COMIC BOOK YETI: Sean, thanks for stopping by to chat about Guns of Brixton! While I’m enjoying the start of spring here in your homeland, how’s everything going up in London?
SEAN GOLDING: I definitely envy you there! I’ve lived in London for seven years now and this is always the hardest time of year, when everything starts getting colder, wetter and darker…
CBY: At least you'll get a cozy Christmas out of the northern hemisphere! So to introduce Guns of Brixton, can you tell us a bit about when, where, and how the idea for this story arose? You’ve mentioned it’s a whole graphic novel in the making, with two issues completed and available to the public. How many issues did you have planned for this run, and how far along are you in the overall production process?
SG: The initial idea for Guns of Brixton came about over seven years ago now, not long after I first moved to London, and I can actually pinpoint the exact moment as well. It started with the band name, ‘Rachael & the Heads of State’, which was a combination of a good friend's name (Rachael Head) and the name of Lister’s band in the comedy/sci-fi classic Red Dwarf, which was Smeg & the Heads. Don’t ask me how my mind decided to put those together, but that was the genesis of the whole book - everything else - from the fact that they would be a punk band, to the plot devices that push the narrative along - they all spawned from there!
As you said, the first two issues are available now and we’re working on the art for issue #3 as we speak. Volume One is going to be five issues (which I’m condensing down from the six that I initially drafted), and then we’ll see where we go from there. I have story arcs for a further four volumes after that, but them coming out will depend on if/how successful Guns of Brixton ends up being.
CBY: It's funny how massive worlds can build out of a simple turn of phrase sometimes. On that note, Guns of Brixton is a reference to a song of the same name written by Paul Simonon on The Clash’s legendary album, London Calling. With the main characters in the aforementioned band, Rachael & The Heads of State, with a couple songs portrayed in there, can you share a bit about your relationship with punk, how you decided on the title, and your approach to depicting musical performances in comics?
SG: I’m not old enough to have been around for The Clash’s heyday, but punk rock (and music more generally) has been important to me - going to live concerts in particular, but also enjoying quite a wide range of music. I definitely have different tastes for different settings. The title of Guns of Brixton (along with the cover of issue #1) is a reference to The Clash as you say - I was living in Brixton when I first started writing this, so for both reasons it seemed a natural place for the band to be based. There are actually a lot of other rock music references throughout Guns of Brixton that eagle-eyed readers might be able to spot - I’ve certainly been having a lot of fun placing them.
While the band playing on stage isn’t necessarily crucial to the overall plot, I wanted to use the on-stage scenes in issue #1 to help introduce Rachael & the Heads of State, both from a character point of view - where their song lyrics and entrance routine show the reader a bit about their politics and personality - as well as literally in using the traditional, ‘introducing the band on-stage’ to give their names to the readers in a natural way.
CBY: Yeah, I caught a reference to The Smiths, among others, and the Easter eggs should be fun for readers. Before we dig in deeper, can you tell our readers a bit about how you pulled in Renzo Podesta on art and Jahch on letters for this title? How much had you written before enlisting the two of them? Given Renzo’s dynamic and expressive approach, how active a role has he played in shaping the characters’ style and personality?
SG: I had drafted six issues of Volume One prior to the team coming on board, but it’s come on leaps and bounds since I started working with them. I was initially looking for a more realistic/Marvel style of art but looking back I can’t believe how wrong I was about that. Renzo has brought such a frenetic energy to the art that really helps to speed up the pace of the book and drive the narrative forward, and that has definitely influenced my rewrites having that in mind. The bright colours are an intentional decision as well, as a throwback to the bright vibrant art and imagery of the punk scene of the 70s and 80s.
Jahch brought something I never expected to the work as well - a Spanish translation! Working with them on that has been incredible to watch. In issue #1, when the band are performing on stage, I was able to have a go at writing some of their lyrics. The way that Jahch has translated this, the Spanish version of the song keeps the exact same meaning while still also maintaining the same beat & rhyme. If anyone is thinking of getting their comics translated, I couldn’t recommend Jahch highly enough!
CBY: It can be incredibly beneficial to have collaborators bringing their own flavor to projects and broaden the appeal. Without spoiling too much, Guns of Brixton takes the opportunity to synthesize a world of punk music and zombie outbreak. It immediately brought to my mind an indie book called Johnnie Zombie from Midgard Comics, about a band called the Atomic Zombies. It was created in part by Keith Cousineau, who ran a comic shop/punk venue in Columbus, Ohio where I attended/performed some of my first shows. I think they made about seven issues, but I only ever had the first. I’ve talked with some other creators about the intersection of the punk and comic Do-It-Yourself ethos - what intersection do you see in the subcultures, and since you’re doing it yourself, what examples have paved the way for your approach to comics?
SG: Wow - I haven’t seen a LiveJournal site like that in a long time! I’d love to be able to read Johnnie Zombie, although I imagine that it’s probably quite hard to come by now.
I hadn’t actually considered that before, but I think there’s definitely something in that comparison there. I was reading a book called Season of the Witch earlier this year which is a history of punk & goth music, and some of the stories about how bands like Joy Division, The Bad Seeds, and Sex Pistols were founded. They were essentially just kids working it out as they went along, not just musically but their style, fashion and art as well - Sex Pistols were essentially formed out of the back of Vivienne Westwood & Malcolm McLaren’s clothes store!
I obviously wouldn’t ever think to put myself on the same level, but there’s definitely been a lot of working it out as I’ve gone in creating Guns of Brixton as well. I’ve been writing on and off since I was a kid, and for a long time it was something of a pipe dream that I never had time for, but I’d never actually written any comics prior to this one. The first draft looked nothing like what I ended up releasing, and through this along with other comics I’ve been writing over the last seven years as well, I’ve learned so much about pacing and storytelling, as well as collaborating with the artists to help elevate the finished product.
CBY: If I can track down some digital copies of Johnnie Zombie, I'll let you know! I don’t want to give anything further away, but the action ramps up pretty quickly in issue #1 and doesn’t slow down in issue #2. What sort of roll-out can readers expect as you unveil the machinations of the plot device, and are there any characters in particular you’re looking forward to giving space to develop further, providing them with their own time to shine?
SG: Issue #1, at least from the perspective of Rachael & the Heads of State at any rate, essentially takes place in one location. In issue #2 their world expands a little further, as they start to uncover what is behind the events that are taking place, and the reader gets taken along for the ride. That expansion is set to continue into issue #3 and beyond as the scope of the series grows - don’t be surprised to see a few famous London landmarks make an appearance in issue #3!
Obviously. it’s fun as a writer to be bringing in new characters and creating ever more crazy situations, but it’s important that it feels natural for the reader and that anything new helps to move the plot along, rather than being thrown in halfway for the writer's enjoyment! Readers of the first two issues will have seen hints and teases along the way about an organisation called The Underground. All that setup will be paying off in issue #3, and I’m looking forward to being able to explore that part of the world that we’re building here.
CBY: We talked a bit about punk influences and the confluence of DIY in punk and comics, but let’s talk a bit more about your comic influences - how did you come to the medium? What did you grow up reading, and what made you decide to jump into the scene with Guns of Brixton?
SG: My earliest comic memory is of reading some Phantom comics, I remember getting a couple of issues of that from somewhere and devouring those. Batman definitely featured heavily as well, both comics but also the animated series that we’d hire from our local video store. More broadly though I was a big fantasy & sci-fi kid in general - whether that was comics, novels, films or games, that was how I was spending my time (and pocket money). The fantasy and sci-fi side of me hasn’t gone anywhere, but these days I’m generally far more into indie comics than the mainstream ones, or at least on the Image/Boom/Dark Horse side of things than Marvel/DC.
I’ve dabbled in writing a range of different mediums, but for Guns of Brixton comics felt like the natural place to properly tell the story I wanted to tell with it. I wanted it to be a fast-paced story, with hooks that keep the reader interested throughout, and the visuals & setting are a big part of that. If it wasn’t a comic it would be a film script (and if anyone wants to talk about turning it into one, then I’m all ears!).
CBY: Ah yes - the disproportionately large Australian Phantom fandom is a phenomenon I have come to know well in this hemisphere! As mentioned, you’ve gone the route of self-publishing, but have opted instead of the crowdfunding/pre-order & perks model to circulate through GlobalComix, Comix.one, and Shift. I’ve never used the latter two sites, so can you share a bit about how you linked up with them, and why you chose a different model for your release of Guns of Brixton?
SG: The simple answer as to why I’ve self-published over crowdfunded is because I didn’t know any better! Like I’m sure many naive first-time creators have done, I assumed that I’d be able to create some sample pages, put a pitch-pack together for the big indie publishers, and wait to get that email telling me they’d love to release it. Obviously it rarely works like that though, so in the end I decided to take the plunge and put something out there!
There are undoubtedly benefits to Kickstarter, and I’ll likely go that route for future projects, but I like to think I’ve learned so much more about the industry going this way than I might’ve done otherwise. Platforms like Comix.one and Shift have been great, and the teams at both of those genuinely want the industry and independent creators to thrive - Saurabh who founded Comix.one took it upon himself to host a YouTube Live with me on the launch day for issue #1 when nobody had ever heard of me! I wrote a piece on Substack recently about this, about what I’d learned over my first two months as a published writer, and how sites like these have so much to offer independent creators, compared with the likes of Amazon.
Added to that is the goodwill of platforms like your own, and podcasts that have had me on as well such as Graphic Novel Apostle, it’s genuinely such a supportive industry for new creators to dive into and try to find and grow their audience.
CBY: I read that Substack piece in prep for this interview, and it was very enlightening. Since relocating to Australia, I’ve had the opportunity to meet a lot of the country’s finest comic creators, and I always like to ask; what makes Australian comics unique? You’ve relocated to London, so I’m interested in your perspective; in what ways is the medium treated differently in the UK, and how does it reflect broader differences across the two cultures?
SG: I joked about the grim London weather earlier, but it goes without saying that London & the UK is clearly one of the cultural capitals of the Western world. That probably doesn’t extend to comics quite as much as say TV or general literature - comics does still seem like a very much US-dominated industry - but there are definitely still advantages to being in the UK.
One thing I have noticed is that the scene in the UK is definitely spread out regionally - one of the biggest independent conventions, for instance, happens in the North, and there are others throughout the country in places like Winchester, Bristol, and Oxford.
That said, like everywhere there are still your friendly local comic stores, such as Gosh! in Central London that is currently stocking Guns of Brixton.
CBY: A solid plug for a local shop is always appreciated. While Guns of Brixton is underway, do you have other projects you’re working on, both within comics or any other medium? What other stories do you have to tell, or other collaborators you’d like to work with in the future?
SG: I mentioned earlier that Guns of Brixton has been about seven years in the making, but that was definitely on-and-off while I explored other projects as well. A little bit like a crow collecting shiny objects, I definitely get easily distracted by new ideas that I want to explore.
From a comics point-of-view, there are a couple of projects that I’ve been working on. The first one is a YA series which is a vampire/murder mystery I’ve recently pitched out to a few publishers as well. The other series that I’ve started conceptualizing is a little bit higher concept, a mix between The Matrix and a traditional superhero story with a lot of references to classical and renaissance literature and mythology. Hopefully these see the light of day some time soon.
Outside of that, I’d love to publish prose fiction as well. Over the last ten years there’s been a couple of projects that I’ve started but never really got past the 20-30,000 word mark, and I’m currently working on a horror novella that I really want to see through - it’s just about finding the time alongside full time work!
CBY: I understand - my creative writing and comics conversations usually get relegated a bit, too. As always, we offer our guests an opportunity to talk about whatever they’re enjoying beyond the comics they’ve come here to discuss. What other comics, films, art, literature, music, etc. have been catching your attention lately? What should our readers check out after Guns of Brixton?
SG: If you’re interested in music-based comics, then the Kickstarter for Box of Tapes should be right up your street! Billed as a rock opera & graphic novel, the team have recorded a full 16 track album to go alongside the comic book. I worked with Luis Santamarina (one of the artists involved in Box of Tapes) on my YA vampire pitch, and I can’t wait to see this one come to life! I’m also finally reading Department of Truth, which has been on my list for a long time but hadn’t gotten around to.
I try to read quite broadly outside of comics as well. I'm currently getting into the Halloween spirit by reading Mariana Enriquez’ short story collection The Dangers of Smoking in Bed, and prior to that I read a biography of the Roman Empress Messalina by Honor Cargill-Martin.
CBY: Sean, thanks for sharing your perspective with us today. For our readers at home, if you have any publication, portfolio, and social media links you’d like to share, now is the time!
SG: I’m not half as active as I could be on social media! Instagram is the one I use the most and where you’ll find release updates, teasers and behind the scenes material. I’m also trying to write more often on Substack, as well as on Threads.
You can also follow Renzo Podesta here, and Jahch here!
Thanks for having me here, and hope you all enjoy Guns of Brixton!
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