We are delighted to be joined by the artist and writer Nick Cagnetti. Nick’s new comic, Spirit of the Shadows, with Daniel Ziegler, is releasing on January 28th from Oni Press. We got chatting to Nick all about Spirit of the Shadows. Nick is the creator of Pink Lemonade; his work can be seen in Infinite Wonders, also in Xino.
Hi Nick, it’s so great to have you here with us again.
Can you tell us about the origins of Spirit of the Shadows?
Spirit of the Shadows actually has a very storied development history. It first started as a short film idea from Daniel before teaming up with me to turn it into a comic while we were in college, so there was a whole earlier iteration of the character as an early indie comic work. After that we even did a crazy short film where I dressed up in the costume and Daniel did the voice (it’s out there). So the character has been with us in the background percolating in different forms!
Who is Erik Leroux?
Erik Leroux is a poor violinist who loves a lady named Katrina and that’s about all he knows at the start of the story as he just died prior wearing this spooky costume. You’re really meant to be asking the same question: who is he? I’ll tell you he’s a guy really driven by love and it takes him to some uncomfortable spots, some of which are his own fault and other parts maybe not so much. It tries to make you ask yourself what you would do in the same position!
How did Daniel Ziegler get involved with Spirit of the Shadows?
Daniel never stopped tinkering with the Spirit of the Shadows characters and the world in the intervening years, really tightening up the concept from what we originally did. As I was finishing up Pink Lemonade, we started talking about what us making a new Spirit comic would look like. Especially if it would be the world at large being introduced to it for the first time, we needed the hooks for ourselves to make it fresh and different. We found those hooks quickly which really got the ball rolling with excitement!
Can you tell us about the process of writing Spirit of the Shadows with Daniel Ziegler?
We would be batting ideas back and forth constantly from start to finish, on my end I’d suggest certain characters or concepts and bring forth drawings to pitch ideas. We’d discuss the arcs, but Daniel found the structure with post-it notes and scripted the whole book from there. It was really fluid though, as some elements would get further punched up from what was in the initial outline. I think the end product is pretty intricately laid out and naturally unravels!
Can you talk us through the look of the phantom? Did his appearance change as the comic evolved?
When I was brought on to turn it into a comic the first time I designed the character, all I knew was he had a black top hat, goggles, and a coat. I thought it’d be cool to give him a white and green color scheme, a wrap suit under with a tattered cloak on top. Coming back to the character I beefed him up more, made his gloves and boots pointier, gave him green eyes, made his mouth moveable, and gave him green glowy powers now. At this point, he’s really evolved for sure!
What can you tell us about Katrina?
Not much! But it’s really one of those cases of people from separate worlds falling for each other. She’s gotta be pretty special for the Spirit to move heaven and earth just to get back to her, huh?
How long have you been working on Spirit of the Shadows?
I’ve been working on this series since summer of 2023, but I did some other mini projects in between as well. It’s all done now!
Did you pitch Spirit of the Shadows to Oni Press?
I didn’t really pitch it much! I told the publisher Hunter a little bit about it and he was instantly sold! It helps that they published Pink Lemonade prior and the relationship is good there.
As a creator, do you prefer writing or creating art?
I’m definitely more of an art person, that’s really been my thing my whole life is drawing. I do get a lot of enjoyment coming up with ideas and figuring them out either myself or with collaborators, though. After finishing Pink Lemonade I felt more confident in my writing abilities!
Can you tell us about the world that Spirit of the Shadows is set in?
More like worlds! There’s the Spirit Realm, the Sacred Realm, a sort of flashback world, and the living world. The town it takes place in is Teramere, a fictional somewhat-European town in a nonspecific time period. I don’t know what it is but I enjoy making things that are kind of vague when and where they take place, I feel like it makes things dreamier!
What can you tell us about Spirit of the Shadows?
This book has got fun stuff like a ghost guy blasting monsters with a ghost violin but it’s also a really deep winding journey of revenge and redemption. It’s one that should really leave you thinking and feeling many things and can be looked at under a different light each time you read it.
Any message for the ComicBuzz readers?
Thanks for having me! Take a chance on this book, you won’t regret it! It will be sure to resurrect your spirit from the dead! There’s no other book like it out there right now that combines genres and styles the way this does!
We would like to say a big thank you to Nick for chatting with us and wish him the best for the release of Spirit of the Shadows.
