Welcome back!
Together we have made it to the halfway point of Awry! It’s only going to get more bonkers so let’s see what Chapter 6 has in store!
Table of Contents:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
» Stick around after the pages for the post-credit sequence, which features reader mail in our Virtual Letters Column! «
Awry » Chapter 6 » “The Earther Saboteur“
Previously! Captain Edwards was forced to deliver a package to Oth’s enemies and no one told him it was a bomb! If you ask me, he fell for the oldest trick in the book…
AND THEN:
TO BE CONTINUED…
» Awry
Created, written, & lettered by Wes Locher
Created, drawn, & colored by Graeham Jarvis
Post-credit Sequence
First, a letter. And then, to commemorate reaching the halfway point on our interstellar journey, I share the story behind the story!
Virtual Kevin’s Letters Column
Reader Kevin, who is quickly becoming my favorite person on our planet, had this to say about our previous installment:
This is becoming a regular column for me, haha! But this tale is well deserving of my time. As I read this I was thinking how much money needs to be raised to buy the rights so you can continue the tales. Or if it has a definite ending to just stay in this world. Love the art. I found myself smiling and had some chuckles. Love Commander Edwards’ sarcasm while he is processing this new situation. Just fantastic funny book content. Was hoping to see what was going on back at the ship. As they seemed to be ready to attempt a rescue mission. Keep sharing, I’ll keep reading. It’s a shame not more people are getting access to this. I bet this would do great on Indy Planet if you could ever weasel the rights back
We made it back to the ship in this chapter! Don’t worry… Bax and co. didn’t forget about their curmudgeon of a captain! The rescue attempt is on the horizon!
Here’s hoping that eventually Graeham and I can get the rights to the series back (keep those fingers crossed). I’d love to self-publish my own edition of this graphic novel to have for conventions and my webstore. A guy can dream, right?
The Making of Awry
While Awry was produced throughout 2018 and ultimately published in 2019, I had the idea for the series back in 2012/2013. While I was doing preliminary work on the comic book idea, there was a movie announced that was described as:
[…] A group of explorers who make use of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitations on human space travel and conquer the vast distances involved in an interstellar voyage.
Does that sound familiar? It should, because it’s how Christopher Nolan’s epic sci-fi film INTERSTELLAR was announced the same year I was noodling on Awry.
I almost dropped the idea then and there. I mean, how could I compete with Chris Nolan? But then Nolan’s film came out and I watched (all 16 hours of) it, and I realized that the black-hole-inspired story I wanted to tell was completely different than Nolan’s. For instance, Nolan’s story was about love and science and different timelines, and my story… well… my story was about a dude who was really frustrated and mad. (Maybe this is why Nolan makes millions of dollars and I do not.)
The main themes of Awry were found families and the idea that within an interstellar society, humans are not the top of the food chain. In fact, humans are looked down upon by other races and cultures as unintelligent beings. I thought it was fascinating to use Edwards as the vehicle to explore those ideas. Someone who was totally okay with not being the smartest guy in the room and accepted his journey as it came (while other characters were not so accepting of the situation) and adapted to the best of his ability. Because that’s how universes grow—by adapting.
How it was Different…
Usually, when a writer/artist/creative team pitch a comic series, they put together 8-12 pages of finished art and send potential publishers those pages along with an outline of the book as a whole. I’ve been there, done that, and played that game. However, I wanted to make Awry by coloring outside of the lines. Instead, Graeham and I decided that we would just make the comic we wanted to make and then pitch it to publishers once it was all finished.
And that’s what we did.
Another way that Awry was different than my other works is that normally before an artist ever starts drawing one of my comics, I have all of the issue scripts written. The story is there for the artist to read in its entirety. With Awry, I wrote the scripts one at a time. Once Graeham had finished the pencils for issue 1, I then wrote issue 2. And so on and so on. I wanted his art to inspire me. I wanted to not only include things he wanted to draw, but also see what his strengths were as an artist and come up with cool things for him to draw. (That’s how the sand monster came to be. What sand monster, you ask? Ho ho! Stick around and find out!)
However, writing issue-by-issue also meant that some details didn’t stay consistent, which was a great learning experience for me as a writer. Eagle-eyed readers may catch these tiny inconsistencies now (I’m not going to point them out) but the experience taught me to have the best possible handle on my story before I start putting fingers to keyboard. That’s what art is, right? You learn, and you apply those lessons to the next thing.
We finished Awry and pitched it around. Everyone hated it. And that was fine. Graeham and I were totally okay self-publishing the book if that’s what we needed to do. We even talked about putting it out as a webcomic in a format not unlike how you’re reading it now.
The final publisher I took the story to was Action Lab and, despite some red flags that popped up early, we signed the contract. I really wanted people to see Graeham’s art. He’d never been published on that level before, and I wanted to share that experience with him. Of course, the experience we had was far from what I had in mind! (Sorry, Graeham.)
But, it is what it is, and here we are. With that said, I’m glad you’re seeing what we made: the most raw, non-family-friendly comic in my entire catalog. But when I look back at Awry, I’m proud of how it all came together and how the characters grew and developed over the course of the story. Thank you for reading it.
We’ll be back soon with Chapter 7! See you then.
OX and Co making moves. It was no surprise that was going to be their play but it gave me that moment of “HECK YEAH” good pacing to keep the Calvary away as long as possible. Commander Ed man. Poor guy. His one “friend” had to make hard decisions. Im sure we have all been there but this sure is a far cry from his boredom from earlier in the journey for our favorite commander. I wish I was a writer and had the vocabulary to express the joy this story is giving me. Thanks for sharing Wes.
Oh and I totally laughed out loud as the crossed out letter Column name. Thanks