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Is It A Book? Is It A Film? No, It's A Comic…

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Sinners Comic Book – Issue 1 – Hope Is Dead. Writer – Simon Birks. Sequential Artist – RHStewart. Cover Artist & Letterer – Lyndon White. Story Development – Simon Birks & Dan Thorens. Kickstarter End Date – 10th February 2015, Publishing Date – End of February 2015

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Today is not a good day for Hope. Waking in a strange bed, with a lifeless body laying nearby, she panics. Disorientated and confused about the previous night's events, Hope runs, but only as far as the black Limousine waiting for her outside, with its mysterious driver who offers her a job she may not be allowed to refuse… gather the sinners.

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(In which I talk about how the story of Hope and her mysterious Limousine came to pass…)

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Last year I received one of the biggest accolades ever possible; Michael Palin (Monty Python, don't you know) called a film I co-wrote, "Very Silly!" Not only that, but Terry Jones (another Python) called it "A Triumph!" It made me (and continues to make me) a very happy man. (The film is called "The Search for Simon", by the way – it's a British Sci-fi Comedy available on VOD).

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But films are just one medium. And as a writer, we get to tinker with all the mediums (that sounded better in my head). And what you sometimes find, is that a story written in one medium, can be transferred to another with great effect.

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This is what happened in Sinners. Sinners started off as a one-off short film script, with a girl in a Limousine who breaks down, and when the repairman shows up he gets sucked into the trunk. It was a strange piece, clearly, but fun all the same.

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I sent it to some directors, one of whom, Dan Thorens, loved it and wanted to develop it more. He suggested creating seven more scripts for each of the seven deadly sins, and thus the story grew. We developed the scripts fairly quickly, but afterwards we encountered a hiatus while we each worked on our own separate projects. We still continued talking fondly about Hope, and even had (and still have) plans to turn it into a feature film, there never seemed to be enough time to pursue it.

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Fast forward (or time-travel, if you like) to a couple of years later, and through no-ones fault, the story of Hope and her Limousine had stalled. So, not wanting to leave her in the wilderness, I decided to take a different approach. I wrote a story, a short piece of prose to try and tease some more information out about this universe and the people in it. Changing writing medium is a technique I've often used if I can't see what should come next, and from this experience, the short story entitled "A Day of Hope" emerged.

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And I liked it. It was Hope's (kind of) origin story, as well as introducing new characters, and above all, a reason for it all happening. When I was writing it, I saw it in my head, frame by frame. Then, a lot of thinking time later, the eureka moment happened, and I realised that the frame by frame pictures in my head could be redrawn as comic book panels and pages. The more I thought about it the more I thought Sinners could work as a comic (something I'd never written), so naturally I went for it.

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I wrote the first draft (of many, I am not blessed with the skill of getting it right first time), and then looked around for an artist. In truth, I had parts of Hope (as it was called then) drawn by three separate artists, before I found the one whose style fitted it perfectly.

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Comic-Cons are fun (of course), but they're also pretty useful if you're looking for an artist. We walked around the artist alley in each one looking for the right illustrator. We talked to many lovely people, and bought many independent comics. Finally, we came across RHStewart's work in Afterlife Inc, and loved it. It's a noir style that fitted our story perfectly. We sent him a script, and he liked it.

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Then another very gifted artist we met at the comic-cons, Lyndon White, kindly agreed to do the cover and the lettering, and the team was complete.

Creating a comic is fun and nerve-wracking – but I guess that's how you know you're challenging yourself in anything. With great challenges, come great nerves. As the months rolled by, and the initial pencil sketches got inked and finally coloured, the nerves ebbed away and I could see it was looking just how I'd hoped (well, far better than I'd hoped!).

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And now, here we are, a whole seven months later, and we have a fantastic comic. Thirty-two wonderful pages of some of the best art I've ever seen in a comic, independent or professional, and I'm very proud.

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The final hurdle is getting it printed, and that's why we have our Kickstarter running. I'm pleased to say it's started steadily, and with a little bit of nurturing, I'm confident we'll reach our £1200 target. We have some great rewards, including being a character in issue 2. You can also have a three page comic written with you playing the sinner, illustrated by RHStewart.

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Also, until the 25th January, if you mention you're a Bleeding Cool reader when leaving your reward, I'll answer a writing question of your choice! On anything!

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So, please, come over and take a look and see what you think. We'd love to see you.

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If you back our project over the coming weekend (starting now and finishing on Monday 12pm GMT), for at least £6, you'll also receive a signed copy of the short story "A Day of Hope" which it's based on!

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The short story gives lots of background information not found in the comic, and even information that may never be revealed elsewhere! This offer won't be repeated, so don't delay!

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Sinners Comic Book Links
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/simonbirks/sinners-comic-book-issue-1-hope-is-dead
https://www.facebook.com/SinnersComic
https://twitter.com/SinnersComic

Simon Birks Links
Twitter: @sdbirks
Website: www.simonbirks.com

RHStewart Links
Twitter: @RHS_illustrator
Facebook: www.facebook.com/RhsIllustrator

Lyndon White Links
Twitter: @lyndondraws
Website: lyndonwhite.com

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Rich JohnstonAbout Rich Johnston

Founder of Bleeding Cool. The longest-serving digital news reporter in the world, since 1992. Author of The Flying Friar, Holed Up, The Avengefuls, Doctor Who: Room With A Deja Vu, The Many Murders Of Miss Cranbourne, Chase Variant. Lives in South-West London, works from Blacks on Dean Street, shops at Piranha Comics. Father of two. Political cartoonist.
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