Hi there, S.M.! Welcome to the MG Book Village! Before we get to your new graphic novel, ALL MY FRIENDS ARE GHOSTS, would you care to tell our readers a little bit about yourself?
Hello! A bit about myself… Hm! I’m an author of a few books now, some of which I have done the art for, and others, like All My Friends Are Ghosts, I worked on with an artist. I’m also an illustrator, and have illustrated comics and book covers. I have written video games and in my spare time like to write prose! I have a cat named Ingrid, she’s a diluted calico. She’s very talkative! I like peach tea and superhero movies. I think that constitutes a bit!
How did you come up with the idea of having Effie, the main character in ALL MY FRIENDS ARE GHOSTS, enroll in a school for ghosts?
When Hannah (the artist and co-creator) and I decided we wanted to work on a book together I asked her what she liked to draw. She said she liked spooky things like ghosts and Draculas and werewolves. I thought of a lot of different things but the one idea that stuck was a school filled with ghosts. We hadn’t figured out *why* they were filled with ghosts just yet, but that was the jumping off point.
Fascinating! And now, I have to ask — have you ever wished that YOU could be friends with ghosts? Or would you rather keep your interaction with them limited to the worlds of your fiction?
I’m sure most ghosts are very chill. I think I would be a cool ghost. I’d just probably haunt a movie theatre and see all the new movies. I imagine most ghosts just mind their own business and we only interact with the rude and scary ones.
Do you have a favorite character or relationship in ALL MY FRIENDS ARE GHOSTS that was the most fun or rewarding to write?
I really loved Caim and Beulah’s relationship. How they went from being extremely at odds with one another to being friends. But I don’t want to ruin any of the story!
Ha! Lastly, we know that ALL MY FRIENDS ARE GHOSTS will be available in comic shops in a couple days, on March 11th, and in bookstores on the 17th. But where can our readers find out more about your and Hannah’s work?
You can find my work at www.smvidaurri.com, and I implore you to check out artist Hannah Krieger’s work at www.hkrieger.com as well!!
S.M. Vidaurri was born and raised in northern New Jersey. He lives and works in New York. He received a BFA in Illustration from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. His apartment is filled with many animals. He likes romance novels and superhero movies. His first graphic novel Iron: Or The War After was published in 2012 and was nominated for the Graphic Album category in the Pépites 2013 Salon de Montreuil. His work was also featured in Locust Moon’s Little Nemo: Dream Another Dream which won for Best Anthology in the 2015 Eisner Awards. He is currently working on writing ‘Steven Universe: Harmony,’ a five issue miniseries starting in September 2018. His client list includes: Archaia Entertainment, BOOM! Studios, Dark Horse Comics, Editions Cambourakis, Image Comics, Paste Magazine, Z2 Comics, and many more.
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ALL MY FRIENDS ARE GHOSTS, an original graphic novel from acclaimed writer S.M. Vidaurri (Iron, Steven Universe), artist Hannah Krieger (Psychic Mansion), and letterer Mike Fiorentino, about discovering what makes you special and believing in yourself, available in stores March 2020.
Effie feels a bit lost in her own life. Her mom’s always working, school sucks, and her teacher doesn’t get her fantastical fiction about werewolves and vampires. One day, when she realizes that no one will notice, she escapes from her everyday life… and discovers a school for ghosts in the nearby woods!
With the help of her new ghostly friends, she enrolls in Minourghast Middle School for Wandering Spirits, but just as she’s beginning to learn all about the amazing things that ghosts can do – like possession, poltergeist-ing, demon magic and more – Effie and her new spirited friends take on the challenge of tracking down and freeing a lost soul. But it’ll take more than ghostly powers to succeed. If Effie’s going to help, she’ll have to look deep within herself and trust the support of her friends.
ALL MY FRIENDS ARE GHOSTS is the latest release from BOOM! Studios’ award-winning KaBOOM! imprint, home to comics for middle grade and younger readers including original series like Just Beyond: The Scare School by R.L. Stine and Kelly & Nichole Matthews, Hex Vet by Sam Davies, Hotel Dare by Terry Blas and Claudia Aguirre, RuinWorld by Derek Laufman, Drew and Jot: Dueling Doodles by Art Baltazar, and Pandora’s Legacy by Kara Leopard and Kelly & Nichole Matthews, as well as licensed series such as Adventure Time, Steven Universe, and Over The Garden Wall.
Print copies of ALL MY FRIENDS ARE GHOSTS will be available for sale on March 11, 2020 at local comic book shops (use comicshoplocator.com to find the nearest one), on March 17, 2020 in bookstores, or at the BOOM! Studios webstore. Digital copies can be purchased from content providers, including comiXology, iBooks, Google Play, and Madefire.
For more on ALL MY FRIENDS ARE GHOSTS and other projects from BOOM! Studios, stay tuned to http://www.boom-studios.com and follow @boomstudios on Twitter.
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