Deep beneath the Rocky Mountains, a team of writers and artists are hard at work in their secret lair producing a line of comics, graphic novels and audio books.
Even though the entertainment company was founded in the U.K. by freelance director Alexander Finbow, Scottish comic writer Alan Grant, whose titles include 2000 AD, Batman and Judge Dredd, and Doug Bradley, who starred as Pinhead in Clive Barker’s Hellraiser films, this Canmore lair, accessible only through an abandoned mine shaft, is home to a number of unique projects that increasingly features Canadian creative talent to tell Canadian stories.
While Grant and Bradley are still in the U.K., Finbow and his family brought Renegade Arts to Canmore 18 months ago, making it a truly international affair with a strong Canadian component.
Renegade Arts had its genesis after Finbow, Grant and Bradley spent a couple of hours complaining about the movie industry and how tired they were with having their passions and plans derailed by financiers and producers.
“Whenever we do a project we (are) at the mercy of the gods whether or not that happens,” Finbow said.
From complaining, they moved on to discussing the projects they would love to do if unhindered by outside influences.
“We started Renegade to allow us to do projects that we wanted to do together that we were passionate and excited about and so we had control over our destiny. We don’t have the same clout as the big guys, but we can nurse projects along and know they will get started and they will get finished,” Finbow said.
They began producing Doug Bradley’s Spine Chillers: Classic Horror Audio Books, featuring stories written by the likes of Edgar Allan Poe, Rudyard Kipling and H.P. Lovecraft read by Bradley and other horror icons, such as Robert Englund, perhaps better known as Freddy Krueger of A Nightmare on Elm Street.
They also stepped into comics and graphic novels, such as 24 Hours in London: Shades of Grey, Channel Evil and the all-Canadian titles Arctic Comics and the in-progress 1812: A Family At War.
Before he brought Renegade Arts to Canmore, Finbow was already looking for a new home, eyeing Spain first and then Los Angeles, Vancouver, Calgary and finally Canmore, where his parents had already chosen to live.
“I wanted to find somewhere else to live while our kids were still young enough to make that transition. We wanted to live somewhere that had a bit of adventure,” Finbow said.
Being based in Canmore and Canada, Finbow said the company has committed to do as much as possible with Canadian companies, printing their high-quality comic books at Manitoba-based Friesens and hiring Canadian all-stars of the likes of colourist and writer Lovern Kinzierski of Winnipeg (named by the Comic Buyer’s Guide as one of comics’ most influential colourists of all time) and George Freeman, the primary artist for the Canadian superhero Captain Canuck, both of who are involved in the ambitious 1812: A Family At War.
One of Finbow’s goal is to use titles such as 1812 and Arctic Comics (translated into Spanish, French, English and Inuktitut) to get comics into the hands of those who may be less inclined to read as a means to promote literacy. 1812 has also been adapted into a screenplay by local writer Tab Murphy, a novel and a play for schools, and Finbow said he plans to workshop the play version with Bow Valley students.
“One of the things I’ve really wanted to do is to find new ways to use to comic-based media to interact with kids, to bring them into our medium and give comics a go, especially kids who get put off by big blocks of text,” he said.
“Research points to kids that read comics are going to read millions of words they wouldn’t otherwise read.”
With that in mind, he’s now working with Canmore and Exshaw students to understand visual storytelling and how to produce comics from beginning to end.
He’s even brought artists such as Ireland’s William Simpson, who draws Batman for DC Comics, with him to teach Grade 4 students at Elizabeth Rummel School how to draw the Dark Knight.
Promoting literacy is also why Renegade is hoping to get 1812 – a key story in Canada’s history – into the hands of every Grade 7 student across Canada during the war’s centennial.
Renegade Arts is approaching the war with historical accuracy, but telling it through the eyes of a fictional family on the Canadian side of the conflict.
The horror side of the company was a way to jump into the pond and open the doors. Now, Finbow said, they can tell the unique stories they have chosen to tell, and remarkably, some of these stories even have happy endings.
“I want a story where I want to turn over every page to read what happens next. I want you to give me suspense. I want great characters I’m going to fall in love with and that I’m going to hate. I want an emotional journey where you’re going to make me cry, you’re going to surprise me and in the end, you’re going to leave with a really satisfying ending. And if it is a happy ending and I don’t feel cheated to get that happy ending, I feel even better. I am really big on happy endings,” he said.
Comics have come a long way in terms of respectability. Often deemed the domain of children and pimple-faced teens, comics are slowly moving away from the stereotypes and towards a greater acceptance.
“It’s a shame that a lot of people see comics as so negative. People down on comics need to realize that, just like a movie or a novel, there’s everything within it. Comics are just a medium. They’re telling a story and you just have to find the stories you want,” Finbow said.
Renegade Arts products are available at Café Books and at www.renegadeartsentertainment.com
