WRITER EXCLUSIVE
Storm Kids make a return visit to Hades with Fetch Book Two
STEMMING FROM A conversation writer Mike Sizemore had with Storm King Comics CEO Sandy King, Fetch demonstrates the lengths people will go to for their four-legged friends. Illustrated by Dave Kennedy, the middleschool-age graphic novel series begins with 12-year-old Danni traveling to Hades to rescue her late dog, Pirate.
“The bare bones of the core idea had been rattling around in my head for a while,” Sizemore tells Red Alert. “Sandy’s dog had recently passed away so we were talking about our pets when I said, ‘I have a story that would be perfect for Storm Kids…’ and it was greenlit there and then.”
Sizemore was raised on a diet of Ray Harryhausen’s movies, and Fetch embodies his childhood love of Greek mythology – especially Homer’s Odyssey. “Odysseus is such a fun character because he’s a bit of a doofus,” he laughs. “He’d have been home in half the time if he didn’t keep messing up.
“So I had this idea that while the other Homeric heroes would have gone straight to the Elysian Fields, maybe Odysseus somehow never got there. From there, teaming him up with Danni was just obvious.”
Sizemore also taps into his long-time love of 2000 AD. “Its influence is in everything I do,” he says. “With Fetch, we have a strong female lead, some crazy sidekicks and a Hero with a capital H, which are all 2000 AD mainstays.”
FRESH HELL
Sizemore has added a contemporary edge to the ancient legends. “I wanted to get away from the dark cavernous idea of the Underworld and also put a splash of modern colour on its inhabitants, so in my version of Hades and Olympus the gods have cellphones and Charon drives a cab. It’s bright, lush and colourful, perfect for a kid’s adventure.”
