Arriving later this year from Scout Comics, Volume tells the story of the ear-splittingly rebellious Essa. She’s a teenage girl living in a world where music is forbidden – and she’s not happy about it. She channels that rage through music and stands against The Regime. It’s a story about youth, passion and music, bought to life by writer, Christof Bogacs, artist, Skylar Patridge and editor, Nadia Shammas. We got in touch with Bogacs himself for more details on Essa and how the story came to life. Keep reading for solicitation material and a sneak peak at what Volume will look like when it hits shelves.
“It all started with the Beastie boys ‘Sabotage’, listening to that song still makes me believe I can run straight through a brick wall. And when that chorus hits, oh man, when that chorus hits I feel goddamn invincible. So that’s where Essa kind of came from-that idea that for this character, listening to their favourite song goes one step further than just making them feel invincible. For that 3 minutes and two seconds they are invincible. And everything kind of built out from that. From that idea of music giving power to an entire world based on denying people that power.
Then Nadia came in as editor and changed everything. Essa already ‘existed’, but not really. She was more of an idea than a person, and given I haven’t actually had the experience of being a teenage girl she brings an authenticity to the character I never could.
The same goes for Skylar, who immediately got what me and Nadia put down on paper and pushed it even further. Like with Nadia, she brought a whole bunch of experience and passion drawn from some awesome and not so awesome experiences as a teenage girl and poured them out into the visuals.
This whole book is really about that-feeling powerless, getting a tiny taste of power and fighting for more. From the minute you ‘wake up’ in your teenage years everyone wants you to shut up and go back to sleep (particularly if you are not a straight white dude). This book is myself Skye, Nadia, Rebecca and Bram screaming back as loud as we can. We’re not going anywhere.”
Scout’s official solicitation follows, along with some preview pages and covers! Volume is slated for a late 2019 release, so stay tuned to All-Comic for more.
Created by Christof Bogacs (Corpus Anthology, The XCT: Most Wanted, 24 panels), Skylar Patridge (Crowded) and Nadia Shammas (Corpus: An Anthology of Bodily Ailments). Written by Christof Bogacs with art by Skylar Patridge.
In the near future, a populist dictatorship — known simply as THE REGIME — has made music illegal, preaching a perverted version of law and order called ‘PEACE IS QUIET.’ Standing up to this onerous silence is ESSA, a teenager sick of living in the bland and colorless world the Regime has created. She’s 16, fed-up, and her only weapon is one killer rock song. Needless to say, it’s going to get noisy.
Writer and co-creator Christof Bogacs says, “Volume has been rattling around in my head for a while now. This is me venting all my pent-up teenage rage in an immature display of punching, explosions and song lyrics. The best part is I get to pull Skye and Nadia into the fray with me …and now Scout as well! As a fan of books like Long Lost and Heavenly Blues, I couldn’t be more excited to be working with Scout to bring this punk-drenched power-fantasy to life.”
Artist and co-creator Skylar Patridge added, “Volume is a really special story, not only in its message but also in its execution. We wanted to create a world devoid of color, stifled by the confines of conformity — then smash it with color and punk music. It’s a story of youth, identity and reluctant rebellion in the face of authoritarianism.”
Editor and co-creator Nadia Shammas concluded, “Volume is a story that encapsulates the way teen girls are silenced and undervalued, and the way their voices are louder than ever.”
Scout Comics was founded to discover, develop, and support content creators in addition to helping translate their projects to different platforms and mediums. The label has had several breakout hits recently, including Wulfborne, Zinnober, Obliv18n, The Mall, Fish Eye and Stabbity Bunny.
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