Henry Goeldner pops by the Yeti Cave to discuss the work that has gone into Volume 2 of The Star Tide Shores, now available for pre-launch notification through Kickstarter!
COMIC BOOK YETI: Henry, thanks for sharing The Star Tide Shores with our team. Welcome to the Yeti Cave! How’s the new year treating you thus far?
HENRY GOELDNER: Kinda want to leave this blank, because like most people, I’m a mix of not great and hoping things don’t get worse.
CBY: I understand the sentiment, for sure. I’d also like to thank you for sharing both volumes for reference before sitting down for this interview. You mentioned the two stories are unrelated, and it is unnecessary to pick up the first volume to enjoy the second - can you explain the premise of each, in short, and the ways in which they are thematically and narratively linked?
HG: Cheers. In essence we’re aiming for a pulp sensibility, but we don’t want to be repetitive. The first story is essentially a ‘protect the kid’ plot. A young prince is slated for assassination by his elder brother, and Elise has to figure out a way to keep the kid alive. The second story is a bit more direct. Elise is brought in on a heist against a powerful corporation, then it all goes wrong. Both plots end up with Elise relying on her wits to persevere. If there’s a thematic or narrative link between the two, it's in the way Elise is not the centre of the universe. She gets caught up in things much bigger than herself and is lucky to walk away from them. The other thematic link is the idea of ‘winning’. Sometimes escaping with your life is the only win you get. This isn’t Star Wars, where the Rebel Alliance overthrows the evil empire to the celebration of the galaxy. We’re a bit more grounded than that.
CBY: There's a bit more fatalism at a galactic scale on display with these stories. Regarding continuity between the two volumes, you’ve written both, and you’ve worked with Livio Baggio, who illustrates under the name Illuminated. Can you tell us a bit about how the two of you met and what your collaborative process together entails?
HG: I’m the primary writer, but Livio is a true collaborator and co-creator. We think up the plots together, and he makes changes to the script throughout in the same way I’ll offer suggestions for changes in the art (I draw a little, though not well). We were vaguely aware of each other for a few years, but properly met on Discord where we started to collaborate.
CBY: Your protagonist, Elise Faulkner, is a human cyborg gun-for-hire in an expansive galactic setting. She’s also got an ornate pistol that reminded me of Gene Starwind’s Caster gun from the 90’s anime, Outlaw Star, and a overpowered robotic left arm giving her an edge on the average person (or alien, it would seem) in a brawl. What were the various inspirations that factored into your conceptualization of this world and the characters populating them?
HG: We don’t think of Elise as a cyborg. She has a robotic arm but that’s the extent of her augmentations. Otherwise she’s a fragile flesh and blood human. I initially designed Elise a few years ago on a whim. When Livio and I were talking about making something, a sci-fi book appealed to us both and I showed him proto-Elise as a design for the MC. He liked it, refined it, and we figured it out from there. For the world we talked about what we like and don’t like about current sci-fi. We both have a distaste for that Apple iPhone future you see in stuff like Mass Effect, so we wanted to build a throwback sort of thing with a lot of fabrics and a bit of a swashbuckling flare. Because Elise’s design even from conception had a 16th century element to it in the striped sleeves, we decided the start of the Age of Exploration/the beginnings of European colonization as a key influence to build off, which followed on to certain themes in the story around imperialism, colonization, and individualism.
CBY: As far as additional inspirations, both volumes have a whole bunch of distinct alien designs, and given our cryptid-focused coverage here at Comic Book Yeti, let’s take a moment to reflect on the whole range of space creatures you’ve offered your readers. I don’t want to involve spoilers, but can you tell us a bit about how many different species you’ve designed (I’ve counted well over a dozen) and the factions at play in the world of The Star Tide Shores?
HG: Livio designed the vast majority of the alien races, some with a bit more pre-planning than others, so I can’t speak to much on them, but one thing we both agreed on is humans would be the minority of ‘people’ shown in the book. You ever re-watch Star Wars? 90%+ of the cast is human. We didn’t want that. The only alien race I designed was the castle-headed Rooks, which was a conscious idea of designing an ‘alien warrior race’ based on medieval Western Europe, a reverse on the Orientalist takes more common in sci-fi. If I’m being honest, we should throw in more non-humanoid designs in future stories.
CBY: I look forward to seeing what other sorts of aliens make an appearance in future installments. Turning to your writing style, you also pepper your dialogue with references to other parts of the broader universe which the characters all take for granted as understood aspects of their reality. There’s a line of comparison I loved; “My last job took me out into Oodoo space. Dangers working out there. If you’re caught in their belt you’ll like as not end up gasping on the black” or a reference to Astral Neomaximalism as a design style (with one brief example commented upon in judgement). With many similar tendrils of the greater space in which these stories are taking place, how are you keeping your galactic concepts mapped and tracking their role relative to the immediate plot?
HG: Some of it is, ‘this is a place we might go later’ but most of it is just wanting a universe that feels alive. Livio actually put in the line on ‘neomaximalism.’ Like I said, he’s as much co-writer as artist. Fashion trends exist in our world; they’d exist in their world too. But it's a big galaxy with a lot going on. Will we meet the Oodoo one day? I don’t know, but now they exist somewhere among the billion odd stars that make up the galaxy. We do have the big parts of the galaxy thought up; the Astral Empire, the Drujani Empire, a few others, but we fill in the margins as we go.
CBY: Volume 2 introduces a number of characters that lay groundwork for a follow-up edition, and the final page closes with the phrase, “Elise Faulkner will return…” How many stories do you have outlined? Is there a definite ending to this narrative you envision for Elise?
HG: We take each story as they come. We have half an idea for Vol. 3, but nothing written down. Part of the reason the comic is episodic is so neither Livio or I are trapped in telling it, and no one gets jilted out of a conclusion if we crash out. You ever get annoyed by a Kickstarter that only brings out three issues of six? So do we. So if there is more, great. If there isn’t, at least the stories we’ve told are complete. Does Elise have a definitive end? Maybe. But I’ll say there’s a reason it's called ‘The Star Tide Shores’ and not ‘The Adventures of Elise Faulkner.’
CBY: That is a sensible way of providing yourselves with narrative cover to avoid working yourself into a corner. So you released the first volume last year following a successful crowdfunding campaign, and you’ve got another planned for Vol. #2. What led you to choose Kickstarter, as opposed to Zoop or another crowdfunding platform, and what have you learned from the first campaign to improve the forthcoming exercise?
HG: Like it or not Kickstarter is the Coca-Cola of crowdfunding platforms. Since Livio and I don’t have large followings and had never been part of a crowdfunding campaign before, we didn’t want to take a gamble on one of the smaller platforms and miss our target. There’s definitely been lessons learned, and we’re approaching this campaign with more preparation.
CBY: Since you’re an Aussie, and I’ve enjoyed showcasing comic creators from Down Under since moving to Melbourne, I always like to ask; what do you think makes Aussie comics distinct from the rest of the world? In your experience, what has the nation drawn upon from outside media that has informed Aussie comics, and what do you see emerging from within?
HG: If I’m being honest and this is only my opinion, ‘Aussie comics’ don’t really exist as a distinct culture. It’s small and spread out. Brisbane isn’t Sydney isn’t Melbourne, and we only have a couple of publishing houses that can only give a handful of creators a national platform. I don’t think this is unique to Australia. My Irish, Canadian, and New Zealand friends share similar gripes. We all do our best within our budget, but even the con circuit isn’t cheap.
CBY: An element of sunk costs comes into play when creators start trying to move DIY books on the convention circuit, it seems. So The Star Tide Shores is underway - do you have any other titles under development that you’d like to discuss? What do our readers have to look forward to from your future endeavours?
HG: Other than a potential vol 3, which is up to Livio’s interest and schedule (as well as how well this crowdfunding campaign goes), nothing immediate in the world of comics. Most of my employment as a writer has been in video games, and that’s all pretty hush-hush. Livio actually has a few things coming soon. He’ll be appearing in an anthology book to be crowdfunded on (I think) Backerkit, and other stuff he told me not to talk about but are very exciting opportunities for him.
CBY: We'll look forward to hearing more about forthcoming work when it's ready to announce. To close, we always invite our guests to share some creative work unrelated to their own comics. What have you been enjoying lately from amongst the other comics, films, music, literature, and art out there?
HG: In comics, Daniel Warren Johnson always gets me going to the comic shop. Robert Eggers just brought out Nosferatu and season two of Severance finally dropped. Books; I’d like to say I’m reading something artsy and highbrow off the Booker prize shortlist, but the truth is I’m rereading Tad William’s old Memory, Sorrow and Thorn fantasy trilogy.
CBY: Henry, thanks for stopping by the Yeti Cave today! Please share any portfolio, publication, and social media links you’d like our audience to check out.
HG: You can find me here: https://bsky.app/profile/henrygoeldner.bsky.social. You can find Livio here: https://bsky.app/profile/illuminatedcomics.bsky.social, as well as a collection of his comics here: https://illuminatedcomics.github.io
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