Our interview series continues with the writing team behind LOVE. DEATH. EAT. REPEAT., Karl and Karen Hemmings of @sficool. The UK-based pair, combined with creators from all over the globe, recently launched the new series exclusively to GlobalComix, and we just had to reach out and sit down with them to talk about their stories.
Before we get to that, here's a full list of the creative team:
Writers: Karl and Karen Hemmings (UK)
Line art: Dimitrios Stamadianos (Greece)
Colour: Alfredo Rodriguez Murillo (Spain)
Letters: Serhii Yarovyi (Ukraine)
Cover artist: Olly Jeavons (UK)
You can start reading LOVE. DEATH. EAT. REPEAT. #1 here. Get your downloadable PDF to support the creative team for only $1.99.
GlobalComix: Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work.
Karen Hemmings: It was liberating being at Glasgow Art School in the early 80’s: An iconoclastic and rebellious time. When I graduated, the only thing I wanted to do was Drama at the RSAMD. But… an adventurous spirit won out over the need for an audience ha-ha, and I moved for a short time to Florence, Italy, with a dear friend who brought humour, a love of travel and exploration of different cultures into my life, for many years. I had fun with Am Dram for a while, which culminated in a spontaneous performance of the poem at an open-mike session in Nice’n’Sleazy’s on Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow. That was sweaty, but FUN!
I gradually realised that the desire to make things, instead of breaking things could be expressed in a wider range of creative tasks than I’d previously engaged with. As much as I yearn for more time to sculpt and make 2D art, I feel equally inspired to fix things which are broken, explore the culinary arts and write.
Then comics and graphic novels stepped onto the stage and blew my mind. I could honestly live 100 lifetimes and not be bored for one single second. Writing for this medium is like hot-wiring your brain!
On a calmer note: I like to think of myself as a multi-tasker, but I am willing to consider that I might just have a problem with completing tasks. Well, the devil IS in the detail. The upside of being busy, though, is that sometimes, when I’m not looking, ideas crawl from the dark side of my psyche, jump into in a little bassinette and start screaming for attention on the doorstep of my mind.
Karl Hemmings: In an earlier life I was a land surveyor (yeah, it’s as boring as it sounds), then professional guitarist having studied at the GSMD in London (Rock/Pop/Jazz... launched the UK’s first rock n pop tuition service in schools), yoga instructor (but not so bendy these days) and web designer (now this really was fun).
An eclectic professional career that has nothing at all to do with writing comics... am I right?!
From a very early age I’ve loved storytelling, and writing stories is similar to writing a musical composition, there’s an underlying theme, structure, texture, dynamic, emotion, a story to be told and the desire to share your creation with others. So I guess I’m still a musician of sorts... only now the medium is the spectacular visual spectacle of comics and graphic novels.
GlobalComix: What drew you to this project? What did you enjoy the most about it?
Karen Hemmings: After Karl discovered the mysterious, horrific and macabre events that took place at Wharrem Percy he asked me to recite my zombie poem once more. His brain makes weird and wonderful connections (that’s because he’s probably an alien of course) and the idea grabbed a firm hold on us both. However, now that Zabrina has a life of her own, what I’m enjoying most about this project is that SHE’S in control of the narrative. She’s telling US her story.
Karl Hemmings: One of my fondest memories was Karen’s first ‘performance’ of her Zombie poem. She has a way of storytelling that only a true Scot manages to portray. It was feisty, yet dark and sombre, it had twists and turns... it glued me to the spot.
That, and watching a documentary some 15 years later, about the grizzly findings uncovered by archaeologists from the Dark Ages at Wharram Percy, England. Findings that they concluded resulted in human dismemberment after death in order to prevent THE DEAD FROM RISING! In the Dark Ages they were called Revenants.
GlobalComix: What would you say is the aspect of creating comics that you enjoy most?
Karen Hemmings: What’s not to LOVE? Seeing our ideas become flesh! That kind of super-power is kind of addictive. And…jumping off my cloud and floating down, back down to Earth, the humbling realisation that none of this would even be possible, without the input of some very special people. Nuh-uh. No way.
The Greek artist Dimitrios Stamadianos took the art-script and example images provided to him and generated some of the most stunning art we have ever seen. Then our Lady REALLY came to life when the rest of our team of creatives from all around the world got their hands on her (or was it the other way around, who knows?). Alfredo Rodríguez Murillo, your colouring has breathed life into our Zombie gal – If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’ve made her blush (nah! She’s just really angry in issues 1 & 2), and Serhii, you’ve given her a unique and unforgettable sound. And we couldn’t be more proud of lifting the curtain on our Zombie World and introducing our Lady via Olly Jeavon’s vision of Zabrina. What a game-changer!!! It’s been an unparalleled pleasure and privilege to work with these multi-talented, passionate, and inspirational individuals. They’re a part of our family on this journey: All deeply respected, and cherished.
Karl Hemmings: Absolutely everything about the process. The story concepting, the art and lettering script writing and working with a team of incredibly talented individuals to bring our story... to life! Mwah ha ha! Ahem!
GlobalComix: Do you have a dream IP that you’d like to do a project for?
Karen Hemmings: All the projects that are still in various stages of production, and yet to meet the eyes of our fans. There are a lot!!!
Karl Hemmings: I’d love to work with some of Walt Disney’s classic characters and rewrite them into a horror comic series where they’re pitched against the superheroes of DC & Marvel who have all been turned rotten-and-rogue due to being infected by an alien virus.
I’d call it... Pan-Spermia haha! Can you guess who’d be leading the charge against the baddies?
On a side note... the royalties could all go to the Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital.
GlobalComix: What about horror comics do you love the most?
Karen Hemmings: That they make me laugh out loud! (Chuckles are SO yesterday)!
Karl Hemmings: The dark, the bumps in the night, the belly-laughs and the gaps in the storytelling that allow your imagination to run wild!
GlobalComix: There’s a “zombie poem” that you wrote at a young age in the pages of your recent series LOVE. DEATH. EAT. REPEAT. What inspired this poem?
Karen Hemmings: I was 11. I was a bit EMO - before it was fashionable. I’d also seen a re-run of Night of the Living Dead. But that’s not what got me going when the teacher said “ok, it’s alliteration class today. Pick a sound, or a letter and run with it. See where it takes you. I sat there, brain-dead for a few minutes and then pictured myself, hunched-up, holding my knees, in a darkened corner of a bombed-out building in a post-apocalyptic world. I closed my eyes, and took a big sigh. As I let it out, the classroom faded into the background and the poem emerged… slowly.
GlobalComix: Was there a page or moment in the story that was your favorite to see come to life?
Karl Hemmings: The double page spread 18-19 where Zabrina screams her defiance into the blood moon lit night! Oh man, what a moment!
GlobalComix: Do you find that poems and comics go well together? Is that combination something you’d want to explore more?
Karen Hemmings: Totally, I like writing poetry, even if it’s not what other people might agree is call poetry – it might not be pretty, but it’s mine, and I love it!
GlobalComix: At the end of the first issue, you ask your readers if they would like to dance with Zabrina. Here’s a fun question, what kind of music do you think she would dance to?
Karl Hemmings: La Cumparsita! She loves to Tango! You can see her doing so in issue 2’s alt cover.
GlobalComix: LOVE. DEATH. EAT. REPEAT. Is going to have more issues, two a year. Is there anything that you are looking forward to that you can tell is about without a spoiler?
Karen and Karl Hemmings: Well…there’s going to be some pretty rough action, and extreme emotional chaos. This chariot-ride through the most poignant moments of history, in the most stylish and evocative landscapes of the ancient and modern world is not an evolution for any lily-livered brain. You’ll need a brave heart and a strong stomach to journey with this broad.
Zabrina is an extra-ordinary woman. So extra-ordinary that we have had to create new worlds for her – one is not enough!
We'd like to thank Karen and Karl Hemmings for taking the time to chat with us about LOVE. DEATH. EAT. REPEAT. and their experiences as writers and other creative fields! There's going to be more gruesome fun this year, and in future years, so we're looking forward to what Sficool has in store for us all!
Here are some links to social media profiles where you can follow the Sficool and the creative team:
- Sficool on Facebook
- Sficoolon X
- Sficool on Instagram
- Line art: Dimitrios Stamadianos
- Colour: Alfredo Rodriguez Murillo
- Letters: Serhii Yarovyi
- Cover artist: Olly Jeavons