NIGHTSMOKE - DON'T BLOW THIS BOOK

As the hot air rises up over the horizon, I notice, far off, into the distance, a man sitting down in front of his computer. The man's name is Scott, not sure what the computer is called, probably Gerald, and together, yet apart, both man and machine work in harmony to compose the following interview. Scott, it's now over to you, pal.


NIGHTSMOKE: Volume One


1) What are your own origins, Scott?   Many years ago I was built in a laboratory to be the perfect comic-making machine... Nah, just kidding! I grew up in a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, reading any and all comics I could get my hands on. I was always drawing, so it just made sense to attend the University of Kansas and major in Illustration. There, I did a newspaper comic strip about my roommates and I, and soon started putting the comics online and expanding out into more long-form storytelling. 

2) What inspired you to create, ‘Nightsmoke’?   After some starts and stops with a few different collaborations, I decided that I wanted to try my hand at writing my own superhero story. Basically, I wanted to create something that I didn't see a lot of in the comics market at the time: a superhero story that was aimed square at a twelve year old version of myself. I wanted to buck the "serious superhero" trend and have fun with a young adult superhero that went through the same kinds of want for belonging and insecurities that I, and I'm sure many others, felt at that age.

3) In your own words how would you describe this story?   When David Young moves to a new town, he's desperate to fit in. So he meets a trouble-making girl named Mariana Gomez, and they get mixed up in a terrible accident at David's father's laboratory. As a result, David suffers a great loss but gains the incredible ability to shift his molecular density and turn into smoke. Soon afterwards, he's approached by his father's lab partner, Doctor Meldrick Luent, who offers to "cure" David of these powers. Problem is, the doctor may not be all that he seems...

4) What song would you say best represents this comic and why?   So, I'm one of those weird people who hear melody and tone of songs before I hear lyrics, so my answer might sound a little odd, but I think "Clearest Blue" by CHVRCHES is similar to this comic. It starts off with a somewhat simple premise to get your head bobbing, keeps adding elements here and there, and by the end of it everything is going crazy and your whole body is moving and jumping around. Plus, CHVRCHES has that clean pop sound, but still feels pretty indie, so I think there are some similarities there.

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?   Edgar Wright would be awesome because obviously his movies are fantastic, but also because he'd make a very fun NIGHTSMOKE commercial that would easily be sold into a bigger amazing film.

6) What have you learnt about yourself through this endeavour?   I think I've learned what's actually important to me and my life. Making comics (and any creative project, really) takes so much time, so I've had to figure out what's really important to me, cut out the things that were holding me back and push myself to become the best version of myself I can be. I'm a long way off, to be sure, but having creative goals that I actually want to accomplish in a set time frame has been one of the best things to happen to me. 

7) During your time in this field, what is the one thing that has kept you in good stead?   Deadlines. I try to have a page a week done, which doesn't sound like a lot, but between layout, pencils, inks, colors, letters, and writing posts, it takes me around 12 hours a week to do each page. I have a nine-to-five, so NIGHTSMOKE takes a lot of my "free" time, and keeping that consistent weekly schedule has made it really come together and helped me improve my workflow and the pages I'm doing.

8) If ‘Nightsmoke’ had a motto, what would it be?   There's a part in the book where David's father tells him, "It's not what you have, but what you do with it." To me, that concept means that no matter what's in front of you, what situation you're in, whether you're rich, poor, whatever, the only thing that matters is what you do with any given moment. How you act is the person you are, and nothing outside of yourself can change that, so do your best to be the best person you can be.

And on that note, I'd like to thank Scott for telling us about his comic book, Nightsmoke, before directing you towards his website, facebook, and twitter pages. And while you're at it, please don't forget to pick yourself up a copy from amazon.