Review Fix Exclusive: Morgan Quaid Talks ‘Shadow’s Daughter’ And More

Review Fix chats with comic book writer Morgan Quaid about his newest series, Shadow’s Daughter.

Head to the Kickstarter, Here.

Review Fix: What inspired this comic?

Quaid: I wanted to test myself as a writer and try to write something I said I never would, a story about vampires, werewolves, and the like. They’ve been done so many times before, so I’d always said I’d stay away from those concepts. But, as I started to explore a little more widely as a writer, I decided to challenge myself.

Once I got involved with creating comics, I thought this story would be a great fit for a manga art style, something I’d been wanting to look at for a while. So, I found an artist and started converting a novel into comic scripts.

I also love the idea of a sentient shadow (Peter Pan anyone?) or shadow which can be twisted and used as a weapon. That, coupled with the idea of two worlds bleeding into one another formed the backdrop for the story, but the real heart of Shadow’s Daughter is its kickass protagonist, Summer Rain.

I wanted to build a story around a strong female character who shoots first and doesn’t even bother asking questions later. I wanted her to be extremely powerful but then put her in a situation where she’s no longer at the top of the food chain. I love stories about powerful heroes who are faced with having to get buy in the world when everything they rely in is taken away; that’s at the heart of the Shadow’s Daughter story.

Review Fix: What makes these characters unique?

Quaid: The main characters in the series really are a motley crew of individuals, brought together through a quirk of circumstance. A hard-nosed bounty-hunter, a blonde blue-eyed pastry chef, a Russian mustachioed tinkerer and arms dealer, and a suit-wearing government bureaucrat may not seem like a natural grouping, but it really works.

Each of these characters is flawed, quirky, but ultimately willing to work together to fight whichever pending apocalypse is on the ticket that week. Sure the world of Shadow’s Daughter has vampires and werewolves, hellions and ethermancers but, at its heart, it’s a story about a makeshift family protecting one another from an indifferent and predatory universe.

Review Fix: What has the creation process been like?

Quaid: Fun, but hard work!

I’ve worked with 8 different artists on the project, all with different styles of working and different art style and located all around the world. The process has involved writing and editing scripts, drawing storyboards (stick figures on my part), and working with the artists on the finished product. I’ve also had to make quite a few changes on the fly, once the comics get down to the lettering stage.

Seeing new episodes from the series come to life has been such a fun experience. I love seeing ideas that I’ve roughly sketched out come back to me as amazing artwork and moving into manga-style imagery has been really interesting too. I’ve been able to leverage off some amazing artists to drive home the action sequences in the series, whilst still exploring more of the emotional aspects of the stories.  

Review Fix: How is it different from your previous work?

Quaid: This is the only project I’ve worked on with manga style artwork. That has meant making my scripts more concise and focused on key action points throughout the stories. This is also the first time I’ve worked on pure black and white comics, as opposed to color, and stand-alone issues. Working on contained stories was a new experience and it was quite liberating, being able to tell the story in a short, episode rather than a larger narrative arc.

The story itself tends to have a lot of the elements that feature in most of my work (strong female lead, intense action, a lot of weirdness, steampunk elements, a mix of fantasy and horror etc.). This is perhaps my most playful series though. I have a lot of fun with the characters and the way that they interact with one another, even though there are some serious topics covered, such as drug abuse.

Review Fix: How did you feel when it started coming together?

Quaid: Knowing that I was going to be able to offer fans a big, chunky story with multiple, stand-alone issues, was a great feeling. I’m always disappointed myself when I pick up a comic or back a project and then the finished product comes through, and I’ve read it and finished with it in five minutes.

I wanted backers to feel like they were well and truly getting their money’s worth on this one. There are already 3 more comics from the series in the works and another 4 planned, so I’m hoping that fans will be so excited by the current run of comics that they’ll be looking forward to the next batch.

Review Fix: What makes this Kickstarter special?

Quaid: It’s HUGE for a start! Six full issues all at over 40 pages each!

Whether for digital or print, backers get a huge amount from this campaign, and they can really delve into the Shadow’s Daughter universe in a big way. This is also the first time that stories from Summer’s early years as a bounty hunter have been explored.

There are some great Early Bird offers where backers can pick up a free digital comic, some drawn in options for one of the spin-off issues of Shadow’s Daughter, and even a speaking role up for grabs!

Review Fix: What’s next?

Quaid: In the coming weeks, I’ll be announcing some more cover artwork, several new spin off comics, and even a novel! Backers in the campaign will get the chance to win some free swag (including their own personal theme song, composed by yours truly).

Review Fix: Anything else you want to add?

Quaid: Feel free to check out www.morganquaid.com for more details on this and other projects (it’s what all the cool kids are doing).