Earlier this year, The Blackshear Times Staff Writer Greg O’Driscoll debuted the first issue of his new creator-owned comic book Adventures Into Darkness, and at Pierce Public Library’s 3 Rivers Con, held September 19, he will help others learn how to write their own comic book adventures.
By day, O’Driscoll prepares articles and photographs for publication in The Blackshear Times. By night, he turns his talents towards creating hordes of costumed superheroes and evil villains.
“I’ve always loved comics and have been creating my own characters since I was a little kid,” O’Driscoll said. “Once upon a time, I even wanted to draw them, but as you get older, you get a little more realistic. I set aside the dream, put my head down and worked regular jobs. Writing and drawing was something I did for fun, but it wasn’t how I made my living.”
After years in retail, O’Driscoll returned to school for a degree in business, professional and technical writing. Soon after that, he began work at The Times.
“I thought, well, I’ve accomplished this much. I’m writing for a living,” said O’Driscoll. “Maybe it’s time to see if I can make those other dreams happen.”
Working with long-time friend and fellow comics fan James Hanson, O’Driscoll wrote and scripted the first issue of a new comic, while Hanson drew the pages.
“I do some drawing myself, but I’ve known James for over 20 years and his stuff is in a whole other league,” O’Driscoll said. “We help each other out here and there—I offer ideas on character design, he suggests things he likes to draw that I could work into the story—but we mostly stay in our own lanes. He trusts me to write it, I trust him to make it look awesome.”
After working on smaller projects and several false starts on comics that were begun but never fully completed, O’Driscoll and his collaborator got serious last year.
“We’re both getting older and have full time jobs and families, so spare time is in short supply,” said O’Driscoll. “But we didn’t want to be haunted by might-have-beens. We wanted to produce something that had everything we love about comics packed into one issue.”
And what do O’Driscoll and Hanson love about comics? To judge by the first issue of Adventures Into Darkness, monsters, robots, undead wizards, lost islands, forbidden jungles, death traps, beast men and evil princesses must be on the list.
The heroes are Dr. Dinosaur, Doc Dino for short, and Tigress. On a mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist from the evil L’mur Kathulos, a sorcerer from the sunken continent of Lemuria, the two heroes battle a host of threats before an explosive finish.
Inspired by classic heroes such as Doc Savage and Flash Gordon, the two creators sought to update pulpstyle adventures for a more modern audience, which meant increasing the role of female characters from sidekicks to heroes and villains in their own right.
It also meant leaving behind outdated racial stereotypes. The primary villain of the story is an undead menace with a skull for a face rather than a “yellow peril” caricature like Ming the Merciless or Fu-Manchu.
The comic was successfully funded through the Kickstarter website last October and printed soon after. Previously available only to its backers on Kickstarter and customers of Third Eye Comics in Maryland, Adventures Into Darkness made its South Georgia debut at the OHC’s first book festival in February.
“I was really honored to be asked to set up with the other local authors at the festival,” said O’Driscoll. “And now I get to talk comics with people at the library. Libraries, books and comics were my salvation as a kid, so anything I can do to help promote literacy, I’m there.”
At the OHC festival, O’Driscoll presented a special seminar on how to write for comics. His updated tutorial at the Pierce Public Library’s September 19 convention will be a more detailed and in-depth presentation, dealing with character creation, panel arrangement, writing for trade paperbacks and more.
As more comics featuring further adventures of Doc Dino and Tigress, O’Driscoll says there are plans afoot. He hopes to convince area comic shops in Valdosta, Savannah and Jacksonville to carry his creation on their shelves. In the meantime, he and Hanson are already working on the next adventure and a few other things.
“I’m working on a new project for a character called the Headsman,” said O’Driscoll. “It is a post-apocalyptic story and this time I’m going to take the next big jump and try drawing it myself!”
To purchase a copy of Adventures Into Darkness or for more information, email [email protected]. For more information about 3 Rivers Con, please contact the Pierce Public Library at 912-449-7040.
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