Rees Finlay brought his ongoing mini-series The High Priestess to A Place To Hang Your Cape back in 2015 for review. We found it to be a fun, engrossing superhero-esque tale of vengeance, with its female lead and Biblical connotations. Since our thoughts on the first two issues of the comic however, Rees has had to endure turbulent times.
A car crash has led to a thorough overall of The High Priestess. Having honed his writing and artistic skills, Rees has now taken this reinvented version of The High Priestess to Kickstarter to fund a complete graphic novel edition of the comic. We caught up with Rees to discover why he took such a drastic action with this comic.
A Place To Hang Your Cape: This collected edition of the comic is a remake of the series. Why did you want to reinvent it?
Rees Finlay: The initial series began in 2015, my first year in comics. And was planned out to be a four-part, and admittedly rather generic superhero story with quirky quips and edgy violence. And it did okay, sold alright and showed some growth and improvement in my ability as an illustrator, very much ‘of its time’.
But at the end of that year, a few weeks after the release of the second issue, I was in a car accident. Reality (and a van) hit me and comics started to fall to the wayside as I worked a ‘normal’ job, leaving the series incomplete.
Roll forward a year and the comic itch has grown, I began doing bits and pieces that eventually grew into the wildly successful The Blue Flame, an autobiography chronicling the bumpy road that led me to comics, and the car crash that took me out of it. This opened up incredible career opportunities to work on franchises such as Star Wars, The Walking Dead, Stranger Things and so many more. These jobs helped me grow and improve my skills as an artist to meet the standards of various licencors.
It’s a common question that pops up at comic cons and events ‘When is issue #3 coming’, and having this unfinished business looming over me played on my mind a lot. And I began to toy with the idea of return to the series, but how? My art style is completely different to the way it was in 2015. Not to mention how I write and the stories I’d choose to tell. The Blue Flame was an incredibly raw and emotional journey, and I felt that was very much a format I’d like to do again. The only solution was a COMPLETE remake.
AP2HYC: What separates the comic from its initial incarnation to this current form? Has the story or artwork changed a great deal?
Finlay: The artwork is the most noticeable factor, I’ve done some side by side comparisons to show just how much it’s changed since the original and it’s definitely satisfying to see. And naturally that makes for a book that’s a lot more pleasing to the eye.
But the biggest obstacle was the writing. The style AND the tone of the writing was something I definitely wasn’t comfortable putting out in 2019. Some of the dialogue felt jilted and forced, and tonally it couldn’t decide if it was a light-hearted superhero romp or something darker and more thoughtful.
Now, the issue there was if I changed it completely then it would betray my original vision, and make this whole endeavour slightly pointless. So instead I decided to change the style. Making it a pulpy, b-movie adventure, a format in which heavy and provocative content can also have a few lighter, more tongue-in-cheeky moments.
AP2HYC: What kind of visual style would you say The High Priestess has?
Finlay: It’s fair to say a lot of my art-style has evolved and been inspired by the work I’ve done in the interim since my last comic. My main jobs have been doing the art for trading cards based on movie and TV franchises, and capturing the actors likenesses is a key part of that job. So I’ll admit the training-wheels of using reference photos is a staple in what I do, and I’ve been lucky enough to have some friends in the cosplay and acting communities willing to let be base my art on their lovely faces.
On top of that I’ve added some grainy filters and scratches to make the book fit into the b-move grindhouse mould. But the artwork itself is all done by hand, before being scanned and coloured digitally. So I’ve managed to work it so the style actively delivers on my actual intent of the book.
AP2HYC: Reading the Kickstarter page, The High Priestess sounds like a story close to your heart. How would you describe the comic?
Finlay: Yeah, I’ve always chosen to format Kickstarters as personal affairs, as with anything I produce, it comes from a place in my heart and I’ll always treat it as such. And I feel conveying the importance this book has to be is the important message I can share without getting too spoilery of the plot.
The story takes place in the aftermath of a war between heaven and hell, as we are introduced to ‘Holly Peters’, brought back from the dead and gifted powers by the last of the angels as the legions of hell begin their invasion of Earth. As the story develops we explore the past, present and future of these characters, the emotional impact it has on those who mourned her, and a deconstruction of what exactly it is to ‘do the right thing’ and the futility of revenge.
My previous book was directly autobiographical, and while this one has opened as something clearly fictional. I fell in love with the idea of once again tapping into that emotional core that made it so successful. And as the series develops, the trappings of the superhero genre begin to fall away and it becomes an exploration of the human condition drawing from real events I’ve experienced over the last few years.
It’s been a tricky few years, recovering from the car accident, coming to terms with being disabled for the rest of my life, as well as recently being diagnosed with autism at this late stage in my life has completely changed my view of the world from when I wrote issues one and two. The twists and revelations at the end of issue two lead in perfect to the final issues. Newly written books in which I’ve become much more reflective and emotionally charged than when I was a wide-eyed, optimistic young lad back in 2015. And having four years to think about ideas and how to end such a story has been a total blessing.
AP2HYC: Each issue will have a different cover artist – what’s it been like working with them?
Finlay: Incredible. They’ll be four artists doing four covers for the four issues, and each one is totally unique from a diverse industry background. I love seeing artists interpretations of my characters, and being able to bring in so many different styles is a joy.
Issue #1: Emily Pearson. Emily was a Twitter discovery through my friend and jabroni, Brentt Harshman (and also my Kickstarter nemesis with his hit series Weaselmeizters funding this month too). It’s been a joy watching her go from strength to strength as her career in comics begins to skyrocket, she’s recently finished The Wilds for Black Mask Studios and is on the same label again with Snap Flash Hustle. Once that Kickstarter hits 100% she’s also on board to do the main cover for the graphic novel.
Issue #2: Chinedu Campbell. I don’t actually know Chinedu, but when I put a call out asking for samples he was in my inbox daily showing samples and asking for work. He has a whole host of stunning pin-ups to his name so I would’ve been a fool not to hire him. Hopefully I’ll be in a financial position to call him back for more.
Issue #3: Lindsey Armitage. Lindsey is a fellow trading card artist. Initially gaining my attention and adoration by her incredible photo realistic likenesses on a recent Star Wars trading card set. I was desperate to have her on board. She has shown she is more than capable of diversifying styles, and I was blown away when the cover art landed in my inbox.
Issue #4 is to be announced, the artist I’m hoping to book was on holiday last time I checked, but I digress. It will be just as wonderfully diverse and unique as the four that preceded it. Hiring artists is definitely the fun part of doing this, giving them complete freedom and then seeing the end result is like Christmas but without the racist uncle ruining it.
AP2HYC: What has it been like for you to reinvent this comic?
Finlay: Incredibly hard work that will hopefully stand as a monument to overcoming adversity, pushing through boundaries in spite of disabilities and closing the door on unfinished business. As I write this we’re 4 days into the Kickstarter and it sits at 75% my gratitude for all of those who have pledged is overwhelming and is definitely what is sustaining me right now.
Maybe in a months time I’ll do an article about the impact such an endeavour can have on ones mental health would be appropriate (look after yourselves, folks). Juggling the writing, pencils, inks, colouring and lettering while also promoting and running a crowdfunder is a lot to handle at once. But that effort and motivation no doubt shows in the finished product as I produce a true labour of love that I hope you all enjoy.
But ultimately, this is an incredible chance for me to not only finish a story that I’ve had cooking in my brain for four years, but to improve upon those that came before and package it as a big, full colour graphic novel is such an exciting project. And i’m so glad to be able to share it with folk like yourself.
AP2HYC was one of the first sites to review The High Priestess back in the day, so I’m super grateful to be back on this site to talk about the conclusion of this story that has been four years in the making.
You can discover more about our thoughts on Finlay’s initial version of The High Priestess here. Don’t forget to check out the Kickstarter for this new take on the comic too. Have you already backed the comic? Let us know in the comments section below or send us a Tweet!
