{"id":180073,"date":"2022-07-26T15:54:19","date_gmt":"2022-07-26T22:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eugeneweekly.com\/?p=187139"},"modified":"2022-07-26T16:30:04","modified_gmt":"2022-07-26T23:30:04","slug":"entering-an-undead-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/2022\/07\/26\/entering-an-undead-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Entering an Undead World"},"content":{"rendered":"

How do you make stories about the undead fresh?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re behind <\/span>The Walking Dead<\/span><\/i>, which began as a TV show in 2010 and has morphed into a media franchise of spinoffs, podcasts, video games and even a ride at a British amusement park, you look for a graphic novelist like Tillie Walden.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Walden\u2019s newest graphic novel, <\/span>Clementine<\/span><\/i>, is her first endeavor into <\/span>The Walking Dead<\/span><\/i>\u2019s zombified world. Throughout the novel, Walden captures a post-apocalyptic world in the northeastern U.S. as Clementine travels the area with an unlikely companion, finding community with survivors in a zombie-infested world (or as they\u2019re referred to in <\/span>TWD<\/span><\/i>, \u201cwalkers\u201d).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Her work doesn\u2019t seem to fit a zombie apocalypse universe: That work includes <\/span>Spinning<\/span><\/i>, her memoir about growing up as a competitive ice skater; <\/span>On a Sunbeam<\/span><\/i>,<\/span> a sci-fi story about someone searching for love; and <\/span>Are You Listening?<\/span><\/i>, about two women on a Texas roadtrip.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And at 26, Walden has received numerous awards. She won the 2018 Eisner Award for Best Reality-Based Work for her memoir <\/span>Spinning<\/span><\/i>, the 2020 Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album (New) \u2013 for her <\/span>Are You Listening? <\/span><\/i>and a 2018 <\/span>Los Angeles Times <\/span><\/i>Book Prize for <\/span>On a Sunbeam<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Before she canceled her West Coast tour for \u201cunforeseen circumstances,\u201d Walden was scheduled to speak at the downtown Eugene Books With Pictures comic shop event Friday, July 29. <\/span>Eugene Weekly<\/span><\/i> chatted with Walden via email about her influences in writing and drawing the world of her latest graphic novel <\/span>Clementine<\/span><\/i>, as well as the role the Japanese film anime studios Ghibli (the production company behind classics such as <\/span>My Neighbor Totoro<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Kiki\u2019s Delivery Service<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Howl\u2019s Moving Castle<\/span><\/i> and more) has played in her artistic upbringing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Clementine<\/i><\/b> captures a grim apocalyptic world. Yet there’s something beautiful about it at the same time. What were some of your inspirations in creating this world?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Tillie Walden: Thank you so much! I was really inspired by the view out my window, actually. I live in Vermont, maybe 30 minutes away from where the book takes place. We also live deep in the woods off a dirt road, very removed. So I spent a lot of time looking at the trees and thinking about our lives here and wondering what would happen if the end of the world came. What would it mean for this place, for us, for our future? And I think what I kept coming back to is that even if walkers were walking towards us, this would still be the most beautiful place. Nature is so resilient. I really do love thinking about the beauty that would come along with the decay in the apocalypse. The quiet, the openness, the ability of roots and leaves to take cities back to their domain.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>The Walking Dead<\/i><\/b> (TWD) has become a titan. What was your process in developing a story to fit canon but can also stand alone?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

It certainly is! I think I had to let go of the pressure, honestly. There\u2019s no way I can make a story that is the same as what has come before in <\/span>TWD<\/span><\/i> universe, and I needed to feel like I was allowed to wander in whatever direction called to me. It helps that the entire team at Skybound [developer behind <\/span>TWD<\/span><\/i> video games], Robert Kirkman [comic book writer and <\/span>TWD <\/span><\/i>co-creator] included, were nothing but encouraging. Everyone believed in me, and trusted me. So it meant that making a story in this universe felt as natural as making any other story. Just, you know, there\u2019s zombies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>How was writing <\/b>Clementine<\/i><\/b> different compared to your previous works, like <\/b>On a Sunbeam<\/i><\/b>? While fitting to a larger universe, did you find that it made you approach writing in a different manner? And were there any lessons from writing <\/b>Clementine<\/i><\/b> \u2014 and fitting it into another comic universe \u2014 that you’d like to see in your future works?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

I do think writing the plot of Clementine<\/em> was really different than my other books. I certainly still found time in <\/span>Clementine<\/span><\/i> to have my quiet queer moments (can\u2019t make a book without them), but I was really interested in writing a story that had action, drive and intensity to it. Which, if you\u2019ve read my other work, is different! I\u2019m used to a pretty mellow pace of storytelling. My editor helped a lot, and I spent a lot of time working on the pacing of the book. And not surprisingly, I\u2019m facing the same challenge all over again with <\/span>Clem<\/span><\/i> book 2! It\u2019s funny how you work so hard, you feel like you get better at plot and writing, and then when you have to do it again, it\u2019s like\u2026 wait, how do I write?<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I’ve read that Studio Ghibli has been a big influence on you as an artist. Do you see that influence’s footprint in Clementine<\/em>?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

I see Studio Ghibli everywhere in my work! There\u2019s a lot of moments in Ghibli movies where characters are on a precipice \u2014 they run too close to the edge, they fly too high, too low, they swing around too fast \u2014 I think I see that in Clementine<\/em>. I also think Ghibli movies taught me so much about the majesty of setting. And moments like the one where Clementine and Amos go up a ski lift and it\u2019s impossibly high, and fast and small and beautiful \u2014 that\u2019s straight out of Ghibli for me. The feeling of scale. Now I gotta go rewatch some of these movies!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now that you’ve entered the world of writing for a large universe like <\/b>TWD<\/i><\/b>, is there another comic world you’d like to tell a story within \u2014 such as something in DC, Marvel or even Studio Ghibli?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Gosh, good question! After I wrap up <\/span>Clementine <\/span><\/i>(talk to me in a few years and I\u2019ll be there!) I think I\u2019ll likely go back to my own chaotic world of stories. <\/span>TWD<\/span><\/i> has been the perfect home for me right now, but I\u2019ll be excited to get back to making my own worlds from scratch. Of course, opportunities are strange and wily, you never know what you\u2019ll be working on one year to the next. But I think it\u2019s safe to say that in a few years I\u2019ll probably be drawing underground cities in the ocean that I saw in a dream one time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tillie Walden\u2019s graphic novels are available for purchase at Books With Pictures at 99 Broadway C. For more information, visit BooksWithPictures.com<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How do you make stories about the undead fresh?\u00a0 If you\u2019re behind The Walking Dead, which began as a TV show in 2010 and has \u2026 Continue reading\u00a0\u2192<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180076,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89,3,101,2],"tags":[165,166],"class_list":["post-180073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-blog","category-ew-extra","category-news","tag-books","tag-comics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}