Ghosts (2007)
Going through boxes of sketchbooks yesterday, I found some of the original artwork I did for a comic called "Ghosts" that I made in 2007. It was a Scary Go Round mini with an odd modus operandi; a simple script, 3 or 4 panels on each page. I've been feeling lately that the time and effort that I put into each page is out of hand, so it was nice to find something I'd made that represented a more stripped-down approach. I ended up looking at the dates on the original pages in my file backups, I had forgotten that I made Ghosts while simultaneously working on an interminable, complicated, dense story called "Super Crisis Quests". The simpler way I made it was a nice get-out at the time.
Ghosts isn't an amazing story narratively (it's clearly been improvised, page to page, over three months) but there are lots of interesting things to me in it. Mainly, the outfits. Shelley and Amy parade in a sequence of ensembles that I would be hard-pressed to equal today. This morning I tried to quickly draw all of them and work out what I was thinking at the time. The simplicity of the story, the pacing and the mid-2000s setting, is alluring to me. Part of me would like to re-draw it just to hang out in those spaces and that frame of mind!
I've included the PDF of the printed version below. It's got some really weird additional material in it. In 2007 it didn't matter! With Ghosts, I was just having fun. I hope to have fun again... someday.
Comments (10)
Thank you John
I’ve always admired your ability to “dress” your characters. Honestly cannot think of another comic artist who understands how people wear clothes.
Five good clothes cartoonists off the top of my head: Bryan Lee O'Malley, Benji Nate, Margaux Motin, Penelope Bagieu, Sole Otero
I thought this was a very enjoyable story, and just the sort of thing to distract from the darkness.
Thank you Jim!
Funnily enough John, I fell down a rabbit hole this afternoon back through the work of Marlo Meekins, who I hadn't come across for years... and on an old blog of hers found this, from a similar time period: https://marlomeekins.blogspot.com/2008/08/1-song-and-video-of-all-time.html
Heh. These are all great. Love the London School of Economics nod in No. 5.
There’s something inherently fun about a simple story where regardless of how weird the scenario gets, it’s mostly focused on a handful of the leads hanging out, especially in the case of Shelley and Amy given how they’ve about always had an incredibly strong dynamic. Some other examples I can think of are “Christmas from Clovis” from Steeple, or the chapter in Giant Days where Esther takes Ed on a pub run. I’d be down with any remake of a story from that time, given how the Oldbourne remake “Come Back” turned out. I know one time you expressed interest in remaking the storyline where Rachel and Tessa (another duo with fun chemistry) uncover a dimensional portal in Len Pickering’s walls.
I have this in its slightly blue-tinted print edition and had completely forgotten what happened in it. To be honest, I was expecting a different ending, which turns out to be from the "Most Haunted" chapter in Ahoy Hoy, when Esther shouts at a ghost in a bad Irish accent until it runs away.
I have the blue version, too! With a sketch of Hugo inside. A very appreciated birthday gift from friends at the time.