“The arcade was supposed to be safe.” Born out of a popular internet urban legend the new Kickstarter, “Polybius Dreams,” looks to re-imagine the story in a new “coming of age, psychological horror tragedy set in 1986.” This mysterious killer video game is just the back drop to a character driven story of exploration of adolescents, death, video games, society and much more. “Polybius Dreams” is written by Ben Grisanti, with art by Keith Grachow, and colors by Ester Salguero.
Looking to fund the first issue with a goal of 3,500 the project is now live and set to run till Sat, May 13. We had the chance to talk about the comic and Kickstarter with writer Ben Grisanti. Ben discusses how the story came to be, horror, sociology and of course arcade machines. Thank you to Ben for taking the time to talk and you can check out “Polybius Dreams” on Kickstarter now.
As someone who sits on unsolved crime, no sleep, and conspiracy subreddits at their work office all day I was familiar with the idea of Polybius. What interested you about this urban legend and so much so to create a story around it? How has it evolved in what is now “Polybius Dreams”?
Benjamin Grisanti: I discovered it at a time where I was studying media in graduate school. During class, we were talking a lot about the role that media has in society, the relationship people have to it, and the real or perceived threat that it presents. It was late at night, I was a little drunk, and after reading about it and finding some of the home programmed interpretations of the game, I was freaked out. I kept thinking about it, and very quickly realized that this story connects conspiracy theories to media studies and the study of social problems. I’ve also been fascinated by gaming history, and the debate we seem to revisit every few years about whether video games are harmful. I saw a lot of potential for a dramatization of the story that addressed the social aspects of gaming and growing up with that debate. When I nailed down exactly how I wanted to approach the legend and what kind of design motif I wanted to employ to illustrate the effect the game has on its player, I knew I had something really powerful on my hands.
The nostalgia and the culture around arcade machines in the 80’s seems like the obvious choice for a setting for this story. What makes the 80’s the perfect setting for this story? Does the culture/morals at the time play a big role in the story?
BG: Well, for one, it’s about an arcade machine. I used to hang out in arcades a lot when I was growing up, but they’re just not around in the way they were back then. I know you can play classic arcade games where they are available, but the bulk of video gaming has moved to console systems or PCs. The culture has obviously boomed and evolved into a diverse network of gamers across the globe, but in the early days it was a local scene. I remember riding my BMX bike to the arcade and using the rolled up quarters I collected on paper route to play hours of games. It was a very different vibe.
Looking at the 80’s, we had a boom in popular culture that we are still seeing the effects of. Punk exploded, so did the VHS market, and of course, video games became a big deal. All the cultural touchstones of that era never really went out of style, and for whatever reason, they all seem to be really big at this point in time. It could just be because all the people growing up then are in the 30-40 year old range and like relive the things that fascinated them in their youth, but it might be something more about that. There’s a lot to unpack there, and it’s probably worthy of a long conversation unto itself.
There are so many different elements and factors that have to go right for horror to work especially in a comic book. How do you approach horror in “Polybius Dreams” and what do you think is the most effective way to convey it in the medium?
Continued belowBG: I’m a horror junky. I devour it, and more, I love to intellectualize it. Horror has a wonderful capacity to take our deep rooted fears and package them in way that not only makes them more palatable, but can lead to new insight into why we feel certain ways about things. In comics, horror is often the ironic morality play popularized by “Tales From the Crypt” and classic EC comics, or over-the-top, transgressive gore fests. I like those comics a lot, but it’s rare that we see thoughtful, psychologically dense emotional horror stories. Perhaps these stories are rare across all mediums, but comics is the art form I view as having the greatest capacity for storytelling, so it’s important to me to use the tools of comic art to its full potential. To that end, the real strength of the medium is the ability it has to convey the unreal and fantastic. That seems obvious, but when you consider unreality of people’s psychological states in horror tales, it can become something truly great. Not that there aren’t comics out there that do this…
In “Polybius Dreams,” we’re blending the use of film making tools like mise en scène and cinematic lighting with psychedelic and suggestive illustration. In order for that to have maximum impact, we have to first establish what is real in this world before we can break it. So on it’s surface, “Polybius Dreams” might seem wholly realistic, but we have some stuff planned for the rest of the story that really going to upend everything.
As a team what have been some influences you have brought in from other media to create the series?
BG: By far the biggest influence on me as a writer in a visual medium are the horror films of David Cronenberg. Cronenberg was making art house films for the grindhouse market. These films all operate as social allegory in what way or another. Of course there’s a massive academic interest in Cronenberg, but his films are also visceral, unnerving, and work just fine as shocking, transgressive thrillers. Videodrome in particular is one of my favorite movies and an undeniable influence on what I’m trying to accomplish. We have a couple Videodrome Easter Eggs already in the art.
As far as comics, I also can’t deny the influence of Charles Burns’ “Black Hole.” I picked this up way back in the day with the original Kitchen Sink Press editions of the first few issues and it blew my young mind. Maybe some of it went over my head, but I just didn’t know that comics could do what that book does. You don’t have to look too hard to see that influence in “Polybius Dreams.” “Black Hole” does everything I want to do as far as subtly and psychology concerned. Picking up that book was a big moment for me. I think I bought it at the same time I bought Marvel’s Slapstick, if that gives you any idea as to where I was as far as my comic palette at the time.
With a background in sociology and media and the study of social problems in media, how has that influenced your writing especially with a story like this?
BG: True story, I’ve been interested in being a horror writer pretty much my whole life, but when it came time to choose a college major, I wanted to avoid becoming an English major. Instead, I joined the sociology department because I thought it would help me write better horror, and I think it did. Back then I recognized that the horror stories we like are often cultural critique of some kind. “Polybius Dreams” address the phenomenon of disaffected youth, adolescent violence, and suicide. The original urban legend has this in it, but it’s not really explored. In general, what conspiracy theories, some creepypasta, and a lot of horror in general is lacking is emotional realism. At our worst, we treat tragedy in horror in a crass way, so what I want to do is really make the deaths and violence in “Polybius Dreams” heart breaking. Maybe horror media presents us with a safe place to explore these themes, but in the real world, the death of a child is devastating. There’s nothing safe about the way I plan on presenting it. There’s nothing safe about “Polybius Dreams” in general. By the end of the first chapter, the reader should have some idea as to where this is going, and it’s not good.
Continued belowOn the Kickstarter page you make sure to focus a lot on the characters. In a story with hook centered in mystery and horror for you are the characters what really drives this story?
BG: Absolutely. It’s that human element that I want to capture. I’m thinking very hard about every character in this work and what their personal experience is. I knew that I needed to make it about the characters because I know that people will identify about them.
Both Keith Grachow and Ester Salguero, the art team for the series, also sporting pretty impressive backgrounds. What do they bring to comic and what is the creation process like for you guys?
BG: Keith and Ester are professionals. Every comic I’ve published so far are what I call “get with your friends and make comics” comics. I have a blast doing that and no plans to stop working on those projects, but I knew from the outset that this project was special and has a tremendous amount of cult appeal. Keith and I became friends after doing a number of comic cons in Artist Alley together. He has a background as an educator and an astute understanding of character development in visual storytelling. For Ester, I just found an ad she posted online looking for colorist work. I looked at her portfolio and knew immediately that she inject mood and an suggestive lighting effects, which would add another dimension to the story. We originally weren’t sure if we were going to do the book in black and white or in color, but after getting pages back from her, I knew it had to be color. It looked too good. There was just no going back.
The other thing that was important to me was to have a powerful,surreal, and provocative image for the cover. A symbolic “forest of the dead” is something we return to regularly in the narrative, and the story takes place in the Autumn, during the seasonal change to winter, and that’s a very deliberate and important symbolic aspect of the narrative I wanted to be reflected in the art. The image I asked Kelly Williams for was kind of a watershed moment in development of this story. I knew I had to get him to do it, and he delivered in spades.
You have run multiply kickstarters before this project. What have you learned that you take into the current campaign?
BG: Previously, every campaign I ran was for books that were either finished or very closed to finishing, and they were books that were going to come out no matter what. This is the first time where my Kickstarter campaign could mean the life or death of this project at large. I am supremely grateful for every single pledge we get, and try to maintain communication with everybody as much as possible. I want to make it well worthwhile for everybody that contributes. I’ll be adding more rewards, and more incentive for pledges as we go on.
Why do you hope people back “Polybius Dreams” and what do you hope they get out of the work when they get to read it?
BG: My backers are getting a chance to fund a unique, personal, and powerful comic book. I hope people appreciate aspects of the story that exemplify the importance of character, and recognize the dramatic potential of such a tale. The art is stunning, and it’s kind of surreal to me how good this book looks. It’s going to be beautiful, and not without relevance to life in the 2010s. I think our readers will emerge thinking about the role video games play in our lives, but also sense of understanding for the political climate we deal with while growing up in a media saturated society. Of course, what you see in “Polybius Dreams” is primitive compared to what we have now, but that primordial connection is there.
Lastly what is your favorite arcade machine?
BG: Oh man. There’s a bunch. As far as classic games, it’s hard to beat Galaga. I used to get so excited to see a Galaga machine where ever they popped up. I would almost always pester my parents for a quarter to play one if I didn’t have any of my own. I have a great deal of appreciation for Berserk and Frogger as well. Those are classic games, but I also have a fondness for the Aliens arcade game, not only because it’s fun, but also because it’s based the greatest action sci-fi movie ever. You get to fight the Alien Queen in a power loader, and that is so special. Of course I have many fond memories of playing Street Fighter 2, all the SNK games, and I’ll never forget when my friend alerted me to the fact that Mortal Kombat 2 came out, and we spent the rest of the afternoon with a group of maybe ten others, huddled around the incomplete beta version of the arcade game as everybody tried to figure out the fatalities. Those were the best of times.
