Magic and Crime in the City
This story originally appeared in PW Comics Week on August 8, 2006 Sign up now!
by Kai-Ming Cha, PW Comics Week -- Publishers Weekly, 8/8/2006
Stickman Graphics is a publisher devoted to comics that combine mysticism with the metropolitan. Stickman's 2002 graphic novel Festering Season mixed Haitian spirituality into a New York City backdrop and featured a protagonist that used Vodoun to solve the mystery of her mother's death.
The latest series from Stickman is Stonehaven. Book one of the series, Stonehaven: Milk Cartons & Dog Biscuits, is described as Lord of the Rings meets The Godfather. The second book, Stonehaven: Subterranean Hearts, released last month, continues in that vein.
After the local magic university cancels her scholarship, college student Nheserteri Rieca finds a job working with a team of exterminators who clean up the city's supernatural vermin. When Stonehaven inhabitants begin disappearing on the subway, Rieca and her team find an evil force below ground that is similar to, and visible in, life above ground.
"Stonehaven is a contemporary fantasy," says Kevin Tinsley, a one-man show behind Stickman Graphics; he also authors the Stonehaven books and produced the artwork for Subterranean Hearts. In Stickman titles, "Elves and ogres and humans live side by side by in a modern city," he says. Tinsley says he's interested in what he calls "multi-genre" stories that blend horror with crime and mystery. The goal of Stonehaven is to "juxtapose fantasy elements in a modern-day environment" while asking a philosophical question: "Does man's nature define his actions, or do his actions define his nature? I try to put a certain amount of my own ideas and opinions and philosophical ideals into the books," Tinsley says.
Stickman Graphics started out as an art production studio and began publishing graphic novels in 1999. The company originally specialized in prepress production, working with comics publishers to prepare their materials before they were sent to the printers. At the time, Tinsley was working closely with Marvel Comics, helping them transition from analogue to digital production. From that experience, Tinsley produced Stickman's first book, a production title called Digital Prepress for Comic Books.
Stickman books generally have print runs of about 2000-3,000 and are distributed through Diamond Books. Since Stickman is a small company (Tinsley employs three or four freelancers and an editor) there is a new release every year and a half, on average.
"We're trying to get up to one or two books a year," Tinsley says. "But that might take a couple of years."
To accelerate production, Tinsley has plans for Stonehaven prose novels, "to move the series along storywise," he explains. "And to get more of a market presence." He expects the Stonehaven novels to hit the market in 2008. Tinsley is quick to acknowledge that publishing prose novels will be something of a shortcut for him. "It does take a lot [of work] to produce a graphic novel."
