The Appeal of the Underground

I love being underground. It appeals to my rather non-conforming, independent underground attitude (in terms of publishing). My comic book is not mainstream, and it is not my goal to appeal and please the pop culture mainstream readers. If it remains "underground" (other than amazon and indie publishers), that’s fine with me. I’m not out to change my writing to appeal to the pop culture masses. This comic book is borderline sacrilegious, (and it’s a vampire comic book. It’s supposed to be disturbing) and atheist. (Which is also why I love underground music such as black metal music—the dark, atmospheric music is quite perfect for my dark, creepy writing and imagery. I find bliss and peace in the darkness. Extreme music for extreme comic book writing.)

I’m not trying to be offensive or culturally transgressive, but I won’t apologize for writing what I write about. What appeals to me, including in music, is that it is totally and uniquely my own and not always influenced by pop culture opinion. I could do a cookie-cutter comic book that conforms to what society thinks should sell, but I don’t want to sacrifice my artistic integrity and vision, which is what makes my comic book so unique. And I don’t want to apologize to anyone who might be offended by my comic book series. If you like it, fine. if you don’t, then don’t read it. There’s nothing subtle about the series. It’s brutal, different, and yes, it’s a horror genre that some people are too afraid of reading. It questions some aspects of religion as well. I’m not anti-religion. I’m writing the way I feel and creating a world all my own from my own traumatic personal experiences, which sometimes pushes the envelope in terms of belief. But everything in life, including what society thinks you should believe in (Guardian Angels or higher powers for instance) is meant to be questioned, explored, even pushed to a certain limit. Writing is creating, and sometimes it does affect and scare people and their deeply entrenched beliefs on what should be acceptable in society.

So welcome to my world. Stay a while. If it freaks you out, then go back into the light. But remember, the light burns as well.