We were recently contacted by the creators of The Dark Divide; an upcoming comic book that’s currently campaigning to get it’s first issue crowdsourced through Kickstarter. The story centers around a man named Damon Vargus, who is banished from his home dimension of Vesparus, to Earth. It is there where he meets a woman named Angela; and the two of them navigate through Damon getting familiar with his new world and new feelings for the human.
I had the good fortune of talking to the creator of The Dark Divide, Keri Cartwright, about her first novel. Check out our interview, as well as pages from the comic, below.
Casey: How did you come up with The Dark Divide?
Keri: In 2013, I don’t know why, but I was thinking about the many ways a love-hate relationship could go in the real world and the outcomes that it could bring. I then slipped into my own little world, normally while rocking back and forth in the dark and listening to Lux Aeterna, and imagined two different races; one representing what the majority of people find to be evil and one representing what the majority of people find to be pure. Combine them, and that’s how The Dark Divide was born.
The idea was locked in my head for the entire year of 2013… Going through every scenario, piecing the characters together and evolving the multiple dimensions even before writing any of it down. I then started jotting the general outline and foundation down on paper in early 2014 and finally started writing it as a standard novel. After getting so in-depth in the tale and being the huge art admirer that I am, I decided that it would make a way better comic than a novel without images. I then turned what I already had written as a novel into comic book scripts and have been working on them ever since. There are now 134 issues scripted out and still going strong. I am currently cooking up two spin-offs in my head for The Dark Divide, which I will start to write once the primary series gets rolling.
Casey: Holy cats! Sounds like you’re at the beginning of a whole Dark Divide universe. That’s amazing! What comics did you read that inspired this story and you to start creating comics in general?
Keri: I have been a comic book fan ever since TMNT in the 80’s, although I just started purchasing and reading comics back in 2010. The comics that inspired me to create The Dark Divide is every single comic (too many of them) that has an “uncommonly good” character as the main. I wanted to see a protagonist that is just as demented as an antagonist and that’s how the main character, Damon Vargus, was born…
Casey: I like the idea of an antagonist where you don’t really know if you fully trust them or not; but you have to. Are you more like Damon, or Angela the love interest?
Keri: Damon Vargus is the protagonist that people “not in his alliance” should fear. His goal is to protect for two reasons only; because he partially caused the war between two alternate dimensions that is about to rip Earth apart and because that war interferes with his desire of being with Angela Davidson. Damon is brusque, lacks empathy, has a taste for raw flesh, is extremely clever, has heightened senses and incredible strength. Even though Damon isn’t a force that I would ever want to piss off, he is also highly loveable and protects those that he sees as “allies” with everything he has. In Damon’s defense, he has many good reasons as to why he behaves the way he does (other than being Vespariun of course), which are all explained as the story flows. Angela Davidson is the secondary-main protagonist that people love, in sometimes more way than one… She supports Damon throughout the tale and because of this, she is an accessory to the war that would destroy humanity as we know it. She is human with normal human abilities. She is also over-trusting, kindhearted and soft-spoken. She’s also afraid of spiders… With all that said, I am not like either of them. I’m more like Kaitlan, another of many Vespariun characters, that is quiet, observes her surroundings and likes the scent of anything sweet.
Casey: Sounds like you’re in the middle of identifying with both characters in some ways. Why did you go the Kickstarter route?
Keri: I decided to try using Kickstarter to fund the project of getting The Dark Divide published because it seemed like the best route to globally plea for support. After putting myself in debt to pay artists to complete the first 8 pages of The Dark Divide #1, I realized that it would take me a little over three years to fully fund the team of artists to complete #1 and self-publish it. And lets face it, 3 years is a loooong time for one issue… I cannot afford the risk of paying for half a book to be drawn out just to have the artists pick up a different project and not be able to finish the other half, thus having to start the pages and process all over again.
Casey: I think it’s a good idea to play it safe and to also get your name out there to a whole slew of people. I think you made the right choice. We gotta switch to the question that’s on every geeks mind: Avengers Age of Ultron or Star Wars Episode VII?
Keri: If I had to pick Avengers: Age of Ultron or Star Wars Episode VII, I would choose Star Wars Episode VII first and then Avengers: Age of Ultron second. Although, I think I would rather turn The Dark Divide into a TV show and watch that instead!
Casey: If we see The Dark Divide on television, I’ll be tuning in every week! Finally, what type of reader who will enjoy The Dark Divide the most?
Keri: If anyone enjoys romance, drama, action, horror, suspense, thriller, comedy, science fiction and/or sexual based themes, they would love The Dark Divide.
Casey: Well from what you have had to say about it, and the pages we’ve seen; I think a lot of people are going to really identify with it.
Thanks a ton to Keri for chatting with us regarding The Dark Divide. The campaign is currently running full steam and it needs YOUR support to get it funded. Make sure you donate by clicking HERE. There’s some fantastic rewards that included signed pages of the artwork, t-shirts, watches and more. Support true independence and check out The Dark Divide!
