Between his work on Image Comics' Prophet, his graphic novel Habitat, and he and Damon Gentry's Grip of the Kombinat, Simon Roy has crafted some of the most fun and inventive sci-fi comics in recent memory. Now Roy is crowdfunding his new graphic novel, Griz Grobus, co-written by Jess Pollard and colored by Sergey Nazarov, on Kickstarter. With five days to go, Roy's campaign has exceeded its funding goal by a healthy margin.
Griz Grobus tells two interconnected stories. An inquisitive student tries to access the wealth of ancient knowledge stored in an old robot named Father Stanley, and a peaceful cook befriends a warrior god whose soul is trapped in the body of a bird. CBR spoke with Roy about his process creating Griz Grobus, his hopes for the story, and his plans for expanding his comics universe.
CBR: Could you talk a bit about the origins of Griz Grobus?
Simon Roy: Griz Grobus had a very roundabout origin, growing, like much of my career, from my work on the Prophet reboot in 2012. Back before we knew what the shape of the series would be, I had an idea for a short set in the prophet universe about a race of former slave aliens living around a defunct Earth Empire Robot they regarded as an Idol. But [the idol] would re-awaken, along with the rest of the Earth Empire, and subsequently blow everyone up.
Later that year, I was approached to work on a big comic-packed art book for the game "Hyperlight Drifter," and I reworked the story concept a little. In this version, a small town based in the hull of an old military starship, worshipped a sleeping war machine. A wayward big-city archaeologist exploring the region found the animating crystal brain of said war machine and attempted to escape with it to keep the war machine from waking (and to study it further). But the archaeologist was captured by the townsfolk, who then used the animating crystal brain to reactivate their beloved war machine (which subsequently blew everyone up). That art book never came to pass, so I put this story to pasture.
Then finally, in 2017, after I started my Patreon, I was hunting for inspiration in my old story folder, found that old outline, and proceeded to completely rework it into what would become Griz Grobus -- the first chapter, at least! By making one small crucial change -- not having everyone blow up at the end of the story, a sci-fi short story staple, Griz Grobus ended up being a much more relatable, enjoyable, and non-generic tale. The rest of the book built off of that first successful tonal experiment.
What's your collaborative process with Jess Pollard like?
Jess first helped me with my friend and collaborator, Daniel Bensen, back when I was first working on Habitat. Her feedback elevated the book hugely. Her input ensured the inclusion of a lot more giant robotic battling, which turned out to be pivotal to the whole thing! At the time of Griz Grobus, Jess was working as a storyboard revisionist and had even more strongly developed her editorial instincts. The process was [like this]: I would approach her with an outline for a chapter, which she would then comment on -- sometimes completely revamping it, sometimes just adding a little. Based on her feedback, I'd write up a script, which she would take a careful eye to and tighten the whole thing up. Griz Grobus would have had many overly clichéd scenes if not for Jess, and I credit her with a lot of the funniest and most pivotal moments.
Sergey Nazarov's colors complement your art really well. How much input did you have on his palette?
Initially, we had a back-and-forth. But Sergey's overall grasp of lighting and color is unmatched, and aside from the odd small detail, I usually just let him run loose on it. Ever since we started working together, I've found myself relying more and more on his incredible skill set -- not just in my comic work.
You initially serialized Griz Grobus on Webtoon. Did you always plan to release a physical copy as well? Did you originally imagine it to be serialized or as a graphic novel?
We always wanted this book to be a beautiful little object. We got into talks with a publisher over covid, but it didn't quite come together properly. So I decided on the two-pronged webcomic/crowdfunding approach. Serializing the book on webtoons served two purposes -- building up a bit of an online audience and giving me the opportunity to be constantly crowing about the book online as I updated the story every week.
But the first readers of Griz Grobus, who made the whole book possible, were the patrons of my Patreon. We made the book 5-10 pages at a time every month for two and a half years, encouraged by the feedback and monetary support of the patrons. Frankly, it was a wonderful experience. So the book has been twice serialized, first by happenstance and then by design, but it was always destined to become a physical object.
It's fun seeing characters reading Azkon's Heart. What appealed to you about telling a story within a story like that?
The story-within-a-story conceit is one I've always liked, but the interweaving of the two happened very naturally. The two stories were written and drawn alongside one another, but more importantly, the two shared a tone that tied them inexorably together. We didn't want to have the two worlds too dependent on one another or directly mirroring one another -- but the stories belonged in one book, together.
Father Stanley and Azkon seem to mirror each other in a lot of ways. Was it challenging to write them as distinct characters while giving them similar characteristics and roles in their respective stories?
Despite their similarities -- arrogant, immortal, and hemmed in by the limitations of the people and worlds they inhabit -- the distinct settings set the two of them apart. That being said, their character arcs follow similar paths: learning to accommodate, accept, and sometimes even love the world they're stuck in.
Your Kickstarter description mentions that this story takes place in the same universe as Habitat. Could you talk a bit about how the two pieces relate to each other?
Well, in Habitat, a far future universe was invented [and] populated by the Euhumanists, who are regular humans living in a sort of post-scarcity utopian society (like Star Trek), and their enemies, the immortal, god-like Posthumans (descendants of tech millionaires who uploaded their consciousnesses -- no longer constrained to biological reality). Both Habitat and Griz Grobus take place a century after a great war between the two factions has destroyed most of human civilization in the galaxy, leaving only isolated pockets of mankind -- like the cannibal dystopia stuck inside the orbital habitat of Habitat or the poor but content agricultural society of Altamira, where Griz Grobus takes place.
Do you have plans for more stories in the same universe?
I do. Some of them have already been out in the world! I wrote a short story called "Pride of the Central Republic" for Peow's Ex MAg anthology last year about another troublesome academic marching around the mountains of Altamira. I have another short story called "The Ansible" (colored by Drew Shields) coming out in Image Comic's 30th Anniversary Anthology, Image!, in December. Not only that, but the great artist Linnea Sterte, of "A Frog in Fall" and "Stages of Rot" fame, adapted one of my scripts for a short comic that we're also selling through Kickstarter. My great hope is that sometime in the next year, I'll have enough stories collected to assemble another book -- more disjointed than Griz Grobus, but God willing, just as enjoyable!
What are you most excited for fans to encounter as they read Griz Grobus?
Honestly, I'm simply excited for fans to have a chance to explore the little universe we've spent so much time and care to produce over the past few years. I'm tremendously proud of it, and I can't wait for people to dig in!
Support Griz Grobus on Kickstarter.