Tales of Syzpense #19
Final order-cutoff for A Haunted Girl #1, the original Dream Weaver, and a graveside Spinner Rack
A few weeks ago, as part of his regularly compelling Substack (“Drawing the Line Somewhere”), artist Joe Quesada spent some space in one of his newsletters detailing his his cover process for the first issue of Syzygy’s upcoming A Haunted Girl by Ethan Sacks, Naomi Sacks, and Marco Lorenzana (along with colorist Andres Mossa, letterer Jaime Martinez, and Erika Schnatz on the production end).
While it was exciting enough to have a Joe Quesada cover grace one of our titles, it was even more intriguing to see Joe share his photo references and cover process for this one. (They’re worth seeing, and I’d share ‘em here but would rather see people check out Joe’s original post, too. Long as you come back here after you do.)
Below, I’ll share the pieces of Joe’s cover process that he sent to Ethan Sacks and I, but before I do, a little commercial break regarding this issue:
The period for all initial orders to get in to retailers close this weekend, so if you’re the kind of comic reader who pre-orders his comics from the local comic shop and haven’t ordered this one but plan to, letting them know that know would be an immense help.
At the best of times, it’s a massive challenge for comic shops to know what kind of inventory to stock up on when it comes to new series that haven’t yet established any kind of sales pattern; and in this current world of all kinds of upside-down entertainment ecosystems, it’s that much harder. So letting them know ahead of time to pre-order anything you want, to ensure it shows up in their shop and can be held for you, is of great help to retailers. And also to us, the people making these new comic series and hoping for the best. The “pre-order your comics” drum is one we all beat over and over, I know, but not doing so can result in a series’ initial orders being too low to sustain a whole series. But the long and short of it is, it also means that without doing so, there’s no guarantee they’ll even be able to take the risk to stock the series on their shelves. Having that initial gauge of interest is very helpful to these oft-struggling small business owners.
Anyway, back to Joe’s cover. What first arrived was the lineart, with a couple different options for the size and placement of the floating marble (a key element in issue 1. You can see how in the 5-page preview a little further down).
Since we were actually using Joe’s cover for two different covers for this issue — a color version, with some great color work by Joe’s longtime colorist partner Richard Isanove, as well as a black and white version of the cover (er, no offense, Richard)— we didn’t have to necessarily settle on just one marble size or placement. I liked it floating at both heights that Joe offered, so we shrunk one down a bit but are offering both versions.
The final covers are here:
And having a Joe Quesada cover (well, two) on this comic would’ve been enough to make me happy, but Joe also said some really nice things about the comic itself, too:, so I’m happy to share both is words and pictures here.
About The Haunted Girl series itself, here’s the official description:
The fate of all life on Earth depends on a girl who doesn’t know if she wants to live
Cleo, a 16-year-old adopted Japanese-American whose anxiety and depression drives her to suicidal thoughts, is fresh out of the hospital and trying unsuccessfully to reintegrate back into her old life. What she doesn't know is that her real struggles are just beginning as she finds herself encountering an increasingly terrifying succession of ghosts. Is she losing her grip on reality...or is the explanation much, much worse.
A Haunted Girl is a horror series that explores the real-life terror that comes with the struggles of anxiety and depression. Courtesy of writers Ethan Sacks (Old Man Hawkeye, Star Wars: Bounty Hunters) and his daughter, Naomi Sacks and artist Marco Lorenzana (Hulk) and Marvel, this gripping 4-issue saga aims to be both a paranormal thriller and an inspiration to those who are battling their own, less literal, demons in real life.
And a bit more of the series’ background beyond that initial marketing copy:
Four years ago, writer Ethan Sacks sat in a hospital cafeteria typing up a script for a Marvel Star Wars comic, waiting through the times between visiting hour periods in the children’s psychiatric ward upstairs. But he couldn’t concentrate, being overcome with dread. His daughter, Naomi, was hospitalized with severe depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation. So, he pulled out an old reporter’s pad and started jotting down ideas for an original story, about a girl who has to battle back from her own depression and suicidal impulses to save the world. And save herself in the process. The idea was to inspire her… and millions of other teens caught in the rising epidemic of anxiety and depression to keep fighting.
Artist Marco Lorenzana, who teamed up with Sacks previously on their creator owned Intrusion for Magma Comix and Heavy Metal, saw the potential of the story and eagerly joined.
The team was complete three years later once Naomi, having come a long way with therapy, came aboard as a co-writer, excited by the mission to help others going through similar struggles and lending an authentic voice in the process.
As an added bonus for the series, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention was kind enough to get involved with this series, too. Naomi was brave enough to pull from her real-life experiences and use them to not inform the emotional core of the lead character, but she and Ethan also wanted to make sure they handled the sensitive subject matter in a responsible way, so they asked AFSP to give it a look. The organization not only responded well to the comic but also wanted to help in the ways they could, too.
Each issue will carry a message from the organization, too. And Ethan and Naomi did a recent in interview with the organization, talking about their experiences behind the story as well as about the comic itself.
I originally wanted to do this series because I think Ethan is a great comic writer. But I’ve been immensely proud of the comic for other reasons too, not least of which is how brave it is for Naomi to channel her very real and traumatic past struggle into not just the story to give it even more emotional heft, but also because she wanted a comic like this to exist and help other people who might need it.
So I’m excited to see this very personal, but also very fictionally gripping and unique, story finally on its way into the world.
Ethan has also put a lot into this series. He’s shown some real editorial chops, too, or at least called in all kinds of markers, since each issue has an array of compelling covers by great artists. The additional covers for issue one are by:
Top row: Fico Ossio (cover B) and Ryusei Yamada (cover C)
Bottom row: Jeffrey Edwards & Andres Mossa (The Walking Dead 20th anniversary tribute) and a Bird City Comics exclusive cover by Daniel Kamarudin.
A few other writers and artists said some great things to say about the comic, too:
And here’s an animated teaser trailer Image Comics put together for the first issue:
Finally, I promised a proper look at the first issue here as well so below is a 5-page preview of issue 1. The series debuts on October 11. And for those who’ll be in the New York area that weekend for the New York Comic-Con, Ethan, Naomi, and Marco will all be at the show, signing the comic and doing a panel to discuss it, as well as doing some other notable press events and comic-shop appearances over that weekend.
A Haunted Spinner Rack
While it’s not yet time to fully switch my spinner racks over to Halloween- and horror-themed covers (I’ve gathered so many the last couple of years, far more than needed to fill both office spinners, and am eager to theme ‘em both out again), this week, I figure we should stick to a creepy theme in honor of A Haunted Girl.
Again credit to writer Jordan Hart (whose own coming Syzygy title will be featured here soon enough) for starting off this week’s theme. It features a title character who has been decidedly non-creepy for much of his existence — Spider-Man.
Still, for a character like Spidey, who generally faces even the worst of times with a wink and a smile or at least plenty of jokes to mask his inner pain, I mean, the guy has really been through it at times. And some of those covers reflect the less-sunny adventures in a grim way. And they feature a coffin more times than you’d think they would. And not just coffins but also, as pictured below, ghosts, vampires (there could prolly be an entire Spider-Man vs Morbius theme on its own), and whatever the hell Carrion was eventually revealed to be.
Still, consider these nine graveyard-and-beyond-focused covers as just scratching the surface of the Halloween-themed spinner racks to come in October. And speaking of scratching the surface, well, what better place to start this week’s theme than with Mike Zeck’s great Web of Spider-Man cover, with black-suited Peter digging his way out from six feet under a couple decades before The Bride would do the same in Kill Bill 2…
Dreams Woven
Lastly, a few miscellaneous bits to finish off this one:
I’ve been doing the occasional “13 Covers By…” feature at 13th Dimension, which is the fun way they celebrate birthdays and anniversaries. Most recently, I offered up “13 Fab Variations on Kevin Maguire’s Justice League #1 Cover” in honor of Kevin’s birthday on September 9; and a few days prior, contributed “13 GROO-tiful Images” to celebrate the birthday of Groo the Wanderer (and so much more) creator Sergio Aragones’ birthday on September.
And in news that’s not comic-related to the rest of the world but it is to me, musician Gary Wright passed away last week. I didn’t want to let this one go unmentioned since it was Wright whose most popular song inspired the name of my character in our current Tales of Syzpense comic series.
Wright, who had other songs beyond “Dream Weaver” but you may not know it since that once was such a prominent thing from its debut through its resurgence in Wayne’s World and beyond.
The character in my series is an aging hero who’s just lost whatever he once had. Back in the day, he thought calling himself Dream Weaver, because of the song, made him seem cool and intriguing. But all it eventually resulted in was one more way for him to seem out of touch to the younger generation of heroes he passes his powers onto. And while they may be right that this floundering old hero calling himself “Dream Weaver” is dated and ridiculous, well, Wright’s song itself has proven to be eternal. Thanks for the inspiration, Gary.