93015_RAA_UntitledWalkerYoungProject-R1_PROOF

Good, bad; it didn’t matter because I was writing . During the summer I had written the scripts for about three features and too many shorts to count...

too far? Okay.

My freshman year of high school I decided I really wanted to be a writer. I wrote everything that came to my mind.

Hi, I’m Walker Young!

it all started the summer of 2007 when I was born at a very young age...

But then I realized: none of it would matter if no one saw them. That's when I remembered that my dad is an award-winning comic book writer.

I spent the next three months talking to him about comics, artists, and the business in general. After that I had decided that to get me off the ground I needed something to hand to people with my name on it.

I chose comics as my debut project to show the world I understand the power of words and pictures. comics, cartoons, live-action. I love it all.

Don’t think that I’m not grateful to everybody who helped me get my first couple stories out for you to read. Because I am.

the Fillbach Brothers’ art is so

smooth and enjoyable, I’m ruined forever. Those guys are a couple of solid citizens. Daniel’s art was amazing and did a great job of bringing Jack Fry to life. And, look at this awesome painting, by Justin Randall! it’s amazing!

and of course thanks to Jasper for reading my shitty stories in sixth grade, Jones for encouraging me in the most mellow way possible, and all my other friends for motivating me to keep going.

Most of all, thank you for reading my first comic ever and I hope you enjoy it.

And now, ladies and gentlemen... page one!

I met the Fillbachs in 2018 at my first San Diego show at booth #2001. Everybody I know who loves their work calls them “the cowboys,” but I know them as my buddies Matt and Shawn. I wrote Going Dark and my dad read it and said, “Boy, I bet the cowboys would love to draw this.” My dad sent them my script and for Christmas I was surprised by a portfolio of the art they drew of my story. Not just their amazing art but all of their thumbnails and notes giving me a small masterclass on comic books. Jeez, these guys made my first story look great. I can’t thank them enough.

Matt and Shawn in 2018 at Walker’s first San Diego show at booth #2001.

When our companero, Larry Young, asked us : “Would you guys like to read my kid’s story and see if you’d like to draw it?” We said: “Hell, yeah! We love Walker!” So, from a distinguished high school gentleman, we expected a tale of Sci-Fi, or horror, most likely superheroes or even toilet bowl humor (of which we are fans of). But what we got was Going Dark. A beautiful period piece character study. We immediately knew how to draw it. It’s the type of story an artist loves to be handed. We were given eight pages, and of course, we had to make it ten. Walker was lucky we didn’t make it eighty pages!

Art is life. And life becomes art. And as always… the best is yet to come.

This one is called “The Missing,” and it’s by me and this cool Brazilian artist my dad found, Daniel Caval. And I’m really excited for you to read it. I spent a long time working on this and refining it and just making it the best story I could make with characters as real as I could make them. Daniel did a really good job of bringing Jack Fry to life. He’s a character that I loved writing and I am going to keep writing about so buckle up, buddy. Jack Fry is on the case.

it started off like every other day.

except it wasn’t.

it was my day off.

the first one I got to take in months.

of course, trouble came knocking.

ding

ding

go AWAY.

mister fry? I know you’re in there.

please.

I need your help.

please.

goddammit.

my husband.

what do you want?

he’s gone missing.

SLAM!

he’s cheating on you.

drug overdose.

accident.

...I dunno, the people he owes all that money to finally caught up to him.

please leave. it’s my day off .

ding

yes?

I can make it worth your while.

sorry; I don’t accept sex as payment.

mister fry! I beg your pardon!

then... what?

what all you gumshoes want...

money.

yes, mister fry.

so.

husband?

James Quinn.

missing?

my husband.

Owes money to people? Seeing anyone?

You know. Other than you.

James only owed money to my brother; my father , maybe.

When did he go missing? The date? Approximate time sure would be helpful, too.

nothing serious , perhaps five or six thousand dollars. They had some project they were trying to get out from under.

To answer your second question: no.

He was nice, kind... a loving husband. When he went missing... he just vanished.

Thursday. it was last Thursday.

...he wasn’t there.

We went to bed. Then the next morning I woke up and...

So... he most likely left you in the middle of the night.

But he didn’t take anything, a suitcase, his clothes, money...

...it’s all still there. He didn’t even muss the bed.

Police?

Yes, of course. but they said the same things you did.

Okay, I’ll look into it.

Of course. Thank you, Mr.Fry.

write your home address on the book next to the door.

okay, TRAViS BANKS ...

...Up and vanished around 11 pm...

...found in the Northwest Byer Woods .

BROOKE, J.

BECKER, J.

P|ERCE, A.

bilLy Lance, just gone . some time around midnight...

Angel HilL. poof . Not there. Disappeared sometime around three in the morning. Byer Woods.

M|SS|NG

M|SS|NG

M|SS|NG

BANKS, T.

LANCE, W.

HILL, A.

...found in the western part of Byer Woods.

M|SS|NG

M|SS|NG

CLOSED

James Quinn, disappeared between...

Looks like I know where I’m headed next.

...between six and nine in the morning.

So that's why I'm here. investigating a case that I shouldn't even have taken in the first place.

But life throws you a curveball sometimes...

byer woods

...and Then, sometimes? it just fucks you.

H E Y !

Mr.Fry. I thought you said you would get back

to me in a week.

may I come in?We need to talk.

Take your coat? Would you like to sit down?

I found your husband.

I don’t plan on being here long. But you might want to sit.

He’s dead.

Did you find who killed him?

You’ll think I'm crazy but the only way I can describe what I saw?

Aliens!

it was aliens.

You may think this is some kind of joke Mr. Fry but I do not.

That’s what I saw.

Everyone processes grief in their own way.

SLAM!

fuckin’ aliens.

Special Thanks Ken Knudtsen, cover. First off, I want to say how much I love Ken’s art. It’s an amazing style and I always love looking at it. I have the cover art in my office as well as a full-on pen-and-ink he drew for me of Jennifer the Monkey hanging out with John Wick. Love love love his art. But that cover? The picture he drew inspiration from was just a picture of me on my bike and I can’t say how much he went above and beyond and brought that Ken Knudtsen flair to my first book. Just amazing. Thanks, Ken. Can’t tell you how much I appreciate that cover. You rock. Justin Randall, inside cover. Thank you so much, Justin, for the awesome illo of me as an astronaut. I’ve been loving this painting for half my life, so it’s funny how a picture of me standing next to my bunk bed and my favorite color being “lasers” could turn into such an amazing bit of art under the hand of a talented artist. Love it. Samantha Shear Thank you Sam for sitting down with me and giving me a two-hour masterclass on screen writing and everything I need to know about where to start as a filmmaker. Everything in our conversation that I learned from you about effective storytelling is in this. Ken Levin Thanks Uncle Ken for being an inspiration. You’re the kind of whirlwind I love to be around. Hibbs and everyone at Comix Experience Comix Experience has been my go-to store for the past couple of years and they have been nothing but nice. It's a good time every time I walk in and get my comics, furthering my love of the craft. Frank at Amazing Fantasy Thank you to Frank for every back issue I can think of. It’s all there, what ever I am looking for. It's so much fun to walk around his store and I always leave with something in my hand. Leef Smith at Mission:Comics and Art Mission Comics is a great place to get volumes of whatever you can think of and a great environment to look around, grab some issues, and have a chat. I lived in their back issue rack when I was a kid. Mark and Steve Mark Espinosa and Steve Uchrin have been great friends to me since from before I could walk and are still here for me now. It’s amazing to have such good friends who I go see movies with and can nerd out with. Love you guys. Auden Pierce Thanks to Auden for being my only buddy who likes comics and talking about them to me on our bus rides to school. You are the only person who I will read manga for. Thanks for all of your support through this writing and cre ative process. Also, for all the help in chem class. That’s cool, too. Chris Thomasma, inside back cover. Chris did such a great job of turning Jack Fry into a full page of awesomeness. Shootin’ and scootin’ but silent and strong at the same time. The excitement on my face when I saw the splash is indescribable.

Good ideas can come from anywhere. I came up with the character of Jack Fry when I was watching Sherlock with my parents and I had this great idea for a story about a modern-day noir detective who solves a missing-persons case for a distraught wife. I’m taking a film-and-video appreciation/production class and I got a quick grounding in film noir and I loved it all. Now, all of this sounds great, but unlucky for me I didn’t write any of my first thoughts down. That didn’t deter me from writing a mystery for this rough guy from the rougher part of town and I also learned to always carry a notebook, so that worked out. I didn’t really have a plot, but my dad always says, you can’t go wrong putting in bikinis and spacesuits.I get he doesn’t mean that literally but as just a reminder to jazz it all up a little. I thought of that and then I thought “aliens” and that sent me on my journey to find out who Jack Fry is and why there are aliens and that and some tropes and some thinking about what goes where and how it changes everyone involved and you have a story. But the main thing I like about this character is how his story isn’t over . He's still a detective and he’s still closing cases. Some of the inspiration for this hook came from a character my dad told me about that he created when he was my age named Tobias Todd. He told me he’s your classic action hero, tall, strong, leather jacket, but with one twist. He dies at the end of every story and comes back in the next one without anybody really mentioning it. Just a challenge he made for himself to figure out how the character gets out of it. Jack Fry's twist is that every case deals with the supernatural in some way. Be on the lookout for the next Jack Fry story because I loved writing him and I hope you guys enjoyed reading him.

Jack Fry will return in...

Jack Fry... by night.

UNTITLED WALKER YOUNG PROJECT #1. July 2023. Published by Front Yard Comics, 2034 47th Avenue, San Francisco, CA, 94116. “Going Dark ,” Jack Fry Copyright © 2023 Walker Young. Production and design by Cutler Group SF. info@dorkcourt.com