Award-winning comics creator Svetlana Chmakova (Awkward) is going back to the Night Realm! After the success of 2020’s middle grade hit The Weirn Books, Vol. 1: Be Wary of the Silent Woods, the author is returning with volume two, The Ghost and the Stolen Dragon (Yen Press, Oct.), which follows four friends dealing with middle school drama... along with dragons and witches. With the new graphic novel hitting stores just in time for Halloween, PW talked with Chmakova about inspiration, world-building, and her admiration for Alien’s Ellen Ripley.
You’ve been working on the world of the weirns for a long time, first with the four-volume YA Nightschool series, and now you’ve returned to it with the Weirn Books series, which is aimed at a younger audience. What was the original inspiration for this world? Did you always know you had a lot of stories to tell in it?
Yes, so many stories! I’ve loved supernatural/urban fantasy ever since I discovered the genre by reading Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman. There is just something incredibly appealing about the concept of witches and shape-shifters and terrifying Night Things wearing comfy hoodies and drinking coffee on their way to the grocery store to pick up last-minute potion ingredients and interacting with our everyday world while not being part of it. My first attempt at what eventually became the world for the Weirn Books was in high school. For my creative-writing class, I started making a comic book about a small town with a frozen river that had humanoid creatures living in it. Most were asleep for the winter, but some were still going out to the local video rental store and to get coffee. I got only about seven pages drawn before the school year ended, but the concepts and related stories continued to live rent-free and multiply in my head, trying to claw their way out onto paper.
The series is named after weirns, a kind of witch that has a bound demon called an astral. Why did you decide to make this the central theme of the books?
Personal preference, I suppose... The mental image of a witch in a hoodie doing cool magic stuff is basically a plot bunny generator to my mind, so why fight it, haha! Also, weirns have their familiars/astrals bound to them in a very personal life-sharing way, so that provides me with a good vehicle for exploring the infinitely relatable existential themes and questions while all the cool magic stuff happens.
Can you talk about the main crew, Ailis, Na’ya, and Jasper, and maybe Patricia, who seems to get dragged along on the adventures, despite coming from a different set at school?
Well, these four were really good buddies when they were younger kids, and Patricia was a big part of their ill-advised adventures and shenanigans. So they do still easily fall back into that dynamic by instinct when trouble starts. The rift in the group happened when the middle school years hit, for reasons that are very personal for Patricia, something I hope I will be exploring in the third volume, where she will be the leading character.
In The Weirn Books, Vol. 2: The Ghost and the Stolen Dragon, we actually do meet dragons! In the first book, Ailis was the main character, but this time, it’s Na’ya, who we learned in the first book is obsessed with dragons, and it gets her into a lot of trouble this time. What’s the role of dragons in this world, and why does Na’ya love them so much?
Dragons in the Weirn Books world are really just another denizen of the Night Realm, along with all the different kinds going about their business and lives. The Nash’Darah dragons specifically have an important role in the power hierarchies and needs of the Night Realm, because they are so long-lived and powerful, but beyond that they have their own society and lives that are not really related to the said role. Na’ya is mostly obsessed with dragons because they are indeed very cool and because, to her mind, they are not constrained by the rules and limitations that she has to struggle against. She essentially craves control over her own fate and the strength to protect the people she cares about, as do we all.
The Berrybrook Middle School books deal with all the drama, humor, and emotions of middle school kids, and in the Weirn books, Ailis and Na’ya also deal with problems like being popular, bratty cliques, and detention, only with ghosts and dragons thrown into the mix. Is it easier or harder to deal with these themes in a fantasy world?
It’s a little harder because there is less room for me to work that out in a narrative—the kids are too busy having exciting magical adventures. But there is still plenty of opportunity for the drama, so I think I manage all right.
The Weirn Books have so many classic themes from fantasy and comics in them, but always with a fresh twist. What are some of the books/manga/movies that inspired you? How do you take those themes and give them a new spin?
I am grateful to hear that my takes can be considered fresh, especially because I certainly don’t try to do it that way. I just write about things that are interesting to me, in the way that is interesting to me... I am happy to hear that it is interesting to readers, as well. As for my influences, I’ve already mentioned Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman, but there was also Rumiko Takahashi’s Mermaid Saga series, the Sailor Moon animated series, The X-Files TV series, and the ElfQuest comics series by Richard and Wendy Pini. As a tween, I was also heavily steeped in The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien and the Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey, both of which were formative reading experiences for me. Their approach to world- and character-building still echoes strongly in my work.
This is just the kind of book I’d love to read around Halloween. Are you a big Halloween fan?
Yes! I love all things spooky and creepy but not gory. I am usually not a fan of gory horror unless it’s the Alien franchise and Ellen Ripley with a flamethrower is involved.
You spend a long time writing your books and a long time drawing them. Can you talk about the process a bit? Do you do character designs before the story? Do you sketch out the pages as you write?
I work on all of it at once, because all these parts tie into each other and depend on each other—a character’s design will affect how their scenes might play out and vice versa, or a scene script will affect how the location layout will need to be designed and adjusted. So it all organically evolves together as one big mess of notes and sketches. I will eventually distill that mess into rough but readable storyboards with dialogue to show my editor for feedback, so that we can work out any story and pacing issues in the roughs. Once those have been sorted out, I move on to final art production.
One really great thing about your work is the lettering. It’s obviously very manga influenced and an integral part of the storytelling. I was surprised to see that the letterer is your editor, JuYoun Lee—unless there are two JuYoun Lees! Whoever it is, how do you work together to make the lettering so seamless?
JuYoun Lee is my editor, that’s right, and she does the lettering also because she is amazing!! We communicate a lot and work very closely on getting the book from one production stage to another, so that’s probably why it appears seamless. I am very grateful for all her guidance and patience with my chaotic work process.
The book ends on a big cliff-hanger! What other magical creatures might we see in the next volume?
I cannot reveal details, but it will be more of a glimpse into the Night Realm’s lore and the powerful creatures that move in its shadows. I am excited to start writing it. I feel like I've barely scratched the surface of that world with everything I’ve written so far. There is so much more to tell, and I hope people continue reading it so that I can continue writing it! Thank you so much to everyone who has checked it out so far.
