Writer: Steve Cronin
Artist – Sergi Domench
Independently published, 2024
Runes is an adventure into a remote Scottish region by two scientists, Dr Cal Norton and Dr Lisa Neufeld. Their rich and obnoxious benefactor, Mr Farrington, wants evidence of his mother’s disappearance (he somehow knows she is deceased, although we put this down to an editorial error).
The town of Thistleton does not appear in maps or on Google, notes one of the scientists. A precarious crossing over an ancient wooden bridge in a well-kitted out four wheeled drive, and they are there. But the village is strange, and its inhabitants stranger still.
The striking aspect to this title is that the two academics are not pistol-whipping adventurers in the manner of Lara Croft of Tomb Raider fame. Despite their vehicle being loaded up with concussion grenades and similar non-lethal defensive weapons, clearly neither of them have any experience in dealing with rough locals, let alone combat training. When the grenades are finally tossed about, it is through desperation, not expertise.
The villagers of Thistleton speak English well enough, but communicate in writing with Viking runes. It is a very old culture, and the setting is reminiscent of a place like Foula https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foula in the very northern reaches of Scotland. The people of Foula, now numbering around 30, originally spoke the extinct Norn language, and the sense in this title is that the people of Thistleton are similarly so isolated that they have retained their Scandanavian linguistic heritage. Civilisational relics have the allure of ruins, and the creative team do a wonderful job of portraying the insularity of the town.
This is however a fantasy adventure, not an archaeological non-fiction, and so we soon learn that the village has been cursed by a female druid at some unspecified time. The villagers transform into odd looking monsters with a penchant for human flesh. (Readers of Julian May’s The Many-Coloured Land novels might pick the villagers as being Firvulag, a proto-Celtic alien race who can each use psychic powers to transform into horrible creatures.)
While the two protagonists reach their prize of finding their benefactor’s mother’s diary, amidst the decaying bones of what we assume are hapless hikers piled in a cave, the villagers’ fate is not explored by the title.
We interviewed writer Steve Cronin about Runes.
WCBR: I was a little intrigued by the setting. Most archaeological adventures seem to go down the same paths that Indiana Jones followed in the motion pictures – the great civilisations in Asia Minor, Egypt and Central America. What lead your story to Scotland? I guess you’re adding to the mystery of the tale by identifying a place which improbably is actually is not captured by Google Earth.
Steve: To be perfectly honest, this is a shout-out to one of my favorite Broadway musicals. My two great loves are comic books and theater, and one of my first lead roles back in college was in the Lerner and Loewe musical Brigadoon. Brigadoon is a great show, and it centers around a magical Scottish town that appears for one day every one hundred years. I have a lot of heart for this show, and so a mysterious, out-of-time location in Scotland seemed like the perfect homage.
You also make a great point about avoiding some of the tropes that usually appear in a fantasy comic. One writing exercise I did early on was sitting down and making a list of things I couldn’t use – magic wands, werewolves, vampires, centaurs, zombies – not that I’ll never use these things, but making a list of ideas already in our cultural consciousness forced me off the beaten path, and hopefully led to some original choices.
WCBR: I was interested in the fact that you had two central characters who do not like each other but kind of keep that quiet until the wise old woman of the village interrogated them. There is no obvious tension – they just happen not to get along. This seems to me to be quite realistic in respect of what happens in academia – two scholars who work together but don’t personally relate. I was half-expecting a clandestine romance. What made you go down this path?
Steve: For Cal and Lisa, the main characters in RUNES, I wanted a complex dynamic that was ready to evolve. I started this manuscript as a short story, and I thought it interesting to have Lisa as a controlling boss while Cal is a brilliant but timid employee. That relationship felt natural, and it created natural tension (in the employee-boss hierarchy) that led to respect and trust (in the do-or-die moment at the end of the issue). A romantic relationship seemed like low-hanging fruit while I was writing it; I’m more curious if Cal and Lisa can recognize, and appreciate, each other’s strengths.
Going forward, I do have two more issues already written and I really, really hope to continue RUNES. In those issues, we’ll see much more spool out in Cal and Lisa’s personal lives, as they continue to battle mystical threats. As the narrative continues, I think we’ll see Cal and Lisa understand each other, and respect each other.
WCBR: What inspired the visuals on the monsters? They’re a bit of a mixed bunch. Myths from Scotland include all sorts of horrors. Do yours have a direct pedigree in Celtic mythology?
Steve: Now, I wish I had the foresight to base these monsters on actual folklore, but I just didn’t have the time or the resources.
As for how they turned out, I think it’s a great example of relying on your creative team. While writing, I took it as my job to make the manuscript as detailed as possible, and I put in as many specifics as I could.
I wrote very specific descriptions of Bonnie (the village elder) and Caleb (the muscle), because it seemed important to me that their appearance serve their personality and their role in the tale. But for the rest of the monsters, I only made a note that they should each look unique, with different shapes and sizes. This is where my artist, Sergi Domenech, really delivered. I loved his take on the villagers, and the colors by Josh Jensen really brought everything to life.
Overall, this was a great lesson for me as a writer. While it’s absolutely essential to turn in a polished manuscript, sometimes the work will benefit from letting your creative partners grab the steering wheel.
WCBR: How did the creative team come together?
Steve: I used a site called comicsexperience.com – https://comicsexperience.com/ . Comics Experience is a terrific online community of creators. They offer classes, mentorships, and publishing services.
I have to give a huge shout-out to Andy Schmidt and Paul Allor from that organization. They helped get me started, and they managed my project every step of the way. Andy kicked things off, and then Paul walked me through selecting a creative team. It was really a one-stop shop in terms of getting a very weird Google doc to a print-ready comic book.
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This title is a fun adventure with solid characterisation expertly packed into a single issue. Once Runes is available for sale to the public, we will post a link here.