The other day I was browsing Kickstarter just to see if there was anything interesting out there attempting to be funded (a dangerous thing to do). When I came across THE TRUST BOOK ONE: SILENT SCREAM.What jumped out at me first was that the project was based here in Albany… so I followed up with co-creator/writer/inker/letter Bill Anderson and was able to interview him about his project, his experience in the comic book industry, and how he got into the hobby/profession.

Before we get into the interview checkout the Kickstarter video:

The Project: The Trust Book One: Silent Scream

Percent Funded So Far: $3,528 of $3,500 ( 101% funded)

Current Stretch Goal: $4,500

The Pitch:

A historical fantasy set in the 1920s, featuring The Trust (real-life notables Thomas Edison, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Musidora, Amelia Earhart, William S. Hart, and Bull Montana) in conflict with The Kabale (Max Schreck, Werner Krauss, Rudolph Klein-Rogge, Fritz Lang, and an updated version of Maria the robot) over control of The Optimus, a device that could change the world!



What you will get:

40-page, full color, saddle-stitched comic

28 pages of story, and 4 pages of editorial material

Special 8-page section of Kickstarter-exclusive extra material

Wraparound cover

About the Creative Team:

The Trust Book One: Silent Scream

Co-creators/co-writers:Dennis Webster and Bill Anderson

Artist: Gabriel Rearte

Inks and Lettering: Bill Anderson

Colorist: Laurie E. Smith.

Dennis Webster:

Dennis is an author and paranormal investigator with the Ghost Seekers of Central New York. His non-fiction books Wicked Adirondacks, Wicked Mohawk Valley, Haunted Utica, Haunted Old Forge and Haunted Mohawk Valley.

He’s the author of the fiction books Daisy Daring and the Quest for the Loomis Gang Gold and Klock and editor/contributor to the anthologies Adirondack Mysteries volumes 1 and 2.

Bill Anderson

Bill is an inker with a 35-year career in comics. He’s worked for Marvel (Silver Surfer, Spider-Man, Cosmic Powers, Uncanny Origins) DC (Action Comics, Aquaman, Batman and the Outsiders, Justice League of America) Image (Vanguard) and dozens of smaller publishers like Mirage (TMNT, Turtle Soup) Comico (The Elementals, Starblazers, Robotech) First (Dreadstar) and Claypool (Elvira).

More recently, he has been producing comics for a variety of clients in the educational, religious, financial, and health care fields along with developing and co-writing projects with Dennis Webster

Bill’s Full Resume here

Gabriel Rearte

Gabriel a professional comic book artist from Argentina, working for local publishers like Editorial Columba, and in Europe for Italian publisher Aurea, and others. In the American market he’s provided artwork for publishers such as DC (Wonder Woman), Image (Jinn; Realm of the Claw), Top Cow (Witchblade), Harris (Vampirella; Vampi), Avatar Press (Gravel; Threshold; Species; Lady Death), Moonstone (The Phantom; Lone Wolf), Zenescope (Grimm Fairy Tales), and Space Goat Publishing (Evil Dead 2; Tales of the Ex-Mortis; Eternal Descent: Loki).

Check out his DeviantArt Page or his personal blog

Laurie E. Smith

Laurie has been a professional comic book colorist for the last 21 years. She lives in Winnipeg with her husband, fellow artist George Freeman. Although commercial art is her profession, she also enjoys writing fiction (from short stories to novels), narrating audio books, and has produced her own comedy album (“Welcome to the Departure Lounge”). She possesses a B.A. (Hons) in English from the University of Winnipeg and has taught courses in comic color at various technical colleges in the province.

In 1996 she was nominated for an Eisner Award for her work on “The X-Files” comic series from Topps.

Check out her Resume or her Portfolio

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Bill Anderson was gracious enough to answer a few questions about the project:

How did you get into comics (Do you remember your first one or the one that hooked you?)

I honestly can’t remember a time when comics weren’t a part of my life, so I couldn’t point at any specific comic and say “That’s the one that started it all.” They were always just there, and as viable and enjoyable a form of entertainment to me as books, television, movies, or anything. What I actually do remember is being incredibly surprised to find out that not all kids read comics. My friends and I sure did!

When did you start drawing / writing?

Like reading comics, that occurred at a time before I have any clear memories. I was always drawing, and very often it was comics, instead of individual illustrations. Drawing was always about telling stories for me.

Your resume in comics is very extensive, how did you break into the industry?

In a variety of ways. The earliest work I did for Marvel was a result of showing my portfolio to Walt Simonson at a comic convention. After looking at it, he said he thought I was ready to be published, and to go find some work. Fortunately, his wife Louise, an editor for Marvel at the time, was sitting next to him, and she handed me her card and told me to contact her. This was many years ago, however, and the process is a lot less informal now. Another route for me was that some of the people I worked with in fanzines as a teenager, went on to become involved with publishing at smaller companies, and got back in touch to offer me work.

Which creators influence your work?

So many, but among the key influences, I would cite P. Craig Russell, Terry Austin, John Totleben, and Joe Sinnott.

Joe Sinnott, one of the premier inkers in comics (and a darn good artist in his own right) is the nicest guy I’ve ever run across in this industry, bar none was the first comic professional I ever met. I was 15, and he was a guest at a convention in my area. He was extremely gracious, devoted a lot of time to looking at my portfolio, and gave me a lot of suggestions that made it clear that he was really seeing the work, and thinking about what was there, a real first for this budding cartoonist.

He even sent me off with a couple of pencil sketches (Hulk and Nova, still have them to this day) and insisted that I ink them, which I dutifully did, nervous the whole time that I’d ruin them.

Ever since that day, Joe’s been my role model for how to behave as a comics professional, with both fans and fellow pros. Thirty-eight years later, and he’s still the same way, taking time out of a busy schedule of drawing at a convention to look through the materials for this project.

When he turned over one page, I saw his eyes light up as he recognized someone. “William S. Hart! He was my dad’s favorite movie star.” And that’s how this illustration, which makes me feel like a kid again, came to be…

What are you currently working on or done recently?

Commissions and small assignments here and there, nothing that would be in the comic shops. My main focus for a while now, has been getting my new project The Trust Book One: Silent Scream ready for its Kickstarter campaign.

What is the elevator pitch of The Trust? What inspired it?

It’s a historical fantasy set in the 1920s, with two groups made up of robots, monsters, and real-life silent movie actors, fighting over possession of Thomas Edison’s latest invention.

The original inspiration came from my writing partner Dennis Webster reading Hollywood Babylon, and wondering about all the behind-the-scenes machinations that were taking place as those scandals occurred. We then kicked ideas back and forth, building up the idea of a mysterious organization that was behind much of what was happening, until we got the story to the point where it is now.

You are doing the inking and lettering on the book can you explain the process and importance of each?

We’re working with a penciler named Gabriel Rearte, who takes our script and produces a pencil drawing of each page, broken down into panels. Sometimes this follows our script exactly, sometimes he might change the pacing a little, and we adapt the script to reflect those changes. It’s one of the exciting things about working collaboratively, and can lead to surprising results. Anyway, most penciling is not ready for reproduction, so that’s where an inker comes in. I look at my job there as bringing out the best version of the pencils, sometimes clarifying what’s there, sometimes translating. Pencil shading is a frequent instance of that, it can be a challenge to convert it into a texture that works for reproduction.

The lettering I do on the computer, using a font that was created specifically for comics. There are several companies that you can find online, that not only do lettering themselves, but sell copies of the fonts they’ve created. Although lettering can have opportunities for design and creativity, especially in the sound effects, the most crucial aspect of it is knowing where to place the balloons and captions to make the story flow correctly on the page. Lettering can really make or break your reading experience.

Is this your first Kickstarter? What has been the hardest part of the crowdfunding process?

Yes, it’s my first, hopefully with much more to come. I wouldn’t say there’s one particular part of crowdfunding that’s the hardest. There’s just so many details to take care of, that it’s hard to stay on top of it.

Aside from The Trust what was your favorite book you have worked on?

Hmmm…either Silver Surfer with Tom Grindberg (and the late, great Mark Gruenwald, best editor I ever worked with) or Blackwulf with Angel Medina or Vanguard with Scot Eaton, or…as you can tell, it’s hard for me to narrow something like that down because I’ve worked on so many titles.

Is The Trust an ongoing series or a finite story?

Both, in a sense. The first series, Silent Scream, will come to a definite conclusion, but then we have a number of sequels mapped out. I’m hoping to spend the next decade, at least, telling the stories of these characters.

The Trust’s main characters are historical icons, how did you go about choosing which ones to use? Will we see cameos or more characters in the future?

Some characters suggested themselves by association with others we’d already chosen, and others just jumped out at us while researching the era. I mean, Musidora? Bull Montana? They couldn’t be more perfect for this story if we’d actually made them up. We will be introducing other historical figures (and even a few fictional ones) as the story progresses. Some minor, some very integral to the plot.

Why should check out your Kickstarter, what stretch goals do you have planned

The Kickstarter edition will have at least eight pages of exclusive editorial material that won’t be in any other edition, giving insight into some of the motivations behind events in the story. Now that we’ve successfully met our funding goal, the first stretch goal has been announced, and it’s a free print of a drawing of our cowboy star, William S. Hart, by comic book legend Joe Sinnott. It’ll be shipped along with the comic if we hit our stretch goal.

What are your thoughts on the Comics industry today



I’m very excited by the increasing diversity (in both creators and subject matter) in current comics and all the other avenues to audiences that have sprung up in the face of the tightening stranglehold that the old distribution system had on the medium.

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This looks like an interesting project and I contributed at the $5 level and look forward to reading this book. Please, if you can check it out and help Bill and his team reach their stretch goals

The Trust (Book One): Silent Scream