric Team

The scene on today’s page is a good example of my collaborative process with Abi. For this page, I wanted to tease/foreshadow an important character that Abi and I created, who’s going to be very important later in the story. I knew that this individual would be hurt and wrapped in bandages, and someone would be taking care of him, but I didn’t know what the setting would be like.

I asked Abi. She had the idea that our mystery man would be in a world of cat people, and she named that world Clarmya. Later, I wrote the script for this page, and ran it by her. She said no, she didn’t like Clarmya, she wanted the place to be named Catagonia. “But,” I said, “You named it Clarmya.” I’m old, and rigid in my thinking. And I thought Catagonia was too silly a name. I tried to talk her out of it, but she insisted, and I try not to overrule her ideas. I changed the script so that it’s the town of Catagonia on the world Clarmya. And I’m happy with it. This is what usually happens–I’m unsure about one of Abi’s ideas, I grudgingly give in, and then later realize that it’s great.

Catagonia really came to life when Sam drew it. The little touches, like the loaf of bread and the stained glass windows, make it come to life and feel like a bustling little town with its own culture and history. Now I’d like to see a whole comic set there.