W.T.M.B.a.w.c.k. EXCERPTS #25-30

Andre Hirsch Todorovich in Qualicum Beach; Photo by Maria Chantelle Tucker

EXCERPT #25:
"This is a playpen for bad men.  I remember not to play too loose where I am likely to be zeroed in on."

EXCERPT #26:
"When I hear how the words flow, I instinctively know if they work. No one on the planet can say otherwise."

EXCERPT #27: 
"The instant chill is encoded in my neural pathways, down ancient branch-ways in my soul, awaiting a trigger."

AFTER RESONANCE with TEAM ASH

Team Ash, 2015; composite photo provided by Vaysha Hirsch

ASH MACZKO is the creator and writer of the SQUARRIORS comic book serial for Devil's Due Entertainment.  He is also the creator and organizer of the pop-culture event known as "Count-I-Con" in Grayslake, Illinois.  Ash lives in the Northwest suburbs of Chicagoland.

ASHLEY WITTER is the illustrator for the comic book serial, SQUARRIORS. Ashley recently worked with Yen Press illustrating and adapting the graphic novel of Anne Rice's INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE: CLAUDIA'S STORY, and THE WOLF GIFT.  Ashley is also an illustrator for the FANTASY FLIGHT card game, NETRUNNER, the comic book series BLOOD THIRSTY: ONE NATION UNDER WATER, and her own original comic book, SCORCH. Ashley graduated from Madison Area Technical College with a degree in Animation and Conceptual Development.  She grew up in Madison, Wisconsin.  

1.  How did the two of you meet ~ event, purpose, or accident ~ and what happened?

ASH:  A random encounter at Nocturna, in downtown Chicago.

ASHLEY:  Yes, the odds of us meeting were incredibly random.  I had just finished work on the Twilight graphic novels, and took a trip down to Chicago on a whim.  When I met Ash, to put it simply, we were kindred spirits.  We were certainly good at combining our efforts to get things done.  Hence, we're now known as Team Ash.

SQUARRIORS by ASH MACZKO & ASHLEY WITTER

Author's Creative Brand:
"Squarriors" issue #1
Genre: Allegorical Dystopian Graphic Novel
Length: 32 pages per issue / 4 parts
Publisher: Devil's Due Entertainment

My 9 Reader Hot-Button Considerations:

1.  World's Immersion:

Read the lit sign on the bar/eatery that opens up page 1 in rural Illinois:  'Good Friends, Good Times,' burnt-out to simply "End Times."  When we walk inside that bar and witness what happens there, the unsettling understanding becomes:  resources are scarce, and the strong shall take them; fast-forwarding a decade later, we are ejected from lingering human out-posts and immersed directly into the weeds.  This world is a sprawling microcosm of conflict on the earthy level, down in the senses, literally, animals scrapping for survival.  This microcosm, to the animal denizens of this world, has its own parameters, delineated from the chaos into an order of warring tribes:  Squirrel-Warrior / 'Tin Kin' Tribe, the Cat 'Amoni,' the 'Maw,' the 'Sursha'...merely introduced, yet to be fully revealed.  We follow the Tin Kin into their compound / shelter, discovering the apt origin of their tribe's handle.  The kinship is housed inside the tin hide of a train-wreck, which clearly jumped the rails, lying in a ruined heap; this is a visual metaphor for the crash of old-world order, swallowed up by the wild...