32. The Making of a Comic: 'And We Love You' by Fell Hound
Creating a queer love story in a dystopian war-torn future
Howdy Brave Being,
Welcome back to The Making of a Comic. This week, I’m joined by artist and writer Fell Hound of the award-winning COMMANDER RAO fame. In case you missed it, COMMANDER RAO published by Scout Comics is a futuristic sci-fi set after a decade of war when a rogue embittered soldier goes against the despot Baron Klaus. Fell’s latest comic AND WE LOVE YOU is set in this very universe and launching February 16th on Kickstarter. Here she is to tell you all about it. Let’s hop to it!
On Creating a Prequel
Brittany Matter: Tell us a little bit about AND WE LOVE YOU.
Fell Hound: And We Love You is a 64-page graphic novella set in a dystopian war-torn future, and tells the tale of a young soldier (Julie) who perishes on the battlefield and bleeds out all her memories. It’s part war drama, part queer love story, and part coming of age tragedy—all told through the bloody, technicolor lens of having your life fade away from you. It is also a prequel to my last comic, Commander Rao, and we get to explore what a younger Rao was like at the war’s infancy and her relationship with Julie.
There was this quote from a game, Knights of the Old Republic 2, and it’s one I think about a lot that goes “It’s all that is left unsaid upon which tragedies are built.” And this is what this comic hinges itself on. Looking back from the end of your life and watching it all go away, with so many things left unsaid and left undone but knowing it’s too late to go back.
BM: What inspired you to go back in time and explore another aspect of this war?
FH: Fun fact: And We Love You was written first! I’ve had this comic idea since 2013, which I’ve redrawn countless times since. This current iteration is my third and hopefully final attempt to tell this story right. In 2020 I wanted to draw AWLY again but I was really worried about my ability to market such a comic—given its rather grim premise, lack of color and experimental narrative structure. So I decided to push it back and focus on another project first, gain some ground so I could give a story like AWLY the best chance it could. Well, that other project ended up becoming Commander Rao!
Early in Commander Rao’s development I’d realized both Rao and AWLY took place in dystopian sci-fi settings, so I just decided to combine the two into the same world. AWLY is essentially the beginning of the Rao-verse, recounting the events that set the stage ten years later in Commander Rao. We explore Julie and Kasey’s bond together, see the beginnings of the Republic War, and witness the tragedy that changed Kasey’s life forever. There’s no rocket boots, no vigilante theatrics, just two dumb kids swept in a big bad war.
BM: What do you like most about creating stories within the genre of military fiction?
FH: I think most of the reason my stories end up becoming military fiction is because it’s kind of the easiest excuse to draw what I love to draw? I love to design armor pieces and big weapons. I love to draw mechs. I love drawing fighter-type women. So the genre itself is really just a copout so I can draw all the things I love.
BM: How has the history of warfare played a role in this story?
FH: So much of the Rao-verse was inspired by WW1, WW2, and parts of the French Revolution. From the Baron’s rise and his whole regime to the whole aesthetic of the battles and campgrounds. The Rao-verse was always a retro-future, kind of like the Fallout games, where we have a world with stunning technology but instead of being destroyed by a nuke it gets destroyed by the fact no one has learned from history’s worst mistakes. All the wars, all the revolutions, all the bloodshed.
Building A Team
BM: How did you go about building your team?
FH: Originally the Rao-verse consisted of just me and Lettersquids. Unfortunately lettersquids was unavailable for AWLY due to an injury, so I set about expanding the team! Most people I found through twitter except Ricky, who is one of my oldest comics pals and very much whom I considered my mentor in the world of self publishing. More details below!
BM: How did you work with editor Frankee White on this story?
FH: I knew AWLY was going to be a very difficult story to tell due to the nature and structure of the story, so I knew off the bat I wanted an editor. Frankee is one of my favourite writers and we share the same love of brevity and letting the art do the storytelling, so he was my go-to person. I sent him the script to look over last year and it was great just having a second pair of eyes look over your work to catch all the things you never think about.
He also helped me look over all of the layouts to make sure they were readable. The layouts in AWLY were, frankly, a pain in the butt to get right, and when you stare at your own art long enough you begin seeing 10,000 ghosts telling you you’re doing it wrong. So having Frankee there to say “Its fine! Just move on!” really helped the project move forward haha.
BM: How did you come across Lucas Gattoni's work and what about their lettering spoke to you?
FH: I found Lucas’ work from a twitter callout post! I made a tweet inquiring about letterers for future projects and Lucas responded. I was immediately impressed by his amazing SFX and range of style. Lucas also did the logo for Color of Always and it was such an incredible logo. All of those things had me sold that he was the right letterer for this project.
BM: Tell us a little bit about AND WE LOVE YOU's logo and how you and graphic designer Winston Gambro worked together.
FH: Winston designed a few logos for friends of mine and I LOVED what I saw. So I decided to reach out and see if he’d do one for AWLY! For the AWLY logo we went for a design that was reminiscent of a love letter, as if someone had written “And We Love You” to someone else. Harking back to my earlier comment about words left unsaid, I think Winston really hit the nail on the head with the logo and motif.
BM: Tell us more about Ricky Lima's production role.
FH: Despite having self published two books prior, I have absolutely no idea what I am doing when it comes to printing. I had 7 proofs printed for Commander Rao just to get the pages right and when it finally went to a print run the printer misprinted the books twice. At my lowest point, the incredible Ricky Lima, self-publisher supreme of Limepress Comics, came to my rescue. He compiled my files into a beautiful print-ready PDF and sent them off to his printer and the books came out flawless.
So now he is my “production manager”, and he essentially makes sure I don’t screw up the print run haha.
BM: Can you tease any of the rewards readers can expect in the upcoming Kickstarter?
FH: Yes! So first up digital and physical copies of AWLY are available, as well as digital copies of Commander Rao. Leftover copies from my last Kickstarter campaign will be available as add-ons.
In terms of guest rewards we have Kira Okamoto (cover artist for Image, IDW, Skybound) doing a set of 5x7 tandem prints of Kasey and Julie. We also have Eastin Deverna on board for an exclusive flash fiction tier, where he’ll write you a short Rao-verse flash fiction piece! And lastly we will be having stickers designed by the incredible Brett. A Schmidt! The design is still pending but I can attest they will be beautiful, shiny stickers.
Get the Scoop on Fell
BM: What or who inspired you to create comics?
FH: I remember picking up Batwoman Elegy in college and just being blown away. Rucka’s awesome writing, J.H. Williams incredible layouts. I’d never seen a comic quite like it before. I’ve always been a writer but I think seeing Batwoman Elegy opened me up to the sheer potential of the comics medium and that’s how I fell in love with it.
BM: Which fictional world would you want to live in?
FH: Every day I dream of living in Stardew Valley. I’m thinking about it now. No stress, only farming and nice people and an eerie cave filled with monsters in the corner of your town.
BM: What's your favorite thing to do on your days off?
FH: I used to love video gaming but I video gamed too much and now I’m banned unless I want my arms to fall off in 2 years. I read more books now, exercise, and try to keep up with friends. That said, two video games I'm really looking forward to (Horizon Forbidden West and Elden Ring) come out this month so maybe I’ll just accept my arms falling off?
BM: What are you working on lately?
FH: The past month has been mostly wrapping up final touches on AWLY. Also planning future Rao stories, planning non-Rao stories. Thinking of my next cooking video. There’s a few anthologies down the line I’ll be a part of but those won’t be out for a while.
BM: Where's the best place for folks to purchase COMMANDER RAO?
FH: For anyone who wants to grab a copy you can do so on the Scout Webstore! You can also check in with your LCS to see if they have any copies. Always a great time to support small businesses.
BM: Absolutely. Dear readers, I know some of you are regular comic book consumers but for those who are looking for your local comic shop, check out this handy dandy locator, input your zip code, and voila!
Don’t forget, Fell Hound’s prequel AND WE LOVE YOU comes out next week! Click the button below to get notified.