GRAPHITE

Writer Dara Naraghi has provided THE PULSE with an exclusive preview of the story A Little Knowledge from the Ape Omnibus #2. Naraghi described the story as “a story about greed, perception, knowledge, and honor.”

DARA NARAGHI TELLS THE PULSE …

I came across Adrian Barbu’s website several years ago while searching for an artist for my BigCityBlues comic. Now, I live in Columbus, Ohio and Adrian’s in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, but in these days of e-mail and FTP, that doesn’t pose much of a problem. I’ve learned a lot about Adrian in the intervening years. That he enjoys practicing aikido and kendo, teaches at a university, knows how to juggle, volunteers his time to work with special needs children, and was a 2003 L. Ron Hubbard “Illustrators of the Future” Achievement Award winner. And he absolutely loves fantasy and science fiction. Oddly enough, our first two collaborations were on a slice of life tale and a crime story. No fantasy. No sci-fi.

Which brings us to “A Little Knowledge…” The good folks at Ape Entertainment (hi Dave, Mike, and Brent!) published one of my fantasy
stories in the premier issue of their anthology book, Ape Omnibus. So when they gave me carte blanche to submit stories for the subsequent issues, I immediately thought of Adrian. Finally, a chance to set him loose on a story that plays to his strengths. I wrote a gritty sci-fi story with enigmatic aliens, foul-mouthed scavengers, low morals, and high tech weapons. Little did I know that the end result would not be exactly as I had envisioned it, but as with any creative collaboration, the journey is easily half the fun.

Adrian is an artist’s artist. He not only loves the fantastic worlds of the imagination, but he completely immerses himself in them. For example, I
wanted him to have free rein in creating the look of the Q’Shree, the alien species in the story. What I got back was not only character designs, but also several pages of detailed conceptual sketches exploring their bone structure, musculature, facial expressions, and weapons technology. All this for an 9 page story! (Well, it was 8 to begin with, but someone had some cool ideas for the fight scene…) As a writer, I can’t stress how gratifying it is to work with such a dedicated artist. Also, as a result of his personal exploration of this “new” species, and their customs and traditions, he suggested a slightly different ending for the story than I had originally envisioned. And you know what? It made perfect sense within the logic of the world we had created, so I rewrote the ending. It was, as they say, a very organic process.

“A Little Knowledge…” is the story of Lanx and Zeeda, two rough-and-tumble scavengers battling it out with their counterparts from an
alien race. But in the end, it’s a story about greed, perception, knowledge, and honor. If you like what you see here, please ask your retailer to order Ape Omnibus #2 from the October Previews catalog. The solicitation is on page 228 (page 31 on the Previews order form), and the order number is OCT04 2394. The 64-page book is full of diverse stories by some of the best up and coming talents in the industry, and it hits the stands in December.

For more information and previews, you can check out the Ape website at http://www.ape-entertainment.com/. For more of my stories and Adrian’s art, head on over to my site, http://www.ferretpress.com/.