“Fast is fine, but accuracy is everything” – Wyatt Earp







Beau Smith's Wynonna Earp carries on her famous ancestor's legacy as a US Marshall, serving in the Black Badge division, where she tracks down offenders including zombies, werewolves and yeti.









The supernatural western series has developed a following through multiple adventures, and will be reaching new audiences in a SyFy television series, debuting in April.





Lora Innes, best known for her Revolutionary War webcomic, “The Dreamer,” joins Smith on the newest mini-series, illustrating adventures that serve as a prequel to the television series.



The Swerve had the opportunity to interview Innes about the series, working with Smith and how she balanced a cross-country move with her expanded workload.







The Swerve Magazine: You have known Beau Smith for quite some time. How did you first meet, and what was it like having a seasoned professional like him to turn to when you were starting out?





Lora Innes: When I was in art school, I brought my comics portfolio to Mid-Ohio Con, a comic convention in Columbus, Ohio. I waited in a very long line to meet Jeff Smith, and, being a poor art student, couldn’t afford to buy anything. I asked if he would review my portfolio. Graciously (with the rest of the line’s approval) he agreed. He loved my stuff and said his friend Beau Smith would be interested in it.



I tried to track him down, but Beau had already left the convention. One of his colleagues gave me Beau’s address, so I snail mailed him a copy of my portfolio, and a few weeks later my phone rang. A thick West Virginian accent introduced himself as Beau Smith, said he’d received my portfolio and was eager to talk to me. At the time, I knew Beau’s name only for the work he was doing with Todd McFarlane. My work was very different from Spawn. I thought, “Just my luck. The one contact I get in this industry couldn’t be further removed from what I do.” But it was the only lead I had, so, heart pounding, I called him back.



I learned Beau had a long, rich history in comics and his work with McFarlane Productions was just a part of that. We instantly hit it off. Through the years, he’s always been quick to pick up the phone and offer me advice whenever I need it. He’s helped me shape my portfolio and introduced me to editors and colleagues at comic conventions when I was first trying to break in.







Having feedback from editors at publishers I wanted to work for was invaluable. I no longer had to guess what they were looking for—they were telling me. Their advice guided me on what I should work on improving next, and every year I went back with a fresh portfolio. The door to the industry slowly creaked open.





SM: What was your reaction when Beau approached you about illustrating this mini-series?





LI: Beau actually wasn’t the one who approached me about “Wynonna Earp.” That was Carlos Guzman, my editor. We had met at San Diego Comic-Con in July, and he was testing artists for the new Wynonna series. Beau said that IDW president Ted Adams suggested me for the series before Beau did, so Carlos called me up and asked if I wanted to try out for it. They picked my sample.



Of course, I was excited to work with Beau. We’d been wanting to work together since we met. “Wynonna” turned out to be the project for our partnership. I guess we came full circle—after he first saw my portfolio, Beau sent me a package of signed comics he had written and “Wynonna Earp” was in that stack.





SM: You have mentioned that you have had to turn down outside work in the past because of the demands of “The Dreamer.” Why was this project important enough to accommodate into your schedule?





LI: I met Carlos Guzman at San Diego Comic Con and really liked the guy. I left hoping we’d work together on something—it just happened sooner than I’d thought! I had been teaching at an online art academy and my time there was ending about when the series would start up. I knew that I wanted to get back to comics. And working with Beau, not just on anything, but on “Wynonna Earp”— for the adaptation of the television series—was something I couldn’t pass up. Beau and I have been friends a long time. I knew that he had optioned Wynonna to Fox a few years back, but the series was never produced. I was so happy for my friend that the show was finally being made. Being asked to be a part of it was irresistible.





SM: Were you offered the series before or after you knew you were moving across the country, and just how chaotic has your life been these past few months?





LI: It was the worst possible timing to take on a new series. The move made it difficult but IDW kept accommodating me until it worked out. I sent in my character redesign for Wynonna the night before I flew to London to spend September in the UK. I was in England when I found out that I got the job. I let IDW know that I was moving November/December and we worked the deadlines around that as much as we could. Chris Evenhuis, who is drawing the variant covers, will be a guest artist on Issue #3, which gave me some breathing room.



That being said, I burned the midnight oil like crazy to get issue #1 finished while also planning a cross country move. There was one day that the Health app on my iPhone recorded only 50 steps because I had my butt glued to my chair all day. There were some days that I had to finish more than one page a day. I finished the issue the day before Thanksgiving. I picked up my sister after dinner at Grandma’s and we drove my Toyota Yaris from Pittsburgh to San Diego. But I survived the move. Our first month here felt like camping because we sold all of our furniture. I was actually drawing “Wynonna Earp” in a camping chair for two weeks before I got a desk and office chair. But we’re unpacked and no longer sleeping on an air mattress.



San Diego is lovely and I have a sunburn in February. I’m drawing comics with a dear friend of mine. Yes, I’m working hard, but I’m having a blast.







SM: “Wynonna Earp” has had different designs in the past. Yours seems more influenced by the look in the upcoming TV series. Were certain style concepts mandated from the show, or were designs handled more by you and Beau?



LI: Beau, Carlos, and the SyFy network all had to sign off on my character designs before I got started. SyFy had sent me production shots with the actors in costume so I could draw the characters on model for the series. Our stories take place before the first episode of the television show and fit that continuity.







Wynonna’s boss, Agent Dolls, and the mysterious Doc Holiday are both characters new to the TV series who I get to play with in our run. This “Wynonna Earp” feels more like a team book than the previous series, and I enjoy that. I like having characters that play off of each other and Beau does that really well.





SM: What can readers expect when they pick up an issue of the new series?





LI: “Wynonna Earp” is a nice contrast to the work I’m doing on “The Dreamer” which has gotten to a dark point in the story. I love humor that also has depth, and though there is a lot of light-hearted zombie slaying in the series, the stakes for Wynonna are real. Beau loves witty, sarcastic banter, and the story is rich with that. Agent Dolls might be my favorite character: he's one part U.S. Marshal, one part Wynonna babysitter, and those conflicting roles constantly pull him in two directions. Wynonna thinks she’s helping, but her impulsive, destructive decisions tend to make things worse. I guess in that, she’s a lot like Bea from “The Dreamer.” They’re both brunettes, too, but only one of them has blown the head off of a chupacabra.





SM: You have been wholly creating stories for the last several years, were there any challenges in working from another person's script?





LI: It’s less stressful. I’m working with a team and we each play a part to make it the best it can be. In “The Dreamer” I do have help (shout-out to my colorist Julie Wright and writing partner Alan Evans), but so much more rests solely on me. Working alone, it's easier to second guess myself.



With “Wynonna Earp” I can send in my thumbnails and know if there is a problem Beau or Carlos will let me know. It’s a team sport, and having worked alone for so long, I really love it. Beau calls me up at random times to ask me story questions and runs things by me. Sometimes they take my suggestions and sometimes they don’t, but it’s nice to be in an environment where I’m given the chance to participate. Of course, I usually take his calls while I’m strolling on the beach and he’s walking his dogs through the snow. But, teasing each other has always been a part of our shtick.





SM: After striving for historical accuracy with “The Dreamer” was it fun to stretch your creative muscles by tackling both modern and supernatural scenarios?





LI: Drawing “Wynonna” is definitely faster! A huge part of illustrating “The Dreamer” is slogging through historical research and reference material trying to make it as accurate as I can. Sometimes I get sucked down rabbit trails that take hours. (For instance, trying to find out what the Liberty Pole in New York city looked like in the fall of 1776 for one panel’s worth of art…) With “Wynonna,” I can use my imagination more. It’s a nice break.

