Metaphrog on their new comic book heroine: ‘She feels like our kid’
The experienced graphic-novel duo who work under the Metaphrog moniker are back with a dynamic new character. They tell Isy Santini that getting young people into reading has never been more important
‘More than anything else, we want young readers to be transported,’ says John Chalmers, one half of the creative duo commonly known as Metaphrog. Together, Chalmers and illustrator Sandra Marrs have published dozens of comics and graphic novels since they began working together nearly 30 years ago. Their latest offering takes readers on a whimsical journey through magical libraries, spooky forests and never-ending lakes.
Wilomina: The Land Of Dreams And Nightmares tells the story of a young girl who finds herself lost in the dreamworld of Nocturna on her way to visiting her mother in hospital. Desperate to return in time to see her, Wilomina must first rescue her father and brother and figure out a way to restore balance to a world slowly being taken over by nightmares. ‘It’s full of creepy and exciting stuff like monsters, dragons, spider-witches,’ says Marrs.
Though Wilomina deals with some heavy topics, Chalmers and Marrs are careful never to let the book feel dark or depressing. ‘We knew that the mum had to be in hospital and that Wilomina was on her way, but we made sure to balance that with a lot of humour,’ explains Marrs. Beyond the addition of wit, the pair felt it was important to imbue their story with hope. ‘There are characters who obviously love each other and care about what’s happening; they want to see dreams survive,’ says Chalmers. This chimes with the duo’s own punk-rocker past. ‘We wanted to make the world a better place and we see that in Wilomina, probably because she’s part of us in a sense.’ Nodding, Marrs adds, ‘she feels like our kid’.
For Chalmers, Wilomina’s hope is a reflection of real-life youngsters. ‘A lot of young people like doing community gardens or getting together to do stand-up comedy or form a band or write poetry. I think they understand that culture needs diversity and that we need to have positives, regardless of what’s happening outside of our control.’ Writing for young people has always come naturally to the pair, but they now ascribe a new urgency to it. ‘In our anglophonic world, education has been underfunded for several terms, which means that books aren’t naturally finding their way to young people,’ says Chalmers. ‘Comics in a way redress that. Marrs agrees: ‘And it seems that most children who read comics still prefer paper formats rather than screens, which I think is a great thing.’
Wilomina: The Land Of Dreams And Nightmares is published by Scholastic on Thursday 13 August; Metaphrog discuss the book at Waterstones, Glasgow, Tuesday 11 August and at La Belle Adventure, Edinburgh, Saturday 12 September.