The vision of the angel and devil on one’s shoulders is our metaphor for questions of moral quandary. But what if that was made literal, and you always had someone on your shoulder? And that manifestation was whispering your deepest, darkest fears into your ears?
That is the premise of the new Kickstarter comic, “Chango: The Broken Veil Act 1” by writer Ben Goldsmith and artist Cesar Feliciano. Similar to Ben’s previous project “The Seance Room,” “Chango” combines ideas of literal and metaphorical monsters to craft a new kind of horror story that reaches to the deepest parts of your soul.
I recently met up with Ben at Terrificon this August to chat with him about “Chango, “a few of his other projects in development, some of his own comics origin story and the latest from the world of “The Seance Room.” Be sure to check out the “Chango” Kickstarter, which ends next week.
Multiversity met you last year when you talked with us about the Kickstarter for the concept album based on your comic “The Seance Room.” Was the Kickstarter funded? Are there more issues of “The Seance Room” in development?”
Ben Goldsmith: We got funded and it’s amazing and people are finally getting back to me on it [the album] now. So I’m actually hearing from everyone who heard it, and it’s been generally positive. So I’ve been pretty thrilled about that. We have issue three out of the comic, you know, because it was a comic at some point. And then four is currently almost finished, we still need to color.
So we can expect it before the end of the year?
BG: Oh yeah, definitely. And that one’s pretty rad. So issues one and two both have definitive ghosts, right? And then number three, the owner of takes it on himself. And then with number four, you have someone who searches out the Seance Room. So she goes on purpose. I don’t want that feeling that anyone got from one and two to go away, to dissipate, of not being able to expect. Even the way of people getting there or how the ghosts work. The rules are all the same.
You’re not changing the rules. You’re twisting up the rules in the sense that you’ve got Mr. Weiss involved. And then someone specifically seeking out the Seance Room. You can imagine it’s gotten some sort of notoriety at this point and it’s bringing in fans and that itself can lead to trouble.
BG: Yeah. And she’s this super famous movie star. She’s doesn’t know why she’s still unhappy. And she goes there to figure it out.
So, “The Seance Room” is going great. I think I’m gonna put a hiatus on after number four, um, to worry about the trade, put the trade together.
Four issues seems like a good stopping point for a trade.
Now, since you also love Kickstarters so much, you’re back for another with “Chango: The Broken Veil Act 1” which is this horror story of fantastical monsters and the monsters within our own morals and ethics. Tell us a little bit about that Kickstarter.
BG: I’d say love is maybe an overstatement for the amount of times I checked that damn thing during the day and think about it and talk about it.
So Ruben is a character who is 17 years old. He has been saddled with the burden of being able to see all of our insecurities made manifest as demons that live with us. We don’t all walk around wearing our cuts on our arms. But in this world, these people do from his point of view.
The real story is that when we sort of jump in with him, he’s at the point where he’s ready to get rid of it. We’re watching him go through those actions. His demon is a character named Chango, who is fully realized. It’s his demon that was with him, that gives him these abilities.
And then the relationship with him and his mom. His dad died, and that’s what sort of spurned all of the events. This happened before we meet up with them. In the intervening years, in the six years or so since that happened, she doesn’t realize that these have been burdened with this. So she just thinks that he’s grown distant, not knowing, and trying to make up that space in between and doing so unsuccessfully because she doesn’t know what’s really important. So you’re watching the relationship between them and this unspeakable thing that he can’t tell her yet is clearly causing them to rip.
Continued belowIt’s like anything I try to do. You’ve got your gimmick, which is your cool thing. That’s the demon. And then after that, what’s the human thing?
What makes it personal.
BG: What makes it so that my mom, who doesn’t read demon books, can read this and still feel like she understands everything that’s going on. All it is is putting flowers in the hair of the human emotions.
And your Kickstarter page said this is a very personal story for both you and Cesar [Feliciano], who is the artist, based on true events. What elements of your own experiences you brought to this story besides the cool demons?
BG: It’s really a lot of Cesar’s story, to be honest. A lot of the events happened to him, and I interpreted a lot of it. Those are moments that I’ve lived through, like losing a parent, or being held by a person who loves you, even though they don’t understand why you’re upset. That’s a human moment. But as far as a lot of the world building, the character designs, even down to the houses that they go to, that’s, those are all houses from Cesar’s Latin culture, from his story. I am very, very interested in any sort of inclusion, but I don’t want people to assume that I’m pretending to know things that I am not. I’m just thrilled to be a part of it honestly, and to have him trust me with that story.
What are some of the perks folks are going to get if they back the Kickstarter?
BG: The best one right now is being able to be drawn into the comic, with your demon. So he’ll draw you in, but it’s also going to be a scene in which your demon will be there with you. So we’ll see it. He will design the thing and then put you in the comic with your demon, It’s not just being drawn in, it’s something a little extra. In addition to that, you can bump up your contribution and then get a copy of your demon as a pinup. So you can actually then keep it for yourself as well as having it in the book.
I also used to do these postcards where I’d do horror stories of people on the back of vintage magic postcards or vintage horror movie postcards. We’re offering that as an exclusive for the Kickstarter.
And then obviously it’s a double sized comic, so you can just get the comic, you get the PDF. It’s going to be double sized. It’s going to be a two parter. This first part being the first act and then the second part finishing the story and they’ll both be about 50 plus pages, 60 probably at the end of the day. And we’re going to be doing it really nice and bound, like Sarah Richard and Franco’s “The Ghost and the Owl,” something akin to that.
On the topic of things that are beautiful and your art inspirations, you have this other one shot [with Source Point Press], which is titled “Beyond the Demon of the Sea.” And this was inspired by . . . tattoos?
BG: Yeah, it was. I hope you put the question mark in italics when you write this out.
We have a comic book that is a one shot comic. It’s Victorian style horror, in that it’s very terse. The comic book equivalent I hope of violin string being played staccato and quickly, brings that the tension element. Because that’s what I liked about old Victorian stories. They weren’t going for these big set pieces. Realistically in their lives, they didn’t have that reference point. For them, everything was very intimate, the world wasn’t very big.
I had been doing some research in Victorian style horror another project that I was working on with Sarah Argyle Goolsbee who did a band called Blitz Kid and we were doing reinterpretations of all these stories. So I’ve been doing a lot of research in it, and maybe it stuck, because when I was approached by Davy Broyles, he wanted to do comics. He was in Detroit, Motor City Comic Con, and said, “I want to make a comic book.” And Travis McIntyre, who is the editor-in-chief at Source Point, is . . . I’ve learned enough that this point to know that I can’t question. If he has a gut feeling, you kind of got to go with it. Because Davy showed us the art, and I was like, oh well this is going to be . . . and then Travis said, “No, no, no, look, just talk to the kid.” I did, I reached out to him and he said, “I’m a tattoo artist. I live in Detroit.” And I was like, all right, let’s not reinvent the wheel here. Let’s make a comic book that’s tattoo art.
Continued belowWhen I saw it was a one shot, I was like, “man, that’s it?” It sounds like there are more stories to come.
BG: Again, with what I was talking about with “The Seance Room” where it’s like it’s good that something’s working but you always have to keep heightening and inventing and reevaluating. What we did was, with that first one we went with that American traditional love and horror as they crossed the Atlantic Ocean. It’s a lot of that sailor style tattooing.
And then with the next one we decided instead of doing that same thing, we are going to explore four different styles of traditional tattoos. So for the next one it’s greaser tattoo, for lack of a better term. Pinup girls hot rods, flaming eight balls. Then for the third one, Japanese traditional. Then for the last one, Samoan traditional. Each one being a horror story that is reflective of a certain style, based on tattoo work.
The way I think about it now, we did it on a whim just because it’s fun, but we’re thinking about it now. It makes perfect sense. 80% of the people who walk through these doors, at a conservative estimate, have a tattoo.
Each one will be a single story. And then what I’ll do is we’ll eventually put in a trade. Don’t hold me to this, but my, my gut is to say that we do a book that starts at a tattoo parlor, closing up shop for the night and then all the artists drinking and talking about their favorite tattoos that they did that day.
That’s a nice little wraparound. It’s just like the beauty of “The Seance Room,” that you have the self contained stories. You can dip in and out. If you miss an issue, it’s not the end of the world. You’re not missing a chunk of the story. You can go back and read it again.
BG: And it’s really interesting cause RV9 is coming out in a couple months.
We talked about that one in the fall, briefly.
BG: And that’s the opposite.
Tell us us why that one’s a little different from these other ones.
BG: You absolutely need to read them in order. It is quintessential. I didn’t stray too far from having your couple pages in the beginning that re-constitute you to the happenings. It is a mile a minute on that one.
This title is from Mad Cave Studios, which has a shared superhero universe. And this is picking up from one of their other titles, “Midnight Task Force.”
BG: So “Midnight Task Force” took place in 2055, technologically inspired universe. So RV9 is my contribution to this world, where this main character Velveteen, she is an ex-assassin of the nine greatest assassins that sort of run a majority of Europe of a great chunk of the world. And their leader Volta has sort of been operating on this antiquated neo-fight ideology. And she, for that reason and the fact that the misplaced trust and love elements that come with a father figure that is not your father and might not have your best interests at heart because of these things. She has left the order, and we picked up with her as she is essentially systematically trying to take them down thank
You’re now writing for a shared superhero universe. You’ve written your own self contained stories. You’ve written one shots, you’ve written what’s going to be like a graphic novel. What’s the easiest to write? Or, what’s the one you enjoy writing the most?
BG: I think those are separate. The easiest to write are probably those one-shots, because you don’t have to go back and constantly check and make sure that you’re staying true to the stuff that you’ve written before. The one I like to write the most? Well, right now I’m working on a novel.
And Source Point does prose novels as well, so I imagine it’s going to live there.
BG: That is the intention. They asked me if I had anything and I did. I think I like that the most because I don’t have to wait for anyone. The only person that’s not on the hook for it is me. I will wake up every day and put the pressure on myself to two, three pages a day at minimum, just make sure that I’m really cracking my own whip.
Continued belowOne of my least favorite parts about working in comics is waiting for artists, which that takes time. And then I have to remind myself to be patient because I really want to go, go, go, go. And I know that art takes time. I fundamentally understand this, but the lizard part of my brain wants to always achieve and move to the next thing and the next thing.
“The Seance Room” has technically been out for two years, but the truth is, I’ve been done with it. I wrote that first issue in 2012. It takes a level of patience and with the novel, I don’t have to indulge that patience.
I get the idea of wanting to have that complete creative control that from start to finish.
BG: With the comics, there are elements of “The Seance Room,” certainly have elements of “RV9” since I just wrote it, and I don’t actually have any final say on a lot of that stuff. There are elements of things where if I could change it, I absolutely would, but, but you have to think about it holistically. I’m willing to take the ego hit.
One thing we didn’t talk about in our last interview was your comics origin story. Where did you start? What brought you to comics? What stories characters hooked you in, whether that was as a fan or a creator?
BG: I was a musician. And then I had always been a comic book fan. But then the New 52 brought me back in, you know, big, big, big, big way. And it was at that time that I was sort of needing a little more creative control of my own stuff, feeling like my level of confidence in myself had gotten to the point where I was okay not being the second. For most of my life, I was very content, even committed to being the guy behind the guy. I was very happy to because I was a guitarist. Other people sing, you play, they take the brains of the attention, they take the brunt of the judgment. And I wasn’t emotionally ready to be that person. And then finally, I think I got to that point where I felt competent enough in my knowledge of my art, not just as a performer but as a storyteller, to want to have more control over that. And it was just like that. And then being back into comics, it just hit at the same time. And so I think those two things amalgamated and I started attending comic cons.
That’s how you found Source Point Press as well, at Boston Comic Con.
BG: Actually, I do like this story better. I was in New York, I met a company and I did my metaphorical shot and went out to a bar with them somewhere in Brooklyn that wasn’t even on the subway. And, they were like, we do this thing where they will have someone review your comic book . They did, and that their editor ripped it apart. Absolutely trashed it, just didn’t even finish it. Told me it was garbage. But the thing that I got from it was that they were like, we picked up this one artist because of their social media presence. And so I took the thing that I could take from it, which was that I can start a Twitter.
So I did and I started following people. And one of the people I followed was this artist Sean Seal. And then when I was walking through Boston, I saw Sean’s name and he was with a company called Source Point Press. And the rest is history.
I remember the other cool thing about it too is that Travis was there and I said, “Hey, are you guys looking for projects?” And he said, “Well, no, not really.” And I said, “Well, what about later?” And I just didn’t take no really. And I don’t think I was a jerk about it. It was just like, all right, you’re saying no to this, but can you say no to this? After that, uh, he said, “Well write me 10 pitches and send them to me.” So I did that. So then he’s like, “Here’s the three I want you to do. Say why you like them, why you think they’ll sell and why we would like them.” So I did that for three of them and eventually he picked one. He tells me a year, year and a half later after we had been on the road with them for awhile, “We already knew we were going to pick Seance Room. We just wanted to see if you would do it.”
Continued belowI’m happy with that origin story cause that does show that it’s like there is a fair amount of luck involved but there’s also fortitude.
Now let’s have a little fun here. Pick any particular character in comics. And this could be anywhere from Marvel to DC to Image to Dark Horse that you look at and you’re like, damn, I want to write that character. Who would it be?
BG: Huntress.
And put your own spin on it. What would you do to make it different from previous iterations?
BG: I haven’t read all of the Huntress stuff, so I don’t want to say something and people will get back to me on it and comment and say, no, well actually Greg Rucka did this. And I just know that I love that character. I think she’s so badass. And I don’t know if she’s had a truly memorable story aside from like her stuff in Italy. A lot of that is still pretty reflective of Tim Sale’s Catwoman stuff where it’s all about the Mafia, it’s all about family. It’s pretty Godfather-y. I love that character design. I love her, especially the Helena version.
Starfire would be another one, one of those two, and really give them something that was their own, their Planet Hulk.
Anything else that you want to mention to us that’s coming from the world of Ben that we didn’t talk about already?
BG: I’d say the one last thing that is closer to done than not is a book called “Second Place.” It’s about bodybuilding aliens told in mockumentary style. Just like with the tattoos, I was like, we need to come up with a form that’s different from comics. And I’ve never personally read a mockumentary style comic. My favorite movies are mockumentaries: Drop Dead Gorgeous, Spinal Tap, Parks and Rec. So let’s do it.
“The Seance Room” and “Beyond the Demon of the Sea” are available now from Source Point Press and comiXology. “RV9” will debut from Mad Cave Studios this November.
