58. The Making of a Comic: Faster Than Light with Writer & Editor Sarah Cooke
Pulling back the curtain on how comic anthologies are created
Howdy Brave Being,
Welcome back to The Making of a Comic, a series where I interview creators about how they go about making their comics.
Today, I want to introduce writer and editor Sarah Cooke, who has won two competitions for her script-writing skills in comics. She’s been busy making comics this year and recently took on a new role as the editor of the sci-fi anthology Faster Than Light: Futuristic Tales of Family. Sarah launched this collection on Kickstarter in partnership with Lesser Known Comics, and it hit its funding goal in less than 30 hours! She’s here today to lend us some insights into how comic anthologies are made.
(Full disclosure, and in case you missed my last newsletter, I wrote a comic and edited one of Sarah’s comics in this anthology!)
Let’s hop to it.
Writer & Editor: Sarah Cooke
Brittany Matter: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Sarah Cooke: I’m a writer (and of course huge fan!) of comics. Last year, I was thrilled to win the 2023 Mad Cave Talent Search in the writing category, and the 2023 Negative Space Women’s Comic Book Writing Competition. I’m the creator of the noir contemporary fantasy series No Spell Lasts Forever, with gorgeous art by Aimee Hawley and Eze Di Savino. And I’m the editor and creator of Faster Than Light, a sci-fi anthology about family and how families of origin and found families stay connected in a fast-paced, futuristic world. I’m producing it with Lesser Known Comics and it’s live on Kickstarter now. I have a story in it that you edited, Brittany, and I so enjoyed working with you!
BM: When did your love of comics begin?
SC: I was into all kinds of nerdy media as a kid, including comic book movies, animated shows, and video games. But I didn’t really start reading them until college. Growing up, I was a big fan of newspaper comic strips–I read a lot of Calvin and Hobbes, Fox Trot, etc. But the first longer-form comic or graphic novel I read was Maus, and of course I loved it. After that there was a period of time where I was reading graphic novels here and there, kind of sprinkled throughout the novels I was reading. Then I read The Sandman and that sealed the deal for me. I became an avid reader of comics at that point.
BM: What's your favorite way to connect with the comic book community?
SC: I really enjoy working with other creators, and helping to promote their work. Part of the reason comics are so much fun to make is that they’re so collaborative. And that’s probably the aspect I’ve enjoyed most about producing Faster Than Light. I’ve had the opportunity to work with 20 other creators, and to share their work with my audience. The creators I’ve connected with in the indie comics community have always been so supportive of me and my work, and I try to do my best to return the favor.
BM: Tell us more about your anthology on Kickstarter, Faster Than Light.
SC: I’m so proud of Faster Than Light! This is my first time editing an anthology and I’ve had a lot of fun doing it. I’ve also learned a lot. Like I mentioned, the theme is family, and maybe what I love most is the diverse takes the creators have had on that theme. They range from smaller, more intimate stories about relationships between family members to stories about families going head-to-head with vampires and evil corporations. Some of the families are parents and children, your story, XP, is an aunt and nephew, some are groups of friends who function as a found family. And I really love that the anthology offers this breadth of storytelling.
Anthology Ideation and Creation
BM: What inspired you to produce the sci-fi anthology about family, Faster Than Light?
SC: The idea for the anthology came out of a conversation with Mark Bernal, founder of Lesser Known Comics. I’m in the early stages of developing a sci-fi series called Mayfly (you’re the editor of the project and I’ve loved working with you!). But like I mentioned, the book I’ve largely built my audience around is a contemporary fantasy. I was talking with Mark about my concern that some of my readers who are fantasy fans may be hesitant to check out a new book that’s in a different genre. He suggested producing a sci-fi anthology as a kind of a soft introduction to my sci-fi writing so that when Mayfly is ready to launch, readers will already be used to seeing me write in that genre. The story I have in the anthology, The Chasm: A Mayfly Story (with art by Kieran Quinn, letters by Lydia Monette, and editing by you, Brittany!) is set in that world, so it will give readers an idea of what they can expect from the series.
I loved Mark’s suggestion because, not only would it benefit my own writing, but editing an anthology would give me the chance to connect with other talented creators, which I always enjoy. I’ve had shorts published in other creators’ anthologies in the past, and I thought it could be a lot of fun to be on the other side of things.
BM: What was your first step in compiling this collection of comics?
SC: The first step was putting out the call for submissions. Brian Weber at Lesser Known Comics created a portal on the LKC site to collect them, and once that was up and running, I shared it all over my social media and in my newsletter. So the first order of business really was just getting the word out.
BM: Tell us a little bit about the submissions process from an editorial perspective.
SC: The way the portal was set up, I’d get a notification every time a submission was received. Which made it hard to resist the temptation to read the new submission right then! But I wanted to wait until after the deadline and read everything at once to avoid unintentionally favoring either the first stories I read or the last, which might be fresher in my memory by the end of the process.
As I was reading the submissions, I was mostly looking at how polished they were in terms of the storytelling and the art, and how well they fit the theme.
After that, it was mostly a matter of requesting a few small edits here and there because the stories were largely good to go when they were submitted.
BM: How did you go about selecting cover artists?
SC: Cover A is by Dom Monette, who has done quite a bit of work with Lesser Known Comics. He did the gorgeous art for a short I submitted to one of LKC’s horror anthologies, so I already knew I enjoyed working with him and I loved his art.
Cover B is by Mike Seers, who’s also an LKC creator. Since I’m producing the book with LKC, I wanted to involve as many of their creators as possible. Mike has an awesome story in the anthology called Rabbit Man. He was one of the first people to submit to the anthology and was enthusiastic about submitting when we connected on LKC Zoom calls and online, so I thought he might be interested. I also love his style, and it’s quite distinct from Dom’s, so I thought it would be an interesting contrast.
Cover C is by Alex Guenther, an artist I’ve worked with on a number of projects in the past. Like with Dom, I knew I’d enjoy working with him. He created the promo art for the book. I loved what he came up with and I thought it could make a great cover. So he basically adjusted and resized his promo art to make Cover C.
I also want to mention Tim Daniel of Second Rocket Comics, who created the logo. I absolutely love it and I think it goes a long way toward helping to convey the overall tone of the anthology. You introduced me to Tim, and I’m so glad you did!
BM: Tell us about the design process of the anthology from the logo to the overall aesthetic.
SC: I think one of the challenges in creating an aesthetic for an anthology is that the individual stories each have their own style and aesthetic. That creative diversity is part of what I love about anthologies, but it means that the cover, logo, and interior design do a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of creating a cohesive aesthetic.
Another creator described the aesthetic of the book as “retro-futuristic”, which is essentially what I was going for. Dom and Alex’s covers both have sort of a retro feel to me. And Mike’s, which features a Polaroid photo of a sci-fi family, feels both nostalgic and futuristic to me in a way that I think really captures the overall tone. Tim’s logo is similar, too. It feels to me like it would be right at home in an episode of The Jetsons. Dom did the interior art for the table of contents page, which to me feels quite similar to his cover.
BM: How has Lesser Known Comics helped you in producing Faster Than Light?
SC: Lesser Known Comics has been hugely helpful! They’ve helped me promote it, both in terms of getting the word out when I opened submissions and promoting the Kickstarter. Quite a few of the contributors are Lesser Known Comics creators too. By creating the website portal, they made it much easier for me to gather and keep track of submissions. And like I mentioned, the entire idea for the anthology was a result of a conversation with Mark Bernal.
BM: What has been the most enlightening aspect of compiling an anthology?
SC: It has been creatively enlightening to work with so many different creators. I’ve so enjoyed reading their work and taking in their different styles. So as a creator myself, it has been enriching for me on that level.
Administratively, it has been enlightening to see firsthand how producing an anthology is both different from and similar to producing an issue of my own comic. The overall process of compiling the art, creating the design for the interior covers, finding cover artists, and compiling it all into a finished product is quite similar. But there are a lot more moving pieces than there are with an issue of No Spell Lasts Forever, simply because there are many more people involved. Which means there’s more I have to plan for, and more work I have to do to keep things organized.
BM: What's one piece of advice that you'd give about editing anthologies?
SC: I think the most important thing is to find a great team to work with. Like I said, there are more moving pieces with an anthology and it can be a lot to manage on your own. With Faster Than Light, you’ve helped me enormously! You edited my story, and you’ve also been doing a lot to help me promote the book. You connected me with Tim, and you’ve given me great advice throughout the entire process.
Dom and Lydia Monette have been hugely helpful–together they’ve worked on the lettering, interior art, promotional art, and Dom created the main cover.
Alex Guenther has provided both a cover and interior art. The vinyl decals and the digital poster that are offered as rewards in the campaign were created by Raymond Griffith and Allen Forbes, respectively, both of whom I’ve worked and connected with in the past through the ComixLaunch group. So I’d say my first piece of advice is to pull together a great team.
It’s also important to give yourself plenty of time! There’s a lot to coordinate with an anthology, and it helps to plan for that in advance.
Promotion in Motion
BM: How did you approach promoting this anthology versus your miniseries No Spell Lasts Forever?
SC: Some of the promotional efforts have been similar. I’ve been promoting the stretch goals, appearing on podcasts, sharing the campaign on my own livestream. But what’s nice about an anthology is that the contributors can help spread the word, too. I’ve seen quite a few of the artists and writers posting it on their social media. And I’ve been doing “Creator Spotlights” on my social media, highlighting the creators and their work individually. In some ways, there’s more to draw on when promoting an anthology.
BM: What has been the most popular image or aspect of this anthology that surprised you?
SC: One of the most popular posts I’ve shared is a cropped image of Dom’s cover with Tim’s logo. It was a teaser for the full cover, which I revealed shortly after. I expected the cover image to get a lot of likes but I was surprised by how popular that cropped teaser was. I think people enjoy the anticipation of knowing they’re going to see something cool, and that’s something to remember when promoting projects, and additional rewards like stretch goals.
BM: Out of your promotion efforts, where have you gotten the most engagement or payoff from?
SC: In terms of social media posts, I’ve gotten the most response to those that feature art and the Creator Spotlights. I’ve shared the covers, as well as some of Kieran’s art from The Chasm, and those have been quite popular. The Creator Spotlights have also been popular, especially on Instagram.
In terms of overall strategy, both with No Spell Lasts Forever and with Faster Than Light, I’ve tended to get quite a bit of engagement by reaching out to previous backers. I often seem to get a couple more backers after an email goes out to people who have supported my previous campaigns.
BM: Speaking of promoting, can you highlight a few of your favorite rewards offered in the Faster Than Light Kickstarter?
SC: Of course, my favorite reward is the comic itself, with all three gorgeous covers. I can’t wait for backers to have the chance to hold the comic in their hands!
I also really love Raymond’s vinyl decals. He designed them and will be producing them himself. I love the character designs he came up with, and I think it’s very cool how much care and effort he’s putting into making them.
We have some great digital rewards too, and I’m very excited about our stretch goals! The first one, which we’ll unlock at $1,800, is the digital poster I mentioned by Allen Forbes. It’s created in his beautiful, 3D style and it features the main characters of The Chasm. Allen created a similar one for the last issue of No Spell Lasts Forever, featuring the main character, Rosette, and I’m happy to be working with him again.
Creators on Creators
BM: There are so many creators out in the world making comics, so I thought I’d open up the interview to other inquiring minds and connect creators. The inaugural creator question is from Oscar Osorio, editor and writer of the supernatural horror anthology Don’t Push The Red Button.
OO: As an anthology editor myself, I'm curious about your opinions on the future of anthologies. Some say they are dying, and some say they are at their best. The debate is so polarizing that I'm always on the lookout for different thoughts on the matter.
SC: That’s a great question! I think these kinds of debates are sort of omnipresent in the comics world. Even with the comics medium itself, we see some people saying it’s in trouble and others saying it’s better than ever, and I’m hesitant to fully jump on board with the extremes of either argument.
I think it does take a bit more work to promote anthologies. When readers are looking for new comics, they’re of course more likely to pick up a new series or graphic novel. But in my opinion, anthologies are amazing for a couple of reasons. First, they’re an opportunity to discover new creators. In Faster Than Light, as with many anthologies, most of the contributors involved also have series of their own. So if you’re a reader hoping to discover new writers and artists, anthologies can be a great way to do that. And second, I personally enjoy seeing how storytellers get their point across in such a short format. Conveying a satisfying story in eight pages or less is a unique challenge, and I think it’s fun to see how they pull it off.
From the perspective of a creator, anthologies offer new creators an opportunity to get their work out into the world. And they give creators at any point in their career the opportunity to connect and find new collaborators to work with.
All that to say, I think anthologies have an important place in the comics world. While there may be unique challenges with promoting them, you also have a team of contributors to help. And while I hesitate to predict whether they’ll be more or less popular in the future, I do think they’ll continue on as a format that gives creators an opportunity to connect and share their work, and readers an opportunity to discover new creators.
BM: Well said, Sarah! Be sure to follow Sarah’s Instagram livestream @saraccomics and check out Faster Than Light, now live on Kickstarter. Profits from the campaign will go directly to the creators, which supports all our careers in making comics!
Thanks for reading!
Love this! Kickstarter anthologies seem such a great opportunity to work with fellow creators and get your work out there.