An island off the coast of Florida is inhabited by a group of super-powered surviviors. One day, a ticking time bomb is set to go off, and only some will survive. The heroes know they won’t be able to save many of the island’s inhabitants, and they are forced to face the reality of the situation, page by page, panel by panel. That, in a nutshell, is the basic premise of the first issue of Alliance of Outcasts, a new online comic from MTSU alums Matthew Pigg and Katy Campbell. It’s not your typical “the day is saved” superhero story. It’s a grounded take, with human emotion bleeding through as the characters (with names like Alchemist, Mind Bender and Thermal) prepare for an unavoidable catastrophe.
Oh, and it has a dog with super speed and robot who enjoys watching True Grit.
The comic is the brainchild of writer/creator Pigg, who just made the move from Middle Tennessee out to Los Angeles, and Goodlettsville-based Campbell, who brought the cavalcade of metahumans to life through her artwork. You can read it for free online now at crystalpigproductions.com.
We talked with the duo about the inspirations behind the comic and what’s next for the series.
THE AUTHOR:
Murfreesboro Pulse: What are your favorite comic series or graphic novels?
Matthew Pigg: I grew up hanging out at the Franklin library reading these volumes of the Amazing Spider-Man from the ’60s and it really spoke to me. As I got older, I read more comics like Thunderbolts, New Teen Titans and Runaways, and then in high school I found out about Japanese manga and this fantastic adventure story called One Piece. It was funny when it wanted to be and dramatic when it wanted to be. It could reach any and all emotions at any moment and, every now and then, they even used foul language.
How did you first become interested in comics?
I’d say, even though Stan Lee’s work got me into comics, it was reading Eichiro Oda’s One Piece that inspired me to want to create. I want to make people laugh and cry and even hate me when their favorite character doesn’t get a happy ending. The characters, I actually came up with as a kid in elementary school. I assigned a character to each of my friends. Of course they changed a lot as I continued to daydream about them. The Alchemist was originally called the Liquidator for example. I came up with this whole story about them and would draw stick figures of them fighting during classes.
What made you decide to create a series of your own?
Truth be told, even years into college I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life or what my purpose was. That was when it occurred to me to do something with all these stories in my head. I began reading books on how to write and taking as many classes as I could that were semi-relevant and began writing, re-writing and throwing scripts out completely. I had a part-time job at this point and began reaching out for artists. That part lasted over a year and a half until I found Katy.
In your words, what is the basic premise of Alliance of Outcasts?
In one word, the basis of the comic is family. The word, “outcast” is a very apt description for them as they all had nowhere they belonged and have survived together for a while. The first issue is that makeshift safety being destroyed, and now they have to come together like a real family or fall apart. The second issue is already written and is currently going through the many other steps to actually produce a comic.
In the first issue, the characters are thrown into an emotionally devastating and traumatic event. Will that dramatic tone be a staple of the series, and how will the groups be affected going forward?
The first issue of Alliance of Outcasts is pretty dark, and I’m not saying that there isn’t more to come. (If you only knew.) The audience is meeting these characters on their worst day, when everything they built comes crashing down around them and nothing makes sense.
What’s next for you and the series?
As for the future of the series and myself, Alliance of Outcasts definitely has an ending, and I’ll continue it until it reaches that. Production and hosting is expensive so it might take a long time between issues depending on success, but I’m definitely not giving up on it. I’m planning an Indiegogo campaign, the proceeds of which will all go to pay the artist and the costs of shipping and producing shirts and comics and other prizes. It’s purely for that comic and not me, or CrystalPig Productions. I wanted the first comic out and free to read before the campaign because I didn’t want people giving money for the promise of quality. This way they know what to expect. The second issue will be free to read as well.
THE ARTIST
Murfreesboro Pulse: What are your favorite comic series or graphic novels?
Katy Campbell: Death Note, Pride of Baghdad and Gunnerkrigg Court.
Had you worked on any comic projects before? If not, what made you want to tackle the medium?
No I hadn’t, but I always wanted to. The two things I’ve always loved doing are reading and drawing, so a comic book is like the best of both worlds. Not to mention that creating a comic would be a way to improve my art because it would force me to consider so many fundamentals of drawing at once (consistency, perspective, character design, backgrounds, composition, etc.)
What was the creative process like for the character designs?
In the beginning I was given detailed descriptions of the Outcasts personalities with the idea to make them look like normal people. We wanted to make the female characters in particular look their age and avoid the typical busty, overly-sexual look that comic book heroines are known for. I sent Matt drawings with three to five looks for each character and he picked the one that came closest to what he had in his head.
What were your biggest inspirations for the artwork? Are there any artists or pieces in particular?
I’ll be completely honest and say I redrew the first chapter over and over because I didn’t like what I was putting down. Luckily Matt was very patient with me during this process. I researched a lot of comic pages for inspiration and kept comparing my art to what the professionals made—which is stupid! No one gets ahead with that attitude. In the end I just went with what felt natural to draw. I did learn a lot about making comics and will work towards improving with each issue that we release.
I follow an embarrassing amount of comic artists on social media. My favorites at the moment are Christian Ward, Jamie McKelvie and W. Scott Forbes.
