An ever-expanding city. Cybernetic drugs. High tech, Low life.
The Cyberpunk story ROSE is available now in Volume 1 of Cosmic Journeys.
Below is a little from ROSE creators Carmen and Clive.
Hello, creators of ROSE!
CARMEN REMAL (WRITER): Hello. My name is Carmen. I wrote the short cyberpunk comic ROSE and I help run the substack and Twitter for Panelsmith Comics.
CLIVE HAWKEN (ARTIST): Hi! My name is Clive Hawken, I'm an illustrator and cartoonist from Portland, Oregon.
How long have you been creating comics?
CARMEN : I used to write and draw comics when I was young but took a long hiatus between middle school until 2020 when I decided to start making comics for real. I’ve always loved making up stories so I put my energy back into writing again.
CLIVE : I drew my first comic as a teenager, but I started marking them more seriously during college in 2016-2017.
What inspired ROSE?
CARMEN : The story is very personal to me and is based on some diagnoses I received later in life. This story is supposed to be a snapshot of that time when you are actively trying to seek out the right solution for your own happiness and you have to be your own advocate for the hope of something better.
What art style did you want to go for?
CLIVE: Carmen's script was really evocative. I wanted to capture the rawness of the emotion with my inks while still giving enough detail for it to feel lived in and read as cyberpunk.
ROSE main character sketches by Clive Hawken
How did you find your creative team?Â
CARMEN: I keep a list of artists, letterers, and colorists that I would like to work with. Most of these people I imagine that I may never work with but I still put them on the list. One of those people was Clive Hawken. I was genuinely surprised he said yes and I am very thankful he was able to bring my story to life.
In addition to that, we have a letterer in the Panelsmiths group, Tom Lynott, who brought so much to the storytelling in this comic.Â
What’s your process for agreeing to and approaching a project? How long does it usually take for each project?
CLIVE: There are a lot of factors that go into it - who's approaching me, time, and my own assessment of whether I'd be a good fit. The completion time really varies depending on what else is on my plate.
Did anything about your story change during the process?
CARMEN: My story idea was originally a vignette and it was a bit longer. At first, it delved deeper into things such as memory loss, communicating symptoms with people you trust, and more of a time loop. The story changed to fit something that would work best within an anthology.
CLIVE: Apart from small script edits, no. I'd be interested in hearing Carmen's perspective on how my interpretation compared to her initial vision for the project.
CARMEN: I didn’t have a set-in-stone idea for what the art would look like. I had a broad idea for the art style and I knew how Clive’s art looked from reading Delver. When I got the art back, I was pleasantly surprised. But I think the cool thing about working with an artist is they also bring in their vision, which in my experience has always made the comic look even better than I can imagine.
How many stories have you gotten published in other anthologies or as stand-alone comics?
CARMEN: I have one short comic I wrote, Humility, that was featured as a part of a stretch goal for the Kickstarted comic Scott Snyder Presents Tales From the Cloakroom. It’s also currently on Tapas if you’d like to read it.
CLIVE: I have been in a few comic anthologies, and I worked on two volumes of Delver with Iron Circus/comiXology. My first original graphic novel is slated to be published by Holt Young Adult!
Delver. Available at the link below
Who are your influences? What would be your fantasy collaboration team? Â
CARMEN: I love the way Brian K Vaughan and Kieron Gillen are able to handle ensemble casts and fantasy settings. I also enjoy the works of Kelly Thompson, N.K. Jemisin, Christopher Sebela, Chip Zdarsky, and too many others to name.
Artists I’d love to collaborate with are Veronica Fish, Audrey Mok, Kevin Wada, Shazleen Khan, Jen Bartel, and Mildred Louis to name a few.
CLIVE: Most of my biggest inspirations are not comics! One of my favorite stories in the last several years was Lodge 49, I think my dream project would be a comic adaptation of it; if only to spend more time with those characters in that world.
See you across the Cosmos!
