I've always wanted to try a crime story. I wanted to do my take on that type of book – the hard-boiled anti-hero and the mafia villains and all that but I never had a strong enough story hook. I was looking for a way to put my own stamp on the genre and it finally clicked with "HAPPY!"


I was ambushed by this track by The Hollies, the '60s band, and it was like the most saccharine, sweetie pie music you can imagine – "Pegasus The Flying Horse." I like quite a few songs from the band’s psychedelic mid-period but this is just a hideous piece of twee. It even has this neighing sound as the last few bars play out! i]Laughter[/i It's so sugary and weird and although it‘s probably about LSD, the lyrics of the middle 8 section bring a weird "pervy uncle" presence to the whole sordid affair. You can look it up on YouTube if you want because I just can't do it justice.
But I was listening to this music and thought, "Imagine the most cynical, fucked up man in the world having to deal with this - with a sickeningly upbeat little cartoon character - each trapped with the other." What would it be like if the Bad Lieutenant teamed up with Pegasus the Flying Horse? By this time, I knew the Happy the Horse would be tiny. And it struck me that I could throw “Christmas story” in with this as well. I've always wanted to have a go at a classic Christmas story like "It's A Wonderful Life" or “A Christmas Carol“ but with characters drawn from the shock headlines of the 21st Century. So this idea seemed to lend itself to that and it gave me a chance to do the kind of wider, symbolic pop cult critique that I like. It just grew from there. Adam Mortimer who’s directing "Sinatoro" is good friends with Darick Robertson and put us in touch. I've met Darick in the past, but we’ve never worked together. I found out that he was free, he loved the idea, we pitched it to Image and now we’re half way through a four-issue series which starts in September. It all came very naturally out of this weird combination of ideas.

Blue Swirl wrote:

I've been thinking about just getting the digital versions, but that feels like cheating.

Diluted Dante wrote:

There is more time spent on characterisation, which you can't really afford in a comic.

Sasukekun wrote:

Walking Dead is similar to Red Dwarf? Please elaborate

Aaroncupboard wrote:

What I love about the Walking Dead series is that it feels like every different version of it is independent, but they are all in the same universe. The books, TV show and game are all unique but share commonalities

kollarn wrote:

Diluted Dante wrote:

There is more time spent on characterisation, which you can't really afford in a comic.

This struck me as a controversial standpoint, both in general and specifically in this case. If there's one thing TWD is not lacking, it's scenes with characters talking, explaining their motivations, relating their backstories, etc. The common complaint against the book is that there's too much of that stuff, and not enough action: too much telling, too little showing (perhaps that's exactly what you meant, in that case, I'll just go quietly hang my head in shame over here)

Aaroncupboard wrote:

Isn't that partly the appeal? It's the reason we watch horror movies, there is an adrenaline rush from watching/reading these cruel events/moments because they are happening to fictional characters.