Gateway City is back with a new instalment, Volume 5: Bad Enough. The pulp-sci-fi series, from Russell Mark Olson, about aliens invading Prohibition-era St. Louis reached its Kickstarter funding target in just twelve hours thanks to the support of a dedicated fanbase.
In the newest volume, which you can still support here if you haven’t already, Lundy and co’s distrust of the shadowy Grey Man reaches a breaking point with Lundy, Sam, Martha, Papers, and Pete making their own calls about how to move forward against Senator Whelan. This comes as Whelan reasserts his grip on the corrupted police force and newspapers, while bringing his deadly alien guests to heel.
It’s been a busy year for Olson, and the challenges of continuing his inventive and involving creator-owned project alongside commissioned work doesn’t come easily. Coming off the heels of Sketches: 2020-2023 and Gateway City Volume 4, 2024 has seen the release of the contemporary crime graphic novella A Phone Call Away (written by Rich Douek, published by Mad Cave) a story in the first issue of the Flash Gordon Quarterly (“Flash Detective Services”, written by Jordan Thomas, published by Mad Cave), and has been dominated by art duties on an unannounced series set for release in Spring of 2025.
When asked what the challenges were of fitting so many projects into a production schedule, Olson said “You can’t argue with a clock–there are only so many hours in a day. I’ve had to pare back the way I make Gateway City. In 2020, I started a Patreon to help support the making of GC and for three years I created a quarterly newspaper which compiled covers, interviews, short stories, film reviews, book reviews, comic strips, and the regular feature of twelve pages of Gateway City.
“It’s been a passion project,” he continues. “My first exposure to comics was in the funnies section of the St. Louis Post Dispatch. I’ve always wanted to make newspaper comics, and the Patreon allowed me to do that. This year has just been too busy and I’ve had to put the Quarterly on hold. It was a frustrating and difficult decision, but I’ve got a family and 43-year-old body to look after.
“That said, the story of Gateway City is important to me and I have a deep conviction to finish the series without pause for myself, the story, and its readers. So while I haven’t been making the Quarterly, I have still been making Gateway City.”
Olson’s process has been to make one page of Gateway City for almost every week of the year. “Making Gateway has always been an inventive process,” he explains. “Volume 5 has been no different. Most pages are made during ‘in-between-time’. I usually get up around 4.30 every morning and put in an hour or so writing, doing layouts, pencilling, inking, or coloring. Sometimes, I’ll do a bit of pencilling or inking on the sofa in the evening. If I have to travel, I’ll usually use the time to pencil or ink a few panels while on the train. I’ve gotten good at inking with the sway of the carriage.
“It’s not unusual for me to assemble a page using some digital pencils, some analog, and sometimes a clear enough layout for me to ‘pencil’ while I’m inking. What I like about this make-do process, is that it gives the pages a sense of urgency. It forces me to make decisions and stick with them.”
Surely this process isn’t sustainable?
“Well, it doesn’t have to be in the long run. I only have two more volumes to produce before the story is wrapped up. I’ve just got to make it for a few more years.”
While the series may have a couple of years left, the Gateway City Volume 5: Bad Enough Kickstarter ends on the 15th October. You can support it here.
• Subscribe to Russell Mark Olson’s Patreon | Official Site | Buy his books
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• A Phone Call Away by Rich Douek and Russell Mark Olson (AmazonUK Affiliate Link)
Fourteen years ago, Emma and Andrew Walker suffered a devastating loss when Mandy, their 6-year-old daughter, was kidnapped. Her unrecognisable body was found one week later. The case and resulting media coverage moved an entire nation to the point that everyone knew who the Walkers were. Everyone felt sympathetic… which indirectly propelled the Walker’s businesses and careers.
Years pass and the Walkers have both rebuilt their lives and prospered. As founders of The Mandy Walker Foundation, they’ve helped thousands of children around the world and have raised their new daughter, Meghan, in front of the world on a show called Second Chances. America is riveted by scenes of them coping with the loss of Mandy, but also finding new hope as Meghan grows. Everything comes crashing down when Meghan disappears soon after her 6th birthday – on the very day Mandy disappeared, 14 years ago.
Emma and Andrew now have just one week to save their little girl from the tragedy that befell her sister…
Flash Gordon Quarterly #1 (Mad Cave, 2024) | Available in print from Forbidden Planet | Digital Edition available from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)
An all-new Quarterly special featuring a multiverse of stories! “The Fall of King Vultan”, written by Dennis Culver, with art by Pasquale Qualano, expands upon Mad Cave Studios’ Flash Gordon ongoing series with a father-and-son tale that brings deadly mercenaries to Sky City – it’s fight or flight, in more ways than one.
This issue also features two “Flash Fiction” stories – wholly original takes on the classic character and his companions. “The Battle of Little Mingo” by Louis Southard, drawn by Nino Plati, is a space Western, with Flash as the brave sheriff, Dale Arden as his deputy, and Ming as a corrupt governor; “Flash Detective Services,” by Jordan Thomas and Russell Olson, offers a Noir mystery that sees Princess Aura in the role of the femme fatale, who hires private investigators Gordon and Zarkov to find her missing fiancé.
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: British Comics, Comic Creator Interviews, Comics, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Features, US Comics
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