Comics and Genealogy

The next issue (number 10 should be out next week) is a little special for me as it combines my love of comics and my passion for genealogy.  

When the economy tanked in 2008 I found myself unemployed for 22 months!  (I've been working steady since, thankfully)  In that time I developed a passion for genealogy and tracing my family tree.  Today I'm in touch with about 400 cousins across many different branches of my family.  

One of the things that I specialized in with my research was my Italian side of the family - I read over 50,000 civil records from one town alone in order to create my tree.  

While I don't want to give much away, my next issue is set in one of the towns my ancestors came from - Popoli, Italy and with that as backdrop I introduce a new character into the mix called Italus.  Of course don't be surprised if the issue also sees a trip to Rome and maybe the comune of Fossacessia as well.

While genealogy itself doesn't play a role in the issue, the creation of the character is a homage for me of the time I spent working on my family tree and my connection to my Italian branch of the family. 

Unlike most of my characters, which were created years ago, Italus is a fairly new creation.  I came up with the character in 2015 and wrote him into the stories then.  As well as Italus, you will meet a few supporting cast and a new villain in the issue as well, plus the hint at a concept that will play a large role in the lives of our heroes.  

Bit of a Twist

I actually published the newest issue on Friday night, but I wanted to wait until I had a chance to sit down and say a little something about it.  This issue, which you can check out here: Interlude 1 is actually the first in a series of interludes that I plan to mix throughout the series.

While I strive to make the regular series monthly and all connected, the interludes will be random and stand alone stories.  They will service to introduce characters or concepts that will be used later in the series, but nothing that ties in directly to that month's issue.

The first interlude is an adaption of the Blue Light fairy tale told by the Brothers Grimm, it takes the basic elements from their original story and expands on them and links it into my universe.   When I originally wrote my series I had no interludes planned, but last summer the idea for this came to me and here we are.

Right now I have Interludes 2 and 3 written, but they won't be published for a while.  

The other thing was the style, this gave a change to try a different style that I hadn't done before.  In order to get the unique look for the issue, I had to use some outside help.  I actually created the comic the usual way and then used another company's free editing program to create the look I was going for.  This company, called LunaPic generously allows anyone to use their program for creating interesting special effects for their pictures.  You can check them out here: LunaPic.

Here's an example of what I did, below is the picture how I created it and right below that is how it looks after I edited it with LunaPic.

This gave the story more of a fairy tale look, well - I least I think it did, which is what I was trying to go for. Hopefully everyone will like it.