By Autumn Daughetee
Earlier this week I posted all about Kymera Press and why it was created. A big part of that was D. Lynn (Debbie) Smith’s Gates of Midnight. So, what exactly is Gates of Midnight?
Stay tuned to find out.
Simply put, Gates of Midnight is a supernatural thriller pitting Raven, a combat medic recently returned from Afghanistan, against creatures from another world. It’s also a comic book created entirely by women. However, it didn’t start out that way.
“Gates of Midnight was a television pilot I developed with Barbara Hambly eons ago,” said Debbie. “With Maggie’s [Kymera Press cofounder Maggie Field] encouragement, I revisited the pilot and completely wrote the script. Producer Dan Blatt loved the script and tried to get the series set up, but despite numerous meetings, nothing ever happened. Dan was thrilled with the idea of turning Gates into a comic book.”
Debbie said, “I actually think Gates is better suited for comics than television because I get to write about real people without worrying about casting. I can address issues like women veterans, veterans suffering from PTSD, the homeless—without having to have an entire episode focused on any one thing. These stories are ongoing, the characters evolving. It’s easier to do in comic book form than in television where so many different people get to influence the final product.”
Maggie added, “Debbie’s training and experience in working in television, and the fact that she developed Gates originally as a television series, lent a highly visual quality to the work from the get go. Translating her characters and descriptions into the visual medium of comics was natural, if challenging. The challenge was more hers than mine, because I was free to let my imagination run wild. She had to exercise far more discipline, which taught me to reign in my imaginings in order to make helpful suggestions. I’ve loved every minute of the process, even when Debbie and I, and sometimes Debbie and I and our artists, are not on the same page.”
Like many authors, Debbie took her inspiration for Gates of Midnight from one of her peers. “The original idea came from reading The Mothman Prophecies by Johnathon Keel. In that book he postulates that there is a gate that opens between two worlds and that monsters (like Mothman) can come through. Barbara and I took this idea and played with it. In Gates, it takes a horrific act of human violence to open a gate between the two worlds. The creatures that come and go all have roots in the myths and legends of our world, although we give them our own special spin.”
So, have I piqued your interest? Are you dying to get your hands on the first issue of Gates of Midnight? I am sorry to have to tell you that you’ll need to wait just a little longer. Check back here or visit Kymera Press on Facebook or Twitter for official updates on Gates of Midnight and other Kymera Press news.
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