Kickstarter is quite a wonderful place, where established and aspiring creators can bring their projects to life with the help of their direct target audience. The comic section in particular is often bursting with life and new projects from a variety of talented creators, and if you’re not satisfied with just one awesome creative talent working on your Kickstarted book then I have good news for you.
Live on Kickstarter right now, the horror anthology In the Dark curated and edited by Rachel Deering is currently live and on its way to success. In the vein of “Tales from the Crypt” and with a current pledge (at the time of this writing) at $27,996 of its $30,000 goal, the book features folks like Justin Jordan, Tradd Moore, Cullen Bunn, Brian Level, Matthew Dow Smith, Ed Brisson, Garry Brown, Tim Seeley, Mike Henderson and more as well as Deering herself, all wrapped up with an intro by Scott Snyder. And while it will see it’s production will be done through IDW to help expedite that aspect of the process, the book still needs your help funding it for a variety of good reasons.
Read on as we talk with Rachel Deering all about those reasons, horror comics and more.
One of my favorite things to start off interviews is as follows: Rachel, why comics?
Comics were all I had for entertainment as a kid. I was raised in the middle of nowhere, backwoods Kentucky, and we didn’t have cable television or a phone or a little park with a swing set. My house was literally surrounded by forest for miles and miles. I had to drive somewhere close to an hour to get to a grocery store. Lucky for me, my weird old uncle had a stack of horror and adventure comics, and those things kept me pretty spellbound. I’ve loved comics ever since, and I’m lucky enough to be making comics professionally these days.
I ask a lot of people the “Why comics” question to start interviews, but for you want to add a follow-up variant: why horror?
Horror just seemed to grab me more than any other genre. I loved the feeling of being terrified, of not wanting to turn the page for fear of what might happen next. I got addicted to it, and nothing else could make me feel that same excitement.
How did the initial idea for this anthology come about?
A few creators were joking around on twitter about how I should put a book together, just to give them a reason to write and draw a horror story. I had been wanting to do a great horror anthology book for a while, so I took that as the perfect opportunity to get this thing going.
Why do you think the comic market lost interest in horror – or rather, Tales from the Crypt-style horror (since zombies are wildly popular)?
I think you have to be extremely active in horror comics. You have to let your creativity kick into high gear so that you can set the mood and pacing for the story. Horror comics aren’t like the movies, you know? In the movies, you get scared by a loud sound, or some creepy music, or something jumping out of the shadows. With horror comics, you have to do all the mood setting yourself, and I don’t think many people are willing to let themselves get that wrapped up in a story. That’s just my opinion, of course. It might just be because horror comics suck and I don’t realize it yet. But I doubt it.
Since you mention that horror comics can’t easily do what a horror movie might, what do you find comprises a good horror comic in order to make it really impactful?
The elements of building suspense and tension are the same, you create a character that readers can relate to, make them connect in some way, then put them in a dangerous situation. The big difference comes in the “jump scares”. With a movie, you can achieve this through a sudden sound or something of that nature. With a comic, you have to make the reader dread the page turn. You have to make them terrified of what will come on the next page, but force them to make the turn.
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Having been involved with anthologies yourself such as Womanthology, was there anything particular in terms of structure or execution that you were mindful of when organizing your own?
My involvement with Womanthology didn’t really affect my approach to this book. I grew up reading horror anthologies, and they’ve been my biggest passion all through my life, so I knew from the start how I wanted to structure this thing, and how to best achieve the results I wanted. If anything, my background with horror anthologies helped my approach to working on Womanthology, haha.
Can you talk a bit about the decision to bring this book to Kickstarter to help fund the production? What processes does that entail?
I knew from the start that I wouldn’t have the cash to pay my contributors, so I gave them something even more valuable: my word! I told them I would afford them a page rate whether it was through a publishing deal or Kickstarter or cooking meth. I think people know me as one who sticks to my word, so everyone agreed to work for nothing up front. I also knew that I wanted the book to be a thing of beauty, and packaging like I had in mind would cost quite a bit. I’d successfully funded Anathema on kicktarter, and I was fairly certain I could do it with this book, too, so I took a shot!
When organizing the anthology, how did you go about recruiting people to work on the book?
I sat down and compiled a list of creators I knew really well who might be interested in writing a horror story, and then I began contacting them one by one. Lucky for me nearly all of them said yes, and a few even brought in some very talented friends. In the end, it was all pretty simple.
What sort of role did you play in terms of editing the stories submitted? How hands-on were you?
I tried not to tinker too much with each individual’s ideas. After all, I wanted this book to be about what horror means to different people so that I could really cover all my bases when it came to scaring the readers. Once scripts were turned in, I would sometimes suggest changes that would improve pacing or the clarity of the story, or tweak dialogue here and there. Lots of grammar checking and such. In the broad scope of an editor’s typical duties, I guess I was moderately hands-off with the stories. I made sure they were the best stories they could possibly be, but I didn’t change the content or tone of any of the scripts.
You talk in the Kickstarter about how all of the talent on the book didn’t accept money up front, and that excess money will be given to them. Was it a tough sell considering there was no monetary incentive?
Not at all. Like I said, I think people really trust me when I tell them I’m going to do my best to get them paid. And aside from that, most of these creators were just thrilled to be given the opportunity to write whatever kind of story they wanted. They loved the freedom and the fact that they would retain ownership to their characters.
How did IDW get involved, and to what extent do you find IDW’s involvement helps with the book’s overall marketability?
I had several creators on the book who had worked or were currently working with IDW, and they all suggested I try and pitch the book to them, so I did. I got a response not too long after that said the book was going through some editorial meetings, and then a few weeks later, it was approved. I had a call with Chris Ryall and Jeff Webber where we talked about the business side of everything, and they agreed to handle the business side of everything if I could pull off a successful kickstarter. IDW’s involvement is a double edged sword, really. Some people see their logo and go “Well, why do you need me to pledge to the kickstarter? I’ll just wait until the thing is in Previews and order it there!” and then some people see the logo and it assures them that the book will be great quality and ship on time. In the end, I think IDW’s involvement will only make the book insanely awesome.
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Pending the success of this book, would you like to explore doing more anthologies of a similar type?
I would LOVE to make a second volume of this book. If the kickstarter is successful enough to pay out a good enough page rate to the creators, I will use my share to make the next installment. I should pay my credit card bills, but where’s the fun in that?
Can you tell us a bit about your story in the book?
Sure! My story is called Swan Song, and it’s about a lonely shopkeeper who is walking home through the empty streets one night when he hears the most beautiful voice you can imagine. Truly otherworldly. He tracks down the source of the voice and finds that it’s coming from inside a sealed coffin, being dragged into the countryside behind a gypsy wagon. I won’t say much else, but it’s going to get pretty horrific from there! The story is being illustrated by the insanely talented Marc Laming. He really understands the classic horror aesthetic, so you can bet the story will take you back to the golden days of horror comics!
This is your third Kickstarter project, after two successful Anathema Kickstarters. Is there anything in particular that you’re taking from what you’ve learned on those Kickstarters to apply to this one?
Absolutely. Hire IDW to do the printing and fulfillment, haha! Honestly, that was the biggest thing I learned from Anathema. Printing, packaging, and shipping rewards is AWFUL! Especially when you have boxes and boxes of crap stacked up in your tiny suburban home. Also, never offer full color t-shirts as a reward. It just doesn’t pay off in the end.
