E.D. Pedersen recently penned and painted all the artwork for the latest localized graphic novel, Enigmatarium. The book itself isn’t quite what you would expect, especially considering the artwork puts it somewhere between the original Crow books and material from Sandman. The content delves into personal demons and feelings from the author, put to poetry and other material, making it a very unique read. Pedersen chatted about his work with City Weekly‘s own Gavin Sheehan about putting it together over the years and the connection he has with his characters. Plus talk of the sequel on the way.
Gavin’s Underground interview with E.D. Pedersen
Gavin: From a personal standpoint, what do the two characters in the story represent in your writing?
E.D.: That’s a difficult one. There are so many characters in this book representing so many different facets of my life and personality. More than anything, they are a representation of balance. I am a firm believer that one cannot exist without the other. That in order for balance to maintain itself, the good must be accompanied by the bad equally. And keeping a firm understanding that good is not always good and bad can sometimes be just what you need. My life has had parts that were so bad, I had to believe that there was an equal good out there for me, somewhere.
Gavin: How did you feel once you finally finished it to look the way you wanted it?
E.D.: Relief more than anything. Sadly there was no jumping for joy or huge smiles. I was so very tired, as you can clearly read in Matthias‘ final speech. I was so done being trapped inside the Enigmatarium that by the time I made it out alive it was like being released from prison. I was standing outside of a facility free to do what I wanted. I realized I didn’t know what I wanted. I had no plans for life after thirty. For the last fifteen years this book was all I knew. I had to sacrifice so much for this project, for this promise I made to myself that I was not a quitter and that I would finish what I started. In doing so, I have had to say goodbye to a lot of people over the years. Some of them I still go everyday thinking about wishing I never had to. But, as my readers well know, not all stories have a happy ending. It would have been much different if I had written this book just to write a book and publish it, but I don’t even look at this as a book, this was my therapy and it just happened to take the form of a book.
