Welcome to the table,
Trigger Warning: turbulent childhood
My parents were given feedback by my teachers near the beginning of my 6th-grade year. The teachers in one particular class told my parents that I was very smart and very advanced, but that I was too much of a dreamer. They said I had an imagination that would cause me to talk and distract me on assignments.
I was given an assignment to write something about a dog or a kid or something, and rather than write a few sentences, I turned in a massive tome, calling out the world the entities inhabited, and the lifetime of adventures they went on, alongside a brightly colored supporting cast.
My parents took this information as deeply troubling news and I got in a ton of trouble. Between my parents’ lockdown on creativity that did not serve them, and the judgment and mocking from the teachers and other students, I stopped speaking as much. I just closed off those parts of myself more and more. My internal headspace became the place I tried to go whenever I could.
I would hide in books and worlds inside my mind, sinking into solitude. While I was being cut on for surgery, bent like a pretzel in physical therapy, or subjected to the trials that were sat in front of me as a kid, I would push forward, building out worlds in my mind while my body underwent whatever was happening. The worlds would eventually get so vast I had to start writing them down in notebooks. These exercises kept me from emotionally breaking or getting too sad and allowed me to stay creative even if I was not sharing much of it with anyone.
These internal escapes led me to a career as a game designer, a writer, and as a storyteller. They were my shield, and now are my sword as I cut my own path in the world free of those who built barriers before.
Something Epic #1 feels like I am looking at a fractured mirror of my childhood, crafted by a beautiful and emotionally heavy mind.
Created, written, and illustrated by Szymon Kurdrański, Image Comics’ Something Epic is all that its title claims, and more. This first issue promises to be an emotionally heavy series, to say the least.
The story follows the life of Danny Dillon, a fourteen-year-old kid in a single-parent home who is struggling with school and seeing things no one else can see. Danny is keenly aware that there is a world of endless fantasy entities, from pixel people to cartoon characters, to the vampire that lives in his basement that only Danny can see.
These entities are aware of Danny and make commentary on his actions and deeds but, in an effort to not let on he knows they are there, Danny pretends to not see them or interact with them in any way.
The art has a unique depth to it that by all logic should not work but it does in a very charming way. The book is rendered in a beautifully realistic way that only enhances the variety of ways the imaginary entities are showcased in the book.
Something Epic #1 is out now from Image Comics. If you are a fan of strange stories and emotionally laced adventures, this is a comic you are not going to want to miss.
Until next time, stay true to yourself because someday it will get better.
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