It’s not often you get to showcase and help promote a creative endeavor for not only a friend, but a person you truly admire, respect and love.
For me, one of those people is Ryan Crowe, who I got to meet when he was running content at Shortboxed.
The man is truly 1 of 1, and I knew that from the first time we met. He was a born creative AND leader (very very rare) and a class act, who cares about his passions as well as people.
Now, I get to watch as Crowe offers up his first comic to the world and boy oh boy is this one a truly a original piece, just like the man behind it.
Introducing “The Land is Old and Dark” from Invader Comics, which is part historical, part horror, part interpersonal comic book that simply leaves you wanting more. And I’m NOT just saying that.
I got a chance to read the first two issues and I’M HOOKED. And coming from a classic Spider-Man guy, who doesn’t often delve into the exciting and expanding world of comics (I’m old man), it takes me a lot to get me this hooked.
But let me shut up now and turn things over to Crowe who is going to dive into himself, the book and inspirations for this crazy new offering to the comic book world!
Read: Comic Reviews and News from Nerd Initiative
1 – For those who don’t know you, tell us about yourself and how you got into comics?
I’m Ryan Crowe (or just Crowe!), a comic creator, collector, and lifelong reader. I got into comics at the ripe age of 6 years old, the same year Death of Superman was released. Superman is still my favorite hero, and as a child he is THE hero. So when I saw he died (thanks to the massive media push) I had to get a copy. I believe it was my first comic book.
The mere idea of THE Superman being beaten fascinated me, and I had to know how it happened. I was blown away. However, I got most of my comic information from Wizard magazine – since there wasn’t a comic book store near me. I read the entire issue cover-to-cover every month which exposed me to wide range of stories, creators, etc. My first favorite non-Superman comic book hero was Spawn. I would get bundles of those early Image Comics as gifts. So, I was pretty much weaned on early 90s image – and read stuff like Spawn, Gen13, and Savage Dragon before I ever touched an X-Men, Batman, or Spider-Man comic.
2 – How did you transition into writing and creating comics as that’s a huge accomplishment?
You know, when I was young I went to summer camp and we had a little weekly camp newspaper. I was maybe 7 when I drew my first comic, and had an ongoing series in that little paper. I guess technically then. But fast forward 18 years, one day I just decided to do it. So I looked online for opportunities to write comics and found a now defunct publisher who was looking for writers.
I applied and they stuck me on this series about a Nigerian crimefighter named The Compatriot. I wrote 2 issues, met an artist, and we left that publisher to do our own thing. It never quite took off, but that’s when I started coming up with stories, writing scripts, and then soon after that funding my own projects.
3 – Any great inspirations or mentors along the way?
Absolutely too many to name. But I will say that I joinde Scott Snyder’s Substack Best Jackett Press, and met Scott through that. He has been a wonderful mentor for me – and his class anthology published my first comic, Pineapple Macho.
Scott has also been with me for This Land is Old and Dark, looking over the story, giving me tips, encouragement. So Scott Snyder. Pretty good fella to have in your ringcorner.
4 – Tell us about this book?? What inspired you to tell this story?? Where and when can we order it???
This Land is Old and Dark is a colonial horror tale. What happens when you don’t respect the history of a place? When you walk blindly into a land that you mean to claim? Who are we compared to the infinite and incomprhensible nature of existence? Does the universe care about us?
All of these questions are interesting to me. What inspired me to tell this story was a line from a movie called Out of Darkness, which is a cave-man horror movie (weird genre). The line was, “This Land is Old and Dark” and it was such a provocative line, that I immediately wrote it down and all of a sudden this story just appeared – front to back – all at once in my head.
You can order it at your local LCS, online, and hopefully get those orders in by 6/29 which is FOC.
5 – How was the process of writing especially your creative journey?? How do you sit and come up with ideas or envision where the characters will go next and what happens to them next??
So, for me, a whole story appears at once. It’s like… I see the shape of a man in the stone, and my job is to chip away at that stone until the man is revealed. That’s how it works for me. It just is. Sometimes a phrase can kickstart that (like this comic), a character idea, or even an artist that I see. I also allow the characters to take me through the story.
The protagonist of This Land, once I had him fully realized, actually would “tell me” when he would or wouldn’t do something. I’d write a scene and be like, “Oh this guy would never actually do this… here’s what he would do…” and that shapes my story just as much as that initial story creation moment. This series took two years to do; it probably didn’t need to take that long, but it did. So I have been sitting with these characters and this story for such a long time. I’m ready to be done with it, haha. But I am so excited to see the reactions to it. I forget that it’s still brand new to people. I love that.
