Back in December, comic book creator and all around great guy Rantz Hoseley, who I met on Ivan Brandon's message board, asked me to contribute to a top secret comic book anthology. All it took were two words to get me to say yes in two seconds - Tori Amos. Aside from being a phenomenal singer songwriter, she's the inspiration for Delerium in Neil Gaiman's Sandman series, my all time favorite work in any medium.
After I said yes, I realized I was coiming in late in the process. It looked like all the cool songs were taken, as well as the good artists. My initial excitement quickly turned to panic. Luckily, I was wrong on both fronts. The song Upside Down proved incredibly inspiring, and I got paired with artist Salgood Sam (aka Max Douglas), of Therefore Repent and Sea of Red Fame. You can see a page of his art from the story we adapted from Upside Down above.
Aside from the fact that that Tori Amos is involved (and by involved, she didn't just stick her name on it, she treated this like one of her albums), this is a special anthology for many more reasons. It's a a limited edition hardcover, 12" x 12". Despite the fact that (or perhaps, because) Tori is a gifted storyteller those of us involved were told not to do literal adaptations, but let the songs be jumping off points, and the resulting diversity is amazing. Add to that an all-star list of creators...this is one of the greatest projects I've had the privilege of being involved in.
That honor became even more flattering when Tori decided to pick a story that best represented the book for MySpace Comics. She chose Upside Down, and as a result, you can read our story in its entirety FOR FREE here.
