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Indie Comic Spotlight — Hollow Girl: I Am No One

By Valerie Complex

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Hollow Girl Is The Assassin Of The Dead

Seldom does a story come along that is disturbing shocking and yet beautiful all at the same time. I am talking about Hollow Girl:  I Am No One,  by writer and artist Luke Cooper. This is a depressing yet thrilling story about death and revenge. The reader is in for a real treat as the story is unlike anything that I have read. This is not a happy super hero story with a silver lining, and if you are looking for that, look elsewhere. Here is a small synopsis of Hollow Girl:

"A mysterious young girl in black who wears an expressionless white mask and kills scumbags. Throughout the book, we learn how her past has molded her into this character. There are two ways of looking at her – either as a psychopath who murdered her own parents and uses her new identity as a vigilante as an excuse to kill, or as a medium who channels the spirits of the vengeful dead. Either way, she definitely has issues."

That’s quite a daunting task for one so young if you ask me. But don’t think of our lead character as a hero or as innocent because she is not. There are more skeletons in her closet than anyone else. Cooper manages to create a dank, dark atmosphere leaving the reader devoid of all hope. This is a visual story and doesn’t contain much dialogue — but that’s good! There is just enough information to help the reader understand what is going on. You are not force-fed anything. You have to use your brain.  This is an element that is highly enjoyable about Hollow Girl.

I had the fortunate opportunity to chat with Luke Cooper a bit about Hollow Girl and his future plans.

Bam Smack Pow: How did you come to the decision that comics would be the medium you expressed yourself through?

Luke Cooper: I have always loved comics. I see them as something between a novel and a movie, and I love that I get to play with aspects of both mediums. I enjoy the writing side of it — telling a great story — but I also love making the imagery as cinematic as possible. It suits my need to juggle several different tasks at once.

BSP: What was the inspiration for Hollow Girl?

Cooper: It started out as a shallow desire to do a girl-with-guns type of comic, but when I gave her a mask just for sake of designing a character who was different to those I had created before, she became her own thing. Hollow Girl herself dictated exactly what kind of story this was going to be: Halloween meets The Crow. That really drove the writing for the book. Knowing that she was not exactly the good guy meant that I had could make her scary and cool at the same time.

BSP: How did the main character-Katherine Harlow-manifest in your imagination?

Cooper: The original intention was a girl who could kick ass – -simple and a typically bad attempt at creating an empowered female character. Hollow Girl’s mask turned all that on its head. The character herself steered the project into something that I feel far more comfortable with and proud of. She kills for the dead. That’s it. She is not complicated, not bound by her emotions and not vulnerable in the same ways that we are. More importantly, the fact that she’s a girl makes little difference to the story.

BSP: How did you decide on the particulars of the artwork? How did it help you shape your vision?

Cooper: While I can work in color, I have always been more comfortable with black and white art. For this book, there was never any other choice; it needed to be monochrome. When an editor offered me a colorist, even showing me some colored art, I was adamant that it had to stay in black and white. The book has been described as noirish, and I like that. Hollow Girl was always intended to be little more than a silhouette with a spooky white face. In fact, one of my regrets is that I didn’t make the book darker!

BSP: What were some of the difficulties or challenges you experienced while creating this comic?

Cooper: Finding the right publisher was the initial problem. Two deals fell through with American small press publishers when they realized that their dreams and budgets were not compatible. I have a British publisher now, one I feel is more in line with what I want to achieve, but the Kickstarter campaign is proving to be very stressful. We know that we have great book for people, but convincing them to take a chance on it is difficult. The book will appear at some point regardless, but it would be nice to see it in hardback and with the T-shirts available for potential fans.

BSP: Where do you hope to see the success of Hollow Girl a year from now? And when is the exact date of the comic’s release?

Cooper: Due to the nature of Kickstarter, there is no firm release date at this time. We were aiming for September, but that was dependent on a successful campaign. We’re ready to go as soon as the funds are available. Keep watching the Hollow Girl Facebook page for updates.

BSP: What can fans expect from you in the future?

Cooper: I am currently working on a mini-series called Midwinter Dawn, which will consist of three one-off, self-contained stories. Each one is an everyday drama that his been given a sci-fi or horror twist. I plan to self-publish digitally at first to avoid all of the delays and nonsense that Hollow Girl has endured. The first story will be called “Figments,” and is about a teenager dealing with a sexual assault using a new therapy via lucid dreaming, allowing her to face her attacker and reclaim her power in a graphic and spectacular way. I am working on the second issue now, “Blood,” which is a family drama disguised as a vampire story. The comics will be full color, just for a change. When Hollow Girl finally sees the light of day, we have plans for a sequel that will give more insight into the characters and explain once and for all why the character does what she does.

If you want to see more Hollow Girl, please visit the Kickstarter and support the comic!

Next: Three for Thursday: Independent Comic Reviews

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