This is the special dossier for the new Secret Knots comic Saint Jules.
Read the comic here in mobile
and here’s a the Patreon exclusive PDF version in comic book layout, better suited for stationary
1. Inspiration
This is a story where I wanted to play with elements I was missing out from the comics toolbox due to the compressed form of most of my tales, so it was built around dialogue, gestures, silence, a different length and rhythm and the lack of an omniscient narrator. I made many changes to the script, because it seemed to lean at every turn to a more symbolic route, while I initially intended it to be a rather candid scene. I’m aware it ended up being an open ended capsule but I think I like it that way. There is an intended play in the way the festivity of Saint Jules is mirroring an act of letting go the past, just like Julie is on vacations in the aftermath of a marriage gone wrong, but I like metaphors to be present in a fleeting, non-mathematical way, just like fantastic elements in the books of Haruki Murakami seem to point to a very clear, readable meaning one moment and the next they are just puzzling apparitions, possibly inspired by his many topical fixations.
I think it’s not surprising that I enjoy drawing old buildings and weird demons.
This was the first drawing I made when I didn’t know there was a story behind it
I enjoyed working with these two characters
The Dark Flyers
2. References
These are some references I used loosely for the town:
And the dress I adapted for Eva
3. Head Canon
Rumors and theories about the story world that I wouldn’t disprove
The sacrifice of the dark flyers has been celebrated in Saint Jules since 1614. Three times the demons have failed to appear, marked by tragic years for the town: a flood, a septicemic plague and the temporary shutdown of the boarding school due to a brief outbreak of mysterious fainting episodes, all happened during this fated years.
The dark flyers always appear in numbers of two to four. Only in 1896 the locals spotted a single creature floating among the streets, and the rumor states that the unseen companions lived long lives in disguise among humans, one as a tailor, one as a brothel regent. The tailor shop and the brothel are now popular spots in the tours and the current Saint Jules representative in the parliament is said to be a direct descendant from the infamous tailor that lived for many years.
According to the legend, Saint Jules a priest that kept a secret record of all the confessions made to him in an illustrated manuscript. His body was found brutalized and covered in markings, and several witnesses declared having seen flying, cackling creatures escaping the priest’s cell that night, one of them carrying the condemnatory book and feasting on its pages. Although most these citizens were known for their licentious lives, among them was the abbot, who ratified their stories and added vivid details to the devilish attack.
They say the ironic depiction of the Saint making a gesture of silence is of late origin.
The children figures used to trick and feed the flyers started to be made from papier-mâché in the 20th century. In centuries XVII and XVIII they were made of wood, but there’s no agreement among historians how the first fake kids were made and the intriguing representation in paintings of the original decoys screaming and crying doesn’t help to clarify the facts.
The Stamps Vineyard is a vineyard where the leaves show a strange marking resembling a crying Virgin Mary, which was originally used to label the wine bottles. Locals in Saint Jules sometimes use the expression “making the virgin cry” when referring to heavy drinking.
The Dentists Museum collects the tools of a small guild of former blacksmiths who became full time dentists during the XVIII century. None of them had any other medical knowledge and under the guidance of an exiled Italian alchemist, they developed a full array of exotic instruments. These days, Saint Jules has a health system that fully covers dental procedures and their orthodontists claim no relation whatsoever with their predecessors, known in songs and horror stories passed through generations as the Cabal of the Smiles.
4. Companion Playlist
Playlist link
I hope you liked the dossier. Feel free to add to the Head Canon or say Hi. And if you tell others on your social media about my comic and their many secrets, may lucky spirits bless you with success and brilliance.
Thanks for your support as usual!
Juan.
