CEMETERY KIDS DON'T DIE
On the second chances afforded by second lives.
Good morning from the chilly shores of Prince Edward Island. Today we’re doing something a little different and dedicating a whole newsletter to my new creator-owned comic CEMETERY KIDS DON’T DIE.
Today is the last day to pre-order a copy with your local comic shop. So please, if you haven’t already, let your shop know you’d like one!
CKDD is about four friends who play video games in their sleep. But it’s really about a brother and sister and their inability to connect after surviving trauma. Which is something that is deeply related to my teen years.
I’m listening to the soundtrack to World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade while writing this which is really sending me into nostalgia overdrive. The soundtrack immediately takes me back to countless weekends lost to a second world. Somewhere where I didn’t have to be myself. The music evokes a lot of the memories that went into writing the series. I would listen to it almost exclusively while writing the book, because somewhere within the music lies the emotional heart of CKDD.
The Second Chances of Second Lives
Some video games require such an intense investment, that they can change who you are. World Of Warcraft definitely did that for me. The game was released when I was fifteen. At the time, I was a typical teenager - emotionally stunted, angry at the world and terrified of the future. But World of Warcraft gave me so much in the way of experiences, interpersonal skills, and self confidence that none of that matters. I couldn’t put it down. I was so addicted that it actually scared me. At the time, the second life I created in WoW was far better than reality. Sound familiar?
WoW is also the first place I can remember being “friends'' with my little brother. By the time we were both teens, and for reasons that are too long to get into here, our relationship was strained. Namely, our Father had a stroke when I was in the second grade. So life at home was complicated. We grew up without the things that other kids had. Our family just moved through life at a different pace. We had one computer that we’d share. Gaming time was sacred, allotted into 1-hour-chunks, and fiercely protected. Many fists fights broke out whenever somebody went over their time.
Things changed in 2007 when I bought my first computer. Suddenly the computer wasn’t contested ground. We could both play whatever we wanted for as long as we wanted. But we were both addicted to WoW and didn’t have time for anything else. Then came the release of Word of Warcraft: Burning Crusade. We were both so excited that my younger brother and I decided to roll Blood Elves together. I was Wingleaf the Warlock and he was Picklesoup the Hunter. But in reality, we still couldn’t stand each other’s company.
In the game, we were Sin'dorei brothers fighting our way through Eversong Woods on a quest to earn ourselves a place among The Horde. Immediately, we started to share hours of conversation. We’d play all weekend, sessioning quests and leveling our characters in complementary ways. We’d always be focused on what part of the game to tackle next. Before long, we learned how to work together as a team and accomplish goals. It was glorious.
Maybe it seems silly but the ability to embody different characters allowed us to set aside our petty sibling bullshit and just be friends. WoW is such an immersive experience that it demands a lot of you. You have to invest real time and focus to reach the end game. So eventually that combined effort started to bleed into the real world. Before long, my younger brother and I were doing very normal things that friends do - like going to grab some food, catching a movie, or hanging out with friends.
Up until World of Warcraft came along - those things were a struggle. The kindness and teamwork we shared in the game had left its mark on us. It changed our relationship in a way that still lingers over 15 years later. Before this experience, I was dismissive about online gaming. I didn’t think it “counted” as spending time with people. I certainly didn’t see it as a viable alternative to hanging out with people in “real life”. Then I got hopelessly addicted to it. My “real life” stopped mattering.
WoW gave me a second chance with my little brother - removed from all the baggage that made friendship complicated when we were growing up. It was also a highly addictive space that really acted as a viable alternative to reality. We’d rather hang out there because the truth was - that second reality was just more fun. Those formative experiences with my younger brother and that sense of dissonance between the two realities is Cemetery Kids Don’t Die was born. I wanted to write about the alluring nature of secondary realities. The spaces just outside our grim real world where we can be anyone and do anything.
Cemetery Kids Don’t Die follows siblings Birdie and Pik Cutter. They live in a shitty future and are both addicted to the most immersive horror game ever made, Nightmare Cemetery. It’s a massive-multiplayer survival horror/fantasy game that you play in your dreams. They must work together to survive the hellish world of the game. In the process they must face complex puzzles, blood-thirsty monsters, and how little they actually know about one another.
Their estrangement lies at the heart of Cemetery Kids Don’t Die… along with a sinister secret about how the game actually works. If Pik and Birdie are going to survive the experience they must find a way to bridge the gap between these two distinct realities and find common ground. Sounds easy, right?
Well not when the game does everything it can to keep you playing…
The Details
It’s an over-the-top Cronenbergian Saturday-morning cartoon with strong Nightmare on Elm Street: Dream Warriors vibes. Lots of kinetic action balanced with the shitty realities of being a teenager. It was written last summer after long play sessions of Diablo IV with friends. And it’s really a big tribute to the world my younger brother occupies every single day.
For those of you who don’t know he’s Bawkbasoup on Twitch. He’s mostly a Resident Evil speedrunner - check him out.
I can’t say enough good stuff about Daniel’s work on the book. His action scenes are kinetic and breathless. His storytelling is stacked with dense paneling that never overwhelms and his character work is so emotive and compelling that you’ll really feel for these characters. Brittany’s colours really elevate his pages with wonderfully moody and cold palettes for the world of Nightmare Cemetery juxtaposed against brighter, more local colours in reality.
The quotes from early readers…
Finally, if you don’t take my world for it. Check out what some others have had to say about the first issue.
“CEMETERY KIDS DON'T DIE is a blast. Touted as EXISTENZ meets A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, it delivers on that promise. Dream fantasy bleeds into twisted reality for a dark, disturbing ride that's terrifyingly fun.” - Chris Condon (That Texas Blood, The Enfield Gang Massacre).
“Dangerous hallucinatory states in the service of commercial entertainment, the blurring lines between dream and reality, the kids who can't turn away however much they know they must. Great stuff.” - Jed Mackay (Avengers, Dr. Strange).
“Cemetery Kids Don’t Die might be my new favorite comic? Major Dream Warriors vibes and as someone who mainly connects with friends through games, it really rattled me at my core.” - Joey Esposito (Batman: Urban Legends).
Bye for now
Okay, that’s it for this week.
Get out there and pre-order CKDD!
Looking forward to this one!
Excited to pick up #1 physically and read more as it comes out!