April 18th, 2024 was Camosun Comic Arts Festival’s 12th anniversary. It was also the release date of my new 40-page comic: Cult of Lost Souls.
Cult of Lost Souls is thematically about ghost stories and dark folklore. Leaning heavily into BC’s history and legends, the stories are told by a ghostly host named Luciana. The comic is printed entirely in colour.
Inside, Luciana narrates two eight-page stories and shares other dark folklore throughout the rest of the comic. The first tale, “The Ghost of Grouse Mountain,” is based on a haunting described in The Province newspaper in 1903. The second eight-page story, “Jack O’Lantern Jack,” is a dramatic reinterpretation of the Irish folk legend about how Jack O’Lanterns came to be–with Robert Johnson (who reputably sold his soul to the devil) and “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” elements added.
I’ll speak more about Luciana and the Cult of Lost Souls in a separate post!
Several Victoria businesses allowed me to put up CCAF posters during the week or so leading up to Camosun College’s event, including Board with Friends, Victory Barber, and Cavity Curiosity. A huge thank you to each of them for helping us spread the word!
The multi-coloured poster was collectively designed by the class (see if you can spot Luciana), while the other one was entirely my creation.
The In Design comic file needed to be submitted to the printers by April 4th in order to ensure it would be printed in time for CCAF. This might surprise you to learn, but I had been pushing to make this deadline since school started back in September–including during the winter break. Over summer, my comic had taken a back seat to The Haunting sequel (which is nearing completion) and the publishing and promotion of Black Cat.
Of course, I hadn’t known the exact date my file would need to be submitted back then. But last year, I had noticed most of the students submitted and printed incomplete comics (“To Be Continued” or similar) for CCAF. My goal was to publish a finished comic. I was only able to achieve this through strict time management, including a social media fast for over a year.
Once the comic was submitted, I spent much of my time preparing art to sell or creating posters for sale and/or advertising. One of my main projects was postcards I designed that were professionally printed. I also created mini prints on card stock (cut myself) and extra zines. I then gathered items from around my home I could use to make my table more visually appealing. Some of these might look familiar as I’ve used them for book signings.
In the days leading up to the event, I bought a Square card reader and stand and uploaded the app on my phone so I could accept card payments. I found a cheap pump bottle and filled it with hand sanitizer for my table, as well.
I was told my comic was ready for pick up from the campus print shop the day before CCAF. They closed before I could get there at 4 pm! This meant I was only able to get my comics right before CCAF started.
A couple of other logistic challenges arose before the event started, but I’ll spare you the details. Needless to say, I was there when CCAF began and my table was set up a short time afterwards.
I’m happy with how my table looked overall and how Cult of Lost Souls turned out. Some of the back covers had small tears in them made by the printers, but the quality, overall, was what I had hoped it would be.
Legends Comics and CAVITY Curiosity are both selling copies of Cult of Lost Souls. So far, it has only been available in Victoria. I have a few comics left, but not enough to list them online for sale to the general public before I order a second printing in the fall. More about this in the comic post!
A huge thank you to everyone who came to CCAF to support the program and students, for helping to make the event special. As I attended last year, I was happy to see another great turnout for the local indie comic art scene.
I’d love to hear if you are a Camosun Comics and Graphic Novels certificate graduate or prospective student of the program. Did you attend CCAF this year? Have you had a table at CCAF in the past? What were your experiences? People who search for the program would be interested to hear what you have to say.
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