AMBER LOVE 14-JAN-2014 From the newly formed Red Anvil Comics independent comics publisher, creator DAVE RYAN visits Vodka O’Clock podcast. We worked out splitting the interview up with his Italian artist RACHEL ARAGNO who created the OWLGIRLS and then ROBERT SODARO who scripted. We dig into the world Rachel created with this 1940s noir mystery.

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OWLGIRLS is a fascinating visual that caught Dave’s attention. They really are women that would typically look like you’d expect of a 1940s femme fatale however, they have owl facial features. There’s also some component of supernatural abilities that are not addressed in the first issue. Death, however, is introduced and she’s another magnificently designed crone character. You can listen to Dave’s words as he explained how he discovered Rachel’s gallery of Owlgirls and approached her. Then he set up this collaborative team where everyone helps with the story. The first issue was funded through Kickstarter but the general public can get copies at conventions; otherwise you have to wait until summer when it gets into the direct market.

You might remember Dave Ryan’s name from his large undertaking of WAR OF THE INDEPENDENTS where he took indie characters and gave them epic “big two” style crossover events. Dave became friends with creator JOE MARTINO who you’ve heard on Vodka O’Clock talking about his new series THE MIGHTY TITAN and his past comic SHADOWFLAME.

RACHEL ARAGNO was a trooper to join the show across all the time zones. She talked about the five issues planned and that they plan to have the world open for other volumes. She said she hopes OWLGIRLS is a new way to see comics because they aren’t specific to one genre. She said they could be horror, thriller, or romance but are definitely noir.

ROBERT SODARO comes from comics creating and journalism covering the industry. Like most people, he initially fell in love with superheroes. Bob took the time to thoroughly research the lore and myths of owls which he tried to incorporate into the Owlgirls universe. Primarily, the characteristic identifiable is that these Owlgirls talk to Death. At one point there was a disconnect between the art and the script but when Bob looked back over it, he convinced the team that the art should stay and he’d revise the script because it worked better that way. This is another example of how they worked together as a unified team rather than an assembly line.

LINKS:
Owlgirls on Facebook
Red Anvil Comics
Rachel Aragno on DeviantArt
Robert Sodaro’s blog

SAMPLE OWLGIRLS PAGES:

Founder and Editor-in-Chief of AmberUnmasked.com and Vodka O'Clock Podcast. Author of The Farrah Wethers Mysteries, comic book short stories, prose, and non-fiction. Cosplayer and figure model.