Inside the Cave with Ryan K Lindsay

Coming this January from Mad Cave Studios is the newest antler-noir miniseries from Ryan K Lindsay and Sami Kivelä, Deer Editor. Colored by Lauren Affe and lettered by Jim Campbell, Deer Editor follows along with the intrepid editor and reporter Bucky as he unravels his town’s greatest conspiracy! There’s only one catch: The editor of the year is a deer.

Mad Cave Studios’ marketing manager, Maya Lopez, sat down with Ryan, author of Deer Editor, to chat about out about his inspirations, his creative process, the making of Deer Editor, and more! Read on for the full interview!

Q: Thank you so much for taking the time to answer our questions today, Ryan! Can you please tell us a little bit about yourself?

Ryan K Lindsay: I can definitely unravel the basic ingredients to this comic book writing recipe. I’m from Australia and I’ve been writing comics for two decades, and getting them published for about half that time. I started off with comic shorts and one-shots and eventually settled into a groove of miniseries and graphic novels that have let me explore strange ideas through a genre lens and have sometimes won some awards, or just helped me pay some bills.

If you’ve read any of my other work, like the emotionally warped Negative Space with Owen Gieni or the shieldmaiden ghost story Eternal with Eric Zawadzki or the absolutely bombastic Speed Republic with Emanuele Parascandolo, then you are ready for the weird crime and character combo of Deer Editor.

Q: What is your biggest inspiration when it comes to writing comics?

RKL: It’s other creator owned comics. When I see other creators wield this artform like a machete through the scrub, but also a telescope to another world, it makes me want to sit down and get my own script pages set out and start collaborating with this field of amazing artists who have been my copilots on other stories.

Though when it comes to writing my stories, often Sami Kivela himself is a huge inspiration for me. We’ve worked on many stories together over the past decade, and thinking about what masterful stuff he can create next really gets me amped to sit down and make some four colour magic happen. He’s hands-down one of the best artists in comics right now, and having him as a co-pilot and a good friend means the world to me.

Q: In Deer Editor, we follow intrepid newspaper editor Bucky, who just so happens to be a deer. What was your biggest inspiration in writing this story?

RKL: I’ve always loved newsroom stories. I can remember watching and rewatching The Paper, which was this seemingly forgotten newspaper drama from Ron Howard that starred Michael Keaton as this editor in a newsroom, and I loved the intensity and pace and fun of it all. That movie set me on a path of other newsroom dramas like All The President’s Men and His Girl Friday up to Zodiac and The Post. I’m just a sucker when it comes to someone getting a story in by deadline, and was very close to pursuing journalism as a career until I stuck with the initial dream of teaching and have been doing that for twenty years.