Author notes

The Frolic #1, page 02

Paulie Blade

on July 12, 2019

A couple of months ago I wrote a forum post which included some of the thinking behind this comic. Here is what I had to say about the title.

Did you know that Nirvana's riff of Come As You Are has been stolen? It originally appeared in a Killing Joke song called Eighties. As a Killing Joke fan I was furious… or maybe amused when I learned that one of the most recognizable melodies in rock music comes from my favorite band that gets no credit for it. The story has a twist, though. It turns out the riff of Eighties is ALSO stolen (this time from the song Life Goes On by The Damned). How ironic. The prey has been the predator all this time. It made Nirvana's theft less of a crime, didn't it? In my head it has been more or less forgiven.

I've never been a fan of taking a very direct inspiration from something - isn't it better to come up with your own stuff? But the Come As You Are case made me accept DOUBLE INSPIRATIONS - where you steal from the thief.

Originally, The Frolic was a short story written by Thomas Ligotti and its title, theme and perhaps entire idea has been used for the song The Frolic by Current 93. Therefore as the THIRD user of this title I felt more justified than someone who simply cannot come up with their own idea. And yes, I am saying all of that with tongue in cheek.

One more cultural reference and I'm done. I'm a big fan of Lars von Trier. People hate on Antichrist because supposedly it relies on shock values. To me all it was was imagery. Before the character portrayed by Willem Dafoe found the “chaos reigns” fox, he walked through meadows in slow motion, his hair blown by the wind. When I heard Current 93's The Frolic this scene visualized in my head. That was enough.

As cheesy as this sounds, I view my comic book more as a collection of imagery and emotions than a collection of events, people and places. Willem Dafoe walking through the meadows, and first notes of The Frolic playing in the background - that's how I want my comic book to feel.