Tim Bach - Return of the Family Graves
Keeping it Geekly - Hello and welcome, Timothy. How are you doing today?
Timothy Bach - All things considered, I’m pretty good. I hope you and yours are well. And thanks for taking the time to talk with me. I’m a big fan of the way you champion indie comics—so it’s a treat to talk with you!
KiG - I wanted to dig a bit deep into your history as a creator before we dive into The Family Graves: Spell of the Space Witches #1. I see you have credits with a couple of titles, such as Gargoyle by Moonlight, Dark Inheritance, and more. Where did your first steps of becoming a writer begin?
TB - I’ve been creating stories and writing them down since I was a kid. I’ve always been attracted to storytelling in a lot of different forms and have made a career as an editor and writer for a long time. I got serious about comics, but I wasn’t sure how to channel my gifts into the form. Then, at just the right moment, I met editor Andy Schmidt. I took a bunch of classes from him and other pros as a part of the online community Comics Experience. I met some wonderful people and began making comics with them.
KiG - The Family Graves is a sci-fi/monster-adventure comic described as The Munsters meets The Fantastic Four. And whew, do I feel like I am showing my age by knowing what The Munsters is! Can you tell us a bit about the origins of this story?
TB - I’ve always loved monsters, especially the classic ones from Universal Studios, such as the Wolfman, Frankenstein, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. And I was always putting together monster stories featuring team-ups, again, like in the movies. Then, a few years ago, when Brian and I were asked to pitch a series, I focused in on the idea of a team of mixed-up and mismatched monsters—but not just a team, a family. It would be a story about monsters but it would be about the power of doing the right thing and set in a fantastic setting, filled with lots of action and adventure!
This new mini-series, Spell of the Space Witches—while a stand-alone story, perfect for new readers—builds on a lot of the themes from the first series: destiny, power, identity. We examine what it’s like to become your own person in and apart from your family. And we look at how power and the pursuit of it corrupts. It’s all very relevant to what’s going on in our world today. But note: , is the antithesis to the nihilism that surrounds us. It’s a kind of antidote to the news cycle. Sometimes I call it “Feel-good fiction for a reality that’s not so great.” Reading it, you might get scared, you might stop and think—but in the end, you’re going to have fun. We’re giving you rockets into outer space, witchcraft, and the dramas of high school, not to mention werewolves and zombie babies!
KiG - For readers learning about The Family Graves for the first time, can you give us a summary of what has happened in the series so far? What does this universe and world look like?
TB - I’ll start with that second question first so I can set the stage. The world of the comic is one where monsters and fantasy creatures coexist relatively peacefully with humans. So it’s not uncommon for a mummy or an orc to live next door to you. Brian Atkins (artist and series co-creator) does a wonderful job of placing a diverse cast of people and creatures in background shots and of building the world from the architecture of fairy tales and the mundane, regular world. And all that makes the world feel rich but grounded.
The members of the Graves family, like a lot of sentient beings, are trying to make their way in this world just like you and I are. Some of them, such as Nori—the teen daughter who is also a siren—wonder if they can ever be more than monsters; if they can ever be accepted by the wider world as anything but what fate and/or genetics has dealt them, because there are bad monsters in this world, just like there are bad people. And when some creatures go full-on evil, that’s usually when the Family Graves gets involved.
In the first mini-series, we explored the idea of destiny and choice and identity when the werewolf dad and mad scientist, Phil, discovered a set of magical mirrors and the dark power they contained. When Phil realized that his own estranged father, Gustav, was using the mirrors to feed off the space-time continuum, our mixed-up family of monsters pursued Gustav across dimensions to save the very fabric of reality. Although divided by worlds and personal conflicts, the family was able to hold together long enough to keep reality from falling apart. But during all that, Gustav used one of the mirrors to show Nori a possible future self—a dark destiny. We pick up that thread in the new series, where Nori’s going to meet some witchy girls who promise to help her discover her true self.
KiG - This story features a family of monsters: a werewolf dad, a medusa mom, a teen siren, fish-boy, and an adorable baby zombie that blends family drama into supernatural adventures. Was it hard to balance all the dynamics of a family and maintain their monster personas within a comic format?
TB - Writing an ensemble cast, a team book, can be hard. I love all these characters so much that I want to give each of them the spotlight all the time. So when I’m outlining and preparing general ideas, it does take me a little while to focus on the main beats. But the characters themselves tend to tell me which way to go.
A writer has to keep in mind that each character has to have a purpose—a reason for being in the story. You can’t just put together a bunch of cool-looking characters. For the story to be good, there needs to be a reason for the character to exist. And so you give the characters'than wants and needs, strengths and weaknesses—and then you connect them to the other characters in a way that makes the whole stronger then the individual parts.
Each member of the family has a role in the family (chaos agent, peacemaker, etc.) but each character is also a specific monster with certain traits and powers. It’s a lot of fun to bounce these characters off one another and against the wild situations they encounter, seeing what happens.
The first series was really a story about fathers and sons, about Phil dealing with a lot of his past and present choices but also dealing with the relationship with his father and to his own son. But each member of the family has a key role in the story—and they can’t triumph without each other.
This second series focuses on Nori and on her mom, Bjanka. Nori must navigate her growing siren powers but also a trio of witchy mean girls at school and worse. As things begin to spin out of control, Nori learns about her mom’s secret past and mother and daughter have to find a way to move forward together. But, again, it’s a team book, and you’re going to see plenty of all the characters!
KiG - Who is all involved in the creation of The Family Graves: Spell of the Space Witches #1? How does the collaborative process work between the creative team?
TB - Artist Brian Atkins and I co-created The Family Graves. I write while he pencils and inks. Joshua Jensen is the colorist, and Marco Della Verde is our letterer and production person.
Typically, I come up with story ideas and then share them with Brian. We go back and forth, building on each other’s ideas, and then I write the scripts.
Brian is a talented visual storyteller. The stories really improve once he starts penciling. Often, he’ll add a panel to a page or subtract one as needed to make the story better. His action panels are amazing, but he is particularly great at character acting, at capturing emotional moments particularly well. I find myself putting more small moments in the scripts because he does such a great job with them. And his character designs and environments are stunning.
We tend to discuss the characters and settings we need in the story early on. Brian will do multiple sketches of costumes and environments. Spell of the Space Witches needed a lot of different witch designs. I invite readers to go to our Kickstarter campaign page and check out one of the updates, where I shared some of these design sketches and talked a little bit more about the process.
When Brian is done with his pages, we pass them along to Josh. He has a great eye for color and design, for setting the mood. I’m not sure how much the average comic reader appreciates how crucial coloring is in comics storytelling. The colorist doesn’t just color in the lines. Josh understands the need to set the tone for each scene, and he does a wonderful job keying in on the specific things in each panel that need highlighting. He pulls the reader’s eyes to all the key elements. Josh also has a great sense of storytelling and for bringing the environments and characters to life. He often suggests things neither Brian or I even considered, and in doing so elevates the book.
After the pages are colored, we turn things over to Marco. Lettering needs to be subtle yet clear and obvious all at the same time, and Marco has just the right touch. Working with him is a true delight. He’s a real craftsman: consistent, thorough, and patient. He also has a flair for design and makes energetic sound effects just right for the action. And then, finally, he pulls everything together for us on the production side: credit pages, back covers, and all the file prep. We’re fortunate to work with such a talented artisan.
KiG - At the time of this interview, your campaign is currently live for the next 14 days on Kickstartercharacters'. Can you tell us about some of your favorite rewards and tiers?
TB - The Phil Hester variant cover is absolutely amazing! Don’t miss it! And the sketch level is a steal. For $75 you can get a copy of the book plus an original sketch from superstar Brian Atkins. Backers can also pick up a Collector’s Edition Script Pack, which is a copy of the book with a copy of the script—complete with a personalized character Sharpie head sketch by me! And we’re also offering script critique and portfolio reviews. Brian teaches comic art, and I’ve been in publishing for years, so if you want some experienced eyes to review your work, we’ve got you covered.
KiG - Do you have any upcoming projects you can talk about?
TB - All four issues of Spell of the Space Witches are done and ready to go to print. We just need the readers to back us. Issue 1 will be fulfilled in less than 60 days, and then we’ll be running the campaign for issue 2 and so on. So right now, I’m focused on getting The Family Graves into the hands of readers. But like any creator, I am working on several other things—just nothing I can share now.
KiG - What social media platforms can readers stay up to date with your work? Thank you so much for swinging by and chatting with us today. I wish you the best on your campaign and hope to see more from the series in the future!
TB - Thank you for allowing me to share The Family Graves with your readers! The best place for people to find me is probably Bluesky as @timothybachstuff.bsky.social. I’m also on Instagram as @timothybachstuff or Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/timothy.bach.562.
You can find Brian Atkins most easily on Instagram (@brianatkinsart) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/brian.atkins.353).
Josh Jensen is on Bluesky (@jj81-studios.bsky.social) and Marco Della Verde is on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/MarcoDellaVerde75).
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