Comic name: Without Moonlight
Creator: Tantz Aerine
Genre: War, Espionage, Drama
Synopsis: A mismatched group of Athenians try to help Greek Resistance with their plan against the Nazis.
Comic link: http://www.withoutmoonlight.com
FB link: https://www.facebook.com/withoutmoonlight & https://www.facebook.com/tantz.aerine
Please leave your critiques in the comments below!
An Interview with Tantz Aerine
1. When did you first come up with the idea for your comic?
Tantz: Oh, when I was around 14. I’m 36 now so 22 years ago! One of Greece’s national holidays is October 28th, which commemorates our entry in WWII, that famous (to us) “No” Day, when we as the underdog refused passage to the at-the-time-powerful Axis Italy and actually managed to win. We of course lost after that to the Germans, but took a few mere months to start up Greek Resistance, which is documented as one of the first to organize, and the one to do the first serious sabotages in Occupied Europe. So as you can imagine that entire historical period is the stuff of legends over here, and I’ve always been a history buff.
I’ve always wanted to create a story about the Greeks during the Occupation of Greece, not just during the Greco-Italian War or our part in the Middle Eastern front. The idea struck me when I first read about Athenian leapers- youngsters that leaped on nazi trucks and stole food for themselves and others, risking their lives to battle the nazi-induced famine of 1941-42. I wanted to write a story about those and so I kept reading up on them, and researching. So the characters, the setting, everything had been rolling around in my mind since my teens. But the plot that tied everything together came to me around 2010, when reading up on a certain historical event that happened then (and pretty much established the Greek Resistance).
2. What does your workspace look like (feel free to attach a photo if you’d like)? If you can add anything to it, what would it be?
Tantz: Picture’s attached! And I’d get one of those science fiction-y computer tables like in The Island. Heh heh heh.
3. What’s your favorite time-sucking activity?
Tantz: Binge watching series, I guiltily admit.
4 . Lord of the Rings or Star Wars?
Tantz: Lord of the Star War Rings. With Thrones. And Games….
What I mean to say is that any epic that has a good enough setup, plot or fantasy world is going to be fine by me. If all three of those are good, then I will be a dedicated fan.
5. If you were writing a clever interview question for the next spotlight, what would it be? Feel free to answer this question for yourself if you’d like!
Tantz: If money was no object and access was no object, would you want your comic to be made into a series or a movie, animated or live action and would you want established actors or unknowns?
-My answer: I think my comic would make a good movie, live action. I’d want a couple of established actors for Bohm and Grandma Pelagia or Father Yiannis. But the rest I’d like to be unknowns. What I really would invest on would be a good director that would also be willing to listen to me as the comic’s creator in some directing issues. I’m not sure who would be the best but I’m imagining as the perfect director for Without Moonlight is a cross between Quentin Tarantino, Guillermo del Toro and Brian Percival.
6. From the last spotlightee, Thibault (Doppleganger):”If your main character wasn’t involved in the line of work you’ve written for him, what would s/he do? I think Composite would make a terrific accountant.”
Tantz: I’m not sure. I’ve been in awe of several works of fiction, in book or movie form, and a raging fan of many but I can’t really say I’ve ever wished I’d written any of them. At least since I started to write professionally. But as a kid hell yes! Tons of stories and books and movies, and I remember always starting a story of my own trying to create “something like that” (with usually cringeable and/or hilarious results). The ones I can readily think of include Enyd Blighton’s “The 5 Hounds” children’s mystery series, a couple of Greek books by Alki Zei (whose works I recommend furiously- they have been translated into a gazillion languages) namely “Near the Railroad Tracks” and “The Tiger in the Glass Window” (all stories about pre-revolution eras), anything of MacGyver, Indiana Jones, Anne Marie Selinco’s Desiree… the list goes on and on. I used to read about two books a week as a kid. And I wanted to write that book my way right after.
Tantz: A lot! This particular slice of history is not very well documented in school books, for various reasons, most of them political. So I’ve had to research mostly from raw material from the era, accounts of contemporaries and several different sources written by people across the political gamut. So before I even started to write out the script I’d gone through a pile of newspapers of the time that I’d found in old thrift book stores we have a lot here in the center of Athens and at all times I have a couple of books and magazines with authentic pictures, snapshots and documents nearby, the actual “White Bible of the Resistance” as it was called (which was basically how the Resistance self-organized from the bottom up) and some authentic black and white reels of streets of Athens at the time. And I still keep researching and gathering material and information. All in all I’d say I’ve roughly seriously researched the material for a couple of years.
10. Your other comic, Brave Resistance, is set in the same time period/location as Without Moonlight. Are there any crossovers or parallels that occur between the two?
11. What’s next for Without Moonlight?
[WARNING: Spoilers!] Tantz: Hm, I’m not quite sure what you mean by that. If you mean what’s coming up next: it’s a scene I’ve been looking forward to since the moment I’d finished up the prologue. Fotis, one of my main characters, is the leaper kid that gets caught by the Nazis and tortured to force him to reveal the hiding place of a very important microfilm. While he’s in their custody, the Resistance’s leader will need to decide what to do because Fotis is the ONLY one that, as circumstance has it, knows where the microfilm is and the Resistance needs it as much as the Nazis do. At the same time, not everyone in the Nazi ranks is okay with the torture of what is basically a kid so they will need to decide what to think and then maybe what to do. And in the midst of that is Basil, who isn’t quite Resistance but is definitely counting himself as Fotis’ protector, and though he is one-armed, he’s proven himself a very efficient killing machine when he puts his mind to it.
I can’t wait to get to draw that! I’m almost there. Only a couple of pages left to go…
Fan art for Without Moonlight!
Thanks to azyzl for this week’s magnificent fan art for Without Moonlight! If you haven’t had a chance to check out azyzl’s comic Crystal Ball yet, you NEED to read it!
If you have fan art for Withouth Moonlight you’d like to share with the world, please upload it in our forums here.
So, I was reading some of your notes below the comic and was SHOCKED when you casually mentioned one of the reasons for an update delay:
“Then right after she left, they fire-bombed my car. It’s burnt up now, and it was done in continuation of an assortment of threats we’ve been getting over our activism. Anyway that took up more of my time so… yeah, more delay.”
WTF?! Really, someone burned your car? Do you mind talking about what kind of activism would prompt such a violent response?
Yes that’s right, someone burnt my car. A friend even made a meme out of it (that’s a photo of my fire bombed car ).
I don’t mind at all! We are at the helm of a panhellenic move to demand a State of Justice. We made the motion to the ICC at the Hague in 2011, when the government pretty much gave up state Sovereignty to the IMF and a vague group of ‘debtors’ who dictate the minutest detail of not only financial policy but education, health, infastructure and the like, in the same time forcing us to shut down every profit-making enterprise, from agriculture to power energy to exports and sell it at a tiny fraction of the real price to ‘private investors’ who will offer lesser services for a higher price.
Right now as we are, we’re facing a methodical annihilation as a People (we the Greeks), since wages are cut so drastically that 2/3rds of the Greeks live below poverty line, children faint out of starvation at schools (they hide they are hungry until the literally drop in the desk), a skyrocketing suicide rate, death from lack of prenatal care, exposure or lack of access to basic health care, a revoking of all disability privleges of those with a disability percentage of 80% and up, encouragement for mass migration, complete anomy (the laws aren’t followed by the state, and only used to extract coercion when it’s to the government’s interest, otherwise court decisions or even the Constitution itself is ignored and the government simply takes what it’s told it is illegal to take), and so on. The list is never ending, and they keep adding to it every day. Only yesterday they decided to tax blood donors as ‘enterpreneurs’ because they donate (i.e. they freely give) their blood to the Red Cross and other such NGOs. It’s insanity, pure, utter and surreal.
So our activism is basically to legally prosecute each and every one of those governmental parties, within and outside our borders, until they topple as criminals (and thus not allowed to hold their office). Hundreds of thousands are following our lead and apply the same legal methods to either stall procedures or accelerate the prosecution of those breaking our Constitution and our constitutional Law, in each sector we’re active (currently in about 3 of them, we represent our own selves most of the times).
Since we began we’ve been targetted by the state in various ways, including death threats the police refuse to investigate, cutting off our water and power supply illegally (and then refusing to reconnect them when we won at court), issuing a ban on mass media that dare to air us and our activism as news etc etc etc. The latest thing was this firebombing.
Unless you’re a tourist in Greece, here there’s a very covert yet very real, abjectly cruel and deadly war going on. But we’re going to fight it to the end, and win. 🙂
I like the idea of this comic a lot. The setting, characters and story are all compelling.
I do feel like it is let down by its art somewhat, though, just by virtue of it being inconsistent. Some pages look quite decent, while others have a fairly uniform line thickness and a slightly muddy colour palate, and a little goes a long way. I would definitely suggest improving that if possible, or at least defining it more.
I like the size of the pages in terms of what’s happening, though it is a bit wide (that’s not a complaint, just an observation). I also like the variety that you take with the dialogue and inflections from different characters.
At this moment, honestly, I don’t think this comic will make it onto the list of work I check regularly, but that’s alright, it’s part of what the spotlight is for. There’s definitely potential to this work and I’d love to see what you do with it if you can smooth out (what I see as) the rough edges.
All the best.
Well, thanks for the review. While it is true that the pages in the beginning do have an issue with line thickness, that was fine tuned and improved as the comic progressed and isn’t an issue anymore.
That is what art is, an evergoing arc of improvement and that can’t but be evident in a work such as Without Moonlight, which evolves and gets perfected as I keep working at it over the years. It’s what I expected of your own work when I read through it to review it when it was in the spotlight earlier, and didn’t think you needed to be told to keep improving 😉
Of course, and I completely agree.
I am definitely glad to see it improving, which is why I mentioned that it was inconsistent.
I apologize if the way I put it made you feel defensive – again, I think there’s a lot of potential to your work, and that especially the setting and characterizations that you have chosen are excellent. I don’t think any of us are interested in putting each other’s work down, but we should all be open to ways of improving during the spotlight (for my own comic, for example, putting a LOT more effort into making things clear and not needlessly confusing for the audience – there’s a lot of room for improvement in storytelling and pacing).
I still thank you 🙂 We all improve together. Even in the way we give each other feedback.
An improvement arc, where the first pages aren’t as good as the later ones though doesn’t qualify as ‘inconsistency’, they’re all pages consistent in constantly improving (i.e. consistently having the next one be same or better than the one before).
The issue is that it’s not something I can do anything about except, when I’m done, going back and redoing the early pages to the standard I’ll have reached when I’m finished. But do you honestly think this is an issue that qualifies as “ways of improving during the spotlight”? Or something that should put a reader off, the fact that the comic’s art tightens as it progresses?? I always thought that’s presented as a plus, not a negative.
I would feel much more helped by your review (i.e take it as constructive criticism and not some sort of attack I cannot really use to improve) if your tips on improvement were things I can actually do something about now, like technique or whatever.
Otherwise, your comment (and considering it was the first comment actually touching upon the comic itself in this spotlight) can’t really help me, can’t encourage me, could have discouraged me from continuing, and certainly won’t encourage anyone to give it a whirl either, which I think is a definite purpose the spotlight has.
I’m sure that wasn’t the purpose of your comment. I’m just telling you how it comes across at least to a good degree if not completely.
As for your comic, unless you felt the audience should know what the cusp of your plot is by now, I don’t see problems with it, OR with the audience not knowing why Composite needs to go around killing his doppelgangers. Reading through it I trusted you’d reveal the reason to me when you wanted to, and inspiring trust in your audience as an author is the basic, key thing. If you want, I’d tell you what I do think could use improvement in a private chat- without that meaning that your comic isn’t noteworthy as is now.
As noted, art is in a constant state of improvement through regular practice and self-monitoring. So whatever technical faults you find at the beginning of a webcomic usually get worked out over the course of the series, as the artist naturally improves. (In some cases the artist is so egotistical that they see no reason to improve and remain static, but that’s certainly not the case here or with any other Underdog comic)
I really love Without Moonlight, not just as a technical work and an emotional experience, but as a statement; it’s historical fiction that clearly resonates with modern events in Greece. Obviously Tantz Aerine knows far more about that than I do, given her personal connection to the nation’s woes, but the passion comes through in the work. It also shows a section of Holocaust history that hasn’t been swallowed up by the larger, blander, Godwin’s Law narrative, of what day to day life was like in a country occupied by the Nazi regime, how brutal they were to anyone who wasn’t part of their elite (not just the Jewish), and how terrifying it was to live in a state where violent reprisals against you and your loved ones could be triggered by anything. As well as the heroism of those who stood against it, tempered by the tension in the group that realistically would occur under such circumstances (which makes it a far more credible and sympathetic depiction of a rebellion).
The one criticism I have involves the lettering, which I found distracting. The semi-transparent word balloons were a bit difficult on the eyes, though thankfully they were turned opague white. The polygonal edged shapes remain, however, and are another thing that personally throws me off. The upper case lettering, for both languages, is something that doesn’t quite work for me but might just be a regional difference; American comics use almost exclusively upper case lettering, due to their origins as being marketed to small children as flashy and disposable pulp entertainment. Other cultures that use the Latin alphabet are more likely to letter in mixed case like normal, so perhaps it’s just me. Still, lettering is the kind of thing that’s most noticeable when it feels “off”, so I would hope that it would be more standardized so that the story itself could shine through better, because it totally deserves to.
Thank you for your kind words! I’m impressed, you are the first one to say that you have felt the current events in Greece reverberating in this period piece. That is true- it is the sentiment here that we’re experiencing another occupations, minus the overt gun-violence (though the violence through riot police, and being taken to questioning with assorted abusive or even torturous experiences does take place), and I wanted that to grip the heart of any Greek reading the comic.
Now as for the bubbles, yeah that was a HORRID choice on my part. Looking back I can’t imagine what possessed me not to make them opaque after page one. The angled bubbles is something I really like personally. (Don’t ask me why. I’m odd) However a lot of people have voiced irritation with them so I’ll make a test page with round bubbles and see if you guys like those better. I’ll give my beloved angled ones up if you do *sniffle*
As for the lettering, yeah European comics tend to have bubbles in normal upper/lower case mix. I’ll definitely work on the whole lettering issue, at least on the bubbles front.
I’m happy you didn’t seem to have much problem with the font though. I struggled with that a year or so ago.
I’ve read this comic through a few times when I made your TVtropes page and I’ll be echoing a few of the sentiments I expressed there in this feedback. But let’s get the site critique out of the way.
I’ve been following the comic on CF and probably will continue to do so only because it’s easier to keep track if you update that way, but I did visit the official site. The site is organized very well and the navigation is nice and easy to figure out. I especially like all the extras and how much you show your work, for those curious about the real-life parallels. This would be a great comic to recommend to WWII history buffs, since they tend to really get sucked into things like this and the impact of the war on Greece is so rarely brought up. However, there are two problems I have with the site. First, I don’t see any way to jump to a specific page. There’s a drop-down list of chapters, but trying to get to a page in the middle of a chapter requires either using the search bar, which isn’t very easy, or just clicking through a chapter until you get there. Thankfully, clicking on the image takes you to the next page, which saves a little time, but still, I rag on everybody about archives and nobody is exempt. For a story as complex as this, you really need to allow people to easily go back and re-read pages, especially when you so many different narrative threads and characters interacting. The only other problem I have with the site is the background graphic, which is a minor aesthetic thing, but hear me out. I like the idea of the image, but it doesn’t work very well here. For one thing, the flag is almost always obscured, and for another, the composition is really off-balance. One side is pitch black and dominates the weight of the page. I keep tilting my head to the left when I look at it, because the other side feels so much lighter. As a stand-alone picture, it’s actually really cool, but it throws off the site design. My suggestion is this: either have that face on both sides, mirroring each other, or have an enemy face of the opposite side for contrast. The composition will be more balanced then and I will look like less of a head-tilting idiot when I read the comic. Anyway, aside from those two things, everything else about the site runs perfectly and I like the effort you put into your content.
So with that said, I might as well bring up the art. It’s a little unrefined, but in some ways that actually benefits the comic. Let me explain; normally, I wouldn’t like the lines looking so rough or for the colors to be so close in value to each other. However, in this case, the rough lines gives a sort of dirty, unkempt look to the visuals which I find very appropriate to the story’s tone. I also find that the colors tending towards being undersaturated and very close in value gives the comic a cold, stark, almost bleak look. I really can’t say the comic is pretty to look at, but I’ll be darned if it doesn’t set the mood just right and I wouldn’t suggest you change that for one second. However, I do think some of the roughness needs work. The characters go off-model just enough that I sometimes have to look back on previous pages to confirm somebody is who I think they are. The facial proportions in particular never seem to stay the same. If the art kept its dark, messy look and got rid of the inconsistencies, it would be much, much better and a little easier to follow. That being said, there are still other things I like. For example, your translation convention of colored fonts is a great idea and I personally find it quite effective.
As for the writing, I think what I find the most impressive is the sheer amount of dedication and research you’ve put into this story, as well as the fearlessness in how you tell it. The research shows through in how well you establish your setting and characters, making everyone react in very believable ways and having even some of the enemy soldiers show depth and individuality despite their role as bad guys (of course, you have gleefully evil characters too and I approve of this as well). The fearlessness comes from the sheer candid brutality. Death, oppression, child suffering, and every other cruel thing that comes with war is very openly shown and is a real danger to your characters. This is part of what I find engaging–you have a cast with a lot of children and there’s no guarantee they’ll survive. In fact, they seem likely not to, and given how realistic these kids act and how sympathetic they are in light of their situation, it’s hard not to feel afraid for them, especially your main character. I want to believe he’ll survive, but this is war and your depiction of it is so realistic. That alone adds to the suspense and makes your writing that much more engrossing. I really don’t have anything to recommend in that department. You’re a good writer, you’ve done your homework, and I’m going to keep on reading.
There are a few things you could polish up here and there, but overall, this is a fantastic work of historical fiction and I’m very impressed with how much effort you’re putting into this. I’d tell you to keep it up, but there’s no need–you almost certainly will whether I say it or not.
Wow, thank you! You’re right, I’ll continue and see the story through to the end, come hell or high water 🙂 I’m really happy you’re enjoying it. I must confess at times I’m scared or sorry or grieved about my characters in this story as well. Sometimes I don’t want to write, or draw, what is coming.
As for your art suggestions- I’ll take them to heart. I’m always trying to polish the art more. The one thing I AM doing on purpose is the almost identical value of the colours. Before starting this comic I made the same panel in a series of colour palettes, from grayscale to Marvel-style brightness and saturation in colours and I found the one I’m using right now to suit the mood. As for the faces- I keep trying to make them more and more consistent! Drawing is something I’m not yet on the same level as writing (I’m teaching myself).
On the site- you’ve no IDEA how much I’ve tried to get that frigging drop-down menu of every page! In the end I contacted the wordpress comic easel author to ask him now to frigging do it, and he said he hasn’t yet added that feature… so I need to wait for it. The background idea might work! I’ll try it. I was thinking it might feel a bit one sided… good suggestions indeed 🙂
And of course, thank you for making my TV tropes page!