All over this post are some panels from the upcoming Nola comic.
Before we get started, which Back Ground do you like better here: A or B?
Okay. The whole series is about two sisters: Dana & Nola, and a dozen other Trout-a-verse characters, will be nick-named 'Venus-De- Mommy'... just as an umbrella term. Because both sisters have such ambivalence towards their mother.
Nola and Dana are pretty common names to Google. This's always the trouble with bands who have ordinary names like Yes, The Police, or Postal Service. When you google them, odds are you'll have to hunt to find the band version of them, right?
Thus... Venus De-Mommy. A wonderfully totally stupid goofy-assed name.
This was born out of me divided myself into two sisters.
Outwardly, Nola seems more defiant and rebellious against her mother,
and Dana seems more regressive and accommodating to Mom.
But as the series unfold, they actually reveal very different underbellies from those facades. As a little girl, Nola was a child prodigy, and was assaulted by an over-active mind.
Her brain creates these imaginary mind-maps, with key words bookmarking pivotal or dramatic events in her life.
I went a little crazy on this one... but Nola's mind goes a little nuts too. Again were back to 'zero-girl-esk shapes' again, aren't we?
dunno what it is with me and those little suckers.
... it's weird how things are created. Nola is really a hinge or Gateway character to Mr. Gone. I edited Nola out of the Maxx series once i decided to cancel Maxx and start a new series of stories instead.
Nola and Gone are really the two 'failed magicians' in two different universes. Gone's in the Maxx-a-verse, or Nola, the Trout-a-verse.
Gone is a self-described as a 'failed Master of the Mystic arts', thus a Dr. Strange wannabe. He's almost a parody of Dr. Strange in a way. A Satire of all those dark ominous characters. Mr. Spock, Marvel's The Vision, Adam Warlock, all those dark brooding Jim Starlin-esk Characters from the 70s.
That's Mr. Gone.
Nola however, is like Gone's dark little sis. Kinda like Neil's Morpheus is towards Death. Sorta. Only, as usual, my characters are all neurotic and messed up.
Nola doesn't know mystic arts, but instead she becomes to be a 'Slacker Sorceress'. Her story is less about etherial magic powers, and more about her screwed up personal life and dysfunctional relationship with her mom. Real life crap is the focus.
I tried to show this in 'Origin of Mr. Gone' Maxx issue, where we get a glimpse of his real life, to counter balance all the surreal stuff.
The few magical powers Nola *does* have, ( as her mother never fails to remind her) she blows off. . . or never cultivates . . and this just reflected in her coasting through everything else in life too.
Damages. Flawed. But there's something ELSE her causal tough girl act.
Totally aside from Nola, notice how i can't seem to make up my mind how to draw Dana? Would you believe the panel above is right next to a cartoony picture of Dana, she doesn't even look like the same girl, does she?
Had to make fun of it by adding the stupid little blurp next to both Dana heads. Might be cool if it pisses someone off, " if he sometimes can draw normal, why does he gotta screw it up with those cartoony faces too????" lol
Sorry for the detour there.
Anyhooooo, you don't have to read Maxx in order to like, or understand, Nola, or visa versa. They really have only a thin strand connecting them. And that's only because they were connected in MY mind, many years ago.
Before I Cut The Cord and freed Nola into her own Non-Maxx like universe.
Here's one last clue. Way back in Maxx 26, Gone hears a mysterious voice trying to speak to him from another dimension:
You've probably read this before in Maxx.. but what i edited out was this secret:
It was Nola who spoke the mystery phrase that caused him to black out, several times too.
Sshhh. don't tell a soul.
it's even a secret to Artie.
Thanks,
Sam
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Ps: Still talking to Oni about how to release all these chapters of Nola. Should be finished sometime late next year. Should we release it as single issues? Or maybe just one big-ass graphic novel? Thoughts?
Pss: Apologies for the last three spam post in the comments, that stuff pops up from time to time.
