Have an idea for a story? Let us know! Contact: Cheryl Minns, Art Editor ™ arts@theotherpress.ca This issue: (¥Y Shanley’s greatest hits in ‘Bard of the Bronx’ (¥ Chairman of the Board: Darkest Europe (¥Y Everything old is new again And more! Kickstarter in the Community: High school hiyinks and magical monsters » Cloudscape Comics to publish graphic novel of online comic series Cheryl Minns Arts Editor Marts@theotherpress.ca ancouver’s Cloudscape Comics has successfully funded several anthology graphic novels by multiple authors through the crowdfunding website Kickstarter. This time, the society is fundraising for a graphic novel bya single artist, Last Night at Wyrmwood High by Kathleen Gros. The Kickstarter campaign has a fundraising goal of $1,000, but it has already raised more than double that from over 50 backers. For their donations, campaign backers can receive rewards of Gros’ work, including digital and print copies of Last Night at Wyrmwood High; print copies of her illustrated novella New Divinations and the Cloudscape Comics’ graphic novel anthology Waterlogged: Tales from the Seventh Sea; an original ink sketch; and an illustration of the backer as a monster in the yearbook section of the graphic novel. One of the most popular rewards is the 84-page print copy of the graphic novel. The Other Press spoke with Gros about Last Night at Wyrmwood High, discussing where the story came from and what will happen next in the series. What inspired the online comic series Last Night at Wyrmwood High? : About a year prior to starting the : comic that became Last Night : at Wyrmwood High, I madea : short story about a witch and : her werewolf best friend going : toa high school dance. I had so : much fun working with those : characters that I started imagining : the wider world around them, : their families, and the logic that : applied to the world, which : planted the seed for the story of : Last Night at Wyrmwood High. How did you decide which : type of monster each of the : characters would be? : I love werewolves a lot. There’s just : something about them. They’re : my favourite monster, which is : why Amber, the protagonist, : is one. Vampires are fun too, : hence Tiffany being one. And : for Steph, the last girl in our trio : of protagonists, | went witha : lizard girl because—despite not : being a classic monster—she : seemed like she'd be fun to draw. Did you have an overall : plan for the story when you : started writing and illustrating : it? Or did you write and : illustrate the story from comic- : to-comic? : [had the whole thing planned : pretty much from the beginning. : Initially I was writing Wyrmwood : High page-by-page without any : structure or planning, but I got : about 12 pages in and realized that : : the path I was on wasn't going to : work out. So I put aside that first : attempt and decided to start over. How did you start over? : [had the good fortune to be in : a Graphic Novels class taught : by Durwin Talon at Emily Carr : University of Art and Design. The : goal of the course was to have a : minimum 72-page graphic novel : written and thumbnailed by the : end of the semester. It was a great : course. It helped mea lot with : figuring out how exactly I wanted : the story to work. By the end : of the semester I had the thing : written, thumbnailed, and ready : to be pencilled. I think I drew the : book in about four months over : the summer vacation between : the third and fourth year of my : program. So, by the time it was : being posted online, I’d actually : finished the whole thing, How did you feel when : you heard Cloudscape Comics : would be publishing your : book? : | was so thrilled they wanted : to publish it. I kind of didn’t : believe it at first. It’s been such : a great experience. Getting to : work with Jonathan Dalton, my : editor, has been wonderful. He : really knows what he’s doing : and has helped me make the : book the best it can be. How did you feel when the : Kickstarter campaign raised : more than double the original : funding goal? : I’m so grateful. I don’t even have : words for it. It’s so wonderful. Will there be any more Wyrmwood High comics? : There may be. I enjoy writing : and drawing the Wyrmwood : universe and I’ve got a couple : of ideas for other stories set in : that world. But right now ’'m : focusing on some other projects. In October, you were : involved in the Cloudscape : Comics project Comics in : Transit, which placed artists’ : comics on transit shelters : across Vancouver. What was it : like to take part in that? : That was so fun. I was glad Oliver > McTavish-Wisden, Cloudscape’s : president, asked me to participate. : : I loved getting to see what : Image via kickstarter : everyone else created. There : were such different approaches, : all equally fascinating. I spent : an afternoon travelling around : the city to look at them all. It : was the best scavenger hunt. For more information on Last Night at Wyrmwood High, : check out WyrmwoodHigh.com. To check out the graphic > novel’s Kickstarter campaign, go to Kickstarter.com Bad ballerinas » ‘Flesh and Bone’ pilot review Lauren Paulsen Senior Columnist OOOO esh and Bone is packed full of story and plot as well as beautiful dancing. Claire (Sarah Hay) is a young, talented ballerina that runs away from home and joins a tough- to-get-into dance program in New York. She manages to catch the eye of Paul (Ben Daniels), the person in charge, inevitably sparking jealousy from the : other girls in the program. I took two major points away : from this pilot episode. The first : is that nearly every person in : this show has a dark, horrendous : side. The second is that I never : want to be a professional ballet > dancer. I used to take dance : lessons when I was younger, : until my health deteriorated, and : never did I imagine it could be : so cutthroat. The things these : girls go through to try and make : it big horrify my moral compass. : I don’t think any of them have : managed to remain undamaged. The story is so intriguing : that I was totally pulled into the : world of Flesh and Bone. A lot : is left for your mind to work out : because things aren't blatantly : spelled out. For example, we : learn Claire is running away from : home at the beginning of the : episode, but it isn’t until the very : end that we see something that : makes us draw conclusions as : to why. The end also ties several : other points in the episode : together and gives you a new : perspective when you look back. I certainly liked Flesh and Bone. I have to say that the drama : reminded mea lot of Game of Thrones, despite their plots and : genres being quite different. There : : may not be any beheadings here, Image via Starz but no one is left unscathed in the terrifying world of becoming : a professional ballerina.