With a long resume of excellent books, Hicks has often targeted middle-grade readers, and they are the intended audience for The Nameless City. The Nameless City is the first book in a planned trilogy by Eisner-winner Faith Erin Hicks.

April 2016 Disclaimer: This review was based on an advanced reader copy. Check out the best digital comics readers for Android and iOS devices. Most of Hicks' comics are available digitally, as she originally debuted in comics. Hicks: Hm, Friends with Boys (opens in new tab), The Adventures of Superhero Girl (opens in new tab), and The Nameless City (opens in new tab) trilogy are the comics I'm the most proud of, so those five, I guess! ) Nrama: I know they're all your babies, but do you have a favorite story you've worked on? Hicks: Because it's my favorite animated show of all time! C'mon, it's amazing, who wouldn't want to work on it? ) Nrama: What made you want to work on Avatar: The Last Airbender in particular? I don't have a ton of original ideas, so in order to keep creating on a regular basis, I like to do licensed work. The hard work (creating the world, the characters, the antagonists and main conflicts) has been done, and I get to dive in and do what I want (within reason).

Hicks: Playing in someone else's sandbox, using characters and jumping off from stories someone else has created can be a lot of fun. (Image credit: Peter Wartman (Dark Horse Comics)) (opens in new tab) What do you enjoy about work for hire projects like this? Nrama: You've also worked on the Avatar: The Last Airbender franchise and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. If I ever went back to webcomics, I'd definitely nail down my script ahead of time. I think it makes for a much more cohesive final product. When I draw a graphic novel, the script and story are nailed down before I start drawing the pages, so I have a very clear idea of where everything is going to go. It was very haphazard and made for story conflicts down the road. Hicks: I haven't made a regular webcomic in over a decade, but when I made webcomics, I worked from a loose storyline and wrote the script as I drew the pages. Nrama: Is the creative process different working in webcomics compared to graphic novels? I like being able to see the whole book in front of me, and edit it into the best form it can be. (Image credit: Faith Erin Hicks (First Second)) (opens in new tab)ĭrawing them is hard drawing a graphic novel is like running a marathon, just trudging away, putting one foot in front of the other, churning out page after page until the thing is done.

The nameless city graphic novel