Tag: noir

Comic One: Horror on Hogger Hill

Posted on December, 2024 by JS

Greetings cretins,

We launched All-True Outlaw two days ago and I welcomed you all to the festivities.  Now it’s time to dig a little more into the making of “Horror on Hogger Hill”. 

The call for submissions to Alterna Comics’ horror themed anthology came just as I was conceiving this story. The launching point was pretty simple, a Western/Horror mash-up with a The Last House on the Left vibe – What if some bad dudes got caught up in something more fucked up than their crime-ridden lives?

A prime goal on All-True Outlaw is to try to adhere to limited page counts so I knew I needed to find an artist who could convey a lot of information in a truncated space. Claudio Muñoz’ portfolio swiftly convinced me he was the guy for the job.  Below are some of the character concepts he sent me in our initial back-and-forth. His approach to the characters was dynamic yet unifying.

 

Perier, Long and Brutal

I loved how eclectic designs of the gang converged into a single atmosphere; it really looked like something out of a spaghetti western. The script for HOHH is a pretty tight and eventful affair and Claudio nailed it at every turn, quickly introducing all the characters and properly framing the scene. Most of all, he succeeded in executing the claustrophobic aura of the piece – these seedy guys in a tight space with danger at their backs. It’s one of the most satisfying script-to-page journeys I’ve had in my career. Look out for a future All-True team-up with this guy and myself down the trail. 

Letterer Nikki Powers is one of the best I’ve worked with, period. She makes the right choices in a fickle-as-hell art form. It’s part of the reason I hired her for the comics project I hold very close to my heart, which you’ll see here in a of couple months. 

Thanks for reading. Don’t forget to follow the social accounts as well as our newsletter. 

Westward!

 

~ Jamil

Welcome to All-True Outlaw!

Posted on December, 2024 by JS

Welcome rapscallions, 

This is All-True Outlaw, a black & white anthology series of Western tales with an antagonistic slant. 

I’ve been writing comics since around 2011, at times struggling to find a niche or any publisher that gave a damn. I never thought building a career in comics would be easy, but it’s actually a lot harder than I expected. The peaks have been lean, the valleys wide. 

Around 2018, I decided to try my hand at a story set in the Old West, and in the brainstorming session I was surprised at how many different ideas and perspectives I could go toward. I had grown fond of the genre in college, and works like the impeccable Jonah Hex series by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray (and many, many artists) and the first Red Dead Redemption game opened my mind to the vast storytelling potential of the setting and time period. 

That story, “Horror on Hogger Hill” (drawn by Claudio Muñoz and lettered by Nikki Powers), was accepted into the IF Anthology Horror by Alterna Comics, and it spurred my ambition to write more stories within the genre, and to create with art teams similarly hungry for more Westerns. 

It required time, concentration, support and the right collaborators but we have reached the launch for this webcomic endeavor. Here, you’ll find adventure fiction in the short form but with a long view of scoundrels and black hats. A new story will be posted every month, so follow the socials and subscribe to the newsletter to get updates and news as they post! 

I thank you, and my art teams, greatly for joining me on this adventure. I really hope you enjoy what you read, and if you do, tell a pal or two. 

Westward!

 

~ Jamil