SHADOWBINDERS - A PLURAL WEBCOMIC IN A SINGULAR WORLD

When I was a kid I used to love following adventure stories. I'd imagine myself in some situation or another, trying my best to beat up some bad-guy for the sake of truth, justice, and an excuse to kiss a pretty little damsel in distress. Those days are gone now. Gone like the wind. And I'm left talking to my mate Thom, about his amazingly adventurous comic book that's brought back a lot of fond memory's for me. Amen. 





1) What are your own origins, Thom? Plus what path did you take in life to get to where you are today?   I've always loved making comics and wanted to be a professional penciller for Marvel or DC back in the 90's. However, when I was ready to break in, the industry bottomed out. So I wound up taking a different path entirely and worked as a newspaper editor and graphic designer.

Eventually, I wound up getting work in comics -- albeit accidentally -- as a colorist on Gemstone's Disney books and indy penciller. And after that, I started doing webcomics with my wife.

2) How did ‘Shadowbinders’ come about? It’s ‘secret origin’ so to speak.   Years ago, I had a story idea called Shadowbinder (singular) that never went anywhere. After I got married, Kam had some story ideas of her own, but wanted to know if she could use some of my characters in her story. After some arm twisting, I agreed, and when we started talking it out, her story and my story really meshed well together and that's how the current version of Shadowbinders came about (plural).

3) In your own words how would you describe this story?   Shadowbinders is an adventurous romp like Star Wars or Firefly. The prequel that we're taking to Kickstarter -- Crimson Rhen -- is like The Goonies on an airship, and is sort of a throwback to kid-centric 80's adventure movies.

4) What song would you say best represents this project and why?   For Crimson Rhen, I think we've settled on "Home" by Phillip Phillips. The story is about finding home, finding a place to belong, and the aesthetic lends itself to folk rock.

5) If you could get a celebrity – either living or dead – to promote your wares, who would you choose, and why would you want to choose this particular person?   People will buy anything off Morgan Freeman, won't they?

6) Your artwork is just amazing, Thom. To me, it’s on the right side of cartoon to be both expressive and relevant at the same time. What would you say inspired you the most to draw in this manner? Plus what artists do you admire?   Oh, thank you! Hmm. I think when you over render artwork you can suck the life out of it. I see this a lot in some mainstream comics. Oh, they're nearly photorealistic, but the characters sometimes don't seem to "breathe" if that makes sense. Sometimes you have to exaggerate in comics to convey emotion as its a static image, not film.

In superhero comics, I was always big on guys like Frank Miller, Todd McFarlane, and Sam Keith growing up. They seemed to strike a nice balance between believability and making those characters come alive.

7) What have you learnt about yourself through this endeavour? And were their any unforeseen obstacles you had to contend with along the way?   Keeping a webcomic schedule is really hard. And getting attention is even harder. It's a big internet out there.

8) During your time in this field, what is the one thing that has kept you in good stead?   Readers, I think. We've got some really amazing readers who love what we do. If no one cared, we probably wouldn't do this anymore.

9) If ‘Shadowbinders’ had a motto, what would it be?   Given that we don't have much of a buffer, it probably should be "Shadowbinders: Freshly drawn last night".

Ha! Well put, Thom. Very well put. So there you have it, folks. 'Shadowbinders' for you to click on or donate to via their Kickstarter campaign. Trust  me, it's well worth a click or ten. Plus a follow on facebook too.