BLACK HAMMER: MADAME DRAGONFLY COMMENTARY PART 1

Hi there, I’m Lucy, a Comic Writer / Artist from London. I’m absolutely thrilled to be a guest on Jeff’s Substack to tell you a bit more about my Black Hammer comic that got posted yesterday. Something I’m still processing as happening if I’m completely honest! But, before we get onto that, grab yourself a cuppa (or beverage of your choice) and allow me to say a wee bit more…

I started out in comics in 2017 having left my previous career of 2D animation & life drawing tuition to have a kid. This pause gave me the perfect chance to look at what I was doing, decide I needed to change things up and finally take the jump into comics. I had an idea brewing for a while based on a mental health crisis I had in my 20’s and thought it was the right time to create it. I got cracking on the idea, producing 2 chapters of a proposed graphic novel and through some very serendipitous happenings BARKING was picked up by Unbound, a crowdfunding publisher.

I had to raise a lot of money for the graphic novel (£13K!) so I got social on Twitter, IG etc and started promoting images from my comic. I’m not sure what did it but one of my early followers on Twitter was Jeff. I’m a massive fan of his work, Essex County is an all time fav, so I was very flattered indeed. However, I nearly fell off my chair when Jeff also pledged towards the crowdfund for BARKING. I cheekily messaged Jeff to say a huge thanks and mentioned I was very much enjoying Black Hammer. Next thing I knew I was invited to draw a Madame Dragonfly pin-up for Age of Doom #4.

BARKING was launched during the pandemic and once again Jeff was a great help in providing the cover quote. I was also commissioned again to draw my favourite duplicitous witch, this time for the Black Hammer Encyclopaedia alongside a wealth of talent.

Now, you may have picked up on a theme here which is that Jeff is an extremely supportive creator and all round decent human. This is all true. Having opportunities to bring my somewhat distinctive art to a mainstream audience was a big help in gaining a wider audience and more opportunities. I’d place myself as an indie comic creator. I self-publish zines and alongside BARKING have collaborated with a number of indie writers on Kickstarter comics including IND-XED with Fraser Campbell. Since my BH Pin-ups I’ve drawn a comic for Razorblades with Dan Watters and recently drew a Lady In White pin-up for Department of Truth’s Wild Fictions series. I’ve been a lucky artist indeed but I’ve not had many chances to write more comics… Until now.

Back in Fall last year, I was in the middle of a mentoring session when I had to ask my mentee Emma if she knew who Jeff was as I had an urgent email from him. She did and agreed absolutely that I should reply straight away and soon Jeff and I were chatting about creating a comic for his Substack. At first the idea was that I draw a Black Hammer story and I was absolutely thrilled, especially as it was my favourite character and then in a later email Jeff asked if I’d like to write it too.

Of course I would and of course I was utterly terrified, but totally up for it.

I was given a completely open brief, asked to send in an outline and create something I’d enjoy drawing. I’d been developing my next project SHELTER for a while and was building a world of folklore, difficult women and a splash of horror set in early 70’s London. It had been a lot of fun to develop (the 1st short EARLY DOORS will be out later this year) so when I started creating this Black Hammer story it felt like a perfect chance to bring my favourite character into the SHELTER universe and see how they’d… survive. It was such an honour to create this tale so please get comfy and have a read, I do hope you enjoy it!

Find me on Twitter & Instagram: @LucySullivanUK

Buy my comics including the last copies of BARKING only on my website:

https://lucysullivanuk.com/buy-comics

To support the making of SHELTER: Early Doors join my locals on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/lucysullivan