With the Kickstarter campaign for The Estranged now live, we are delighted to be joined by comic writer Jason McNamara.
Hi Jason, it’s so wonderful to have you here.
Jason McNamara: ​Thank you for having me!
Could you please introduce yourself?
​JM: I’m Jason McNamara, a longtime indie comic writer who mainly works in the horror genre. I come from a DIY background; I’ve self-published most of my graphic novels, but I’m lucky enough to have also been published by Dark Horse (Past Tense) and Image Comics (The Rattler).
Additionally, I’m a professor at Pacific Northwest College of Art, where I teach and mentor the next generation of comic creators.
Can you tell us about the origins of The Estranged?
JM: ​The Estranged follows Heather as she returns to the hometown where she was once accused of murder. That initial story thread came to me when I attended my high school reunion and realized my former classmates would always see me as the teenage delinquent I was, rather than the adult I’d become.
That experience gave me an authentic place to explore someone in much more dire circumstances: returning to their hometown after being accused of murder. The horror is trying to return home without reverting to the version of yourself everyone expects. How do you hold onto yourself?
What made Matthieu Pereira and Dave Kemp the right art team for The Estranged?
JM: ​I wrote The Estranged specifically for Matthieu. Before I worked on the script, I printed some of his comic pages and put them on my office walls. I wanted to marinate in his style and write a story that would leverage his strengths. Mattheiu has such a distinct “hand-touch” style that I feel like it has its own atmospheric soundtrack.
Dave Kemp is an old pal and an all-around coloring assassin. I knew I wanted bold, slightly confrontational colors to complement Mattheiu’s straightforward storytelling choices. We talked a lot about having these “Susperia” type moments of wild saturation during key moments.
I love how their different voices come together to create this uneasy feeling on every page. Even the “nice” scenes have a dark undertone; you can never relax in this book. I love it!
Who is Heather?
JM: Heather is someone who is exhausted by having to explain themselves. ​She is defensive by circumstance and is never seen as she wants to be seen. That is, until she reunites with Albion, her teenage crush. From that relationship, she re-discovers the identity she was forced to abandon as a teenager. That also means she has something to lose now.
You are crowdfunding The Estranged and dealing with consumers; does that make The Estranged special for you?
JM: ​I always knew The Estranged was a project I wanted to bring to Kickstarter. I love the one-to-one relationship the platform lets me have with readers. It’s also my most ambitious project, breaking down into five issues. I conceive each 32-page issue with a cliffhanger that hopefully gets readers talking about the book between campaigns and excited to come back.
How long did it take you, Matthieu, Dave, and Konner, to create the first issue of The Estranged?
​JM: The first issue of The Estranged came together pretty quickly, I’d say, in a few months. We are deep into production on the second and third issues. I hate when indie books have long delays between issues, so we’re going to keep this momentum going.
Can you tell us about the world The Estranged is set in?
JM: ​The Estranged takes place in the fictional town of Braddock, Texas. Every 13 years the Cicadas emerge and their song inspires madness and chaos. So, the townspeople brace themselves for weird events every time they re-emerge.
Can you tell us about some of the characters that we meet in The Estranged?
JM: ​The Sheriff of Braddock believes Heather killed his brother in 2006, so he’s not happy to see her return in 2019. He also has a very unhealthy obsession with his brother’s widow. There’s Albion, Heather’s teenage crush who has stayed in Braddock all these years hoping to get a second chance at happiness. There’s Austin, previoysly the town’s resident Satanist, who has reinvented himself as a Youth Pastor. And, like in every town, there’s Bill, the nosy neighbor who can’t stay out of everyone else’s business.
Some horror-thriller stories can be very generic; what makes The Estranged different?
JM: ​Well, I think The Estranged is as much a romance as it is a horror story. The flip side of loving someone is the fear of losing them. I love writing characters that struggle between right and wrong and wrestle with big questions. I feel like those are very relatable struggles, and I find horror is most effective when you empathize with the victims.
I don’t write horror comics because I like watching people get torn to bits. I like writing horror because it can confront issues we face every day and hopefully leave you something to think about after you’ve put the book down. And, hey, if we mangle a few people along the way, that’s just a bonus.
Can you tell us about the exclusive rewards available for The Estranged?
JM:​ We created some fun “in-story” rewards for backers. You can write comments that will appear in a social media post in the story. You can also sign a petition in the comic to have Heather arrested. We’ve also got a limited variant cover by Paige Braddock, the artist who inspired me to name the town after her.
What can you tell us about The Estranged?
JM: ​I describe the book as Mean Girls meets Hellraiser.
Heather and Albion were best friends on the cusp of becoming more when a vicious killer began to stalk Braddock, Texas. Heather narrowly survived an attack, only to find herself accused of being the killer herself by fearful townsfolk. Under suspicion and ostracized, she was forced to leave Braddock and a heartbroken Albion behind.
Now, 13 years later, Heather has returned to Braddock to rebuild her life. As she and Albion attempt to reconnect, a dark presence in town has also reawakened. As locals start going missing, suspicion falls on Heather again. Can she learn the truth before she and Albion are torn apart forever?
Any message for the ComicBuzz readers?
JM: What I love about Kickstarter is that it empowers readers to bypass traditional gatekeepers and decide for themselves what gets made. Every backer of The Estranged is literally my publisher. If it’s not my project, consider finding another on the platform that speaks to you. Creators and readers no longer need permission to manifest great comics into the world!
Thanks for reading. Upwards, onwards!
We would like to say thank you to Jason for chatting with us and wish him the best of luck with The Estranged Kickstarter campaign.
Feel free to check out The Estranged Kickstarter campaign.
