Sam Snow is a writer of many things, including the very impressive graphic story you will find an excerpt from below. On one of his project sites, Fair Weather Militia Comics, he is referred to as “Hunter S. Thompson reincarnate.” I don’t know; Sam Snow may even be cooler than that literary icon.
His comic STRAITS, Sam tells us, is “a weird labor of love.” In that spirit, his workspace is shown, as he says, “how it feels rather than how it actually looks.”
Sam: This spot is the spare bedroom in our apartment. Pretty much anything worth messing with in that room is on that desk. Behind the lens is a bookshelf, crates of breakbeat and house records, some boxes, and luggage that I never got around to shoving back in the closet. Since this is a garden apartment, and since I was raised Catholic and am thus cursed with some sense of guilt no matter whether or not I’m actually guilty, I leave the blinds closed.
The written submission is something that I’m working on right this minute. It’s an excerpt from STRAITS, a comic book I’m working on with Kevin Anderson. The website is: www.fwmcomics.com
There’ll be more art and whatnot soon. We’re just getting started, y’see.
STRAITS (an excerpt, pages two and three)
D: Al has been cut in half along his waist. His upper torso is on the ground as though he is sticking out of the floor. His legs, still standing, are right next to him. He is smiling at the camera. Bottom: “BISECTION!” with the checked box.
E: A scan image of Al under the ground, buried. He is giving a thumbs-up. Let the scan be part of a device that is set up in front of a dirt-filled, clear-walled enclosure, like a square aquarium. Bottom: “CRUSH ASPHYXIA!” with the checked box.
F: Al is wearing what is left of a mostly acid-dissolved suit of what is easily recognized as assault armor. The armor is still bubbling, smoking, and melting in parts like candlewax. Al’s head is exposed, and he is smiling at the camera. Bottom: “ACIDS!” with the checked box.
G: A gas that should clearly be killing him surrounds Al. Instead, he is smiling at the camera and giving a thumbs-up. Bottom: “NEUROTOXINS!” with the checked box.
H: Al is holding onto two electrical coils, but the current passes along the surface of his body. His hair does not stand on end at all. The light from the arcing current cuts sharp shadows. He is smiling at the camera, looking a bit creepy. Bottom: “ELECTROCUTION!” with the checked box.
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→Readers, to get the full effect, do drop over at Fair Weather Militia Comics; some serious creating going on over there. Thanks, Sam, for inviting us into your space. -PMc←
Patricia Ann McNair 