Artist's Statement

The most important thing for me when writing this story was trying to make sure the audience cared what happened to the characters. I like stories about people whether they have superpowers or not so I made this a story about people first. I came up with the setting and character because I wanted to do something different due to the superhero market being so saturated. A lot of it is based in the modern era and so I wanted to do the past or future. I watched an unreasonable amount of John Wayne movies with my father as a kid, so I thought about cowboys and what it would be like to be one that could never lose a gunfight. I thought of having amazing senses to never miss and always draw first, but it didn’t feel “super” enough. So instead I went with a cowboy who has seen it all and done it all thanks to a regenerative invincibility. I preferred regeneration over the untouchable kind of invincibility because regeneration doesn’t allow you to take hits and just be fine with it. If your head is damaged you could lose some memories or if you get hurt you still feel the pain. This kind of ability makes it relatable because you can understand both his physical and emotional pain. Both of them are tools to get the reader to feel something. Grahm Johnston, having seen and lived through it all as a cowboy, had been a part of some rough lifestyles. Watching people you care about die as they grow old or watching them get killed can drive a person to wild places. Which is how he joined Hugo Dallas’ gang. He soon learned that a lifestyle like that only led to more loss, so he left. Relating to Grahm should be somewhat easy because everyone in this world has lost someone you care about, now imagine that pain on an even more immense scale. Then he meets Maria and she quickly worms her way into his rugged heart. He then realizes he needs her and can’t do everything alone. Maria was a challenge on her own, I wanted you in the shoes of Grahm which means I had to make sure the readers cared about her as much as he did. This was definitely the hardest part in making my story; getting the reader invested in what happened to my characters. In such a short story it's hard to build strong defined relationships and connect with the characters. She gets wrapped up in his life after some bandits come looking for him and due to her curious nature decides to follow him on his journey West as he runs from his past. The branches in my story attempt to provide the routes of growth in the reader’s relationship with Maria, and eventually culminating in how you decide to handle the final decision. I thought of these different decisions that would be during situations of high stress, as usually high stress can either lead to a strong bond, or shattering a relationship. How you handle these high stress situations carries the story along.