Every so often a comic series comes along which completely takes you by surprise. A complete gem that you stumble across entirely by accident and never regret reading. This is one of those series.
I had the pleasure of being contacted recently by writer Nick Goode to ask if I would check out his series ‘Snow: The Dawn’. We often get submissions to the website but very rarely do we get ones this compelling or this well produced.
‘Snow: The Dawn’ has so far released two parts of a planned twelve and also two one-shot issues set in the same universe. All are available to purchase over at Comixology and I highly recommend you check them out.
Here’s a little teaser to whet your appetite:
The year is 2079, a series of terrorist bombings have rattled what remains of England after the effects of global warming took the world by surprise in 2020. The people have lost faith in the government despite their efforts to aid the country’s reform. Isolated and alone, London has split into boroughs, each borough governed by a councilman who reports to Parliament. In the fifth borough, Islington. James Snow, a political researcher, is in the midst of it all. Events begin to unfold that will change his way of life forever…
Is your interest piqued? Mine certainly was. But before we get to the review I had the pleasure of interviewing writer Nick Goode and artist Harry Hughes about the series and their work in general. In part one of our interview we speak with Nick about his background and the inspiration behind ‘Snow the Dawn’.
Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got in to writing comics.
Nick (N) – I’m Nick, I write ‘Snow: The Dawn’. I got into writing comics a few years back, I’ve always known that creative writing was what I wanted to do. I wrote a bunch of short stories for myself and started a couple of novels, but in my first year of uni; Harry and I were driving to get a Nandos and talking about what we wanted to do. I said I wanted to go into writing and he said he wanted to go into illustration…from there it was logical that we make a comic book.
Where did the initial inspiration for the ‘Snow: the Dawn’ series come from?
N – The inspiration for ‘Snow: The Dawn’ comes from a few different places, I’ve always loved dystopian future settings so I knew that was where I was starting. I think in terms of building the world, I researched quite a bit into old architecture and looked into the past for what we might do after being struck by something devastating. I’ve always liked the steampunk style, mixing the kind of futuristic elements with the past. So I kind of built my world up from there I guess.
What is your process for developing the story?
N- Developing the story for me comes from the characters, I spend a lot of time thinking about how they would react to situations and where that would lead them as opposed to having an event directly influence them, I try to look at what they may do to influence events around them. I think that makes sense ha ha.
Do you have an idea in your head of exactly how the story will play out? Can you maybe give us a tease about what is coming up for James and the other characters?
N – Yes, one side of my wall at home is just covered in post-it notes. I plotted out the main story so I have all the beats set out and just have to fill in the blanks when I physically write it. Oooh a tease, hmmm. I think for James his world get’s pretty blown open over the next few issues; the introduction of a couple of characters challenges the way he thinks about himself and how he sees the world.
Do you have a favourite character to write for?
N – I’m going to cheat here, I like writing all of them. I try to write around 10% of myself into each character; whether that’s my beliefs, quirks, conversation style, interests etc. So each character has a bit of realness; I always enjoy writing James because he’s got a real hopeless romantic vibe to him, that’s definitely the 10% of me haha. Sarah is always a fun character to write for as well, she’s quite a strong woman. But she’s also very protective, she believes in doing the right thing but making sure to not endanger those she cares for because of her past.
What inspired you to write the two one-shots within the world of ‘Snow: the Dawn’? Do you have plans to do any more writing in this world?
N – Yeah so the one-shots came around after Harry and I were talking about what other areas of London may look like. We had an opportunity to do a short in our publishers Dimthroat Presents anthology a couple of years back and so I wrote ‘Energy’ after I finished it I had tons of other ideas to flesh out the world, it kind of became a universe for us. Yeah, we’re announcing something in September in regards to this so keep your eyes peeled!
What comics are you currently reading at the moment?
N – I’m currently reading a few of the DC rebirth series, DK3 and then I have books that I kind of read throughout the year so I’m 8 books into Y: The Last Man, I need to read the second book of Trillium. So many haha; I always try to make sure I’m reading something.
Which writers out there, not necessarily just in comics, would you say inspire you?
N – Cameron Crowe definitely inspires me, something about the way he writes romance always gets me. His use of music in his films always hooks me as well, it’s such a big part of my life. Scott Snyder I think is an absolute genius, his Batman run with Capullo was amazing! But also his work on Wytches, that freaked me out. Jeff Lemire, Brubaker, there are tons ha
Are you currently working on anything else outside of the ‘Snow: the Dawn’ universe?
N – I’m not currently writing anything else outside of the universe, it’s quite a big universe so i’ve kind of put myself into a position where I’m lucky enough to write different genres in one universe. I also keep finding parts of my world that I want to explore which leads me down different paths in terms of writing.
We’ll be back tomorrow with part 2 of our exclusive interview when we speak with artist Harry Hughes about drawing the world of ‘Snow: The Dawn’. Later in the week we’ll be reviewing both issues of the series and the two special one-shot stories!
