One of my fellow LOTT D members, Chad Helder of Unspeakable Horror!, is involved in a new comic project through BlueWater Comics titled Bartholomew of the Scissors. I have had the privilege to preview this comic and the look is amazing. Below Chad shares some of his thoughts on the comic as writer, and Daniel Crosier talks about the art and his use of wood burning.

TheoFantastique: Can you share a little about your background in comics and your previous work?

Chad Helder: Strangely enough, my background is in poetry. I studied poetry in college, and I have a collection of poetry called The Pop-Up Book of Death. However, the horror genre has always been with me, and I’ve always felt a drive to tell horror tales. With Bartholomew, the story really goes full-blast into the genre. I hold nothing back. It basically includes everything I’ve always wanted to put into a horror tale: psychics, undead children, razor-sharp instruments, perverted psychiatrists, fire demons, paranormal investigators, aliens from another dimension, and a flame-thrower battle with the National Guard! But to answer your question, this is my comic book debut! I started reading comics in my thirties. I am completely in love with them. I’m also writing scripts for Vincent Price Presents, which premieres the same time as Bartholomew in September. Now I wish I could draw!

TheoFantastique: What was the creative inspiration behind the story for Bartholomew of the Scissors?

Chad Helder: I was walking through the forest on my way to linguistics class at Western Washington University when I imagined hundreds of stainless steel sewing shears floating out of the trees toward me. I don’t know where the image came from. It was a very strange and unsettling image. My next thought was: what would happen if these weird animated scissors attacked me, sort of like the seagulls in Hitchcock’s Birds? I knew that I had something that I’d never seen before in a horror story. The story was built up around this concept of the scissor swarm. I created an entire story-world to explain the scissor swarm and how it could possibly exist—and why.

I worked on it as a novel for years. I think I wrote the novel three times, but it always fell apart in revision. There were countless changes made to the characters and the monsters, but I think the world of the story is very rich and complex as a result of this. Then I met Darren from Bluewater. He was a guest speaker in the English 101 class I was teaching. The students had an assignment to write about a superhero. During Darren’s presentation, it occurred to me to adapt the story into a comic. I pitched Darren the idea later in the week, and we went from there. Immediately, I knew that the story was meant to be a comic.

TheoFantastique: A question for you Daniel as the artist. The most unique facet of this comic for me is that each page it is burned into wood. How did this method of creating the art come about?

Daniel Crosier: Actually, wood burning is one aspect of the mixed media approach for the art in the book. I am using graphite, color pencils, some ink, paint marker, as well as wood burning. I enjoy investigating materials potential and using different things in my sculpts or illustrations. When the Bartholomew book was presented to me I thought it’d be a great opportunity to try my hand at wood burning. Since it is a horror genre book, the rustic or weathered look would lend itself well in supporting the story.

The wood burning was suggested last November by Elizabeth Breitweiser, artist and art teacher, and her husband, Mitch, who is an illustrator for Marvel Comics. She saw I was doing some very detailed work on wood and adding sculptural elements. Honestly, wood burning was something I never considered until Elizabeth planted that seed.

TheoFantastique: What was the most challenging about doing a comic in wood, and has this opened up possibilities for expressing comics in other artistic ways for you?

Daniel Crosier: Challenges would be weight, storage, and splinters. Wood burning is also a strain on the eyes, having to stare at the weaving wood grain for hours.

Comic books are a significant story-telling device, up there with any other medium. That includes high-art or contemporary art. Most of the globe seems to accept this notion, it is part of their culture. America stills sees comic books as a sub-cultural movement, despite the fact the it has infiltrated almost every aspect of pop culture. I think with creators like your Alan Moores, David Macks, Frank Millers, there are greater potential to validate comic books as an indisputable high and low brow art form up there with your Francis Bacons, Hunter S. Thompsons, or Stanley Kubricks. With that, I intend on exploring different materials, styles, and approaches to comic books or story-telling in general. This doesn’t mean I won’t try more of the general approach, but it is nice to mix it up.

TheoFantastique: Thanks to both of you for your work on this, and I wish you and BlueWater the best of success with yet another interesting comic.