Ness, A Comic with Monsters
NESS is a four-part, full color comic miniseries set in Scotland, on the world-famous shores of Loch Ness. It has monsters, action, adventure, scares, creepy bad guys, a good dose of Lovecraftian cosmic horror, and a lot of twisted Scottish mythology.
It’s now on KICKSTARTER, right here:, where you can read the first 7 pages! Having made his name in indie comics on the Lovecraft tinged cosmic horror Wart – The cosmic horror Chris Welsh has launched a new kickstarter campaign for NESS – A Monster Comic. I was fortunate to grab a few words with Chris about his latest venture.
Joseph: You seem enamored with monstrous concepts – from the monstroushorrors befalling the delightful Wart to the surgical Tyrannosaur of Doc Dino – and now Ness! where did your interest in such creatures begin? Rubber suit Godzilla a personal fave?
: I have a mild obsession with big deep sea monsters, giant squid and the like. I’ve lost many afternoons reading about sightings of strange things lurking in the ocean… couple that with my childhood interest in dinosaurs, and you start to see where Giant Weird Monsters come into my life. I’ve just always been a fan of things that seemed too big to be real. Godzilla is a big favourite, but honestly I’ll watch/read anything with a giant monster in it. It probably comes from seeing Jurassic Park at age 8 and then immediately reading the book, which was probably not good for a 8 year old. Scared me shitless, but it clearly set something off inside me. I also find cryptozoology fascinating, the idea that there are weird things living on earth that we just can’t pin down is a good one. I’d like to go for a pint with Bigfoot and Nessie, they seem like cool beings.
Joseph: Following on from Wart and the collaboration on Doc Dino with Tom Ward – you are again ‘smashing it’ in terms of your kickstarter campaign – what to you attribute your continued success with the crowdfunding platform? a slavish attention to detail, banging out epic stories, or is it simple animal magnetism?
I wanted to give the UK its very own giant monster (Japan has Godzilla, America has Cloverfield and, er, sometimes Godzilla…) because giant monsters are endlessly fascinating to me. Where better to set the story than the home of everyone’s favourite cryptozoological creature, the Loch Ness Monster?
Loch Ness is one of the most inspiring places I’ve ever been. It’s an excellent location and I’m excited to set a story there. Real-world buildings and areas will show up in the story, though some bits have been invented/adapted.
This Kickstarter is to fund the first issue (which is 22 pages of story + pin up gallery and extras). If it goes well, we’re all prepped and ready to start on Issue #2.
WHO’S INVOLVED?
Chris Welsh – Chris is a comic/screenplay writer who co-created WART, DOC DINO and is now responsible for NESS. No one has produced any of his screenplays. YET. He lives in Liverpool, England with his beloved laptop and too many books. He drinks rum. @C_W_Writes
Robert Carey – Rob is an illustrator from Dublin, Ireland and has worked on a variety of projects, including comics published in Lightning Strike anthology, North Bend, The Life and Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and Afterworld. @Mansloth
Dee Cunniffe – Dee has worked for nearly every publisher as a flatter/colour assistant to some of the world’s top colour artists. Recent credits include The Wicked + The Divine and ODY-C.@Deezoid
Robin Jones – Rob Jones is a British comic writer, part of the publishing misfits Madius Comics,and letterer. He is always the nominee, never the winner, and the proud owner of both of his kneecaps. You can find him on Facebook at his lettering page RobJonesLetters, or harrass him on Twitter at: @RobJonesWrites
There is also pin ups from Gavin Mitchell (The Trolltooth Wars) Iain Laurie (And Then Emily Was Gone, Quilt), Dean Beattie (Random Trials), Rachael Smith (The Rabbit), and Ammar Al-Chalabi (Wart).
