[DL] WesternGothicGraphic novel1st 20pg FREE@blackdaze.com

[BarryB301@netscape.net]

1. What influenced you to create a western comic book?

Boy, I hope your URL has some space.  I’ve always leaned towards  the creed: write what you know. I’ve lived in many small towns
and have always been interested in using them as settings for stories.  The people are unique, there is a different sort of mindset to
living in a small town and they do have their darker side just like big cities.  I had a few ideas mulling around in my head ranging
from short stories, screenplays to graphic novels, or whatever.
 The most prevalent one was of a young man returning to his small home town from college to discover something strange going on.
This leads him to start probing into his town to unearth it’s seamier side. At this time movie director David Lynch put out “Blue
Velvet” and it’s plot was so close to what I was aiming after I had to come up with a different angle.  From that I concocted a
straight murder mystery set in a small town. No sooner do I come up with this bright idea when  Lynch comes out with the t.v.
series “Twin Peaks”.  On that account I needed to think of something with a little more spin. Finally, as I was driving home from
college one day, I had the epiphany, or maybe a  psychotic episode, of  having a murder mystery take place in an small town in the
old American West. 


Interestingly enough, I have ridden and have been around horses all my life, but I was never into Westerns of any shape or form. So
I started to inundate myself in researching the Old West. Reading, studying, and photocopying every kind of book and magazine on
this place and time in American history. I completely enjoyed immersing myself in auto- biographies and biographies of the people
that lived it. Granted, most of these books written were full of falsehoods, mis- remembrances and out right myths.  This is
espically true of the auto-biographies, but they really give you a sense of being there. Like I said; write what you know and if you
don’t know it you can always find out.

  I mixed all this in with the premise that the graphic novel would have supernatural under-currents running through it’s story-line.
The one thing I always associated with the Old West was that it was kind of macabre. You know, all those black and white
photographs of women and children standing around the bullet-hole filled, fly-covered body of a recently dead outlaw. No one was
smiling. They couldn’t hold a grin long enough for the time it took to take the picture, however it made the scenes even more
morose.  This is one of the reasons the covers read: A Gothic-Western. We couldn’t go for just an average genre we had to come up
with one of our own. 








2. Those Mike Hoffman covers are great! How did you establish your relationship with Hoffman?

  If a picture is worth a thousand words those covers are good for hundreds of thousands apiece.  With each progressive cover Mike 
just keeps knocking me out.  They literally set the tone for the story inside the comic.  
I had found the two issues of the Tigress comic that Mike did for Basement Comics in a bin at ComicFest in Chicago. Later that
year Black Daze had a spot at Wizard World and Mike’s table was a few rows over.  I stopped to talk to him about how I much I
admired his artwork.  He mentioned that he was thinking about doing a Western. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but we started
corresponding through email. He loved the idea I had for “The Ballad of Utopia” and wanted to do the art.  And me, knowing a
good thing when it kicks me in the face, took him up on his offer. It’s worked out extremely well. Our talents jive so skillfully that I
couldn’t ask for a better collaborator.

3. Please describe the story of THE BALLAD OF UTOPIA for our readers.

“The Ballad of Utopia” is a murder mystery that takes place in the small, old southwestern town of Utopia. It revolves around the
puzzling slaying of the local stage-keep, Charlie Burnette. Utopia deputy Samuel David discovers Charlie’s body and subsequently
has to search for those responsible. Assisting Sam in his quest is Brigham Love, a very peculiar bounty hunter. As their path leads
them towards finding the murderer, or murderers, they lay bare  many of Utopia’s darker secrets and hidden truths. Along the way
we deal with things like (free association style): the mythology of the American west, mythology in general, western clichés,
madness, secret societies, revenge, Utopian principles, love, Apache religion, small town values, dime novels (predecessors of
comic books) just to name a few. Hopefully our tag line says it all: “The Old West Ain’t What It Used To Be.”.   

4. How long is THE BALLAD OF UTOPIA (number of issues)?


The murder mystery will be resolved in issue number eight. There are three other story-arcs involved with the entire story, but for
now we’re going to concentrate on resolving the question :“Who killed Charlie Burnette.”


5. I see you have a second title coming out in September: TIGRESS. Please tell us about this title.

Mike Hoffman’s Tigress is a one shot comic written and drawn by the artist. Mike was itching to do a sequential comic in what is
his current forte, sci-fi fantasy, and he wanted to use his Tigress character, so Black Daze is letting him.  Man, am I glad we did.
I’ve seen the pages to this comic and it is by far the best looking black and white brush-work you going to see in todays comics.
Just some of the most scrumptious art. Mike is at the top of his game and Black Daze will be nominating this for more than a few
comic industry art awards. It is that awe-inspiring.  The story itself, a retro science fiction adventure, is like  a breath of fresh air in
this gloomy market. I can’t wait for people to see it. 



6. Where does Black Daze go from here? Do you have more publishing plans?

We’re plowing ahead with finishing “The Ballad of Utopia” and getting “Tigress” out into the readers hands. Currently, BlackDaze
is starting to concentrate on it’s web-site blackdaze.com. We’ll begin this fall by placing free comic stories in our “Lending
Library” with the final goal of collecting them in trade paperback form. 

RETURN TO UTOPIA    

   The 21st Century is here and Black Daze Publishing is saddled up and ready! The creators of
the critically acclaimed Gothic Western comic book series THE BALLAD OF UTOPIA have
watched the Comics industry fluctuate, change and just plain metamorphose, and now they're
adapting by releasing a new 88-page trade paperback THE BALLAD OF UTOPIA: Volume One!
       "Our story has close ties to the dime novels that were mass-produced around the turn of the
century, and pulps that followed," said Barry Buchanan, who produces the book along with
reknowned Fantasy artist Mike Hoffman. "UTOPIA followed these traditions by being served up
in monthly installments appearing in a comic format. Incidently, a huge influence on the book
has been serialized stories of the past, the most obvious being dime novels that contained
retellings of (and out-right exaggerated lies about!) real Western legends such as Buffalo Bill
Cody, Calamity Jane, and so on. One of the less obvious inspirations is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's
Sherlock Holmes adventures, serialized in the London  magazine The Strand, which kept readers
waiting eagerly for the next installment".                                                                                    
THE BALLAD OF UTOPIA is essentially a murder mystery as seen through the eyes of Utopia
deputy Sam David, who is sometimes accompanied by the mysterious and occultic bounty hunter
Brigham Love. Along the way, they encounter quite a few grisly shocks and encounter many of
the odd personalities of the town of Utopia. "It's a very weird and bizarre Western, and
challenges a lot of the stereotypes of the genre", stated Hoffman, to which Buchanan added
"We'd planned on continuing in this format, but recent changes in the comic industry have
caused us to retool our initial plan. Call it publishing Darwinism"
       "Nowadays it's the graphic novel that flourishes in this market," continued Buchanan,
"Which isn't a problem because this story had been approached as one complete tale from the
start with a definite beginning, middle and end, even though initially spread over eight issues.
Added benefits to a re-release in the graphic novel format are a more substantial read, longer
shelf-life and the inclusion of a ISBN number, which will help make it into bookstores and
libraries. This may be a big step in attracting some of the eight billion people on this planet who
don't ordinarily read comic books."
       THE BALLAD OF UTOPIA: Volume One will combine the first three previously released
issues along with the unreleased fourth issue, all of which will be enveloped in a new oil
painting by Hoffman. "We want to keep the cover price down, while unifying the storyline.
Volume One will contain the first half of our tale, and Volume Two (also a 88 page TPB) due
out this winter will complete it. All the mysteries will be solved!"
       To commemorate this new publishing venture and provide a free sample of The BOU, Black
Daze has posted the entire first issue online in the Lending Library at www.blackdaze.com
   <http://www.blackdaze.com>.

   THE BALLAD OF UTOPIA: Volume One, the 88-page B&W trade paperback will be in the JUNE  2001 Previews catalog and in stores mid-August.
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