Local Halloween enthusiast turns passion into a successful graphic novel series.

By Angelika Brewer

LITERARY NEWS

“Black Lantern” was born of a Halloween-themed drawing challenge Chris Bodily participated in ten years ago. For the entire month of October, he drew Halloween illustrations every single day.

“At the end of the month, I was exhausted, but pretty impressed that I was able to do that many illustrations in a month. I realized that if had been working on a comic book, that would be thirty-one panels. It made a graphic novel project seem doable, which gave me the push I needed,” he says.

He had always dreamed of having a graphic novel published. While he worked on other projects, “Black Lantern” was the first of his projects in which he was able to illustrate his own story, rather than someone else’s. 

Like the first volume of “Black Lantern,” published in October 2019, Book Two was community funded with a Kickstarter campaign that Bodily says exceeded its goal. “I can’t say enough good things about my fans,” he says, expressing gratitude and joy but also amazement at how quickly the project was funded.

Bodily is a Halloween fanatic and the characters in the “Black Lantern” series are a homage to that. There is the tattooed Jack-O-Lantern Edgar with a haunted past, Fiona the novice rockabilly witch, and her talking ghost-loving black cat named Julius. “Black Lantern is basically a love letter to all my favorite horror films—campy, terrifying, or otherwise,” says Bodily. He draws everything in the book, from the initial sketches to the digital color rendering, and even hand-letters all of the dialogue.

Each book is a part of the story, picking up where the last one left off. His dreams for “Black Lantern” don’t stop after Book Four, however. “At this point, I’d love to see the story through and finish Book Three and Four, but a mini-series on a streaming platform wouldn’t hurt either. (Netflix, if you’re reading this, please send me an email),” Bodily says. 

When asked what his advice is for those interested in writing their own graphic novel, Bodily says: “My biggest advice is to know your strengths. Some people are going to be better writers, others will be stronger at illustration. Figure out how to play to your strengths and find people that can help you with the other stuff. Be sure to work with people that are excited about the idea, and want to see it come to fruition. Also, don’t be afraid to start. Your drawing style, your writing, all of it will change over time. So don’t be afraid to dive in just because you feel like you’re not ready. You are. You’ll learn a lot along the way. That’s what I did, and I’m still learning all the time.”

Bodily teaches classes at Weber State University’s Continuing Education program and the Bountiful Davis Art Center. He gives in-depth instruction and information about his drawing process in the classes, which are available to the public. 

Follow Chris Bodily on Instagram @hatrobot where a link to purchase the new book will be available soon.