StarCraft: Lower Decks: Twisted Your Own Way A one-of-a-kind interactive graphic novel from IDW that tells the story of the crew of our favorite Starfleet ship, the USS Cerritos. Written by Ryan North and art Chris FenoglioColor by Charlie Kirchhoffinscribed as Jeff Eckerberry and edited by Heather Antosthis OGN is a must-read lower deck fan.
To learn more change your own wayThe Beat interviewed North, Fenoglio and Antos via email. We asked questions about the origins of interactive OGN, the challenges of creating such a unique comic, and the creative team’s favorite Easter egg.
Please note: This interview includes mild spoilers for change your own way throughout, plus A pair of extra spoiler-y (but clearly marked) Questions towards the end. Click the link in the first paragraph above to enjoy The Beat’s spoiler-free review.
Avery Kaplan: Heather, what’s the origin of that? change your own way? Is there any resistance to this unconventional approach? StarCraft Graphic novel?
Heather Antos: To be honest, the origin is very simple – I always wanted to write a “choose your own path” graphic novel. When I became editor-in-chief of the magazine StarCraft Wire, lower deck Seemed like a natural choice for this format, Ryan and Chris are the obvious creative team. Lucky for me, the other principals agreed!
In the history of my comics work, I’m no stranger to metanarratives and unusual formats—since Incredible Gwen Poolepanel manipulation and the breaking of the fourth wall, you are deadpoolThe dice adventure, to iambic pentameter Mercenaries of Venice with a shakespeare expert Ian Dutcher…I like Challenge creators to drive media forward, and lower deck No different.
Kaplan: Ryan, I noticed that your signature “bottom of the page” note is missing from “Twist Your Own Way.” Considering how complex OGN is already, this decision is not surprising to me! But can we expect them to return in the Lower Decks series, which debuts next month?
Ryan North: Yeah, it doesn’t really make sense to include them in this graphic novel, given the format and physical size of the book. But yes, their debut next month is in the works! I always have a great time with them.
Kaplan: Chris, you previously portrayed the crew of Lower Decks in the excellent 2022 three-issue miniseries. How does this work compare to your work on Warp Your Own Way?
chris Fenoglio: I’m really glad I had the experience of a three-issue miniseries before embarking on something as ambitious as this change your own way. from the beginning of work lower deckI always wanted to try and emulate the look and feel of the show. The first 3 questions gave me a chance to iron out some issues and make some things better before moving on change your own way. For example, I recreated my model Cerritos Actually using screenshots of the model rather than painting on the ship model like I did in the first series. This is something I couldn’t do on a technical level in the first series because I simply didn’t have the ability to do it.
I also colored the first series, but the talented Kirchhoff colored this series and he fit it like a glove. His work is gorgeous and he almost intuitively understood exactly what I wanted. Seriously, 90% of the reason this book looks so incredible is because of his colors.
Kaplan: Heather, do you need to watch every episode of Star Wars to enjoy it? change your own way?
pain: I dare say you don’t have to see it single plot StarCraft enjoy change your own way!
Kaplan: What unexpected challenges did you encounter while writing, creating, or editing this interactive graphic novel?
Fenoglio: Oh, like the whole book. Seriously, my first instinct when I read a script is always, “How the hell am I going to draw this?” I usually figure it out somehow before the deadline comes, but there’s always that initial anxiety,” There’s no way I can do this, everyone will know I’m a liar and I’ll never work again!”
Specifically, for change your own waya lot of the circumstances and backgrounds were a struggle. Sometimes you only see them briefly in the show, or from one or two angles, so you have to find references or make up the look in certain areas. I ended up building 3D models of many of these areas so that I could “photograph” them from different angles that you might not see in the show.
As you know, my working style is very different from my usual painting style. Therefore, creating characters who don’t appear in the show – especially traditional ones – can be difficult. I want them to feel like they can jump right into the show (honestly, my wildest dream is lower deck would use my model directly), but again, I’m so far removed from the people who actually make the cartoons, so it’s a lot of guesswork and I’m like, “Man, I hope they like this…”
pain: I can’t necessarily talk about any “unexpected” challenges. I would say the challenges we face are to be expected – 200 pages any Comics are a challenge, not to mention planning an interactive book map, choose your own path book, a must Work. Putting together and testing the order of the pages took 16 hours in itself (paper cuts!!! Oh paper cuts!!!). My mantra of “this will be Heather’s problem in the future” quickly became “Heather’s problem today.”
Also, fun fact─a change your own way All it takes is a complete inkjet cartridge to print in black and white. Who knows?
north: I’m not sure if “unexpected” is the right word, but when writing an interactive book like this you always have a lot of expected challenges to contend with. The main thing is to make sure everything fits together, but you also want to make sure the reader has a good experience.
One thing I learned from other interactive books, e.g. exists or does not exist or Romeo and/or Julietis that you can predict what most people will do most of the time when they first pick up a book like this. They tend to choose the funniest choice, or the wisest choice – so by knowing that, I can make sure that the book seems to respond to them in this interesting way, which is kind of creepy.
I’ve seen a few people online already talking about how they felt the book related to them and responded to their choices, which is really interesting.
Kaplan: Chris, oneLet me correct you, I found a cameo from the creative team change your own wayincluding all three themes of this interview?
Fenoglio: perhaps…
I probably have my wife hidden away somewhere too.
Kaplan: Heather, since they’re not in this interview but I do want to highlight their work, do you have any thoughts you can share about the contributions of colorist Charlie Kirchoff and letterer Jeff Eckleberry?
pain: Well, it’s just that they are best? Colorists and letterers are often left out of the spotlight in reviews, but I definitely wanted to single out their work. Charlie has been working on StarCraft A longtime comic book creator, he is not only a master of comics, but one who expertly captures the tone of every show, era, and character with razor-sharp accuracy. Understanding the color language of an animated show isn’t easy, and Chris and Charlie worked together to make each panel look like a screenshot. It’s so impressive!
If there isn’t enough content in the visuals or narrative change your own way, Jeff has his own Everest with the project’s letters written all over it – from multiple clues, various balloon styles, narrow pages stacked with bodies, and dozens of options, it’s enough to fascinate any adult. but that’s what i like change your own way Creative Team – No one is afraid of a challenge. Whether creating sound effects for the warp core explosion or the wrath of Dionysus, Jeff leaves a lasting impression every Turn the page.
KAPLAN: Ryan, 2022 3-issue miniseries and change your own way Giving the holodeck a prominent but very unique role. Is it fair to say that this is one of your favorite StarCraft tropes? What is it about it that makes it so fascinating?
north: In fact I hadn’t made that connection before! But you’re right, it’s an endlessly fascinating thing. I’ve heard it described as “humanity’s last invention” because once we have a perfectly simulated reality, do we need the real thing? But I think the answer we’ve found so far is that reality still has something to recommend it.
Regardless, the holodeck does play an important role in this book – but to say more would be a spoiler!
Kaplan: Because I asked Heather and Ryan this question before: Chris, what would you personally order from a food replicator?
Fenoglio: The real question is what wouldn’t I order from a food replicator?
spoiler area!
Kaplan: Ryan, when did you realize that this wasn’t an interactive graphic novel in the traditional sense? Was the metanarrative already there from the beginning or was it something you came up with later?
north: Oh, it’s been there from the beginning.
spoilers: The original idea was to tell an interactive story that used the fact that we are in an interactive medium as part of its structure and motivation. That’s what excites me most about this book—we can make the format of the story inspire the story itself in a way I’ve never seen before.
I’m really happy that when people open this book and they see sailors dying all the time, they think “Well, of course, that’s because you die a lot in interactive stories like this. There’s nothing new here.” Look! But then the reader gradually sees more and more Others is happening, there’s a secret sinister plot, and before you know it, you’re interacting with the book in a way you didn’t expect – and interacting with the characters in a way you didn’t expect – and suddenly Mariner’s bet is your bet too! This is only the first half of the story.
I think it’s just a beautiful comic and I’m very proud of what we did!
Kaplan: Are there any traditional StarCraft elements or Easter eggs that you’re particularly excited to include?
north: I have to say, I’m glad we got Freeman to say, “Somehow…Khan is back.”
Fenoglio: Khan is very funny. I read the entire chapter and couldn’t stop laughing. this trust It was also a fun challenge, but I really like how it turned out.
pain: Honestly, Khan’s scenes make me laugh out loud every time – I still can’t believe we were allowed to have him!
StarCraft: Lower Decks: Twisted Your Own Way Available now at your local comic shop and/or public library.
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