Ten Speed Graphic launched the primary print quantity of cartoonist Katie Cook’s beloved fantasy Webtoon collection, Nothing Special, in early March. Hot on its heels, The Beat can solely announce that the second print quantity will hit shops in October, amassing the primary 25 chapters of Season 2 of the webcomic.
In an interview with Cook, she revealed that changing the webcomic’s “waterfall” format for print to keep up the “page-turner” impact is a large endeavor—one which, for years, she mentioned can be “future Katie’s problem.” Instead, designer Nathan Pride has taken over the format course of, and Cook, Pride, and editor Vedika Khanna are basically creating a completely new studying expertise for Nothing Special in print.
“It takes us months to format everything in the back and forth after Nate finishes a page. And I actually hop on a Teams call where I share my screen and we go over everything and I start drawing in all of my weird little background stuff,” Cook mentioned. “I love Sergio Aragonés-like gags and he’s an idol of mine. And it was like, oh my God, I have all of this white space as we reformat, so why would I not go in there and spend an hour and a half drawing this one little thing?”
In regards to studying the comedian in print versus on the net, she added, “The books have more backup content. I’ve even gone in and redrawn stuff and I add extra background gags. There’s back bonus content with how I make the book in the first book. The [back matter in the] second one has a little bit more world-building. It’s from the desk of the characters, what their desks look like, and all the stuff that they kind have out and about where they live, especially Lasser’s romance novels, which are such a huge part of book two.”
After being pressured to kill her wooden nymph mom in Nothing Special Vol. 1: Through the Elder Woods, magic consumer Callie desires life to return to regular—however now that she is aware of the total reality of who she is and the place she comes from, “normal” has a brand new definition. Instead of spending time along with her fairy boyfriend, Declan, teasing their demon buddy Lasser about his obsession with human romance novels, and serving to out her daemon dad at his magical vintage store, Callie has to go on yet one more stunning quest.
This time, she, Declan, Lesser, and Radish the very courageous (and really tiny) spirit should monitor down a fairy healer to assist Declan’s ongoing ache from his damaged wings. Along the way in which, the group discovers Declan has a really specific function in fairy society that would change every thing.
Check out the duvet for Nothing Special Vol. 2: Concerning Wings under.
Cook mentioned Nothing Special will seemingly finish after 4 story arcs, although the variety of print books will rely upon how a lot of every arc can match with no ridiculous web page rely. “We found a good cliffhanger point for the second volume. So that one’s split up into two books,” she mentioned. “And I can easily see the third season—depending on how we do it—being three books. I mean, that’d be ridiculous.”
She may also proceed publishing the story without spending a dime on Webtoon, even because the print books are launched. Plus, the top of Nothing Special doesn’t spell the top of the world Cook has created for it.
“I have other ideas. It’s a vast, magical world with a link to the human realm. Other areas can be explored there that I can tie into the stories I’m already telling,” Cook revealed. “So it can go on for a little bit with one group and then it can go on forever exploring Draken and the different magical areas.”
Prior to creating Nothing Special, Cook constructed her status as a comics author with the IDW Publishing My Little Pony comics. When former Webtoon editor Tom Akel approached her about making a world that was all her personal, Cook needed to heat as much as the concept.
“I was like, no, I got a good thing going with the licensed work. I’m doing all this, and what if I do something that’s all mine and everybody hates it? It would hurt my feelings,” Cook mentioned. “But eventually it was like, no, I have a story to tell. I have stories to tell. I want to write something that’s all ages with a teen layer, an adult layer, and a younger kid layer, something that everybody is going to get something out of, which is how I approached all of the My Little Pony stuff. I didn’t approach it as a kids’ comic. I did it as an all-ages comic, which I think is why it was so successful.”
Ultimately, Cook is creating Nothing Special for the adolescent model of herself who grew up studying Archie Comics and the comics part of the Detroit Free Press.
“I want something that has adventure and has a touch of romance and is just funny. I like to write things that are funny. I want you to chuckle along with the things that hurt. There’s matricide [in Nothing Special Vol. 1] and it’s funny,” she defined. “One of my favourite writers is Neil Gaiman, and a variety of his books have the concept simply between the cracks of our world is a world that we don’t consider. I like the concept between the cracks of our universe, there’s one thing extra.
“I live out in Michigan and I love the idea that if I see a dilapidated old barn and it looks like the doors are falling off the hinges and it just looks gross, it’s like, ‘I wonder if I go in there, if it’s going to take me somewhere else,’” Cook continued. “I love that sense of imagination, that sense of wonder. I really try and instill it in my own kids too. I went to college in Detroit. Detroit could be magic. We have lots of shitty buildings. So yeah, [Nothing Special] was the opportunity to make the thing I want to read.”
Readers of all ages have related deeply with Nothing Special. At conventions, Cook mentioned children will stroll previous her sales space and see the collection banner and get giddy, which could be very particular for her. “There’s a connection to the story and I want people to connect with the characters and this world they live in. And by that, it’s technically a connection to me because so much of me is in the Nothing Special stories: the awkwardness of youth combined with coming-of-age, combined with a love of books and nerdery and magic. That’s the connection that you make with people through your work.”
At the top of our name, Cook offered one final tidbit of data: every of the print covers for Nothing Special are related by the vines working alongside the highest and backside of the artwork, so it’s attainable to put them out and see a cohesive illustration of the story.
Nothing Special Vol. 2: Concerning Wings will likely be out there wherever books are offered on October 29 from Ten Speed Graphic. Pre-orders can be found now.
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