City of Lost Souls is another creepy as hell looking comic series on Kickstarter. We sat down with creator James McCulloch to find out what kind of scares he has in score.
AP2HYC: Can you talk about the horror stories on offer?
McCulloch: It is an ongoing horror series set in Edinburgh.
Serial killer Matt Jordan kills his final victim before killing himself… but death is not the end. He wakes up to find himself in his own personal hell surrounded by the people he killed. Freed by Soul Collector, Soku, he discovers the only way he can live in an afterlife free from his victims is to find the mythical City of Lost Souls.
As if that wasn’t hard enough he also finds himself being hunted by creatures from the other side, who are determined to bring his soul back to be tormented. With nowhere to hide and no idea where to run, he must begin his hunt for the city of lost souls.
AP2HYC: The Kickstarter mentions that the trade paperback will contain changes to the original issues. Can you elaborate?
McCulloch: We’re currently working on issue 4 of the series. It’s a 6 part series and since this is the midway point we thought it’d be a good time to put together the original issues. The very first issue was the first comic project we had ever put together and we’ve learned a lot since then. We just wanted to put this together to bring those original issues up to the same standard we now have. So the trade will bring together the first 3 issues, all up to the standard we are now looking to achieve.
It’s really just a good opportunity to update everything and change any things that although were fine the first time around, we now realize we could do better.
AP2HYC: Was it hard to tell expressive stories in black and white?
McCulloch: The story works really well in black and white; it brings a noir feel to the project, whilst adding an extra darkness of the story. The main character is a horrendous human being. He lives in a dark world and the black and white helps us portray that.
AP2HYC: Is there a balance of horror and humor?
McCulloch: We do have a lot of humor in the story; Matt’s spirit guide is a little guy called Ki and he brings a level of humor to the proceedings which I think stops the story from going too far into the darkness.
AP2HYC: Can we expect more from the series?
McCulloch: We’re currently putting together issue 4. It’s a six part series; the whole thing is written and just waiting for the art. I’m currently looking at what could happen after issue 6, but I’m not going to go further than the six issues unless the storyline is there. I’m not going to force it, but there is definitely scope for it to go further after this part of the series is over.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1313831575/city-of-lost-souls-graphic-novel-volume-1
