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This interview is of legomegacy, whose comics are: My Sister the Demon, Pieces of Eight and others!
(interview conducted by Pieguy259!)


This interview is with legomegacy, author of My Sister The Demon, My Sister The Goddess, Eclipse, My Sister The Wi… y'know what, let's call it the "My Sister" saga.

First up: who are you? Who is the man behind the sisters?

My name is Tony Diana (At least it says so on my lunchbox) I am a digital artist from Stafford Ct where I live with my wife Allyson and Daughter Christina. I am also a music composer for film and TV as well as a professional photographer and Ghost Hunter. (Seems like a lot I know but it's not really.)

Your artwork is an intriguing mix of manga and 3D. How do you achieve this unique look?

I use a 3d program called Poser, with it I can manipulate 3d figures and environments however, that is only half the story. I also use Paint shop pro for post work and this series is all about the post work. That is where I add speech bubble and a host of lighting, magick and background effects.

You're the author of the "My Sister" series, which I suppose should really be called a saga by now. Did you ever intend for it to be this long?

Yes and no, I knew at the start I wanted to do three series one focusing on each sister. At the start I had in my head (My sister the Demon, My sister the goddess and my sister the zombie) but after I finished the first one I saw other stories emerging from it and explored them as I knew overall I wanted it to be a coming of age tale.

What first inspired you to create it? Where did it come from?

Well..it's tricky and funny. I mentioned before I was a photographer. I do themed photo shoots (fairies,demons,vampires, ect) I was doing one on Jack the Ripper and it took about three months to finish it. The shoot was dark with a lot of blood and death. I needed a break, so I started to play with my Poser program with all of its bright colors after being stuck in the dinge of the 1800's.
I loved manga so I started randomly creating bright characters in poser.
I had belonged at that time to renderosity (online art gallery) and posted one such image featuring three sisters. Dark Pascal who is now on the duck made a comment on renderosity saying "are you planning a series perhaps?" In my mind I said…why not.
You can see all of my work at www.necromare.net

How do you cope with such an intricate and complex plot? I don't think I could remember all the little curveballs it throws at us!

I think about it a lot. I sit down turn on some music and start thinking about the characters and the world they live in after a while the story kinda writes itself it's like a puzzle I see the pieces and I find the shapes that fit together.

How far ahead do (or did) you plan the series? Did you have it all fleshed out while you were still writing My Sister The Demon, or do you make it up more as you go?

It all came after my sister the demon (MSTD). I took all the elements presented in MSTD and expanded from there.
I always try to elude that there is more to the story than what you see.
The conflict between Belldonna and Elicia (Mother and Daughter) was there but we saw no history. Rachel mentions Arabella's father briefly and in a sinister way. Elicia goes after a sword but we really don't know why. To me it gives a sense that these characters had a life before the comic started and will have one after it ends so All of these became the basis that turned into the story it is today.
(I hope that wasn't too confusing)

How did you come up with the theme music for each story?

For the first one I wanted something that was tense and sounded like you were entering a story that has been going on for a long time as well as framing the sisters and their struggles. So the first part of the tune is All soft bells and a mysterious vox edging you in and tempting you to take a look then like the series itself throws you into the mix as it explodes into a symphonic cacophony of horns and drums.
For each successive My Sister story the music gets darker and more severe as the sisters grow up and discover the world is not what they thought it was.
On a side note for the finale "My Sister the awakening": I am including a lot of music for each issue for you to listen to as you read.

We've seen the characters of "My Sister" grow and change over the many, many parts to their story. Are you ever surprised by their development?

I would have to say cecil surprised me the most. She started off as this real angry kid who wanted nothing more than to see her mom and find out if she loved her. After the events of MSTD she hangs onto this guilt
And it shapes her into the person who is one part questioning her actions and another part trying to make up for the death of her youngest sister. She is complicated.

How did you choose the names of your characters? Did you intend them to have any special significance?

Yes. At first I wanted to use classical or archaic witch names. I love history and classic literature.
Arabella is opera in by Richard Strauss it concerns a woman who must marry to save her family financially but she desires to marry for love. I liked the aspect that Arabella wanted love but always had to do things for her family instead. I Saw a similarity there.

Cecil (se-sil) - is based on name only from Cecil( see-sil) Williamson an influential English Neopagan Witch. He was the founder of both the Witchcraft Research Center which was a part of MI6's war against Nazi Germany, I just gender changed how you pronounce the name.

Delia is one you have to read into but also if you did your homework you get this fun little analogy Delia is a name in latin given to the Goddess Diana. Diana is sometimes called Dianus witch in Italian becomes Janus (see the connection?)

Each of the My Sister stories focused on a different sister (Demon on Cecil, Goddess on Delia, Damned on Arabella). Who, if anyone, will be the focus of Awakening?

That's easy its all about _______
Guess my keyboard broke, oh well you'll have to read it to figure that out! :-)

Your characters are perpetually on an emotional rollercoaster. Do you ever find yourself sharing their emotions?

Yes. I have cried and laugh as I have written pages for them. I think growing up is a rollercoaster one day you believe this the next it changes
Your body changes and by the time your done your whole belief system can change that is at the heart of the story.

Your villains start off seeming evil, however they gradually turned out to be flawed, human characters who were once good. Do you have any characters that are truly "evil"?

Janus, Sebation, Hedikou I think are the most vile. Frey follows real close however, I believe that there is always some act that makes a person appear evil but if you look into their motivations you discover why they do what they do. It doesn't justify it but the more you understand about a person the more human they become evil or not.

Incidentally - is it Belldonna or Belladonna?

Belldonna meaning (Beautiful Lady)

And are those their natural hair colours?

Yes. A few characters make references to their unnatural colors. The reason though never divulged is found in Eclipse. Athalon explains that when you are touched by a demon there is always a side effect. In his case it was his stuttering, for Robin it was seeing nothing but the darkness coming. For the Tohos and Morisotos it was a result of their ancestors fighting in the first demon war. Not a huge detail but there is the reason.

Moving on. You seem to draw quite a bit of inspiration from Wicca - how much of the comic have you based on the religion?

A general basis. I wanted something familiar to base my Magicks on. Wiccans love the earth and they fit the bill for what I wanted my witches to be. I needed them to be that natural to contrast against the darker Mages.

The My Sister series appears to be set on Earth. Is it intended to be our own beloved blue-green dirtball, or another world that is eerily similar? An alternate reality, perhaps?

It is our earth. I know I do not use a lot of technology to show this. In fact Arabella and Rachel are the only ones ever seen using a cell phone.
I was trying to show a closed off society like you might see in the illuminati or such.
The setting is a small island off the coast of Okinawa.

Can you give us any teasers about Awakening? What's in store for the sisters?

Ahh the pains of growing up are nearing their end for our sisters.
War, death and demons and some serious conflict that will forever change who they become is really all I can say.

The saga is nearing its end - what do you plan on doing after you've finished Awakening?

I have a couple of comics I want to do. The first being a sci-fi tale called the Load being written by my insanely talented wife Allyson. Set in the future the earth discovers by way of an alien race(The Cog) that their sun is dying. The Cog decide to help save their sun… but that is just the start of it.

The other I am keeping quite as it is not yet fully developed.

Lastly, the most important question of all… Pirates, or ninjas?

Ohh toughy… Pirates I think they have much more personality and they have access to some kick-ass 15 year old rum!