What if Calvin & Hobbes grew up in Sin City? That’s the intriguing premise 
behind Spencer & Locke, a new four-issue crime thriller written by Comics Experience alum David Pepose. Illustrated by Jorge Santiago, Jr, with colors by Jasen Smith and lettering by Colin Bell, Spencer & Locke #1 is available now through Action Lab Entertainment’s Danger Zone imprint.
Spencer & Locke started off as a dare Pepose made to himself: “Could we take a beloved children’s property, mash it up with a wildly different genre, and find new and interesting storytelling angles from that?”
But about two-and-a-half years passed from conception to published comic, he added, as Pepose and Santiago worked to put together a pitch, shop it around and find a home with Action Lab. During that time, Pepose said, he was able to apply the knowledge he gained through the Comics Experience courses and workshop.
“I learned tons of lessons at Comics Experience, but the most important simply was that it could be done,” Pepose said. “And that’s what I want anybody reading this to know — you can make comics. You can write them, you can draw them, whatever you want — you just have to have the desire to work, to learn, to try new things, to just do the work. It’s not magic, it’s a skill — and any skill can be learned if you just put the time and energy into it.
“It’s the short stories I wrote for my Intro to Comics class that were exactly what helped me build my confidence to write a single issue, to then write a four-issue arc, to maybe even write an ongoing series someday. Even my classes in Intro to Coloring or Intro to Comics Editing were crucial in teaching me how to work with my creative team and speak with them in their own artistic languages. Comics can be a tough industry to break into, and it can be challenging to find your own group of peers, and it’s the kind of feedback and mentorship I’ve gotten at Comics Experience that is absolutely the reason Spencer & Locke exists today.”
The twisted nostalgia of Spencer & Locke #1 is available now in comic shops and on digital devices!
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Posted by Paul Allor