With the Kickstarter campaign live for the Acid Box graphic novel from Avery Hill, we are delighted to be joined by Sara Kenney. Sara is a writer, producer, director and runs Wowbagger Productions.
Hi Sara, it’s wonderful to have you here with us again.
Hi and thanks so much for inviting me back to share the new project!
Could you tell us about the origins of Acid Box?
I guess like many projects the idea was buzzing around in my head for years. The title Acid Box comes from a club night I used to go in Brighton in the early 90s. I got chatting to artist James Devlin about our experiences of clubbing and the people we would meet (often stumbling around free parties in forests, warehouses or on the coast). Jimmy liked the idea of collaborating on something in this storyworld and he’s a Glasgow based artist, so we decided to start the adventure there. The story of Jade evolved from me chewing over what a nightmare it is trying to enjoy yourself in a world that feels like it’s on the brink of doom [insert disaster here].
I used to work on the BBC science series Horizon and the disaster in this comic is from a documentary that transmitted when I worked there in 2000, called Mega Tsunami Wave of Destruction. Here’s a clip from it featuring a one of our wonderful advisors on the comic Prof Bill McGuire. Hold onto your hats USA!!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoYBAsHHXsk
Who is Jade Nyo?
Jade is a 26-year-old Glaswegian (with some Burmese heritage mixed in like my own) who works as a cleaner in the Mitchell library and loves to party at night. She’s not much of a talker, so prefers dancing in a club to a conversation in a pub. I went all Disney and killed both of her parents, so she’s been an orphan since the age of 20 and has been looking after her younger brother Rory since he was 15. She thinks deeply about how things are connected in the world and this overwhelms her. Jade hides behind being wasted, inappropriate and unapproachable. But really, she’s just awkward, lonely and messed up in the head and uses drugs and alcohol to deal with that. She’s really fun and just needs to find the right friends to have fun with!
How did James Devlin, Emma Vieceli, Ria Grix, Sofie Dodgson and Hassan Otsman-Elhaou join the Acid Box team?
I worked with Jimmy Devlin on my first comic Surgeon X, he was the colourist and he was also artist, colourist and designer on our book Planet Divoc-91. Hass, I think this is the third project we’ve collaborated on. His lettering is SO good and he brings the music to life in such inventive ways. I’d met Sofie Dodgson on a comics night out and discovered they loved club culture, so it was a no brainer to get them involved. In our heads we want to throw a rave for a launch party!
When Jimmy couldn’t continue on the comic, Emma Vieceli stepped in. Although Emma was not into the rave scene at all, I think her love of musicals and brilliance with character work shines through. I met Ria in a corner at Thought Bubble Comic Con and we’re both ‘sit in the corner drinking’ type people, so it worked out great. Shout out to the Editors too Kirsten Murray and Katie West who kept me sane and grammatically correct, when I thought the project might fall apart (some of you will have been there and will know what I mean). Joe Stone the designer brought us the beautiful neon yellow and pink vibes and that made us very happy indeed.
What can you tell us about the Liminals?
I’m from a big family (my Mum is one of eight) and I have lots of Aunties and Uncles. The Liminals are a vision of the joy of having this network. In the comic they are Angie, Yemaya and Tracey and they work as toilet attendants. But really, they guard and guide you via wormholes through space and time. They make sure you are fresh and clean with toilet tissue, mints and sprays. But they also share their wisdom as well as their (often unwanted) criticism when needed.
How did Avery Hill get involved with Acid Box?
We were very lucky to be mostly funded through grants for this project. So when we were close to completion on the comic, we started to pitch to various publishers. This is a hard process, and I guess so much of it is dictated by taste, connections, markets and a bit of luck. Ricky Miller from Avery Hill happened to like what we were trying to do. Since then, the Avery Hill team have helped us complete the book with final editorial notes and steered us with expert guidance on the design.
I am so grateful to them for taking a chance on us and I really hope the book does well for them as they are such lovely publishers. I think as a creator there is the feeling of immense pressure not to let your publisher down. I dunno, I guess it feels like such a privilege to get published in this tough market. So, if you like work from Avery Hill, give us a punt!
How would you describe Acid Box?
24 Hour Party People meets The Wizard of Oz
Any message for the ComicBuzz readers?
Life is messy and hard and sometimes very doomy. Acid Box reminds us to find your friends and have a laugh. If you want to save the world along the way that’s cool. But give yourself a break and take the time to have a wild wee in the woods and dance to music you love with friends…
We would like to say a big thank you to Sara for chatting with us, and we would like to wish her the best of luck with Acid Box.
Free free to check out on Acid Box on Kickstarter.
