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WEBCOMICS OF THE WEEK: 7/14/2008 | | Demons, Angels, and the lingerie of the Devil invade Webcomic of the Week! | | | By Steve Sunu | | Posted 7/14/2008 | |  | | Demonology 101
By Faith Erin Hicks
Updates: Completed
High school is difficult under the best of circumstances. Passing history or getting a date to the fall formal can make or break your adolescent educational experience. Everyone knows what it's like to be an outcast in high school! But what if you had to deal with all of the regular problems, and were a demon?
Demonology 101 follows the story of a young demon girl named Raven, her friends Malcolm and Mackenzie and her family through a trail of murder, deceit, otherworldly magic and the joys and disappointments of being a teenager. In the background, Raven's life follows the eternal struggle between the altruistic Network and the seemingly evil Jenner family.
As one of the few completed webcomics out there, you get the incredibly satisfying feeling of completion when you peruse the archives. The writing is solid from start to finish and the art is excellent and only continues to improve as the storyline progresses. Demonology 101 is about demons, angels, high school, immortals, spies, betrayal and sacrifice. At it's core, though, it's really just a story about growing up.
Although Demonology 101 has been completed since 2003, we were able to contact creator Faith Erin Hicks to find out what it was like doing the comic, the inspirations behind Raven, the Jenners, Network and what she's been doing since.
WIZARD: What was the inspiration for Demonology 101?
FAITH ERIN HICKS: In the beginning it was directly inspired by "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." I mean, here's the set-up: teen with otherworldly powers/connections attends high school where she makes friends and battles evil. Very "Buffy!" However, after doing the first episode of Demonology 101 I got past the "Buffy" thing and really made the story a giant exploration of the whole nature versus nurture argument (whether evil is born or made), and hooked that into a family soap opera. I think the comic transcended the set up quickly, which is a relief.
What drove you to publish using the webcomic format?
HICKS: Because it was there. And free. And I had no intention of ever making people pay for my work. The funny thing about the arts industry (including things like comics and animation) is that it's usually populated by people who've wanted to draw (and make a living drawing) since they were kids. I am not one of those people. I started drawing very late in life (in university) and only because I had stories to tell and didn't want to use prose to tell them.
Originally I wanted to be a writer, and never thought I'd end up on the art side of things. But after spending five years with Demonology 101, I fell in love with doing comics, and now want to make it my life's work. Which sounds terribly cheesy, I know, but... well, there you have it.
Who was your favorite character to write?
HICKS: I like writing the villains. There's nothing like a good villain speech, something really unpleasant to make the heroes squirm. That makes me sound terribly dark! Honestly, in real life I'm a complete pacifist and I hate conflict, but when it comes to fiction, I love writing genuinely nasty characters. So, characters like Isaac and Lethe. Bad 'uns.
What other projects have you been working on since Demonology 101 ended?
HICKS: I've been working on a webcomic called Ice for the past few years. It's definitely a passion project, but it's so hard to find time to work on it now because I'm so busy with real world stuff (job, friends, graphic novels).
My first graphic novel was published by SLG Publishing last year. It's called Zombies Calling and is about a trio of university students using their knowledge of zombie movie cliches to survive a zombie attack. I'm working on my second graphic novel for SLG right now. It's called The War at Ellsmere and is about a scholarship student who wins the chance to attend a prestigious boarding school, and the mystery, friendships and danger she experiences during the school year. It has a really nasty villain who happens to be a 13 year old girl, so I'm having a lot of fun writing it. It'll be out in December.
Who is Demonology 101's target audience?
HICKS: Everyone! Actually, I've always been impressed at the broadness of Demonology 101's audience. I have a big variety of characters in the comic, strong female characters and strong male characters, older characters as well as teenagers, and I've gotten feedback from all sorts of people. I don't like to limit myself and say 'I'm going to write for THIS kind of person,' although at this point in my life I'm big on character driven adventure stories, usually with female leads.
What would you say, if anything, in retrospect about Demonology 101?
HICKS: It's how I learned to draw! Pretty much all my artist's skills now I owe to doing 700 pages of that comic. And I'm kind of in awe of that. I don't know how I did it, but I did, and I learned so much. I'm tremendously grateful I had the chance to do the comic, and to have such great readers who supported me throughout it. I'd like to return to it someday, because I am very fond of the characters. That's the dream.
For those just getting started reading webcomics, what's the best advice you can give to them?
HICKS: Don't get discouraged by all the crappy comics out there. The internet is huge and I'm sure that if you keep looking, you'll find one that you absolutely love.
Check out Demonology 101 here and check back next week for more free online entertainment! | | | | | | | | |
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