I picked up a preview ashcan of Faith Erin Hick’s next comic, The War at Ellsmere, in San Diego. She definitely won me over as a fan with Zombies Calling, so I’m looking forward to buying her sophomore book when it comes out in December.
She talks about the new book over on her blog:
The War at Ellsmere is the story of Juniper, an aggressively self-sufficient 13 year old who wins a scholarship to the prestigious (and slightly creepy) Ellsmere Academy, a girls’ school which Jun hopes will gain her easier entry into ivy league post-secondary schools. While at the school Jun makes friends with a crazy girl named Cassie who thinks there’s a mythical monster living in the forest next door, and offends the school’s alpha student, a dead-eyed, probably dead-souled girl named Emily. Jun’s defiance of Emily leads to an escalating war between the two of them, which finally results in … well, you’ll just have to read the book to find out, won’t you?
I have to tell you, this book has been kicking my ass since January. When I started I was pretty terrified, sure I wouldn’t be able to properly convey the school setting and manage the multiple plotlines, and I took everything I learned from doing Zombies Calling and applied it to this book. I think it is a big step up in terms of storytelling for me. I tried to pay attention to all the legitimate criticisms I received from Zombies Calling and address them (the most common being that Zombies Calling was a bit short; Ellsmere will be nearly 40 pages longer).
You can check out a preview of the book here.
August 11th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
This looks so much like Bryan Lee O’Malley’s stuff, it’s a little off-putting for me. I love Bryan’s books but can’t get into somebody aping his style.
August 12th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
I know it’s futile to argue with anyone on the internets, and people see what they want in my work, but I would like to reassure Tim that I am not “aping” anyone’s style. I don’t even consider the artist mentioned one of my influences.
But whatever, people see what they want in my work. Someone once compared my art to Jim Mahfood, and I had to reply that I’d never before read anything by him.
Anyway. It’s frustrating that anyone would accuse me of “aping.”