Most folks have eyes on retirement. There comes a time when we’re tired of the grind and what’s expected of us and want nothing more than to live a calm, quiet life.
But what if supernatural forces that influence reality itself decide to hang up their hats? That’s what Eliott Ventadour, also known as Boredman, asks in his fabulously fun and poignant webcomic series Apocalyptic Horseplay. In Apocalyptic Horseplay, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse have decide that they don’t want to be the harbingers of doom and, instead, retire to England. But when a nosy young journalist and a threat to existence itself manifests, the Four Horsemen might have to emerge from their golden years to combat the destruction of reality.
Recently, Ventadour teamed up with Rocketship Entertainment to launch a Kickstarter to bring the first volume of Apocalyptic Horseplay to print. I spoke with Eliott Ventadour recently about the idea behind Apocalyptic Horseplay, the versions of the Horsemen we meet in the series, the Kickstarter itself, and how things like the Mayan apocalypse, Brexit, and Donald Trump impacted the story.
Apocalyptic Horseplay is comedy that, like all great comedies, explores some serious topics and lets readers linger with them without getting too heavy. If you love end-of-the-world yarns that have a few splashes of irreverence, Apocalyptic Horseplay was tailor-made for you.
FreakSugar: Before we discuss the Kickstarter, what can you tell us about the concept of Apocalyptic Horseplay?
Eliott Ventadour: Very basically, it’s a modern story about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, set in England sometime in 2016. These Horsemen are retired however, and looking to stay quiet and hidden to avoid bringing about the end of our world, which as one would expect is far from easy.
It starts out as a comedy, but the story does flirt with some pretty heavy subjects at times, such as depression, alienation, bad parenting, and the end of the whole freaking world.
FS: Can you talk about some of the characters we’ll meet in the comic?
EV: The Horsemen themselves are actually quite tame. Pesty (Pestilence) is a loving soul tending to his collection of microorganisms, Warrace (War) mostly just likes watching TV, Mot (Death) is a voracious reader and Marvin (Famine) is simply voracious.
The characters they encounter however are far more troublesome, ambitious, dangerous… In essence, human. Starting with Angela, an aspiring journalist looking to study them and expose their existence and whereabouts to the world. To err is human of course, and much like the Horsemen, she eventually learns from her mistakes, but correcting them will prove very challenging.
FS: What was it about the subject matter that drew you to centering on this version of the Horsemen?
EV: I came up with the idea for the Horsemen themselves back in 2012, at a time when some Mayan calendar was generating theories about the end of the world left and right. I started by telling a short story about the Horsemen working towards 2012, but enjoyed the characters so much I found myself coming back to them later on.
While they began as heinous and destructive creatures, both in my mind and in the story, I had a feeling witnessing human suffering over several lifetimes would polish even the roughest of edges. And if even these Four Horsemen could change, then surely everyone could.
FS: Has the comic taken you places that you didn’t expect when you first started? Have your characters evolved past your initial conception?
EV: In a weird way, both the story and the Horsemen were altered by real-life events, such as Brexit or the Trump presidency. At times, it felt as if humanity was just itching to give up on itself, which resonated with the Horsemen’s efforts NOT to become the monsters others wanted them to be, and led the story down a slightly darker path than the one I’d envisioned.
While I’d written most of it beforehand, depicting the Horsemen’s weaknesses and increasing moral frailty came far more organically to me than I would have expected.
FS: How does this book differ from your approach on your comic UndeadEd or your other works?
EV: Well, they do take place in the same universe, and even share some characters at time, but UndeadEd truly was all comedy while Apocalyptic Horseplay has a lot more violence and tragedy in it, which is closer to what I usually write. AH was also my longest-running series, told over 4 years whereas UndeadEd lasted less than one.
FS: Why do you think we are drawn to looking at the end of the world in pop culture with a humorous eye? Is it a comfort?
EV: I think we’re drawn to looking at the end of the world period, and a little humor simply helps the medicine go down. It’s been more of a tangible eventuality ever since humanity started building nuclear weapons, but maybe that’s just how we like to deal with our own mortality, extending it to everyone and everything around us in an effort to normalize it. After all, wouldn’t it be just a little bit comforting if we all went together?
Around the time I first wrote AH, the end of the world in pop culture was symbolic of entropy and presented as an inescapable certainty. Whether it was a meteor hitting the Earth, the dead rising to eat us all, or some artificial intelligence electing to flush us out, it often seemed like the apocalypse was ineluctable or completely out of our hands, and we should just brace for it.
In the Book of Revelation however, the apocalypse of John was presented as more of a ritual triggered by fate but carried out by the will of several actors to unlock the seven seals and give in to darkness. I realize it is often presented as the will of God overall, but I chose to see it as the consequence of people losing faith in humanity and/or themselves. And I wanted to believe that, sometimes, hope and goodwill are enough to keep the chaos at bay.
FS: Do you have a favorite film or book about the apocalypse—horror, comedy, whatever?
EV: Well I thoroughly enjoyed Don’t Look Up (and by enjoyed I mean it filled my heart with suffocating dread, but I guess I’m into that now), but Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s Good Omens remains comfortably on top of my list. The BBC’s radio drama of the book is probably one of my favorite things to listen to while I work.
FS: Following up on that, are there any of those types of tales that have informed your work?
EV: Funny enough, the very first one was Gary Whitta and Ted Naifeh’s Death Jr., followed by Ben Templesmith’s Wormwood. Both stories included modern but discreet versions of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse I thoroughly enjoyed and wanted more of. They helped me come up with my own Horsemen characters, and it was just after reading Good Omens that I found myself with all the pieces to tell my own apocalyptic story. Such a creative genius I am.
FS: On to the Kickstarter itself, what can you tell us about the campaign?
EV: This one was a little riskier than our last crowdfunding project. While UndeadEd only needed to be one book, I thought Apocalyptic Horseplay would be better split into several volumes. First I wanted to divide the story into four books, then just two, meaning publication of the complete series would still require two separate crowdfunding campaigns. Thankfully, the first one is going very well so far.
FS: What kind of rewards can backers expect?
EV: In addition to the book itself, with each and every page finally presented with the composition I’d intended (I work traditionally and always design my pages for print, it’s a habit and a problem of mine), backers can expect several prints, pins, patches, stickers, bookmarks, and even an original commission by yours truly. I designed almost every single one of these rewards, and although it pains me to say, most of them will never be available as merchandise ever again, so I truly hope the fans don’t miss out!
FS: This is your second time working with Rocketship. What about the company draws you to working with them?
EV: Obviously, I think Rocketship is doing a great job of running these Kickstarter campaigns and bringing webcomics to print, but mainly the reason I chose to work with them again was to keep both UndeadEd and Apocalyptic Horseplay under the same umbrella. Each story works as a separate narrative, but they do take place in the same universe, so it would have felt wrong to have AH published elsewhere.
FS: What are you reading right now?
EV: Manu Larcenet’s graphic novel adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. Again. It’s brilliant, it’s a nightmare and I hate doing this to myself, but now that I’ve started… I’ve just got to finish.
Also Maripaz Villar’s webtoon Lady Liar, to soothe my sanity and make me giggle again.
FS: If you had one final pitch for the book and the Kickstarter, what would it be?
EV: This story may not thwart the apocalypse, but it will keep your boredom at bay for a little while. And whether you want to rediscover it or simply give it a try, this book will be the best way to do it.
As I mentioned before, every page will be displayed the way it was originally designed, and the rewards we offer backers will mainly be reserved for this campaign and never seen again. In addition, every pledge of $39 or higher will be awarded a bookplate signed by me, making your copy the rarest collectible of all because I NEVER EVER LEAVE MY HOUSE.
EVER.
As of press time, the Kickstarter for Apocalyptic Horseplay Vol. 1 has quintupled its funding goal, with two stretch goals unlocked and 12 days left to go in the campaign. Check out the book and all the add-ons and rewards while there’s still time!