Forget the ghost with the most, how about the ghosts with even more than that? Or, jumping right past a lede that barely makes sense, writer James III is currently in the midst of a Kickstarter for the very fun afterlife mystery series Junior, which teams up a ghost with his dad in an afterlife very much inspired by Beetlejuice.
“When I originally wrote the pilot script which I adapted into the first two issues of the series, I envisioned it as a sequel or spinoff of Beetlejuice,” James III told Comic Book Club over email. “A point of honor for me was watching Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and seeing that there were a couple jokes and bits that were in line with how I thought to explore the Netherworld. Felt like I was doing something right.”
To find out more about the currently running Kickstarter, read on!
Comic Book Club: Before we get into the Kickstarter, talk about the inspiration behind this book. It seems to be a mix of detective stories, Beetlejuice, Ghostbusters, and more.
James III: Junior is directly influenced by a lot of what I like to call “spooky hijinks” films. Ghostbusters, The Mummy, Army of Darkness, but mainly Beetlejuice. When I originally wrote the pilot script which I adapted into the first two issues of the series, I envisioned it as a sequel or spinoff of Beetlejuice. A point of honor for me was watching Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and seeing that there were a couple jokes and bits that were in line with how I thought to explore the Netherworld. Felt like I was doing something right.
Given you’re James III, and the main relationship is predicated on a Junior and a III, is it based on you and your Dad at all? Is your dad a ghost detective, James???
Yes to the first part… maybe to the second part??? My dad died when I was very young by heavy circumstances, I believe the kids these days call it “unaliving.” Originally the piece I set out to write was a gritty almost Atlanta-esque dark “comedy” about growing up not knowing my father and being visited by his ghost in adulthood. ((I almost called it Ghost Dad lol)) But it ended up being too self-serious and really didn’t feel like my vibe. Then one day I was watching Beetlejuice and it hit me what I needed to do… see him in hell.
To get into the Kickstarter, you’re expanding in a pretty big way with an anthology, multiple artists, etc. What was the impetus behind blowing this out so big?
The primary motivation behind it was a growing excitement for side characters. Particularly some that only had one scene in the comics so far. There’s a headless guy somewhere in the first ten pages of the first issue who says, “I have no idea where my body is.” And he has a skeleton buddy he riffs with. I got to thinking about him and the skeleton searching the Netherworld to literally “find himself.” Then I started thinking, could I throw in some superheroes?? Is that “too crazy?” And then I laughed at thinking anything would be too crazy in an imagined afterlife where people have jobs still. And thus, The Unalivengers were born.
More to the point, what’s the coordination been like? How did you cast the artists, so to speak?
After Issue 1, artist Marcus Kwame Anderson got booked and busy so right then I devised this plan to have every subsequent issue have its own unique creative team. Which to your last question, is why there are so many artists on this anthology instead of one doing all the stories. What I like about the art evolving form issue to issue (and in this case, story to story), it makes the Netherworld and the supernatural elements even more ethereal in the comic itself.
You’ve got a bunch of other stories here, from the Un-Alivengers to Tales from Dead Poet’s Sobriety… Are you looking at these as potential other comics? Or is it just for the anthology?
The hope is to one day build on these other stories in their own comics, either one-shots or series, if they warrant that. But for now, I want this anthology to work on its own. We’re continuing the Junior story while getting a sneak peek at what else this universe has to offer.
What can folks expect from the Kickstarter?
Junior 1-3 are available with four different variant covers for Issue 3 (including a mystery variant cover tba). There’re t-shirts, a custom whiskey glass, as well as collectors box sets where you can get every comic and variant my company’s made printed and/or digitally. I’ve also included a rewards tier where backers can co-produce or produce an entire story in the book which gives them the opportunity to be credited/featured in the book itself.
Junior #1-3: Enter the Hereafter-Verse is on Kickstarter now, until April 1.
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