News from the Fallout #1

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In my 25 (or so) years of existing in one form or another on the internet, it's never crossed my mind to properly or officially put words together in the form of a blog. It wasn't until just recently, on the heels of the release of News from the Fallout, did I even consider writing anything down and giving people an insight into what I do as a designer or just as to who I am as a person outside of my design work. 

No in-depth proof-reading or over analyzing what I'm writing. no AI-assisted banter to help me look good (seeing as I'm not a writer - not by a long shot). Just my ramblings about the things I enjoy - my hobbies, my experiences, the positive things going in and around my life.

With that said, the elephant in the room (in my professional life, at least) is easily the release of Image Comics' NEW horror mini-series, written by Chris Condon and illustrated by Jeffrey Alan Love with lettering by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. Just look at those names for a second. QUITE LITERALLY the best of the best in their respective fields today. Not to mention the beautiful artwork provided by Jacob Phillips for the variant cover. I'm surrounded by a sea of talent. The best kind of class you can sign up for. 

Since we've promoted the book and now that the debut issue has been released, there are two questions that have popped up numerous times both in a recent interview as well as a signing I did alongside Chris at our favorite local comic book shop (shout out to Main Street Comics & Toys in Milltown, NJ) and I'd love to answer them both now in written form - though I will happily talk about this stuff in-person too!
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"How did you get involved with News from the Fallout?"
I've known Chris Condon (writer of That Texas Blood, The Enfield Gang Massacre, Ultimate Wolverine, Green Arrow, etc. etc. etc.) for over 30 years. We met in preschool! My personal favorite credit of Chris', and one I'm most proud of, is "best friend". With me being an only child, Chris is quite honestly a brother. Hell, our mom's even became best friends.

Growing up, Chris and I would spend hours coloring, drawing our own comic books, creating characters, dressing up in costumes (yes, including Wolverine), watching a lot of professional wrestling, and living in these fantasy worlds that would unfold in comics, cartoons, and in the wrestling ring.

In 2020, as Chris was hard at work penning the now hit comic series, That Texas Blood (TTB) followed by The Enfield Gang Massacre (TEGM), we were living together in our hometown of Metuchen, NJ (go Bulldogs) with our other good friend and insanely talented musician, Jesse Stier. There were several instances during that time when Chris and Jacob (Phillips) needed a few pieces designed to coincide with those comics, so I happily stepped in to provide back matter material for TTB and two ads that were used for the debut of TEGM (both of which you can find here). While both of those instances were uncredited, they were TECHNICALLY my first official instance of working on a comic.

Since those pieces of work, we've toyed around with the idea of collaborating on something else and that something else came in the form of this awesome story - NEWS FROM THE FALLOUT. Chris told me the story, sent me a script, showed me the incredible artwork that Jeff put together, and asked if I'd want to somehow be involved. There are two people I will blindly say yes to, and one of them is (you guessed it) Chris. Not to mention, I was already a fan of Jeff's without knowing his name - I had recognized his work of course from an issue of TTB where he did cover art, but also from his work on Conan all the way to his artwork for one of my all-time favorite films, The Lighthouse. 

"What is your role in News from the Fallout?"
Many people are familiar with the writer, the artist, the colorist, the letterer, but the designer is a role in comics that I feel isn't widely represented. The reason I say that is because more often than not, these duties will often times default to the publisher and their in-house designer(s). As the designer on News from the Fallout I work closely with Chris (literally, Chris comes over, we catch up and sit at the computer together for hours on end) and Jeff on further building out their world. At face value, I'm just making the back matter material, the credits page, the back cover, placing logos over and around the raw artwork, etc. But what I'm trying to achieve is to help make this comic an experience. Something that from front cover to back cover feels like you're on a ride where the theme never disappears - the aesthetic always consistent. 

Nothing kills the vibe like a Toyota-thon commercial popping up (with the volume seemingly maxed out) in the middle of watching a Hitchock movie on Hulu. The same idea can be applied here. When you pick up that book, you aren't simply reading a comic. You are going back in time to 1962. You'll see this even more in issue 2 - I assure you. No page is left untouched by the creative team on News from the Fallout.

In addition to those assets (which you can view in my portfolio), I also worked with Chris directly in bringing to life the in-universe Department of Defense portal at NEWSFROMTHEFALLOUT.COM in addition to companion phone numbers that you can find both IN the comic as well as on the website.

We urge you all to visit the website, submit your incident reports, highlight elements, click around, find audio snippets, find hidden video files, get passwords to uncover HIDDEN areas of the site, read NEW material written by Chris that is only available online which further builds out the NFTF story....I can go on.

Perhaps in a future blog post I'll go into the specifics of what we did for this viral campaign. 

All in all, this has been a dream job. Working alongside the best of the best on a story I truly believe in. As Jeff has said in multiple interviews during the promotion of this comic, the best part about this is simply having fun. This is a book that Chris and Jeff have CAREFULLY constructed and its only the first issue. It only gets more insane from here and we are so happy to have you all be a part of the journey into madness as we explore Atomic Alley and the fine folks at Old Joe's.

Cheers
Tivey

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