A sequel to 'Isolated Fears,' 'Hearts Like Ours' gives us a deep look at how much Maxine struggles to express her emotions and calls into question the limit of Juliette's patience.
This new one-shot is a sequel to 'Isolated Fears' and is the second part of a planned trilogy I've called 'Feigned Toughness.' This series's third and final installation will come after the following few chapters of FireStarter are complete, so it will be some time before we deep dive into Maxine's psyche again.
Until then, part two of Feigned Toughness is now available to read!
Why Do You Think We Met?
Maxine is a troubled woman. She is always working as a police officer to further her goals of eradicating crime and corruption within the city. However, anyone who really knows Maxine understands that any ideals Maxine has about 'Justice and the Greater Good' are simply a front for her true goal.
Revenge.
The loss of her mother, Veronica, left Maxine with scars on her eye and heart. Scars she can't mask despite her feigned toughness. Maxine builds walls to cope with the pain and dons an abrasive personality, hoping to keep others out. No friends to slow her down, no lovers to distract her.
Only Juliette Sandover blocks her total isolation.
Juliette feels there is more to Maxine underneath her fiery persona, that what Maxine says isn't what Maxine thinks. All Maxine needs to do is admit that she is capable of loving and that maybe she can open herself up to being loved.
But Maxine does not make it easy. It's hard to tell if Juliette is correct, that underneath Maxine's thorns lies a beautiful heart - or if Maxine's mask has become her self.
Hearts Like Ours is a snapshot of the complex and tumultuous relationship between Maxine and Juliette. It details Maxine's troubles with expressing her feelings, what she wants, and how to deal with someone who won't let her slip into loneliness. For Juliette, it's a love story. A deep connection with someone you know enjoys your company, who can change... but who might need to be pushed into uncomfortable situations to achieve that. Can Maxine handle it? Can Juliette stay hopeful that there is something profound between them?
Nostalgia Goggles
Hearts Like Ours is a passion project that allowed me to unshackle my creativity and go wild. Of course, all projects I make are passion projects, but none have granted me such a degree of freedom and a sense of 'why not try this.' In addition to the creative unshackling, the story also challenged me to my core and made me touch on every creative skill I have! It was a blast making it because it helped me to loosen those creative restraints that I had either out of fear of failure or fear that it wouldn't mesh with the rest of the project. I've always wanted to challenge the comic medium, and while I don't think I did anything groundbreaking, I believe that Hearts Like Ours is, at the very least, a showcase of my skills and an artistic risk.
From the conception of this comic, I wanted it to channel nostalgia and reflect the period where the story takes place. The early 2000s were a period I grew up and had a strange connection with, not because I miss the days when kids could hang around malls and snap Polaroids - but because I never really experienced any of that. Most of my childhood consisted of living in that world but never feeling part of it. I would see nostalgia bait all over the internet and recall sidekick phones and TV shows of the time. The issue is that I never had a phone and didn't watch those shows. Nonetheless, I still feel connected to it, and that idealized version lives on in my mind, almost as if I am reliving a childhood that wasn't as isolated or mundane as mine. Accuracy isn't the most important thing here, and some things might not directly come from this 2000s era. Some design trends might be of other periods - of the internet's version of '2000s nostalgia', but I think that overall, it captures that feeling of wanting to belong - of an outsider looking in - because that's what it is!
The Process
I wanted to make this comic in a completely different manner than my others. Essentially, I wanted it to be true to the era by obtaining some film cameras and camcorders, getting footage for the backgrounds, and then physically or digitally adding the characters into the footage. I ran into a problem with the camcorders. Converting tape footage to digital formats is a real pain. After a month-long struggle to get the equipment I needed to work at a reasonable price, I unfortunately had to give up on the initial idea and try a different angle.
I decided to use photos of the era and do my best to mimic the feeling of different media of the early 2000s and to make it seem almost like a scrapbook, a recollection of memories. Cellphones, old Windows OS formats, printed photos, and polaroids all came together in a mishmash of different parts that I remember from that era. I used Photoshop, took pictures of natural objects, matched lighting from the background to my characters, and eventually took the plunge and used a controversial new tool in AI.
Isn't that cheating?
AI was a big part of making the comic, and I had doubts about whether or not I wanted to use it since it diluted the feeling of my work. Also, people tend to have very negative views of artists that use AI. I held off on it for a while; as you can see, I made the first page without it - but unfortunately, the idea of making my characters feel like they are jumping from medium to medium in the real world wasn't working when I was the one drawing backgrounds. It just felt like I was drawing comics in my everyday workflow again.
I decided to use AI for most backgrounds because:
1. I want to embrace and understand the power of AI and how I can use it in my art and design going forward.
2. I like the uncanny, empty, and weird feeling that AI settings give off. Almost like a detached dreamlike reality, which fits in exactly with what I wanted.
I've never bought into the fear of AI regarding art; I've always been fascinated by its abilities and limitations. After this project, I feel confident in my ability to use it. I plan to use it as a tool rather than something to draw my background.
The intention was to make the story feel like it's Maxine's recollection of the events at Silverwood Mall. Maxine's memories are fuzzy, so she only remembers the explicit interactions with Juliette, their words, and the general feeling and ambiance of the places they were in. Details like what albums were for sale in the music store... she would not be able to remember that exactly. The details of what exact skylight pattern was present or the clothes on the racks of Enchantessa are blurry, so the AI-generated backgrounds are meant to capture that.
What's Next?
In regards to the Feigned Toughness series, there will be one more installation that will conclude this Juliette-Maxine saga. While Isolated Fears and Hearts Like Ours occur before the first chapter of FireStarter, this third Feigned Toughness chapter will take place after the events of FireStarter #7, the final FS chapter. We won't have a significant update on this series until then.
Next in my sights is Firestarter Chapter 4, titled Burns. I've started the groundwork for it, laying out panels and sketching in a few, but 95% of the work is still left to do. It would be ambitious to say I could get it in before the end of the year, but never say never!
Also, keep a lookout on my Instagram for the rest of the month and into the following one! I will post some images I've finished but never posted, mainly themed around summer since it's about time to end. October will bring a new collection of black-and-white images for Inktober! I'm excited to work in black and white again and add small lore snippets with them!
Finally, the website will get a significant overhaul quite soon. I am redoing the gallery and updating the old framework this one is built on. Unfortunately, it is too much of a headache to update the old code for this website, and I can't implement many ideas with this current version. That one should be done by the end of the year, before the release of Burns!
I hope you enjoy the chapter - I love telling these shorter personal stories! This was initially planned to be about seven pages long, but that's the beauty of the creative process, isn't it?
Until next time!