Clark Bint has brought his rich, characteristic style of art to several of Mad Robot Comics’ titles, including Murder Most Mundane and Cadavers. Now, he’s teamed up with fellow Mad Robot Comics alumni Jordan Thomas to illustrate Frank At Home On The Farm, a tale of post-war paranoia and horror.
The first issue is currently funding on Kickstarter, and we caught up with Clark to find out more about his contribution to Frank At Home On The Farm.
A Place To Hang Your Cape: There’s quite a jigsaw-like panel structure to Frank At Home On The Farm. What’s it been like mapping out the visuals of this comic?
Clark Bint: It’s been pretty challenging. Page layout communicates so much in terms of pacing and setting the tone, so from the get-go I wanted to find a way to capture Frank’s state of mind in a way that no other medium can offer. The farm’s isolation almost enables Frank’s distracted mind as he tries to unravel this mystery, and even in normal conversation with the village people (not the band), we get the sense he’s still somewhat distracted. So that’s pretty much where the ‘jigsaw’ layering of panels comes from.
AP2HYC: Frank At Home On The Farm is packed with evocative splash pages depicting the curious, foreboding village Frank returns to. What was it like in crafting the story’s tense atmosphere, visually?
Bint: Apparently I talk about my dip pen a lot – but I’ve been really getting into dip pen for this project. I find it a bit more organic than fine liners so it’s my primary tool here. It’s perfect for capturing that feeling of the 1920’s countryside as I see it – wonky cottages, wild vegetation, uneven ground. It’s also allowed me to easily transition from reality into Frank’s mind, which is something I was initially excited about drawing. This goes for the colours too, which really allows me to get foreboding with the natural light.
AP2HYC: Given your co-creating status with Jordan, how does that partnership work when illustrating the comic?
Bint: Jordan and I get on really well. He gives me room to play with the script and he also gives me great feedback, and our influences for this book are pretty much one and the same. The script really offers me a lot of great things to work with too, he’s done a great job of tying everything in the narrative together. It’s weird though – I worked on Murder Most Mundane while living in Spain while the writers lived in the UK, and now I’m back in the UK while the writer’s moved to Spain. I must be insufferable to be around.
AP2HYC: What kind of style would you say you’re bringing to Frank At Home On The Farm?
Bint: I have no label for it to be honest. I’ve never been one to keep to a specific visual style, as I prefer to focus on the visual storytelling aspect, and simultaneously keeping my technical skill up to scratch. I like experimenting with layering of panels and contrasting intensity with subtlety. I suppose my visual style is mostly inspired by the British comics and American EC and Underground Comix that I’m most passionate about. Either way, I hope I’ve helped give the world of Frank an unmistakable identity amongst other horror titles.
AP2HYC: How does working on this comic compare to Murder Most Mundane, your past work with Mad Robot Comics?
Bint: There are actually quite a few similarities here, even though they’re both very different stories. I’ve been very lucky working with Mad Robot Comics – Matt Hardy (editor) and Jordan both know how to write great stories that resonate with me. One thing I love doing in both books is using the scenery to create dramatic shadows and shapes. While both stories are set some 90 years apart, similar kinds of isolation exists in their British countryside settings. If you’ve ever wandered around Oxfordshire farmlands at night, even in 2019, you’d know how exposed you feel to things you think you can’t see. It’s something that I associate with classic horror – the way that the real world creates horror in our peripheral, and whether we dare to look it in the eye.
You can check out Frank at Home on the Farm on Kickstarter, and discover more about Mad Robot Comics online. Have you already backed the comic? Let us know in the comments section below or send us a Tweet!
