Today, a classic occult detective returns in fully illustrated glory, along with some alternative ‘Harry Potter’ books and other interesting ideas galore. We had intended to discuss London being destroyed by an avant garde airship, but we’ve been fortunate enough to procure a most excellent interview with top-notch artist M S Corley. So London must wait, for one of our interviewee’s projects is perfect for our Edwardian Arcane theme, as you will soon see.
Mike Corley is an experienced freelance illustrator and graphic designer with a wide range of work under his belt. In addition to the ideas which we discuss below, he also put out a rather neat Kindle Motion book this year – Darkness There: Selected Tales of Edgar Allan Poe – which we have to mention because it contains animated illustrations. Want to see the pendulum swing? Now you can.
But we must roll up our sleeves and get down to it…
An Interview with M S Corley
greydog: Welcome to greydogtales. Although we dragged you here to talk primarily about your Carnacki project, it would be churlish of us not to mention other aspects of your work. It’s actually hard to know where to start. You do book covers, concept work, prints, games characters, comic book illustrations and the lot. Was this a commercial decision, or one which reflects a personal interest in exploring a range of fields?
mike: I would say mainly it was a personal interest decision, I’ve had a clear idea of things I liked in general but never knew in specific what I’d want to do in the day to day work. Almost everything you listed there fell into my lap and wasn’t something I sought out like “Oh, I’d like to draw a comic now, or work on a video game, etc”. Someone came to me and offered me the position and I took it when it seemed like a right fit. It’s been a real rollercoaster of a career as I never knew what I’d be doing next, and trying it all seemed like a good way to learn what I like and didn’t like as far as work goes.
These days I’d say I work nearly exclusively on book covers, making up probably 95% of the work I take on. I’ve found a place for myself in the cover industry and feel like I fit quite well there and the demand is enough to make it so I don’t need to take on jobs I don’t like as much anymore. And with book covers it’s always different, so I can’t really get bored with the work itself which is nice.
greydog: You were particularly acclaimed for your work on The Strange Case of Mr Hyde for Dark Horse Comics, written by Cole Hadden. How did you feel about the process of working closely with another creator to achieve a unified result?
mike: Hah, well I don’t know if I’d say acclaimed, but that is a comic I did and it was quite an experience. Dark Horse holds the majority of my attention when it comes to comics that I read, mainly due to Hellboy and the rest of the Mignolaverse so when I was contacted by them out of the blue it was like a dream come true.
I had done a 8pg story prior to Strange Case, which is what Cole saw and what landed me the gig. And then working on Strange Case was the first multi-issue series I got to work on, with around 24pages per issue. It was very hard work for me, it took a long time because I am a very slow artist, but I couldn’t have had a better starter situation working with Cole as the writer.
It was his first time writing a comic too (if I remember correctly) so having both of us being newbies at the professional comic scene I think helped because we didn’t have any preconceived notions on how working with an artist or writer should go. And we helped each other over the finish line without losing too much hair along the way. Really great guy and we struck up a friendship over similar horror interests and old timey stuff. He introduced me to a lot of classic Hammer films which I might never have discovered without him.
All in all, that comic was a huge undertaking for me, and I learned a ton about my style of drawing and how I work best in the comics medium. So I can’t thank DH and Cole enough for the opportunity, but I doubt I would ever be able to get back into the ‘professional’ comic scene again. I’ve done a couple more short one-shots for DH, but the timeline and deadlines outweighs my enjoyment for that kind of work in a ‘for a company’ sense.
greydog: We couldn’t help notice your stylish alternative ‘Harry Potter’ covers. They’re reminiscent of the finer Penguin Books covers. Was that deliberate?
mike: I often joke with my wife and a close friend, that when I die my tombstone will say “Here lies Mike, he made those one Harry Potter covers”. Nearly every single job I’ve had after I made those covers in 2008, can directly be related back to those covers themselves.
Correct, I used the old Marber grid system that Penguin used in the 60s, and I just made them for a fun side project as I saw a small trend going on at the time of people adapting movies or video games as retro book covers, Olly Moss’s work at the time in particular was an influence. And I thought, well I can’t do any better than what these guys are doing with the cleverness of turning movies and whatnot into covers, so why don’t I just make a book cover of a book.
I had just finished listening to the audio versions of HP at the time so I thought that would be a good place to start with making covers. I put them online and it went around like a whirlwind. And since then, on nearly a weekly basis someone has emailed me about them, mainly asking for prints.
Which back in the day I tried to make and then Warner Brothers lawyers came at me and said in no uncertain terms that I shouldn’t pursue making prints and selling them for profit. So that got shut down quickly. I did end up putting prints up in the end, but removed all the text (which was the legal issue) for if anyone ever wanted them. Granted I know part of the charm was having the text on there so they looked like old books. But they’re out there if someone wants them: potter covers
greydog: And we note that your art will feature in the premium edition of Orrin Grey’s “Never Bet the Devil & Other Warnings”, which has just completed a successful Kickstarter campaign. Presumably this will be a major project for you, or have you already sketched out many of your ideas?
mike: I’m pretty excited about this one. Orrin and I have been wanting to work on a book together for a long time. We did work on a personal project together a while back, Gardinel’s Real Estate. A small chapbook of 13 haunted houses that I drew and Orrin wrote short bios on in the vein of a real estate pamphlet, which was a lot of fun (see link below image).
gardinel is available hereSince then we had been hoping that someday the stars would align for me to do a cover to one of his books, and then Strix Publishing came around for the deluxe reprint of Never Bet the Devil (a book I personally enjoy) and Orrin pitched me as the artist and they agreed and here we are. That was the first Kickstarter I was a part of as well, and I was quite nervous during the whole campaign but thrilled to see it funded in the end (and overfunded too). I have a few of the interior images complete and now have started the heavy lifting for drawing the rest, as funding was just released to us this week.
I’m not positive, but I’m pretty sure it will be available for regular purchase after all the Kickstarter backers are given their copies. If so, I highly recommend readers pick up the book for the writing itself, I don’t read a lot of modern horror or supernatural work as it seems a lot more clichéd than turn of the century work (which I prefer) but there is something wonderful about Orrin’s writing that lets him be one of the few modern readers I will actively read for pleasure.
greydog: Mr Hyde and Orrin Grey lead us into the mood for another one of your current projects, Carnacki: Recorder of Things Strange. First of all, perhaps you could outline the general concept of Recorder of Things Strange for those who haven’t yet encountered the idea?
mike: Actually, I made a one page comic to help give an idea of what to expect!
I describe it on the site as a comic inspired by the character created by William Hope Hodgson. The Carnacki I have in these stories is not meant to be the exact character from Hodgson’s original stories as I could never successfully add onto what he wrote about his Carnacki. This is a new story of the character I have loved for many years, as I see him and the world he inhabits in my mind.
It is and will be a continuing comic series written and illustrated by myself, published as soon as I can get each volume out. I’ve described it to some people being similar to the ‘middle years’ of the Hellboy series, where he’s wandering around just dealing with certain monsters and situations. It has a bit of that vibe (which to me were the most enjoyable stories of Mignola’s work)
What I’m doing with it as well is adapting classic fiction and ghost stories and folklore from around the world and having Carnacki investigate it. There is an overarching plot that will drive the story forward, but I am purposefully writing it out of order so that it can be put together in the end by faithful readers who like that kinda mystery ( like me).
The current plan is releasing them in short volumes, roughly four to five individual stories per volume, and they are grouped by location more than anything. In volume one they all take place in the UK, but are in a range of years from both the beginning of his career or where you might say the ‘main plot’ kicks off, and close to the end of his tale as well. But that won’t be apparent right away until later volumes come out and you can put together the timeline (well besides me pointing that out here of course).
Volume one is plotted, written and panelled out, just going through and drawing everything now (the hard work). I was hoping to have it done by the end of the year but it seems that it will take a bit longer looking at where I’m at now. And then I have Volume 2 written and 3-5 plotted on the stories I will write once I get to those volumes.
Throughout the series Carnacki will meet up with various influences on myself in the form of authors or characters mostly. For example him teaming up with John Silence in a story to solve a case. Stuff like that, which when I’ve said that it makes people immediately draw the conclusion that this is like League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, but I’d say it couldn’t be further from that idea. This isn’t a team book, he just stumbles across people from time to time, and I rarely spell it out on who it is, a lot is hidden in the details for the viewer to discover.
greydog: This is something that you’ve been working on for a long time. What sparked the idea originally, and why Carnacki in particular?
mike: Yes quite a long time, I had read the Carnacki stories a long while back, but in 2010 (around the time of working on Strange Case of Mr. Hyde) I remember I was in a hot tub with my wife discussing the things I don’t enjoy about professional comic work for a company, and if I could do my own book at my own pace without any rules or restrictions, what would it be of. And the first and only idea that popped into my head was an adaptation of Carnacki.
Shortly there after I started sketching what Carnacki looks like to me, and after about a month I found the look and did a quick ink wash just to base my future ideas off of. He’s changed a bit since then but this was the first ‘real’ image of him I ever drew.
And why Carnacki in particular… there’s just something about him. He’s not a super hero, he has no powers, he isn’t a vast intellect like Sherlock or anything along those lines. He’s just a normal guy investigating abnormal situations who often gets genuinely scared by what he encounters. I can really relate to him as a character. And honestly, your article back in July ‘The Carnacki Conundrum’ summed up my views on why he’s great in a far more eloquent way than I ever could.
greydog: Glad that we share that common ground – makes us even more excited to see your own Carnacki. How familiar are you with the pastiches and re-imaginings of recent years, such as Willie Meikle’s new Carnacki adventures, Josh Reynolds’ Charles St. Cyprian and greydog’s own Tales of the Last Edwardian? Or do you avoid these things to keep on track with your own vision?
mike: I know of their existence for sure, but I tend to avoid it. Not that I don’t want to read them (I do) but I have a very particular route and story and idea of who the Carnacki I’m making is. And I am doing my best not to be influenced by other people’s interpretations of the character.
I did read CARNACKI: The New Adventures, from Ulthar Press. Mainly for the fact that I designed the cover and wanted to tie in visuals from the story. And it was a good book, I remember the play in there was particularly enjoyable for me (and I don’t enjoy reading play scripts).
greydog: Your illustrations are stunning, it has to be said, and Carnacki has never looked better. It does look as if you’re also doing all the scripting in this case, is that right?
mike: Thank you kindly. I am doing my best with the art, and that is partly why it‘s taking so long for me. It’s a personal project I’m doing on the side so I work on it when I can, but I have a certain standard of art I want to keep up for the books as a whole.
And yes, I’m doing all the plotting and writing, I have a couple of close friends who have been supporting me from the beginning, two of which are writers (one of which is in fact Orrin) who I bounce ideas with and they are also there for editorial purposes. Because I am not a writer by any stretch of the imagination, I have a story and I know how to speak the bits I want, but I want to make sure nothing is overly confusing or sounds funky to a reader besides myself. So they have been a help with that for me.
greydog: You describe the work as “A new story of the character I have loved for many years, as I see him and the world he inhabits in my mind.” Have you found yourself making many changes to the canonical Carnacki as Hodgson described him?
mike: I don’t know if I’ve done (or plan to) do anything that directly contradicts Hodgson’s original stories. His nine stories actually fit in my timeline and I will reference back to them at appropriate times. In fact I’m also working on an illustrated version of Carnacki: The Ghost-Finder which will come out between Volume’s 1 and II of my comic.
I will never fully adapt those stories into full length comics, but this is the next best thing in my mind to make it all feel like that’s still canon. Imagine that mine is a parallel universe Carnacki to Hodgson’s official version, that they both experienced those same 9 cases, and then the before and after I’m filling in.
But mainly, when I say that it’s a new story of the character, it‘s that if there are any Hodgson scholars out there I don’t want to annoy them and pretend that I am trying to write and be like W.H.H. They will immediately be able to tell the difference, both in where I’m taking the character, and in writing style alone, on how mine is different entity entirely. My Carnacki speaks very plainly without much of the older Edwardian style/tone, simply for the fact that when I tried to write that way it sounded forced, Carnacki’s voice is an extension of my own. So he lives in the 1900s but sounds like me, which might be a bit of an anachronism but hopefully it won’t sound to strange in the end. Time will tell.
greydog: Are you a reader of earlier supernatural and horror in general? As we’re running our Edwardian Arcane theme at the moment, who apart from Hodgson appeals to you in period fiction?
mike: Absolutely, that’s my preferred read. As I stated before I’m not a huge fan of modern horror/supernatural, there’s just something about the old stories that felt fresh. You can tell they haven’t watched all the same movies and tv shows that writers these days have and are inspired by (if not subconsciously). Besides Hodgson (who would be my first pick) I like Lovecraft, M.R.James, Algernon Blackwood. And various names I can’t remember but fill the ghost/supernatural/horror story collections I’ve gathered over the years.
greydog: And what about contemporary tastes? Orrin Grey, for one, we presume?
mike: Orrin for sure. I don’t know if it counts but I really enjoy Susanna Clarke. I took a break at this question and perused through my bookshelves trying to find someone else that is modern supernatural/horror that I like and all I could come up with is Mike Mignola. Which even he feels old fashioned in regards to supernatural horror, and the medium is different too, but he’s probably one of the best modern storytellers in the genre. In my opinion.
greydog: We’re obviously excited by the thought of this new illustrated Carnacki. On a practical basis, will these be self-published, coming out from a press, or is all that to be decided yet?
mike: Self-published to begin with. If a press picks it up and wants to produce fancier printings than I can with my budget I’m open to it. But I’m not counting on it. These comics are mainly for myself, so that when I’m on my death bed I can say ‘at least I made that’.
If I find out that someone else enjoys them too, that’s even better (hopefully I learn that before being on my deathbed).
greydog: We’re sure that you will. Many thanks for joining us – we wish you every success, and hope that one day our new Occult Detective Quarterly will be running coverage of Carnacki: Recorder of Things Strange.
mike: Hopefully very soon! I will keep you guys updated on Volume 1 when it’s released.
Out you go!
You can find out more, or contact M S Corley, by following the links below:
Email: corleyms at yahoo.com (replace with @ as usual)
Blog/website: m s corley blog
Carnacki site: thomascarnacki.com
Twitter: @corleyms
And you can have a look at Darkness There via the link below the image:
darkness there: selected takes of edgar allan poe
Run away! Back in a couple of days with more Edwardian Arcane, new books to examine, and next week, the October Frights Blog Hop and doggies as well, we hope…