Last week Vault Comics announced End After End, their first series of 2022! The team behind this new 10-issue series looks really fantastic! They’ve worked on some of our favorite comics, with Resonant’s DB Andry and The Plot’s Tim Daniel on writing, Money Shot’s Kurt Michael Russell on colors, The Autumnal’s Jim Campbell on letters, and Vault newcomer Sunando C. doing illustration! We got a chance to chat with David Andry about Vault’s first isekai, which we’re super hyped about! As usual, our first question was about food.
What is your favorite pandemic snack or comfort food?
Well, considering I’ve eaten it 3 times in the last 4 days I’m going to have to say fried chicken. Actually, if you count nuggets and strips, it’s pretty much every day this last week. Needless to say, since the pandemic started my clothes have gotten tighter and tighter.
What do you want to tell us about End After End?
First of all, I want to tell you to read it! But really, if you liked Resonant or The Plot, Tim and I are bringing the same character focus and heart to this book. Sunando is bringing a grit and realness to fantasy that I don’t think we’ve ever seen before in comics. This is fantasy, but from ground level, not way up in the clouds. Kurt will bring his expected magic and Jim’s letters will elevate the whole thing. This is the first of many projects Tim and I are working on together and I think we’ve elevated each other’s work and I’m really excited for people to check End After End out!
Is this a series I can give to friends who may have never read a comic?
Absolutely! Sometimes fantasy can be daunting for a new reader, with tons of back story and rules of magic. Not here! You can think of this as a war comic, just happens to be set in a fantasy world. The main character, Walt, is thrown into this world, knowing nothing about it, so the reader gets to learn about the world as Walt learns. There is tons of action to keep readers interested and some really engaging characters.
It sounds like there are strong themes of finding the thing you’re meant to do in End After End. Do you have advice for people trying to find their purpose?
It’s never too late. That’s something that I have to keep reminding myself as someone who is coming into writing professionally later in life. It’s never too late. If you start today, you’ll be further along than you were yesterday.
You’re collaborating with Tim Daniel on the writing of End After End. How did this collaboration come about? How is the process of writing this as a team different from how you wrote Resonant?
First of all, Tim is the best, let’s just get that out of the way. We’ve been friends for over 10 years, he’s been supportive of my writing career from the beginning. He’s read my scripts, helped design covers for my self published comics and always been there with advice. He definitely helped get Resonant in front of Adrian Wassel so I could pitch it. Last year, Tim just messaged me and said let’s do something together. We scheduled a phone call and after about 5 hours we had the bones of End After End laid out. It was amazing! We just flowed together, riffing off each other’s ideas like we’d been working together forever. We naturally fell into a rhythm of writing together and we really hit the ground running and haven’t slowed down since then. It’s such a better experience than writing solo, 2 brains are better than one and all that. It’s really been an easy experience and we are way more productive than each of us would be by ourselves.
Tell us about the visual team on this! What can we expect from artist Sunando C, Colorist Kurt Michael Russell, and Letterer Jim Campbell?
You can expect excellence! Sunando and Kurt have already been collaborating on character design and color schemes. Sunando is bringing such an unique quality to this story, imbuing it with his own cultural touchstones. He’s really a true partner in the creation of the End After End. Tim and I have even gone back and rewritten parts based on the designs and look of the characters he’s created. With Kurt and Jim on the team, I promise this book will be visually stunning.
You included your dog Busy as Fern in Resonant, resulting in one of the best comic covers of the year! Will we also see Busy in End After End?
I’m pretty sure I can convince Sun to sneak her in a panel or two. But be on the lookout for Sun’s cats…
The second volume of Resonant is out in November, what is it like to see your first comic series from Vault completed and on your bookshelf? Was there anything that surprised you about the process of going from an idea into books?
It was pretty awesome, to be honest. It’s been a dream since I was twelve years old and to see it come true was mind blowing and surreal. It’s surprising how much work and how much stuff goes on behind the scenes for a book to get onto the shelves. The Vault team deserves so much credit…and probably long vacations.
You’ve earned the reputation as the comic book industry’s physical therapist. Your Twitter threads on healthy habits for artists and people sitting at desks all day have been really popular and helpful! How did those come about?
I kept seeing post after post from artists complaining about hand pain, neck pain, shoulder pain. And I work exclusively with people who get hurt at work. So many times, working with people with repetitive strain injuries, a small change can make a big difference. I figured, if I can’t work with each of these artists individually, I’ll just give the general information I typically give to all my patients. It was very popular! My first ‘viral’ post! Some day, I’ll get a booth at a con that is just PT advice and I’ll be the most crowded booth at the show.
What’s next for you? How long is End After End intended to be? Will you ever return to the world of Resonant? Do you have any other projects in the works?
End After End will be 10 issues, many of them more than the standard 22 pages so we are giving the reader plenty of bang for the buck. Next will probably be another project (or 2) with Tim. I do have a solo project that has been in the works before Tim and I started working together, so you may see that toward the end of next year. I would love to do more in the world of Resonant, nothing on the books right now, but I’ll always have my chirpers handy.
To get your hands on End After End, talk to your local comic store before December 20th!