Sudbury artist finds the right path
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As a kid, Scott Sawyer was awed by Marvel and DC comic books, captivated by Spiderman, Hulk, Captain America, and even Archie Comics and Looney Tunes.
"In all storytelling, whether it be novels, comics, film, it's escapism," said Sawyer, who mentioned The Watchmen as his favourite comic book. "It literally transports you. It puts you in a different place and makes you part of something you're not, but yet you are.
"Somebody called comic books a morality play, and I think they were right because it does grapple with a lot of questions of right and wrong, good and evil, and if it's well written, even the graze in between."
But Sawyer put comic books on the back burner as he pursued what he believed to be more sustainable careers in social service work, and law and justice at Cambrian College and Laurentian University.
"But I was on the wrong path," Sawyer said. "I didn't know it, but I was trying to stay the course, but I obviously didn't know I was on the wrong path at the time. When I was at Cambrian (College), I realized there was a school in the (United) States that I had never heard before, the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art (now the Kubert School)."
That helped spark a flame Sawyer had carried for years.
"I was interested in going (to Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art) but, as it is now, the U.S. dollar was so high, that it would have cost me a small fortune," Sawyer said. "It was a loan my parents were unable to co-sign for and I totally respected that because my parents were hard-working people and it's really a big, big gamble that you'll make a proper living in the arts.
"I realized there were people out there doing this for a living and I was excited at the idea, but I was still staying the course, thinking I was going to be a police officer because I didn't know it was a feasible option to pursue the arts and I didn't really know anyone who had.
"But in my post-secondary schooling, I was feeling the weight of years and years of school that didn't inspire, didn't really interest me, so I guess I was ready to throw that (away) and pursue something I actually cared about."
Now, at the age of 41, Sawyer has put together his own comic book, NORTH, which will be released in December.
NORTH is a Canadian-based story, revolving around a new generation of superheroes. There will be 14 issues for the first volume, with a second volume to be produced later on.
Sawyer has drawn three issues and a kick-starter campaign is raising money for colour work being done by an artist from Germany.
Writing took about two-and-a-half years, with another half year of editing. After editing and writing was completed, Sawyer started on the illustration. The entire project began six-and-a-half years ago.
"I had been doing some concept art as I wrote," Sawyer said, "doing costume design, playing with ideas. It was three-and-a-half-years ago that I started the artwork."
NORTH begins in the 1980s in Canada, with a small group of superheroes. Major Snow -- the Canadian 'Captain America' character -- and his arch nemesis, Lord Reign, get into a battle where both characters are killed.
"Everything fizzles in Canada after that," Sawyer said, describing the plot of NORTH. "It becomes a bit of cautionary tale."
Thirty years later, Casey Van Allen, Major Snow's daughter, learns that Lord Reign is alive and well, living the good life after effectively staging his own death years ago. Determined to follow in her father's footsteps and to bring the man who killed a national treasure to justice, Van Allen suits up and unearths a team of gifted misfits to help her in the mission.
"She's a person of great resource, because she inherited her father's fortune, and she's also a bit of a pain," Sawyer says.
Van Allen and her recruits "bite off more than they can chew and accideaccidentallyntly set off the second age of heroes and villains in Canada."
The characters, in some cases, were born out of illustration.
"It was rare if I drew a character who didn't come with some sort of storyline," Sawyer said. "I would be drawing someone, thinking of who they were, what they could do, what their story was. But it was never for a greater story. It kind of just fizzled because I never sat and write an actual proper story for them."
One of the American characters in the book, Wren, was created while Sawyer attended Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School. So, too, was Mammoth, a character reminiscent to Spiderman rival Rhino, while Adanac was spawn during Sawyer's time in college.
The first copies of the comic book will be released in December.
"We've raised enough money to fund another two issues," Sawyer said. "Not in hard copy, necessarily, but luckily, it's the digital age, so we'll have representation of issues one, two, and three. It by far surpassed our expectations.
"What we've accomplished so far is from incredible generosity from the donors and a lot of people who did their part to push and care enough to give us the support. We wouldn't have a comic book if it wasn't for the people on the campaign."
Twitter: @keith_dempsey