Casting A Fallen Shadow

[Rich Johnston]

Mikael Bergkvist writes;

This is from issue 2, freehand, using my V grip ballpen on A4 copypaper which I have gotten for free from my fathers company.It's the thin kind, which you use for the printer.

This story depends less on fantastic environments or beasts, than it does on a furiously fast storyline. I have always wanted to try the action movie storytelling techniques on a fantasy comic. Fast and hard-hitting, no-nonsense to the point, and a constant build up of danger and intensity right up to the very last frame, and a big honking twist at the very end. If I succeed? We shall see..

Each issue takes me 4 days to write. Only, I don't actually write anything, I just sit down with some coffee and think about it.Then I draw it.

Ardden is letting me do this as an experiment. We are both of the opinion that comics have become to heavy-handed and they need some fun and lightness injected back into them. So, they designed a comic book where this nutcase from Sweden can sit down with his V grip ballpen and basically just wing it as it goes along. (It helps that I have done long, very complex 104 pages storylines on a regular basis before, but still)

I do every issue right before deadline, and Ardden has no clue where it's all going. It will be what it will be.If it works, it will have a message to a lot of artists: Relax. If you aren't having any fun, why would you expect the reader to?

If it doesn't, at least we had some fun. I don't really see how we can loose.

[Matt Spatola]

Not to be a jerk or anything but this post is really confusing. It could have used some editing or at least some kind of introduction or set-up. I'm guessing this is from a series that is maybe out now or will be? And Ardden will be publishing it?

I'm not sure what is going on here.

[billyjack]

Sounds as if the story is created almost on the fly. Nothing new for the industry IMO.

[ssbluesu]

LOVE the title Mikael...Great panels, and action! Players looking a trite "Doped up", though. Hey..I can't do what you do. You can check me, if it suites you.

[Rock334]

Issue 2 of what?

[smokescreen]

so... its a rushed, unplanned comic made from cheap materials that were pinched from someone's office? And its maybe called A Fallen Shadow? What is this?

[Matt Spatola]

so... its a rushed, unplanned comic made from cheap materials that were pinched from someone's office? And its maybe called A Fallen Shadow? What is this?

So I wasn't the only one who is lost...

[JoshAdams]

Maybe it wasn't your intention to put down the comic industry, but this little article reads like pretentious, ignorant garbage. The processes that have been developed over decades are not a hindrance as much as a method to help creative minds produce quality work. Based on the writing of the article and the description of the project I would give one piece of advice that is, honestly, too obvious to something that has to be said: comic books have editors for a reason!

Lets reign in the holier than thou attitude towards the comic process and focus on doing a good book and promoting it honestly with the help of peers who's respect you've earned.

P.S. I typed this response freehand on a keyboard (if that makes any sense)...unfortunately I read it over, revised it and made sure it was a post that I'd put my name on.

[die-yng]

so... its a rushed, unplanned comic made from cheap materials that were pinched from someone's office? And its maybe called A Fallen Shadow? What is this?

Is that the only way you can interpret this? Condescending much?!

Maybe it wasn't your intention to put down the comic industry, but this little article reads like pretentious, ignorant garbage. The processes that have been developed over decades are not a hindrance as much as a method to help creative minds produce quality work. Based on the writing of the article and the description of the project I would give one piece of advice that is, honestly, too obvious to something that has to be said: comic books have editors for a reason!

Lets reign in the holier than thou attitude towards the comic process and focus on doing a good book and promoting it honestly with the help of peers whose respect you've earned.

P.S. I typed this response freehand on a keyboard (if that makes any sense)...unfortunately I read it over, revised it and made sure it was a post that I'd put my name on.

I think you are projecting a lot into this article that isn't there. There's not one way to do a comicbook, even in the US there are different ways f.e. Marvel style and traditional, then there's the manga way (or rather manga ways) and there's dozens of different ways comics are done in Europe, where Mikael hails from (so he even comes from a different school of comics).
He's just writing about a different method he wanted to try and Ardden is letting him try it. He's just saying, don't over-think it, have fun doing your art. He doesn't claim it's the ultima ratio or the perfect method. He's just writing about his experience. I read nothing about putting the regular method down, there's nothing pompous about it. All of this seems to come from you.
You are usually such a levelheaded guy Josh, don't get riled up over nothing.

P.S. If you take the time to read your post over and revise it, check for mistakes like the one I fixed for ya.
P.P.S. Didn't wrote the P.S. to piss you off, more to make a point.


With that out of the way. This article seems to be missing a bit of introduction. I don't know whether BC messed up and left it out or if Mikael Bergkvist forgot to write what his piece was all about and tell us a bit about his new series instead of directly delving into his work process.

[JoshAdams]

I think you are projecting a lot into this article that isn't there. There's not one way to do a comicbook, even in the US there are different ways f.e. Marvel style and traditional, then there's the manga way (or rather manga ways) and there's dozens of different ways comics are done in Europe, where Mikael hails from (so he even comes from a different school of comics).
He's just writing about a different method he wanted to try and Ardden is letting him try it. He's just saying, don't over-think it, have fun doing your art. He doesn't claim it's the ultima ratio or the perfect method. He's just writing about his experience. I read nothing about putting the regular method down, there's nothing pompous about it. All of this seems to come from you.
You are usually such a levelheaded guy Josh, don't get riled up over nothing.

P.S. If you take the time to read your post over and revise it, check for mistakes like the one I fixed for ya.
P.P.S. Didn't wrote the P.S. to piss you off, more to make a point.


With that out of the way. This article seems to be missing a bit of introduction. I don't know whether BC messed up and left it out or if Mikael Bergkvist forgot to write what his piece was all about and tell us a bit about his new series instead of directly delving into his work process.

Thanks for catching the typo. I looked at that too and questioned it. I knew I was asking for it with the revision note. I may have over-reacted some but the point I am trying to make is still valid. This is an article devoid of the editorial process. BC is a site that reports on the comic book industry along with other forms of entertainment. In doing so, it becomes a representation of comics to a wider audience. An article like this does more to represent comics in an unprofessional light than it does to educate professional about different methods. Be it a lack of introduction to the subject or a lack of actual editing in the article, the vast majority of people coming to this site are looking at it and seeing what looks like a excerpt, lacking context on how a comic professional does their job. It presents work for a comic creator as a cavalier process that takes little time, skill or discipline.

I have no problem with a working artist doing a project however they and their editor are okay with doing. If a publisher thinks it'll sell and an artist can get the work he wants, then more power to them. However, the processes which I speak of, and not only referring to North American ways, are processes which create a structure for young artist to learn the fundamentals. This is true for each region and style of comic. Some of those fundamentals which I see are missing from Mikael's work.

Most everyone on the BC forums knows me. Pretty much watching me grow up in the business and seeing the articles I used to write here. Whenever I wrote for BC my number one goal was discussing subject matter that was relevant to the industry and was for the best of the industry. When I read an article like this I ask myself "Will I see young aspiring artists at conventions with A4 printer paper filled with drawings they did 'free hand' trying to get work from editors?" I ask myself "If I were an editor, would I want to hire this guy as an artist or a writer?" or I ask myself "If I were Mikael, would this article benefit or hurt my career? Could it potentially influence those breaking into the industry negatively?"

Mikael is allowed to write whatever he pleases, and I am allowed to respond in kind but I write because I am concerned over how this represents a professional and how it represents Bleeding Cool. Regarding why I called this pretentious, I feel like you touched on it in your response. So many methods around the world, why am I being presented with this one? All that really defines this method is that he can draw free hand and doesn't need comic board or precision tools to make a comic. This is not a skill enhancing method at which I can apply it to my work and benefit from it. The many methods out there have been refined to be skill enhancing methods of creating comics. What Mikael has presented, for most aspiring artists is a method for developing bad habits that hinder a career.

At the end of the day, this article lacks context and editing. If this was an interview with Mikael about a book he's doing that actually gets mentioned by name, promotes the books, gives me something to invest myself in, then maybe I wouldn't have only been left with the negatives of it. I don't think it takes much to see that this is rife with typos, grammatical errors and is lacking in a clear message.