This comic's been rattling around, in one form or another, since 2001. It's gone through a lot of changes, several websites, and even the title's morphed a bit. So I thought I'd chat a bit about the comic's history for those who want to know. Cozy like.

At its inception the comic was "flagrantly inspired" by Jhonen Vasquez's Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. I even used to call it "Adie the Homicidal Maniac" out of deference to this fact. You may see the acronym "ATHM" floating around; that's the comic's roots showing! I finally changed the name to "Anthem" in February 2006, as the comic had finally developed its own direction, and I'd finally figured out a title I liked. (in part because it sounds like how my fly honey would pronounce out loud "ATHM", in part because the hymn inflections fit for me)

Still, how did it start? I didn't used to be the kind to touch emulation/inspiration/parody/etc with a 10-foot pole...

It started with a sketch.

I liked JTHM well enough. I figured Nny was a sort of alter ego for Mr. Vasquez. I don't know if this is so, it just strikes me that way. So I doodled something similar; a homicidal alter-ego with all my eccentricities magnified a thousand times, and a few made up ones in to boot. No one saw. Then there were a few quick comic strips, only shown to my friends. People liked these, they were easy and fun, there were more comics, I put them online, and more, and more... next thing I know it's a webcomic. And people still wanted to see more, and it was fun and easy... To quote Nabokov, "it grew in secret the claws and wings of a novel". A graphic novel.

And why not? I had plenty of "original" ideas, but my craft wasn't up to par with what I wanted for them. I could use this quick, expressive style as a practice comic. And if I do it well, I've made something for JTHM fans to enjoy. Something different, but "in the spirit of". And lately, it's moved away from even that. Now I have a story to tell. A slapstick and surreal tale of horror and tragedy.

I've grown comfortable-ish with the idea, especially as the comic has evolved into its own. It is a strange stew of many things I like (fight club, donnie darko, lovecraft...) so much so that maybe it's Something Completely Different. Or at least tasty.

In fact, in some ways this initial discomfort makes it easier for me to produce the comic. In many ways, this is my junk comic. My hideous Frankenstein Monster experiment. It's not really mine, I can't get too fond of the character 'lest she become a Mary Sue, this isn't my oh-so-original-will-define-my-comic-career story. Thus, I can actually let go enough to draw lots of pages, because I don't care if they aren't *perfect*.

Incidentally, the other, somewhat bizarre difficulty I have in writing this is killing people. Despite my love of slasher films, violent stories, martial arts, etc, I have a very hard time writing a protagonist that murders for arbitrary reasons. Strange huh? Still... it's a challenge, and that's good.