Ben Rankel, creator of FRANK, at Crowfoot Chapters on May 19, 2018. (Photo credit: Chris Doucher for GeekNerdNet.com)
I recently met up with Ben Rankel, and I chatted with the artist and writer about of FRANK, his creator-owned original graphic novel. It's a fictional murder mystery that takes place during the very real Frank slide disaster, April 29, 1903, in the province of Alberta, and is Canada's largest natural disaster. "The idea was to try to take a bit of Alberta culture, and history and weave it together with an interesting story to engage people...of telling stories set here," says Rankel.
The book is published by Renegade Arts Entertainment, and features the talents of letterer and co-cover designer, Ryan Ferrier and Editor, Alexander Finbow. Rankel gives us insight into many elements of his process, including the timing of this book, and just how much longer than expected that it took him to finish, as well as so many other great bits about his work.
I have read FRANK, and here's what I think: Quite frankly, one of the best murder mystery stories I have read in a long time. There you go. So, hit play on the Soundcloud link and have a listen to Rankel talk in more detail about the creation of FRANK. (*If you have any issue playing the audio, please reload the page and select/tap/click where it says “Listen in browser.”)
Do you want to meet Ben Rankel? Well, Rankel continues his book tour to the following Alberta comics hot spots: Happy Harbor Comics (Edmonton, Alta.) on May 23, 2018 from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., and then, he will be part of a workshop at the third annual Panel One Comic Creator Festival (Calgary, Alta.) on Saturday, May 26, 2018.
Also, find Ben on Instagram: @BenRankel
This interview was recorded, and written by Chris Doucher, Managing Editor of GeekNerdNet.