Don’t be fooled by the whimsically beautiful, hand-drawn aesthetic Smoke and Sacrifice. Set underground and spanning multiple biomes, Smoke and Sacrifice is a wonderfully crafted survival adventure with an engaging story and an infuriatingly steep learning curve. This game goes from cutesy and innocuous to immediate psychic scarring in the span of its own intro scene. How is that even possible? Might have something to do with the player taking an active role in sacrificing the main character Sachi’s first born child upon an altar surrounded by sun-worshiping religious acolytes. Maybe.
The only reason I decided to play this game, out of a choice of several others, was purely visual. So, being the habitual lazy mug I am, instead of doing research along the lines of watching the entire YouTube video, reading about Solar Sail Games, or, you know, doing literally anything at all before just jumping into this, I… just jumped into this.
And once you jump in, the real nightmare begins. Flash forward seven years; the lights go out, the smoke pours in, and the monsters come into the village. Taking control of Sachi, the player will use the ensuing chaos, wrapped in a thick blanket of panic, to check out the temple and alter where Sachi gave up her child, only to be teleported to a hellish landscape of terror and smoke shrouded danger.
Look, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not the brightest lighthouse on the coast, and I generally like my games fast and simple. But, had I taken the time from the outset to pay attention to the background environment, I probably wouldn’t have died 20 something times before making any significant progress in my first play-through.
Without the player ever being involved, the ecosystem of this world carries on with it’s bad self. Polyps (little jellyfish enemies) mate and produce offspring, plants swallow glowbugs and emit protective light, anglermoles eat fireflies and belch flames at you. Why does any of this matter?
Actual transcript of this fight: F***. This game is hard… No wait, I got it… Nevermind, I’m dead again.
See that monstrosity in the picture up there? That was the first big enemy I was tasked to kill. And how many times did he annihilate me instead? An embarrassing amount. It wasn’t until I accidentally brought him too close to that wasp nest that the coin finally dropped. The wasps killed the boar, I killed the wasps, and I then applied that lesson to every other big-bad in the game. Paying attention to the environmental interactions are the key from taking Smoke and Sacrifice from impossibly frustrating to an enjoyable experience.
Even the sound design is amazing. Flapping insect wings, gnashing teeth, screen rumbling explosions, and prosaic music all contribute to a perfect symphony to accompany you on your quest.
Of course, no game is without its flaws. However, in this particular case, for Smoke and Sacrifice they are few and far between. Sometimes items you try to pick up are inaccessible because of the placement of permanent objects and how items drop. Also there’s… um… well, actually, that’s about the only bug I found. Other than the wasps.
Fans of diesel-punk, the crafting elements of Ark, and games like Penny Arcade’s On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness should definitely give this one a go. From perfect visuals and incredible audio, not a tedious amount of grinding, Smoke and Shadow is a visually perfect game with incredible audio and a plot that gave me actual nightmares. I cannot wait to play more.
PS: SAVE.
PPS: SAVE OFTEN.
Editor’s Note: This review was written in conjunction with Jon Calise, a contributor to Sub Cultured. You can find more of his writing on his personal blog, Petting Zoo Rejects.
REVIEW | Salt and Sanctuary
PAX South 2019: Splitgate Arena Warfare, World of Horror, JackQuest, and Disjunction
PAX South 2019: Jump Force, Skellboy, A Fold Apart
REVIEW | Spider-Man PS4
Review | Re-Exploring No Man’s Sky Next
REVIEW | Downward Spiral: Horus Station
Marvel’s best and brightest heroes are stepping to the head of the class for a series of special variant covers! Marvel is pleased to announce 5 special STEAM Variants coming to some of your favorite Marvel titles this November!
“Our characters have been exciting fans for ages,” says David Gabriel, SVP Sales & Marketing, Marvel Comics. “With our new STEAM Variants, we plan to continue to motivate our fans to explore their passions in the fields of science, technology, engineering, art, and math and present these disciplines through some of our favorite young heroes who are doing just that – following their dreams and preparing for the challenges that await them ahead.”
Marvel is excited to reveal the following STEAM Variants by some of Marvel’s great cover artists:
- S (science) – MOON GIRL & DEVIL DINOSAUR #13 by Joyce Chin
- T (technology) – SPIDER-MAN #10 by Pasqual Ferry
- E (engineering)— INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #1 by Mike McKone
- A (art) — CHAMPIONS #2 by Pascal Campion
- M (math) – GWENPOOL #8 by Will Sliney
Through Marvel’s STEAM Variants, this campaign plans to ignite the spark of creativity and innovation that fuels and empowers the very heroes that have helped inspire generations around the world.
This November, join Marvel at your local comic shop as we continue to inspire champions of education, seekers of enlightenment, and the next generation of visionaries with Marvel’s STEAM Variants.
Aquaman is the Embodiment of “Fine”
REVIEW | The Punisher Season 2
Sub Cultured Heads to PAX South 2019!
REVIEW | The Batman Who Laughs – #1
Sub Cultured is Heading to DakuCon 2018!
Nan desu ka in Japanese means, “what is it?” which is a very appropriate name for an anime convention. Anime conventions harbor some of the most ambitious cosplay, attracts the most interesting people, and is a place where passion comes out to play. From standing in line for panels, to making jokes in the back row of the viewing rooms where anime plays 24/7, there are plenty of social opportunities at conventions and events like Nan Desu Kan.
Like most anime conventions, Nan Desu Kan will have a cornucopia of activities to see and do. Every corner of the nerd world is on display at Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel, the home for Nan Desu Kan. With a myriad of activities and guest to keep you entertained, I would be surprised to find someone nose deep in their phone – unless you’re playing Pokemon Go.
This year, Nan Desu Kan is celebrating its 20th anniversary and is taking place on September 2-4th, 2016 in Denver, Colorado. The Nan Desu Kan staff and coordinators have a petty good lineup of guests that will be appearing here. Chris Bevans, (voice actor for hits like Sengoku Basara, .hack//Quantum, Samurai 7). Also there will be Johnny Yong Bosch (played the Black Ranger on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, as well as a voice actor for Kaneda in Akira, Renton in Eureka Seven, Albert in The Count of Monte Cristo, and Kiba in Wolf’s Rain). As well as Richard Epcar (voice of Batou in Ghost in the Shell) among many other voice actors and industry types.
Are you an AV type? Well they have an anime music video contest. I used to watch those things nonstop in the days of LimeWire and Kaza peer to peer sharing applications. You fancy yourself an artistic type? Well enter in some work into a contest, auction off some of your work or just come in and gaze! You want to know more about specific things in the industry? Well, check out the assortment of culture and industry panels. You will also have game rooms for designer board games and video games. Along with, workshops, and the before mentioned anime viewing rooms. Musical guests and dance parties are present if you’d like to get your groove on. Finally, there are the dealers rooms where you will learn to hate your wallet and all of its contents within.
With over 7,500 attendees last year, Nan Desu Kan will be a much smaller con than I am used to. I originate from Dallas, Texas where we have Project A-Kon. In 2016 its attendance was over 32,000 super fans. A smaller event than what I am used to actually has me very excited. While A-Kon is mega fun, it is too crowded, and becomes a beacon for unsavory types alongside the nerd crews I seem to get along with more.
If visiting with voice actors isn’t your bag and you have the incurable need to dance, don’t forget to attend the multiple concerts that will be occurring. Eyeshine, an American edge rock band from West Hills, will be the musical talent for a show as well will be there running a panel. DJ Bullock will be handling the Saturday night rave, and Onemadcow will be setting the tunes for the J-Pop dance party on Friday night.
I recently moved to Denver, Colorado, a beacon of outdoors activity. Being a huge fan of all things nerd culture, it’s easy to become worried about how the scene is here. I have lived a lifetime indoors digesting media and evading the sun. Living with no regrets, I still knew wanted a bit more. Combining some old passions with the new in a nice juggling act I like to call, “My Life.” So how does one jump into the nerd scene here in Denver? I could try awkwardly meeting people out in the wild like some insane person. Maybe instead I could seek a location where I know my kin will be located. So I decide on Nan Desu Kan, the Rocky Mountain region’s largest anime convention.
I have a peculiar relationship with Japanese animation. Loving anime was easy growing up as a kid in the 90s and early 2000s. However, slowly I fell off the boat as the newer stuff did not resonate with me. Reminiscing about anime has me realizing that I grew up in the golden age of Japanese animation. That late 80s to early 2000s was just a special time for the medium. Anime was different back then, and to me it was just better. All of that aside, I still very much enjoy the culture. Going to conventions like Nan Desu Kan allows me to live and breathe for 3 solid days with other like-minded individuals as we geek out about all things Japan. After all, anime conventions are hardly ever just about the anime, it’s about nerd culture in general.
With my time at Nan Desu Kan you can expect tons of pictures of cosplay. Also some quick reviews of anime I pop in and watch in the viewing areas. You can also expect some coverage over useless purchases made. Expect a couple more articles chronicling my experience at the con.
Nan Desu Kan takes place on September 2nd to the 4th at the Sheraton Denver Downtown. You can get all the information at the official website, and there is still time to pre-register for the event as well! Sub Cultured will be on hand to cover every aspect of the convention in real time on Twitter and Facebook, but you can also visit right back here at Sub-Cultured to read up on my review surrounded by a culture and people I just love. More to come on Nan Desu Kan!
Aquaman is the Embodiment of “Fine”
REVIEW | The Punisher Season 2
Sub Cultured Heads to PAX South 2019!
REVIEW | The Batman Who Laughs – #1
Sub Cultured is Heading to DakuCon 2018!
Camilla d’Errico is an urban contemporary painter, illustrator, character creator and comic artist residing in Vancouver, Canada. With roots in comics, Camilla’s work is seen on toys, clothes, accessories and more. She has been published by Random House/Watson Guptill books, Boom! Studios, Image Comics, IDW, Dark Horse Comics and more, with self-publishing roots for her literature-inspired series, Tanpopo. Camilla has distinguished herself as one of the breakthrough artists in Pop Surrealism’s New Figurative movement through her ability to seamlessly weave manga and western styles with surrealist elements, wrapping it together with an extensive emotional palette. Camilla’s unique style bridges cultural and geographical boundaries, working with creative partners Hasbro, Disney, Mattel, Coastal and more, while remaining totally relevant to today’s varied audience. Ever the prolific artist, Camilla lives the double life of comic artist/creator and New Brow painter, while expanding her horizons to include fashion, music, merchandise and designer toys.
I sat down with Camilla during a brief moment of down time during Emerald City Comic Con, literally seated on this gorgeous, vintage looking, re-upholstered chair printed with her art.
L: Wow, this is just…beautiful. These chairs are for sale?
CD: Yeah, I would like to do two a year! I was talking to Rubbish Rehab, a local company that makes them, and this is the first time we’ve had them available at the show. They sold so fast, and we had people ask to do more, and I’d love to bring more vintage chairs, and have them every year from now on.
L: Would you do different styles of chair?
CD: All styles. They did a throne for me, and it was the nicest thing. I wish I had a promotional photo seated in it.
L: All of you art has this sort of wide-eyed doll-like appearance. Is this something you pulled from yourself? Now that I’ve seen you in person, I can see you in these!
CD: Oh, really? That’s so funny. You’re making me blush! No, I’ve had people say that I look like my art, which I think is a huge compliment, cause they’re like, big doe-eyed adorable girls! I do have big eyes, but you know, the only time I realized I had big eyes was when I went to Taipei and the people there would tell me!
L: Do you use yourself as a model?
CD: Noooo, no, no. Not at all. Actually, I try to avoid getting photographed or recorded or even like, mirrors. I’m just not…I just try to see the world around me, I don’t actually look at myself, like for inspiration.
L: I noticed you’ve done some fantasy art, some anime inspired art, is there a favorite genre for you?
Paint Catcher
CD: I definitely like the melting colors right now. I finished work for my solo show and I melted so many colors into these multiple paintings…I can’t get enough, I can’t stop. I’m completely inspired by seeing different colors blending together, or just in contrast! Seeing color with weight, um, it’s just part of my obsession with wanting to eat color, which you can’t cause it’s toxic, ha ha. It totally looks like candy. These girls are like the fantasy I want, they get to experience and taste melting color.
L: So, you use traditional mediums when painting! I don’t know why I thought you did it all digital. Do you prefer oil, or acrylic?
CD: I use oils AND acrylics. There’s also this brand I use called Holbein Duo and it’s oil paint you can blend with water. It’s unbelievable.
L: How do you determine your color palette? Is it dependable on the subject, or the individual piece?
CD: I’m always going for bright. I try to blend it, so that it’s in contrast. I’ll have my muted colors and then mix the rich and vibrant. If I try to do it all vibrant, it gets lost. You don’t know where to focus the eye, but if you use, like, the Paint Catcher, there’s lots of pinks and reds and her face is really muted. I try to keep it a good balance. I love hearing people’s interpretations of my art.
L: I know you’ve done some comic art for different publishers, but would you be interested in taking on one of the younger heroes from Marvel or DC?
CD: I’ve done SOME superhero stuff, but I haven’t been asked to do any lately. If Marvel was like, “Hey, let’s see your version of Spider-Gwen,” I would be like heck yeah! Spider-Gwen is right up my alley. I would die.
L: What other projects do you have in the works, aside from your upcoming show?
CD: In July, I’m debuting my very first adult coloring book! I’m so excited!!
L: How have your fan experiences been? Are there any particular memorable encounters?
CD: Yeah! People overwhelm me when they bring me presents, or tell me stories of how my art has affected them, and I have these two fans that are just the cutest. They are from Costa Rica and they bring me these chocolates and coffee. I’m always like, “YOU GUYS ARE THE ABSOLUTE BEST!” Two years ago at San Diego Comic Con, we did this Zombie Escape run together. It was amazing and I…I left them behind. Oh my God, I totally left them for dead! – laughs- It was so high intensity. There’s dozens of zombies, and army guys. I had to leave them behind. I felt so bad even though it’s like, the apocalypse.
L: You did what you had to do. It was a people eat people world!! Let’s talk about about the expansion of your art into various other merchandise. You mentioned elsewhere that your dream is to make clothes, and it looks like you’ve brought that dream to fruition!
CD: Goldbubble and Nuvango carry my stuff!! I would love to do a lolita dress. I would do the coolest lolita dress!! I would just love to do high fashion too, THAT’s my real dream project. The scarves we just put out are just beautiful. Every year I try to branch out and do something different, so I don’t know. Maybe next year I will actually get to do runway dresses. How cool would that be?
L: It sounds like it’d be pretty cool! I just noticed you did a Sailor Moon piece, and I’m curious as to what you enjoy or gravitate towards personally.
CD: In my personal life, oh man, I am super obsessed with anything supernatural, especially vampires. I wish I was vampire, and like if you ever meet a vampire, let me know. I would so turn to the dark side, which would go against my color palette, but you know, whatever! I love all of that. Vampires, werewolves, ghosts…all of it. I would turn my husband because we said, “Til death do us part.”
L: That is hilarious! Since we are out of time, how do you get yourself in the mood to draw? Do you find yourself inspired and immediately go to put it on paper?
CD: Well, it depends. Usually if I’m on a deadline, I put on audiobooks, like Harry Potter, or Driving Mr. Dead, an awesome vampire book by the way, and I’ll get my latte going. I’ll just start drawing and create.
Rainbow Children and Pop Painting are the latest books of art from Camilla, and are both now available on her website! If you’re local to Los Angeles, her solo show at Corey Helford Gallery opens April 23rd!
Hispanic Heritage Month: Highlighting Comic Creators pt 3
Singled Out: Q & A With Artist CJ Draden
Oh, The Moon by Charlyne Yi Review
Artist Spotlight: Matt Huynh and ‘The Boat’
Sub-Cultured #GoodBooks: Nobrow’s ‘The Spectators’ and ‘Fantasy Sports’
Artist Spotlight: The Art of Wang Shuhui (王叔晖)
It’s October, so things are just a little… darker. A little… spookier. A little more creative. And for a quick Artist Spotlight this busy NYCC week, we have just the person to talk to.
CJ Draden, known for his edgy glass paintings of superheroes and live light-box demonstrations has a new debut graphic novel this fall, The Wooden Heart: A Pinocchio Story and new project Atlas he’ll be bringing to this fall/winter convention circuit. We were able to briefly talk to him about his unique craft and a get a glimpse into the story behind his work.
Glass painting is such a unique medium, you certainly don’t hear of too many people doing that. What brought to you to this medium versus other mediums?
CJ: I was traditionally trained in the arts at Ringling College of Art and Design, there I was exposed to traditional media and ways of creating images. What turned me on to glass is somewhat of a philosophical answer. It’s a reflection of myself . There’s a notion of how artists create their work, viewers and artists alike talk about the “feeling” when they see an amazing piece of art or hear a beautiful piece of music. That’s pretty much it.
I wasn’t able to successfully communicate my vision of reality with standard ways of painting and drawing, traditional media. There was this major block from head to hand, everything felt forced. I went back to the drawing board and started building a brand new process and step-by-step kept implementing a technique that felt right. I can say that my journey of building and communicating through my art hasn’t been easy, but if you can visualize… you can manifest. Everything I do is purely based on instinct and not traditional training. I believe that’s the feeling people get when they view my work. Nothing technical, just instinct.
What is it like using this medium for multimedia projects such as for print work for your graphic novel? I’d imagine it’s a bit different.
CJ: I don’t feel art is a matter of trying to fit into a paradigm of projects. It’s more about doing what’s right for you. If it feels right, do it, if it doesn’t feel right, adjust your thought process to make it feel right or project perimeters to make it feel right. When I began writing and illustrating ‘The Wooden Heart,’ I struggled with this because the way I work doesn’t fit the status quo of comics in terms of panels and pages. I was highly critical of myself, and the work I was producing for the book. I had never made a comic or graphic novel before so I didn’t really know what I was doing except that I had a vision for the story and a drive to get it done.
After 4 years of working on it, I was ready to abandon the project. I didn’t feel like it was acceptable. Then I came to understand I needed to apply the same instinct I felt for discovering myself in my glass paintings into finishing ‘The Wooden Heart.’ It’s a major growing pain as an artist, developing the skills to execute to vision you have for creating images and creating stories, but you have to have a vision. If you don’t have a vision then you have no subconscious goal of knowing what you are personally doing that could be better. It’s something that can’t be explained, only felt. Therefore it doesn’t matter how I think my work is going to translate, I have zero control over how people are going to be affected by my work. I’m just a messenger bringing artifacts from a world that exists only to me and placing them in this reality for everyone to see.
Most people are only familiar with Pinocchio as a story from Disney and are unaware the original story is quite a bit more dark and disturbing. What drew you to Pinocchio for adaptation?
CJ: Like all artists, I have experienced my own dark times and struggles. There were probably three primary reasons why I like Pinocchio and decided to write ‘The Wooden Heart.’ The first was that I wanted to deal with my
problems in a way that wasn’t as self destructive as the problems I was struggling to overcome at the time. The second was that I never had a father, but I always loved reading stories about men that lost their mind to the notion that they could create a child to love them unconditionally. A father that wanted a son, like Dr. Frankenstein and Gepetto. The third, I generally don’t talk about. I’ll keep that as a personal story for now.
You’re somewhat of a performer too in a way with your live demonstrations. That’s pretty unique in the comic world. Do you consider yourself a performer?
CJ: Absolutely. I love painting live. I love blues music, and play blues guitar as a hobby. I’m too shy to perform as a musician onstage so I guess I get my shyness out as a performer through my live painting demonstrations at the Comic-Cons.
Can you tell us a little more about “Atlas”?
CJ: Well… there’s a lot to tell about Atlas. But I’ll just say this. I mentioned previously that part of the growing pains of an artist is vision execution. After everything I’ve learned from completing ‘The Wooden Heart’ I started building
projects that reflected the things in life I love to learn about – philosophy, anthropology and science. This project is just the next step in developing my narrative/artistic skills and goals.
Final question! What’s your dream comic? What characters or team would you love to illustrate?
CJ: Sandman. The Endless be my dream team. No pun intended, haha.
Thanks to CJ for letting us ask some questions. For those going to NYCC this week you can catch him at his both, Booth 519 at The Block to check out his work and live demo!
Have you seen any amazing unconventional artists at conventions or online that deserve a single out artist spotlight or feature? Let us know in the comments below or tweet us at @Sub_Cultured and at @maxlikescomics.
Max Eber
Staff Writer
@maxlikescomics
CONversations: Camilla d’Errico
Hispanic Heritage Month: Highlighting Comic Creators pt 3
Oh, The Moon by Charlyne Yi Review
Artist Spotlight: Matt Huynh and ‘The Boat’
Sub-Cultured #GoodBooks: Nobrow’s ‘The Spectators’ and ‘Fantasy Sports’
Artist Spotlight: The Art of Wang Shuhui (王叔晖)
From ‘The Boat’
By featuring traditional art by Matt Huynh as well as animation, sound effects, music, and video clips, the comic is not only a unique experience but an educational one. It is an example of an internet exclusive medium that needs to be looked at closer and utilized more for storytelling in the digital age. By adding interactive elements not unlike a computer game but still firmly rooted in its illustrative roots, you add additional atmosphere, immersion and context to the piece. A perfect intersection between mediums it allows easy audience (reader) engagement in a highly distractable culture in it’s ability to inform.
For “Artist Spotlight” we were not only able to view and experience this fantastic comic, but were also able to talk to Matt about the project and about his body of work as an artist.
I’m an illustrator and cartoonist from Sydney, but I’ve been living in Brooklyn the past few years. My work draws as much from South-East Asian ink painting as it does the Western superhero comics that I grew up on! I’ve worked across animation, performance, murals, packaging, advertising and editorial, but my first love was comics.
I’d love to do a superhero comic one day. Having that particular genre so saturated in the wider media today allows for greater subversion, particularly with playing in the toybox of existing worlds, characters and conventions. The breadth and possibility for content and voices in comics is much more exciting to me at the moment though.
I noticed while experiencing The Boat and then looking at your work on your website, you state that your style is informed by ink brush painting, or sumi-e and shodo. Where did those influences come from or what brought you to those art forms?
It snuck up on me a little! I grew up in a not-so-devout Buddhist household and although we weren’t very into ritual and ceremony, ink paintings and calligraphy were part of the hodgepodge household decor which I mostly ignored because I was immersed in Western comics as a kid. I taught myself how to draw by following the direction and weight of brush strokes across the pages of superhero comics. I grew up with a little bit of the stereotypical first generation parents’ emphasis upon academics and intellectual achievement, so when I started my little rebellious exploration of art and spirituality, I was introduced to the ideas of dharma art and brush art as meditative practice in local monasteries.
What do you enjoy doing most with your art?
There are ideas about putting ink onto the page as a joining of heaven (the blank page as a sea of expansive possibility or ‘ma’), earth (inspiration or thought) and human (the act). In other words, to be open, consciously and intellectually engaged, and physically energized and connected to making the work. Every stage is really integral and healthy to encourage other. Just physically keeping my drawing hand moving and my eye exercising keeps me out of my head enough to be open to discovering the unexpected. It helps to think through an idea on the page with the medium itself rather than coming up with an idea abstractly in my head about a hypothetical visual and trying to adapt it into physical ink on the page. Ultimately, pulling a brush balanced with ink is simply very sensually satisfying in the most direct way. It’s just animal hair, pulp, carbon and water!
from ‘The Boat’
SBS contacted me about adapting Nam Le’s story into an interactive comic. I usually don’t work from other people’s source material because comics can be such a laborious and engaging task, especially with such harrowing material. However, the content, artistry, influences, resources and collaborators enthusiastic to work on a comic that was progressive and innovative was a big incentive for me. Nam Le is an astute writer dealing with themes and a moment in history I am very personally engaged in, and working with the team at SBS offered a chance to work with top notch sound design, animation, production, archival footage and programming to take the presentation of comics online to a new level.Australia is also enforcing abhorrent and regressive asylum seeker and boat people policies that has made clear to me, and my peers, how lucky my parent’s generation were to have a government with a comparatively open hearted, empathetic and compassionate policy. It is urgent to bring stories of some of the most vulnerable people and characters back into a debate that is being told by big media outlets and political pr spin from a world away.
from ‘The Boat’
The leadership role of an artist is to be fearless. There’s overt censorship and then there’s the more insidious, subtle pressures that erode the confidence of young artists wishing to engage in humanitarian, activist and political issues. If an artist is worried about paying rent, they’re going to find it difficult to take a risk, speak out, or just draw attention to themselves. I would love to see more young artists and students represent their own stories and experiences in their work, including their client work. A lot of mainstream media feels regrettably forgettable and impersonal, the most obvious example being the lack of diverse roles and stories. I would loathe to think that myself as a daydreaming young aspiring artist, would grow up, finally become an artist, be in a position to communicate and work with a bigger megaphone, only to be afraid to speak up and show myself.
I’m very engaged with the act of making the work to transform myself, whether it is overtly investigating my personal history, looking at experiences from different angles, investigating and teaching myself more about communities or connecting with others by telling their stories to new audiences. Hopefully the artefact or evidence of that process is transformative for audiences too!Despite my best efforts, it’s difficult for me to depart from recurring themes of identity – particularly migration, abandonment, rebuilding, inexplicable loss and absence, race and power. These same ideas run under all my stories and art, whether they’re historical recounts or Gothic fiction, but working in different modes lets me grapple with these themes from new perspectives.For example, I did a comic about my parent’s time in a Malaysian refugee camp. Their recounts were always cursory and romanticized, making it difficult to look directly and objectively at a part of history they’ve long left in the past and aren’t eager to revisit, but it let me empathize with them, not least as a very young couple in love and learning to raise a family in extraordinary circumstances.Then I The Boat based on Nam Le’s short story. Having the benefit of another writer’s research and experience into the same moment in history and involving the same locations and even character types, let me look much more directly at a very personal part of my family’s identity with the benefit of being remove with ‘fiction’.
Print work from Matt Huynh’s website
Would you like to do more interactive comics of this nature in the future?
I’d love to explore more with interactive comics, particularly with an original work created specifically for the digital space and this particular medium.The Boat presented such a huge challenge. It is already enough of a dilemma to adapt source material into the comics medium, but on top of that we had to research and design a new online presentation for comics from scratch, and then introduced disciplines beyond comics into the presentation – footage, animation and sound design. This project gave me a chance to explore the greatest boundaries of interactive and then make some choices about how to tell this one, particular story, but there are so many opportunities for story telling left on the table. We didn’t even use color!The opportunity to make work specifically designed for interactive comics itself, and free from source material, whether that’s history or an adaptation from another medium, would expand the possibilities for what a creator could do with interactive comics.I also toy with the idea of another adaptation, to make a work that is more about the transformation of the work itself. Where the point of the adaptation itself is its departure and possibility for change, rather than its similarities which can come across as a bit of a cerebral, tick-box exercise.
I’m currently working on some animation for rock concert projection, illustrating a short story collection, and putting together posters and projection for an arts festival! An exhibition and more writing is further down the pipeline, always being chipped away at.
Thank you to Matt Hyugh for taking the time to answer our questions. It was a huge honor.
Max Eber
Staff Writer
max@sub-cultured.com
@maxlikescomics
CONversations: Camilla d’Errico
Hispanic Heritage Month: Highlighting Comic Creators pt 3
Singled Out: Q & A With Artist CJ Draden
Oh, The Moon by Charlyne Yi Review
Sub-Cultured #GoodBooks: Nobrow’s ‘The Spectators’ and ‘Fantasy Sports’
