Time to Kickstart the Week... again! This week I am featuring the Kickstarter for the graphic novel The Forever Maps about a man who lives forever... as long as he follows the maps.
The
Forever Maps is a 72 page graphic novel. It also includes 14 pages of
bonus material, including alternate artwork, author's notes, and more. The graphic novel is being printed on
environmentally-friendly paper with vegetable-based inks.
The story begins in 1794 after a young man, John, leaves
his home to get away from his abusive father. He meets a weakened man and helps him
follow a map. Together, they discover a mysterious wooden box carved in a tree
stump. Within the box is another map. The other man, in anger, destroys the
box, leaving John the only one to follow the next map. The process continues,
with John finding box after box across continent with nothing but another map
to follow inside each. Over time, John discovers as long as he continues to
follow the maps, he will not grow older. However, if he stops following them for even
one hour, he will rapidly age.
Each chapter of the graphic novel will explore a different
aspect of John’s life. The first chapter shows John’s relationship with his
parents. In the next chapter, John falls
in love and has a family. The dilemma is, if he stays with them, he knows he will die. The
final chapter shows John truly becoming his father’s child as he takes on the
role of a father and he must fight to redeem himself.
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| The Forever Maps Cover |
You can pledge money for The Forever Maps on their Kickstarter page. The
project will be funded if $12,000 Canadian dollars are pledged by
April 25th, 2015 at 11:00 PM EDT. Recently, the creative team received a generous offer from a backer who said they will match any pledges made this week by new backers.
The graphic novel is scheduled for
release in November of 2015. The smallest reward for pledging their Kickstarter
is set at $5. For $5 you will receive a digital copy of the first chapter of the book and your name will be
included in the printed version. You will receive a full PDF copy of the book for $10. If you pledge $1,000 or more (which someone
has!) you will get all the rewards listed on their Kickstarter page, plus extra
sketches and prints, a manuscript evaluation and you will be mentored by the
author.
The creators of the comic book are writer Michael Lagacé
and artist Todor Hristov. The two have worked together on previous projects
including The
Great Train Robbery and The Mad Trapper.
I spoke with Lagacé about his Kickstarter project in detail
below.
Me: How
did this idea of a man becoming immortal by following maps come to you?
 |
| Michael Lagacé |
Michael
Lagacé: I've always been fascinated by the concept of time and
mortality. We move through life, finding our own unique path along the way, but
we are all limited by the same incremental measurement of age. The idea for The
Forever Maps came from wondering what it would take to avoid aging, and I
thought that perhaps the biggest loss would be that person's unique path. The
maps will lead you on and on until the end of time, but if you can never go
where you want, you'll never be happy. I think this is something we can all
relate to, feeling obligated to fit into a certain model of what life should be
like, and perhaps not being encouraged to pursue what we truly want.
Me: How
would you describe your protagonist, John?
Lagacé:
Like
most of us, John is conflicted. In the beginning, all he wants is to get away
from his father who has determined how John's life will go and what he will do.
He feels like he doesn't have any choice and rebels by leaving it all behind.
He is given the map, not knowing where it will lead or what will happen. He
just wants some kind of change, something different. He wants an adventure.
Me: What
is the importance of family in John’s life?
 |
| The Forever Maps Page 5 |
Lagacé:
Family
is a driving force behind John's decisions. His father was an abusive tyrant,
which he vows never to be. When he follows the maps, he isn't making any
choices, he's surviving. They take him all over the continent, and somewhere
along the way he encounters a woman that he has a child with. Now the stakes
are higher because taking care of his family means he can't follow the maps,
and following the maps means he can't take care of his family. For some, the
choice would be survival, but because of John's desire to not be a bad father,
he can't bear to abandon them. He makes what he thinks is the best choice under
the circumstances.
Me: If you
were given a choice to live forever chasing maps or die, what would you choose
and why?
Lagacé:
Hard
to say. The temptation to live forever is huge, but seeing everything around me
change without being able to participate in it would be too devastating. I
think I'd have to choose to stick with my current plan of living to 152.
Me: How
would you describe Todor Hristov’s art style?
 |
| The Forever Maps Page 6 |
Lagacé:
Incredible.
From the first drawing I saw of his, I was captivated. The things he does with
simple lines is unbelievable, and the amount of emotion that he can pack into a
panel astounds me. Whenever I'm lettering his work, I find myself editing the
dialogue to use the fewest words possible because I don't want to detract from
what he's done. He's got a ton of talent and he's not even 25 years old.
Todor's got a long career ahead of him.
Me: Why did you decide to print The Forever Maps on environmentally-friendly paper with vegetable-based inks?
Lagacé: We chose to print as
eco-friendly as possible because it's most in line with our values. It's
more expensive, but it's one of those things that's worth the extra
cost. Even details like the texture of the paper are important because it
adds so much to the story without the reader realizing it. I've worked
in printing for the past twelve years, and I've learned that paper
quality is crucial to your final product. We want to deliver the best
final product we can with the least impact possible. After all, if
someone's planning on living forever, they probably want the planet to
be in good shape.
Me: You have worked on a couple of projects with Hristov before including The Great Train Robbery and The Mad Trapper. Can you tell me a bit about these projects?
Lagacé:
The Great Train Robbery is a
little story about three bandits who rob a ghost train. If you've ever
considered doing a train heist, maybe don't do it on a dark and strange night. The Mad Trapper is based on a true story
that happened in the Northwest Territories in the 1930s, where a man was on the
run from police for over a month in the dead of winter. He had nothing on him
except a rifle and a knife, but he somehow kept ahead of the men despite having
to continually forage for food and set up shelters during terrible blizzards.
The comic we did is from the perspective of one of the men chasing him, right
before he escaped by climbing a sheer mountain in the dead of night during a
storm. Keep in mind, he didn't have climbing gear, he didn't even have proper
winter clothes. Stories like this amaze me.
Me: With a story about an immortal man,
you could make The Forever Maps into an ongoing series. Why
did you choose to make it a graphic novel?
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| The Forever Maps Page 7 |
Lagacé:
Honestly, I don't think this story needs to be any longer. The
main character lives a long, long time and there are plenty of other huge
events in his life, but I only told what I needed to. I didn't want to distract
from the theme, and I certainly didn't want the reader to get bored. The story
is set over hundreds and hundreds of years but it happens quickly, and with
purpose.
Me: Do you have any other plans for
other future comic book projects?
Lagacé:
Always. There's plenty going on in my Brain Factory and Todor
isn't slowing down either. We've been talking about some other little stories
to collect in an anthology with The Grave Train Robbery and The Mad Trapper. We
love working together and we're always bouncing ideas off each other, so I'm
looking forward to seeing what we come up with. I'll be as surprised as
everyone else!
Me: What is some advice you would give
to aspiring comic book writers?
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| The Forever Maps Page 8 |
Lagacé:
Write. All the time. Carry a notebook and jot down every little
silly thing you think of. Write, and write with the confidence that you will
always be able to improve on what you've written. Figure out the whole story
before you start, it'll save you a lot of time in the end. Oh, and I suppose,
don't make your story any longer than it needs to be.
Me: Thanks for your time Michael. Best
of luck living to the ripe old age of 152… and kickstarting The Forever Maps.
Do you have a Kickstarter? Want to be interviewed about it
and have it showcased on “Kickstart the Week?” Let me know in the comments
below or message me on www.comicmaven.com.
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