Whenever I start a new project I want to do something I’ve never done before. When I originally ended the Oracle for Hire years I wanted my next project to be different, so I tried collaborating with another creator. The result was the successful seven year run of Star Power. When that concluded I knew I wanted to return to this comic, but I didn’t want to make Oracle for Hire 2. The result was making a comic completely without dialogue, arguably my greatest strength as a comics creator, and I believe Snout’s journey was successful in that. And now that Snout’s journey is over, it’s time for me to do something else I’ve never done: an anthology format.
But that’s not the only new thing I want to do around here. I want to make these new stories appropriate for an all-ages audience.
Perhaps that’s cheating the definition a bit, as I have done all-ages work before. Star Power was specifically written so anyone could read it and I believe we succeeded in that, even with the heavy subject matter of The Lonely War. But what I’ve never done is make Dominic Deegan stories appropriate for all-ages… between the splattery gore and mature subjects of the Oracle for Hire years to the frequent casual nudity and (one scene of) explicit sexual intercourse in The Legacy, I’m not entirely comfortable letting my eight year old read those works.
With this new format, I want to change that. For the first time I want the Dominic Deegan series to be accessible to young readers, too… if for no other reason than I want to show these new comics to my son.
Maybe this will work, and maybe it won’t. Maybe mature subjects are intrinsically tied into the Dominic Deegan series, whether they’re rooted in violence or sex. (Casual nudity doesn’t count as sexual content to me but not everyone’s comfort levels are the same regarding it.) What matters to me is that I’m trying something I’ve never done before, and whatever its outcome I will learn from it and grow as an artist.
I encourage you to do the same, in art or in life.