Although probably best known for his award-winning work as an artist on American Vampire, Rafael Albuquerque will take a different role on Funny Creek, a new miniseries debuting from comiXology Originals this week.
Rafael Albuquerque co-wrote the miniseries with Rafael Scavone. Eduardo Medeiros drew it, with colors by Priscilla Tramontano and letters by Bernardo Brice. Bis Stringer Horne edited the project. Funny Creek is the first of four comic books coming out of the comiXology Originals multi-book deal with Stout Club Entertainment.
“We’ve wanted to collaborate in a new project for a long time and finally decided on a book aimed for young readers, which is not our comfort zone at all,” said Albuquerque. “While brainstorming ideas, heavy subjects kept coming to our minds, and we decided that we should not avoid, but embrace them—figuring out how an 8-year old kid would deal with things like loss, guilt and grief. That was the path where we found something unique and interesting for both young and mature audiences.”
Here’s how comiXology describes the project: Set in 1985, young children Lilly and Andy are great friends who both admire the animated wild-west themed TV show Funny Creek. When a terrible tragedy occurs, Lilly finds herself trapped inside her favorite cartoon inhabited by good boys, bad boys and clowns. But the bright world of Funny Creek isn’t as far from the pains of the real world as she had hoped. She joins with Clumsy and Cody to face the devilish villains of Cold Joe and his gang of goons in a showdown in Funny Creek Town. But being a hero isn’t as simple as she thought. As Lilly is pushed deeper into the adventure she is forced to deal with the consequences of her actions—not only inside The Funny Creek show, but also in the real world—and must overcome her troubles and make her way home.
“Guilt is a tough subject for adults to deal with, but it’s even harder from a child’s point of view,” said Scavone. ”The most beautiful in how children communicate — and the most challenging to someone trying to represent it! — is that it is absolutely simple, and yet so rich in meanings. I faced many of my dilemmas as a young and as an adult Rafael, while writing this story. And each time I see Eduardo’s unique art over my script it gives me a sense of magic and growing up.”
Funny Creek debuts this Tuesday on the digital platform.