Creator Interview - Katie Cunningham on Rotten Under The Snow

Rob chats to writer Katie Cunningham about her upcoming graphic novel, Rotten Under The Snow...

'A city turned battlefield becomes stranger.

Bizarrely mutilated bodies are found in the muddy snow of Leningrad. To solve the mystery and stop an oncoming horror, a traumatised Soviet pilot with a terrible connection to what’s happening must cross enemy land- and fight what is rotting inside herself...'

Rotten Under The Snow is a historical horror-thriller that's set within WW2 during the Siege of Leningrad. The added twist is that there's also a heavy dose of sci-fi thrown in. This oversized 96-page graphic novel sees Katie Cunningham joined by Mike Bogdanovic, Danielle Wiebe and Aaron Rackley, who all produce some amazing work to bring this horror to life. 

The narrative to Rotten Under The Snow follows former female Russian fighter pilot, Dajana. As a former Night Witch, Dajana already has a fearsome reputation. This in enhanced further as she's slowly loosing her humanity thanks to some alien technology that's been utalised by the Nazi's. 

Now, Dajana finds herself deep in the heart of the besieged city, Leningrad as an otherworldly presence makes itself known...

As of writing, Time Bomb Comics are seeking crowdfunding via Kickstarter to see this vision come to life. With 12-days still to go, the project has already exceeded its modest £1000 target. It's also worth noting that Rotten Under The Snow is also launching Time Bomb Comics '15 Years Publishing Celebrations'. 

I recently spoke to creator, writer, and new Time Bomb Comics PR, Katie Cunningham about all things Rotten Under The Snow...

Hi Katie, thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to speak to me about Rotten Under the Snow, and Time Bomb Comics.

KC - "Of course! Honestly thank you so much for doing the outreach, you’ve been great to work with and I’ll definitely be sending you more stuff in the future"

What can you tell us about Rotten Under The Snow?

KC - 'It’s a horror sci-fi set during the siege of Leningrad and starring a Night Witch. At risk of sounding navel-gazey, it’s also a war story about trauma and violence and at risk of sounding like a serial killer, there’s some really fun body horror in there. It’s also the first graphic novel I’ve had published, which I’m very excited about.'

The narrative is set in World War 2, and more specifically centres around the Siege of Leningrad. How difficult is it to write an original story that fits into a real-world event? 

KC - "In a lot of ways the story grew out of thinking about the Siege of Leningrad- like there was never a version of this that wasn’t set there. I think the concept of a city being turned into a battlefield is so terrifying. I’m lucky to have never experienced seeing somewhere I think is safe become so hostile, and as a writer it’s really compelling as a metaphor. Like Dajana (the protagonist) is a traumatised wreck, and so is Leningrad.

I am getting navel-gazey again!

In a more grounded way it’s honestly helpful, certainly for me, to be able to ground a historical narrative so specifically. It helps with world building, and there’s no historical even recorded so specifically that you can’t excuse blurring the details a lot. I am more guilty of that with Rotten Under the Snow than I would like to be, so hopefully no historians read it."

Rotten Under the Snow also features quite a unique main character. During the 25-page preview we’re shown a glimpse into Dajana's life, and her unique skill set. It’s also revealed that she’s also part of the Russian Night Witches. Without going into spoilers. How does the characters past effect her motivations throughout the novel? 

KC - "This is a great question for me to get pretentious with. Thank you!

The Night Witches were this amazing group of female pilots in World War Two: as women they only had access to the rubbish, outdated planes, so they’d have to turn off their engines to swoop low enough to drop bombs by hand. They didn’t have radar or any real tech, or even parachutes at first, and the male soldiers sort of looked down on them too. They sound like a movie pitch.

When I learned about them, I couldn’t stop thinking about the bravery that their work must have needed, and about how much being so brave while also being treated as basically worthless by your country would have sucked. Dajana comes from all of that and we see her put in a similar position again: she’s treated as this outsider even though she’s doing everything she can to help her country. There’s a lot of anger in her, as well as trauma because of specifically what happened to her, and she’s doing her best to hold onto her humanity despite that.

Sorry- that was a lot!"

We also see you team up with artist Mike Bogdanović, who produces plenty of horrifying imagery throughout the preview. What was it like seeing the horror within your script come to life? 

KC - "I am a huge horror fan and I love what Mike’s done. Time Bomb actually paired us up after I submitted my script, and I’m so grateful that they did. His work- the thick lines and the stylisation- really brought all of the terrible things I’d been thinking about together. The best thing about writing comics is that an artist can come in and make your work so much better, and that’s exactly what he’s done."

Danielle Wiebe also joins the teams as colourist  for Rotten Under The Snow. As readers of Time Bomb Comics Brawler will also notice is that the two of you have teamed up in the past. Was Danielle someone you always had in mind to join you on this one? 

KC - "Not to begin with- but as soon as Steve Tanner (Time Bomb publisher) recommended that we get it coloured, I went to her. Danielle is awesome and I’m so glad she was able to come on board. Her colours are so vivid here."

This year also sees Time Bomb Comics 15th anniversary as a publisher. How has it been working with them on creating this graphic novel? 

KC - "Time Bomb is seriously great to work for. After getting Rotten Under The Snow accepted I was lucky enough to be able to start working for the company in marketing, which has been wonderful- Steve’s taught me a lot about indie publishing, and working with him, Dave and Liz is awesome. You need passion to last as an indie publisher, and when you meet the Time Bomb team you really understand why the company is still going strong after 15 years."

With Time Bomb showcasing a wealth of upcoming talent, with a few industry veterans, is there anyone who we should be looking out for? 

KC - "I can’t say anything specific quite now, but Time Bomb has a really exciting announcement coming up in the next couple of weeks- just keep an eye on the website!" 

And finally, what can we expect to see from yourself in the future? 

KC - "More Space Banshee Exorcist, which also has a big announcement coming in the next few months."

I'd like to thank Katie Cunningham for taking time out of her busy schedule for answering my questions about her work and Time Bomb Comics. 

There's still time to help support both Katie and Time Bomb Comics to bring Rotten Under The Snow to life. You can do so by clicking here. 

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