SPARKSHOOTER 101

SPARKSHOOTER!

If you don't what the oft-referred to Sparkshooter is, it's one of the longest ongoing creative projects of my life. Launched in 2012 (and currently on hiatus . . . news pending), it's a long-running webcomic about the ups and downs of a local Indianapolis band circa 2003. Following is a bigger explanation and deeper look the first chapter. Enjoy!

If you've never read Sparkshooter before . . . welcome to it! If you have, welcome back!


Here's a quick history lesson ...


What's it about?


What do you call romantic rivalries, tested friendships, strained creativity, and a battle for the ultimate prize? Rock’n’roll, of course. Sparkshooter is written by Troy Brownfield with art by Sarah Vaughn (Ch. 1-2), Ben Olson (2), Enkaru (3-13), Dotstronaut (14-15), and Malik O. Smith (16). Letters by Steve Ekstrom (14-15) and Jim Campbell (15-present).

When did it start?


Sparkshooter started dropping roughly one page a week since 2012. As you see above, it's all written by Troy. You might know original artist Sarah Vaughn as the writer or co-writer of things like Alex + Ada and Eternal Empire. Enkaru drew chapters 3-13; she's the creator of Trisquel and Elite Raiders and hails from Spain. Dotstronaut (Kate Frizzell) came aboard with Chapter 14, and Malik O. Smith took over for 16. Steve Ekstrom lettered for a while after Dotstronaut joined up; current letterer Jim Campbell is a U.K. treasure and has lettered Troy on a number of other comics.


A Look at Chapter 1

When I think back to the beginning of Sparkshooter, I think . . . "Man, it's been a long time."
The true genesis of the comic goes all the way back to high school. When my best friend Shawn Delaney started getting involved in bands, I went from tagalong to roadie to manager. At a young age, I was trying (and failing. And succeeding!) to get the band booked at parties and bars. (I did pull off one bar; it was the first one I was ever in underage. Not the last. But still.) The core of that band, The Ravenous Doorknobs, featured Shawn, my buddy Jason Renn (bass), and the late warrior-priest of our merry tribe, Mike Acton (drums). Other players that spent time with the group included James Schrettenbrunner (lead guitar), Eric Ahnfeldt (lead guitar), and the late Mickey Osmon (who was the drummer before Mike).

THE ICICLE THIVES circa 1992
(l. to r. Dave, Jason, Shawn, Mike)

After our epic college graduation story (here), I went to Indiana State. Shawn and Jason went to Purdue. However, due to a variety of circumstances and transfers, everyone reconvened at ISU. Dave Eastman, a high school friend that was attending IU, joined the reconstituted group and they became Icicle Thieves (pictured above in Shawn's garage). The Icicle Thieves became a gateway into a sort of local scene, and that led me at a later time to promote shows on campus. But that's another story.

I get into this mainly to say that I have a decades-long attachment to being in and around bands, to working on the booking, the promoting, the event planning, the cleaning-spam-and-battery-acid-off-the-flooring. Those experiences sort of baked into me and who I am. And years later, they came out as the story of Sparkshooter.


That's reflected in Chapter 1 when Jack recaps the origin of Crazy Yeats. It's not any kind of exact match, but it's meant to echo the journey that so many young bands go on. When I think about THOSE times, I almost exclusively think about what should be obvious: we had A LOT of fun. Like, A LOT. I don't know that there's anything else I would have rather done in that period between my senior year of high school and the first year-and-a-half of college. I can't imagine it would have been much more fun, that's for damn sure. And I would stay heavily involved in the music for another ten years. That's the foundation of this story, and I'll revisit it from time to time.
Thank you for reading.

SPEAKING OF WHICH! HOW DO I READ SPARKSHOOTER?

You can read the first five chapters at Webtoon, or the first twelve here, or the entire 16 chapters so far on the Sparkshooter Facebook page. You can also check out Sparkshooter's companion strip, Solo Acoustic, which we'll talk about another time.