By Rob Jones
Every now and again, we hear about some awesome comics getting made through Kickstarter campaigns. I’ve reviewed some cool kickstarter funded comics before for my Papercuts and Inkstains column, but I wanted a series to just be able to spotlight these kickstarter funded comics. Therefore the aim of this new series of posts is to help upcoming indie artists give you, the comic buying public, the chance to hear about their projects and get involved in helping them reach their goals!
So, how should we start this series off? Well, where better than with the awesomely mental Merrick – The Comic, a zany, Mike Mignola influenced tale through the streets of Victorian Britain, following the exploits of that well known superhero, Joseph Merrick aka THE ELEPHANT MAN! From the minds of Tom Ward and Luke Parker, it is a horror tinged, mystery thriller delving us deep into the world of Carnival grotesques and freakshows!
Anyway, enough rambling from me, let’s let the guys speak for themselves!
Me: Before we start, where did the inspiration for Merrick – The Comic come from? Were you influenced by titles like Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter & Pride and Prejudice and Zombies?
Tom: I’d had the idea for The Elephantman sat in my head for a few years before either of those came out and probably stems more from my love of crazy conspiracies or secret histories than the genre mashup. I did pick up the Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter book just before the movie came out though and absolutely loved it (the film not so much), I think if you enjoyed it then you’ll probably be on board for Merrick.
The original inspiration really came from classic superheroes, it struck me that there was Spiderman, Batman, Antman, Hawkman, Animalman etc. And then there was this real guy called the Elephantman but no one had touched on it before. Was his skin really as thick as an elephant’s? Then I started reading up on Joseph Merrick and his story was fascinating; the more I read, the more interesting stuff I came across. The setting and characters were perfect for a comic if you overlooked a few key points such as his lameness from a hip injury and his difficulty communicating. Joseph would go out in public wearing a mask to hide his identity, just like the classic super heroes, that got me to thinking what if the disabilities displayed to the world as the Elephantman were actually part of a secret identity? That he was hiding in plain sight? What if his condition actually gave him the impervious skin of an elephant and enhanced strength, and he portrayed these disabilities to prevent his actions being traced back to him. I then learned that on 3 occasions Merrick left the London hospital to go on holiday and was taken by a private train, what if these weren’t holidays? What if they were adventures?
When I was reading up on Frederick Treves I discovered he was best friends with Thomas Hardy, an English writer who had a fascination with the occult and was a member of the same gentleman’s club as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who was a believer in spiritualism and a Freemason. So what if these three men were part of a secret society dabbling in the occult who could make use of a man with Merrick’s extraordinary abilities? And then it struck me as strange that Treves referred to Merrick as ‘John’ rather than ‘Joseph’ when writing about him, he must have know it was wrong? Or was he lying about Merrick’s real name for some reason? Why would he do that?
That’s really when the whole thing came together, I figured that would be something I’d want to read myself.
Me: What comics inspired you both as you were growing up?
Tom: Growing up I was a huge Tintin and Asterix fan and used to read the Beano every week. After that there was a discount book store near where I lived and if you were lucky you could occasionally find the odd trade paperback hidden away. I got a couple of Classic Star Wars, Batman: Contagion and a Legends of the Dark Knight anthology that had a story called “Sanctum” in it by Mike Mignola & Dan Raspler. I think I’d pretty much forgotten about it till I saw Lukes art, then went back and rediscovered it, the story really must have stayed with me.
Luke: Growing up in the 90s, I had a growing pile of comics that my parents picked up from car boot sales, a lot of random issues. One of my favourites was a pretty good run of Spider-man British reprints of the clone saga with Mark Bagley and a couple with John Romita JR who is my favourite Spidey artist, I had a few elseworlds DC books which are my favourite DC stories, Gotham by Gaslight, Superman Vs Terminator. And the Dark Knight Returns put me onto Frank Miller a big influence. I basically bought anything I came across had lots of superhero graphic novels. I got back into comics during college again, where I went straight for Sin City and Dave Stevens The Rocketeer, I think this started my fascination with pulp and high contrast, which led me to Mike Mignola’s work which is probably my most obvious influence.
Me: Have you been to see or would you like to see John Merrick’s remains?
Tom: Merrick’s skeleton is kept under lock and key in a small museum in the medical school at the Royal London Hospital, and as far as I know not normally on public display so I don’t think there’s really a chance to. I know they were attempting to extract DNA in an effort to full understand just exactly what it was that caused his condition, but maybe it’s time they just laid them to rest? There’s rumours that apparently Michael Jackson tried to buy the bones in the 80’s for a million dollars and was turned down by the hospital and I’ve read Johnny Depp has a life size replica of the skeleton in his office…
Me: I get a really big Hellboy vibe to preceedings, should we expect a more supernatual element to later issues?
Tom: The great thing about Merrick is the setting is open to so many different stories, the first arc is more of a classic pulp revenge story but then we can also do horror stories or classic adventure stuff or even some proto-superheroing. But yeah, if you stick around there’s definitely going to be some strange stuff going on. I think the story has much more human focus than Hellboy, Merrick has no destiny, just a constant struggle for his own survival and the very human worries that go along with being an outcast, rejection, self-doubt and naivety. The story is really about his relationship with Treves as much as anything else. I think fans of Hellboy will probably enjoy the comic and I hope they’ll feel that it very much has it’s own voice. To be honest Hellboy is pretty fun, horrible stuff just seems to happen to Merrick, it’s probably much more of a downer.
Me: Which artist inspired the look behind Merrick?
Luke: The main inspiration behind Merrick was the real Joseph Merrick, the description is basically the same deformed head and arm but we wanted him bigger and more imposing. We tried a series of heads and went with a sort of Hellboy mouthed design, I think Tom contacted me because he wanted a Mignola style heavy shadowed look so it fit with that. The costume is a mixture of classic pulp aesthetics, revolvers, belts, and pouches with some Victorian style. The mask was inspired by the Watchmen’s Hooded Justice and to finish it off diving boots for his big feet and I carried this into the design of his arm which is two shackles roped together. The Classic Universal Monster films were in the back of my mind, I wanted him to be like the missing monster. Tom- Yeah like Luke says Merrick essentially looks the way he would if you overlooked his real life disabilities and instead was tougher and more powerful like an actual elephant.
Me: If you had to sell the story with one sentence, what would you say?
Tom: Joseph Merrick: The Elephant Man fucks up the occult in a Victorian pulp tale of gin joints, black magic and carnival freaks.
Me: Can we expect more Kickstarter projects for future issues?
Tom: Yeah, I hope so. Hopefully this arc will be a success and as we release issue 4 we’ll be ready to continue the story with another crowd funded arc. As long as people are interested in reading it I’ll continue to keep doing everything I can to make it happen.
Me: Where can people get hold of Merrick – The Comic?
Tom: If you head over to our Kickstarter page you’ll find links to download either a .pdf or .cbr for free and a link to an issue page that you can also view it from. It comes in at about 48 pages, 22 pages of story plus a fantastic guest artist pin-up gallery and a couple of other extras.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ourtom/merrick-the-sensational-elephantman
Me: Hypothetical, but if Merrick had to come face to face with another Victorian curiosity, Solomon Grundy, who would win? The man with inpenetrable skin, or the man who can’t be killed?
Tom: Solomon Grundy? That guy’s gone toe to toe with Superman and Green Lantern, I reckon power-wise he’s definitely stronger and tougher and with his healing factor I don’t think Merrick would stand a chance. But then The Elephantman is a tough guy and a survivor, maybe he can keep keep Grundy occupied long enough for Treves to work out a way to incapacitate him? Treves is a clever guy, he’d find a way!
So there you go! You can follow the exploits of Merrick at their official twitter account here and don’t forget to check out their kickstarter page, here! The Kickstarter ends on 23/3/14 so get that money flowing ladies and gents! See you all next time!
Posted on March 19th, 2014
Category: INDIE SPOTLIGHT, PREVIEWS & UPCOMING RELEASES
Tags: Elephant Man, Joseph Merrick, Kickstarter comics, Luke Parker, Merrick the Comic, Robin Jones, Tom Ward
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