Comic books are an endlessly fascinating art and text medium. They continue to shed essential light on the liminal spaces of our human experiences. Drew Shannon and Nathan Page have recently added to our pile of “must-reads” with the launch of their series: The Montague Twins; the first issue is currently available for free download if you pop over to their site. Readers of this duo’s work will detect a gorgeous interplay between classic and contemporary art styles, with a narrative that already feels to be more than your average Archie plotline.
Lyndsay:
My first question is an obvious one: from where do draw your inspirations. I detect a flavour of Japanese manga blended with the more classic comic style, is that conscious?
Drew:
Yeaaaah a little bit. I had read a little Osamu Tezuka in my youth, but I would say the Japanese influence has come on more recently, and probably stems from watching studio Ghibli films. They have a knack for simplifying things so if I’m struggling with a drawing I’ll watch a Ghible film and look at their attempts to solve similar problems. But I would say the biggest influence on how I draw would be Herge, and then Canadian graphic novelist Michel Rabagliati, respectively.
Nathan:
I got into comics pretty late so I draw most of my inspiration from novelists and playwrights. Pinter, Mamet, Williams, they’re big for me. Neil Gaiman and Anne Rice. Even RL Stine. Perhaps most evident in the Montague Twins, though, are Marisha Pessl’s two novels, Special Topics In Calamity Physics and Night Film. I feel like if you throw all that into a blender you might end up with something close to what I’m trying to do.
Lyndsay:
I want to know more about Charlie, Al and Pete. It feels like there’s a thick back story, will you reveal details with subsequent issues or will readers be left to connect the dots?
Drew:
Before we even had a plot, we needed to know how these characters are going to react and what kinds of decisions they were going to make. Also, how their relationships fit together, and how they didn’t.
Nathan:
The Montague Twins is pretty grand in scope and we don’t have a publisher telling us not to do things so there’s really no telling which of our stories we’ll share. We have this main story arc in mind but there is also a lot more we want to get out at some point. Actually, we’ve already started leaving a bit of a trail. However, I’ve always been a fan of books that make a reader do some work, that refuse to shine a light on each and every facet of the story. Sometimes the worst thing a writer can do is say, “Look at all my work, it all adds up, check it, go ahead.”
Lyndsay:
Charlie feels very, very salty. Can we talk about that a wee bit? Besides some contemporary examples, women have an entrenched history in the comic genre of lacking strength (or when they do have credibility/power it’s often drawn from their sexuality – which isn’t necessarily a bad thing). Charlie feels different, why is this important to you?
Drew:
I’ve always loved comic books but eventually I fell away from the mainstream superhero stuff and started picking up books by independent artists and publishers. A lot of those books are semi-autobiographical, if not memoirs, and I immediately resonated with the characters because of how real they were, and how relatable their experiences were. Although this is a genre comic, we’ve never wanted any of the characters to be tropes. Charlie is based on real women, some who we know, some from history, and all whom we admire and who have left an impact on us.
Nathan:
I want to be careful not to pat ourselves on the back too hard with Charlie. The fact that giving a girl a backbone is a noticeable difference in the genre is exactly why it’s important for us to do it.
Lyndsay:
David. David. I have feelings about David, he has a mysterious “Alfred” air to him, is there a narrative there that will be shared with us over time?
Drew:
David indeed! he’s more of the “Old Ben Kenobi” with Yoda’s sense of humour. But I don’t wanna say much more than that right now.
Nathan:
I guess the fact that we called it The Montague Twins implies that it’s far less an ensemble than it really is. David will absolutely get his moment in the sun. We’re also really excited to share his partner, Charlie’s mom, Shelly. She’s just as fascinating and mysterious. You’re going to love her.
Lyndsay:
How did you two end up collaborating?
Nathan:
Drew got it in his head that I could write and refused to do it with anybody else.
Drew:
When I first came up with the idea of doing a Hardy Boys-esque mystery comic, all I had were the main characters, and a rough idea for a story. I knew Nathan could write, and I definitely knew he understood what went into good storytelling so I asked him to help me flesh out the details. So, one day in the spring of 2012 (?), we sat in his backyard for hours coming up with everyone’s backstory, and a general plot.
Lyndsay:
Many comics have a “geography” about them, yes? The Montague twins doesn’t feel like your classic gritty New York or Boston, and it also feels like it’s avoiding the Archie style of “suburban” banality. As a native Torontonian, am I off in detecting a sense of my city in your work?
Drew:
Maybe you are! the geography will come more into play in the future, but we were basically setting Port Howl up to be a really old small town with a lot of history, some of it good, some of it bad. It’s our take on Salem but without the themed tourism.
Nathan:
What you’re detecting is, yes, a bit of Toronto, some Kingston, Ontario, where I grew up, and everything I’ve been able to glean from Stephen King books and movie adaptations. Ideally we would have taken a trip to the east coast by now but for the moment neither of us can afford to take the time off work.
Lyndsay:
Are we getting pieces of you in this current project? Is there a relatability between you two and the characters?
Drew:
Yeah for sure. We often joke that Al and Pete are us, and our dynamic is like that of the twins: we’re similar in a lot of ways, but it’s where we differ that proves our bond to be the strongest.
Nathan:
We’re absolutely in there but Pete and Al are idealized versions of our younger selves. To be more succinct, I think the twins as teenagers are smarter and more insightful than I am at 30.
Lyndsay:
What do you envision for The Montague Twins?
Drew:
We’re so grateful for the support it’s received thus far, and we’re going to keep making it no matter what. These characters are alive now, and they really want out.
Nathan:
Our goals are pretty modest. We want Guillermo Del Toro to direct the movie. After that, we’re happy with whatever we can get.
Lyndsay:
What are your thoughts on your fellow contemporaries? I particularly love LumberJanes, any comic book makers that you’d like to share?
Drew:
I love artist Noelle Stevenson, but I haven’t actually read it yet! It’s been on the list for a while. With Nathan’s help I’ve been getting back into mainstream comics again, there’s titles we both love like Harrow County and Descender. Pretty much anything by Jeff Lemire, or Scott Snyder. and I really love what Marvel is doing with Miss Marvel, and their new spider universe title SILK. SILK is great. I also read a bit of Gotham Academy from DC. Next on my list is the entirety of Neil Gaiman’s sandman because it’s about damn time. Also my favourite books last year were Jillian Tamaki’s This One Summer and Super Mutant Magic Academy. Her artwork is just, like, wow.
Nathan:
This is one of those questions that will keep me up for weeks thinking of all the things I should have said. I think everything Emily Carroll does is amazing. I love Jeff Lemire but I haven’t really been able to crack his superhero stuff. His creator owned characters though, I’m never unmoved by. My current Facebook profile picture is Tim-21 from Descender. The Autumnlands by Kurt Busiek and art by Ben Dewey is great epic fantasy. Afterlife With Archie by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Francesco Francavilla is the only zombie story to ever make me tear up. There’s just so much good stuff out there. I really need to read Lumberjanes, thank you for reminding me.
Lyndsay Kirkham writes and raises cats. She has written for The Daily Dot, The Daily Beast, Role Reboot, The Establishment, Queen Mob's TeaHouse, Kiss Machine, Rabble and various other print and digital publications. She is the co-editor of Gender Focus, a poetry reviewer at Broken Pencil Magazine and spends a great deal of time doing Feminism on Twitter. She is currently living in Vienna, Austria but misses her native homeland of Canada.
Drew Shannon is a freelance illustrator and lifelong nerd living in Toronto whose work has appeared in the Globe and Mail, Reader’s Digest, Vice, and more. you can find more of his work at drewshannon.ca
Nathan Page was born and raised in Kingston Ontario and now lives in Toronto. This is his first comic book.