Last Thursday, Steven Hudkins launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund “The Warden Anthology“. The 25 year old Indiana native recently moved to California with his wife for a new job installing sprinkler systems, but his real passion is in the supernatural adventure narrative he’s been distilling for the last three years. After lots of work and lots of money spent out of pocket to develop the idea, he’s reached a point where he’s ready to display his efforts and hopefully gain some support from interested readers. After reading a sample of the book, I knew this was a comic that deserved some time in the Small Press Spotlight. Hudkins recently found time for an interview to explain his project in more depth.
What kind of comic experience did you have growing up? Are you a long time reader?
Steve Hudkins: I read the basic comics when I was a kid. You know, a couple Marvel and DC, but I wasn’t a huge fan. It wasn’t until I was older, around 16 or 17, that I really started reading comics. I got into darker storylines like “Hellboy” or Frank Miller’s “Dark Knight”. I realized comics could be an art form, and I started to appreciate them more.
Do you have any kind of education in writing?
SH: No, I went from high school to working for my dad’s sprinkler business, so everything I’ve learned has been self-taught. I was in a writing group in Elkhart, Indiana where we would share, critique, and learn together. I also took some online writing classes. I’ve been writing comics for about 5 years now, and this is the culmination of everything I’ve been attempting. This will be my first published comic work.
The other stuff you wrote – was it similar to “The Warden”, or was it early drafts of this same story?
SH: I’ve written scripts for all kinds of genre. I’ve tried my hand at superhero scripts and pretty much everything you can find, but this is the one that I’ve really enjoyed writing. “The Warden” started about 2.5 to 3 years ago. I’ve written several scripts for it, and for this project I’ve taken the best of those scripts and a couple that I’ve previously had edited by Steven Forbes over at Comixtribe. He’s the project editor on “The Warden”, and we’re working on editing the whole anthology now.
Have you ever tried drawing your own comics, or have you always focused on writing first?
SH: I have tried drawing. Unfortunately that’s not a skill that I’m talented in. I’ve attempted to draw my own comics, but I want to create something professional enough to be on the self next to Dark Horse or Image. When it comes to art, I’m just not capable of producing that kind of quality. I need to work with an artist.
Are you still practicing? Is it something you want to do eventually?
SH: I’m still practicing. Actually, my wife and I were just talking the other day about getting a tablet so I could practice coloring comics a little bit more often. I think for the most part I’ll still hire an artist for inking and pencils, then I’ll try to color them. That won’t happen until I feel I can do it with professional quality.
I was surprised you had so many different artists and colorists working with you on Warden, and I was wondering how you got connected to them.
SH: It started with George. George Sellas has worked as a concept artist and a freelance artist for a decade now. When I was first shopping around for an artist for “Swamp Magic” (the story that’s free on the Kickstarter page), I tried contacting a few artists. Sebastián Píriz ended up as the artist on a different story in the anthology, but he was actually my first choice for “Swamp Magic”. That didn’t work out, then George read the script and he loved it, except he was unavailable for 8 or 9 months. He was so passionate about it that I wanted to work with him, and I chose to wait. That’s how “Swamp Magic” came into being. It was a lot later than I’d planned it to happen, but we got it done. After that, “Swamp Magic” kind of sold me to other artists. They saw we had created something of good quality, and it made them more willing to work with me. That’s compared to me being Joe Schmo, “I wrote a couple words on a paper, do you want to draw it?”
Continued belowDid you just cold call the artists, or did you already know them?
SH: Sebastian, I had already had contact with, but for the most part it was me seeking them out. I picked them from a few Kickstarter projects I liked, like Carlos Trigo and Jack Lavy. I’m also a fan of Comixtribe. I know an editor there, Steven Forbes, so I grabbed a few artists from them. It basically came down to indie projects that I enjoyed personally. I knew I wanted to work with those people, so I hounded them until they said yes.
I’m actually not familiar with any of the artists working on Warden. Looking through the promo pictures on the Kickstarter page, I was surprised by how well all their different styles work together. If I didn’t know it was a bunch of different artists, I’m not sure I would’ve realized it just scrolling down the page. Is that something you got lucky with, or did they try to follow the “Swamp Magic” style after they saw it?
SH: No, I actually chose their styles for each story. For instance, one of the stories, “Feline Fatale” is being drawn by Alex Cormack. He’s been published by a few of the smaller publishers. That story has a lot of lines on the page. It takes place in a jungle, it’s basically about the Warden hunting down a man-eating tiger. It’s based on the true story of the tiger of Chucka and Jim Corbett, who is an actual hunter and conservationist. I chose Alex’s style specifically because I’ve seen him draw such realistic stuff and because he puts so many lines on the page with intricate detail with the background. I knew it would work perfect for that story and the jungle, and that’s how I did it with each of the artists, too. I picked them to suit each story individually rather than seeing if their styles worked together.
For the original design of the character, did you leave that up to George, or did you have specific ideas in mind?
SH: I had a couple specific ideas in mind. I wanted him to be an adventurer-type character and I also knew that he was going to sort of be affiliated with the church, which is why his collar looks like a priest’s collar. George did the original concept art for him and we worked together to find something we were both comfortable with using. It was really just us trying to recreate that old adventure feeling, like a 1900s explorer.
Why did you decide to go with an anthology instead of one longer story?
SH: I did that for a couple reasons. I did it because one, I loved the early “Hellboy” shorts. I felt like I got to know Hellboy better as a character through those 10-15 page stories than I did through out the trade paperbacks. I thought it would be interesting to look at a character without going through the routine origin story. Each story lets me focus on a facet of the Warden’s personality and it shows how he responds to different situations. I really thought it could develop the character in a fun way without having to be one long story. I think that would be a harder sell, as well. With an anthology, there’s 5 stories, there’s going to be something to please everyone.
Over the course of the five stories, is there a continuing story thread, or are they completely stand alone?
SH: They are stand alone, but they all have subtle hints toward a longer story that I’m planning for the future. Even in Swamp Magic, there’s some imagery that will be used later. For the most part, they’re stand alone.
Moving forward, do you plan to stick with the short story format, or do you think you’ll eventually get around to doing longer, on-going segments?
SH: Both. I love the idea of having short stories for regular publishing. In the early 1900s, when you wanted to grab a pulp magazine off the newsstand, you knew it involved your favorite character, but the story inside the magazine would be stand alone. You didn’t need to read anything before, you didn’t need any background. I think that’s something that’s missing from the comic industry right now. Something you can just grab and enjoy. But, on the other hand, I do have a longer story planned and it would take a graphic novel or two to cover it. That would still be mixed with the short stories.
Continued belowBefore you went to Kickstarter, did you try to sell the idea to another publisher?
SH: I did not, mostly because I have not published anything previously. I wasn’t necessarily going to bother with that yet. I would like to create the anthology and create a few stories just to give myself a track record before I consider sending it to someone.
Was this your first experience with KS, or have you done this before?
SH: I have never launched one myself, but the Warden was created 2.5 to 3 years ago and I’ve been on KS for 3 years. I’ve always known this was something I’d do, so I’ve been researching it like crazy ever since. I’ve done all the studying I can of everyone else’s projects. I’ve backed about 30 myself. I like to dissect the stats, so to speak, so I understand the trends and what works.
After just a couple days, your Kickstarter looks like it’s doing pretty good. I know someone already took you up on the $1000 offer. If you don’t hit your goal, do you have a plan for moving forward, or are you banking on hitting the goal?
SH: From the get-go, I’ve banked on not hitting because I’m a practical person. I think of the worst option possible and then I plan for it while I hope for the best. What would happen if we don’t hit the goal is, I would fund each story out of pocket. That route, it would be a year or two before the anthology is finished.
I also noticed on the Kickstarter page, the books being sent out will be the special edition of the book.
SH: Yes, it will be a Kickstarter exclusive version of the book.
Are you planning to try getting into Diamond, or will the regular edition be for web sales?
SH: After the Kickstarter campaign, I’ll be printing a standard edition softcover graphic novel and I will not be trying for Diamond. Right now, being such a small fish in a big ocean, the only thing I have going for me is the personal experience. I really want to capitalize on that, so I’ll be selling at local comic stores and I’ll be traveling to conventions. Since I have family in Indiana, I’ll be traveling to conventions in the Midwest area. I’m on the California coast right now, so I’ll be able to hit conventions here. I’ll be selling it on a one-on-one basis.
I know this is going to be kind of a tough question, but most people who look at the Kickstarter won’t know who you are. If you wanted to boil it down and say “if you like X, then this is a comic for you,” what would you compare it to?
SH: I would say it’s Indiana Jones in Hellboy’s universe. He’s an explorer, he’s got a bit of Alan Quartermain and Doc Savage in him, but the world around him is very dark and supernatural. Indiana Jones and Hellboy would be the best way to describe it.
Is there anything you’d like to share I haven’t asked about?
SH: I would like to say that because I am such an unknown author and person, the things I do have in my control are what I’m trying to excel at. I’ve done everything I can to make sure the quality of each book and script is worthy of sitting on a shelf next to Image or DC or Marvel. When it comes to a Kickstarter campaign, I didn’t want to be the person who throws up a picture, writes a paragraph, and says “let’s see how it does.” I wanted to make it a quality campaign and a quality experience for everyone involved.
“The Warden Anthology” kickstarter is active through October 13th. Check out 13 page “Swamp Magic” story for free on the project page and decide for yourself if this is something you want to support.
