Writer Sara Kenney describes the process of putting together Acid Box, a new graphic novel now on Kickstarter, as “organised chaos.” Alongside a small army of creators, the group also consulted with artists, scientists, and historians to bring to life their story of the intersection of drug culture, club culture, and climate change. It’s a wild mix of storytelling modes and art styles that is unlike anything you have ever read.
“We describe this project as being like a mix tape,” Kenney told Comic Book Club over email, “where a lot of time and consideration has gone into choosing the tracks and the order of them to build a story that takes you through time and space!”
To find out more about the project, and how it all came together, read on.
Comic Book Club: Broadest general question to start, but when you’re working with a collective of creators like this, what’s the coordination like? How did you actually approach making this book?
Sara Kenney: The core comics team Jimmy Devlin, Emma Vieceli, Ria Grix, Sofie Dodgson, Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, Kirsten Murray, Katie West and Joe Stone jumped on and off the project over a period of 2-years. The protagonist in the comic, Jade Nyo loves a playlist and we describe this project as being like a mix tape, where a lot of time and consideration has gone into choosing the tracks and the order of them to build a story that takes you through time and space!
Honestly this project felt like organised chaos at times, as we were working with so many people, with lots of moving parts (comic, film, workshops, mentoring)! When you add the participatory arts element, it was a team of 60+. But as freelances we’re often working on several projects..
And bouncing off that, you had these large meetings of bright young minds and bright older minds… How did you distill the info gathered there into an entertaining graphic novel?
I love this part of the process, working with young people, artists, scientists, historians. Bringing them together in one space leads to some fascinating and challenging discussions. The young people were paid to attend the workshops and were also paid to create their own stories, which feature in the back of the book.
I was constantly thinking about how the themes in the discussions could be woven into the story. Time travel, the use of drugs in culture, climate change, power, geology, intergenerational dynamics all these things spun around in my mind and ended up on the page somehow. This process made me think a lot about how the older and younger characters in the book interacted. How Jade, Rory, Siya, Rhonda and Fizzy evolved over time. How the artists co-create these worlds is a piece of magic isn’t it?
I’m always intrigued by the usage of music in comics… This is the place you start, and you keep returning to club culture throughout. Given comics aren’t an auditory medium, what was your take here?
I think for many of us music does have a strong link with visuals and storytelling. When I listen to music it triggers visuals, scenes and stories. The artists articulate the music through the characters dancing and responding to the sound. Sofie’s colouring is also a powerful representation of the sounds.
I also created a playlist, which is woven through the comic as the protagonist Jade references a track that springs to mind in the different predicaments, she finds herself in. Hass expertly brought the music to life with his lettering. Sadly, SFX for techno or drum and bass weren’t in that comic on-line SFX database, so I had to do some weird break beating at my desk to get them on the page!
Not to spoil too much, but one of my big takeaways from this book is that drugs, drinking, partying, etc, are okay as long as you’re aware of your limits. That’s a far cry from the “don’t do drugs!” of the ’80s, so how do you think the view towards drug culture has evolved in comics since then?
Interesting question and I am sure people will have different reactions to the way Jade handles drink and drugs in this comic. I would say our take on this was to not judge or dictate, when it comes to the drugs. I personally have witnessed how drugs can be fun and even therapeutic, but also the darker side that can lead to tragedy.
We worked with a lot of amazing drug experts on this comic. Discussing the use of drugs in culture in a non-judgemental way and thinking about harm reduction are the key takeaways.
We worked with Dr Suzi Gage who has a brilliant podcast Say Why to Drugs with musician Scroobius Pip. She also has a book of the same name: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/say-why-to-drugs/id1114492774
Prof David Nutt who works on the use of drugs for therapeutics at Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine and runs Drug Science: https://www.drugscience.org.uk/
The Loop who work with chemical scientists and test drugs at festivals: https://wearetheloop.org/
Dr Simon Ruffell a medical doctor who works with indigenous communities to explore psychedelics: https://www.drsimonruffell.com/
It’s worth checking out their work and they all inspired elements of the story.
Another big idea here is the inevitability of climate change, or at least climate disaster. Why was that important to tackle?
The climate change aspect is more allegorical. The origins of the story of Acid Box are probably important here. I was at Sussex Uni studying Ecology and Conservation BSc. in the early 1990s. Living in Brighton there were still free parties on the beaches, in forests, abandoned warehouses etc. But in town there was a club we went to called Acid Box. It’s where I found my people and am still friends with many of them today.
So in my head there is a strong link between studying climate change and experiencing club culture! Jade and her friends face a different challenge in the story. The Acid Box controls geological features on earth. They must find the box before it gets into the wrong hands. The story explores the power we have (or don’t have) to tackle these challenges. And how that might mess with our heads.
Are we going to get Acid Box 2: The Revenge of Acid Box?
There are no plans to make an Acid Box 2 – unless it turns out that audience really want it!! That remains to be seen. Do take a look at the Kickstarter run by our brilliant publisher Avery Hill.
Acid Box is on Kickstarter now.
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