An Interview with Sean McDevitt

Where did the story begin?

I was going to the San Diego Comicon in 2009 and wanted to have a simple story I could hand to publishers and other creative types. As a writer, it's difficult to showcase what you can do in a format that publishers understand. So I decided a small 16-page booklet would do the trick.

The story is dark. Where did it come from?

The Beautiful Kill represents a decidedly dark time for me. The story itself came flowing out of me into a Moleskine notebook. I couldn’t stop writing as the story needed an ending, and the ideas were coming like lightning bolts.

It's not a short story exactly. You created a fumetti. Can you explain what that is?

Basically, a fumetti is a photo comic. I didn't have a penciler, inker, or a letterer to do a proper comic. I used a model and took photos after I had the story set. I experimented with various Photoshop settings to get the look for the entire piece. Adding in Creative Commons photos allowed the project to have a bit more life than just still photography.

Was it always going to be a fumetti?

The idea of turning the story into fumetti came later. Asking my friend to pose as naked as she felt comfortable with while I take hundreds of pictures was a “hold my breath” moment, but she instantly understood the art form and wanted to participate.

Why only 99 cents?

I love this story and want more people to find it and read it.

Gallery