Freelance illustrator Emma K. Alfheim has a diverse portfolio. At this year’s Oslo Comics Expo (OCX), she offered two new comics.
Serienett met Emma in the OCX marketplace, where she was hosting a stand for the first time. In addition to stickers, prints, and the like, she brought along the fanzines *Detective Skully – Chapter 1* and *Nutter & Blank: New Beginnings*.
«Skully is an original character—a skeleton and a detective—who solves somewhat odd, bizarre mysteries in a city called Mystic. He has a past as a ordinary (meaning a man of flesh and blood) detective in the 1940s, before dying under mysterious circumstances,» Emma explains.
Somehow, he returns and is «alive» again in modern times. How did he die, and how did he come back to exist in this form? Emma plans to shed light on this mystery later on, but for now, she is focusing on his work as an investigator.
-There’s a small hint about Skully’s past in Chapter 2… But otherwise, the first case focuses on the investigation into a missing robot and the dynamic between Skully and Andy.
She elaborates:
-This story will span five chapters in total, and the inciting case—the robot mystery—gets resolved within those five chapters. However, I haven’t quite settled on the main mystery yet. I’d like to tell perhaps four or five smaller mysteries, and with each one, Skully uncovers something about the big mystery: Himself. I plan to collect all five chapters into a single booklet eventually. But for now, it might be best to just release the first chapter as an individual comic book. I’ve finished three chapters, but I thought it would be best to just put out the first one to test the waters.
She had wanted to add grayscale and halftone effects to the first issue to create shades of gray, but didn’t manage to finish it in time for OCX:
-And then I thought, maybe it’s fine to just release the first issue as it is now, even if it’s just black and white. Just to give people a taste.
The second comic Emma presented at OCX this year, was titled *Nutter & Blank – New Beginnings*. It has a slightly different backstory:
«The main character is a villain. He was created by a child and knows he exists within a story. But now, he wants to take control of his own narrative. The problem is that the author is growing up and getting tired of him.»
Nutter’s companion is Blank OC—a «stickman,» or rather a «stickgirl,» an unfinished character whom Nutter meets outside of Emma’s stories:
«She joins him on adventures where they hop from one fantasy world to another—since everyone creates fantasy worlds for their own characters, and the two have managed to find a way to travel between them. That’s the concept. And since Nutter is a supervillain, he tries to build weapons and hatch a plan to ruin his creator’s life. The two of them get up to all sorts of mischief and nonsense. But ultimately, it’s an adventure story.»
-The bit about the creator is more of an explanation of the story itself—a backstory, you could say. The idea is to create a comic about what it means to be a character. Blank, for instance, gradually becomes more of a character. I can’t reveal anything more than that right now. But there are certain things we’re working towards—specifically, a somewhat more experimental comic book.
When Emma says “we,” she is referring to Alex V (also known as bubblekid_aesthetics on Instagram), with whom she created this comic:
-He created Blank OC. When I introduced him to Nutter, he thought he was a really interesting character. But since Nutter was completely on his own, Alex thought it would be possible to develop him further by introducing a character who idolizes him. So, he created Blank OC. She loves that he takes matters into his own hands—that he doesn’t just wait for a story to happen. We wrote this comic together, and Alex also contributed to the artwork. I put together the thumbnails and rough sketches, while he drew the line art and colored the entire comic.
Emma’s interpretation of how the collaboration with Alex V. came about (source: Instagram)
She has already had the opportunity and time to sell *Nutter & Blank* at a few conventions in England earlier this year, while *Skully* was offered for the very first time at OCX in June. *Nutter & Blank* is also available on Tapas. *Detective Skully*, however, remains available only to those who can get hold of the physical printings, as the story is ongoing.
Previously, Emma created *Her Roots*—a 26-page comic also available on Tapas about a child who runs away into the woods and is haunted by their past—as well as an 8-page comic project based on a scene from H.G. Wells’ *The War of the Worlds*. Both were created while she was pursuing her bachelor’s degree in illustration in England.
Since completing her education, Emma has worked as a freelance illustrator. She also works in retail and handles social media.
Which series has required the most work from her personally?
«Perhaps *Skully*, so far. I’ve created individual *Nutter* comics on my own in the past. *Nutter & Blank* was a lot of work, but so far, it’s just a single story. With *Skully*, however, there are five parts, and the series has gone through several rounds of drafts. Plus, a lot of time has gone into refining the series to the point it’s at now.»
But has she tried to get it accepted for publication or submitted it to any competitions?
«I haven’t submitted it to any competitions because I was a bit unsure about how it would go. In 2022, I was in touch with some publishers to pitch *Detective Skully*, but nothing came of it at the time. Still, I decided to keep working on the series regardless.»
Moving forward, she intends to focus on *Detective Skully*, a series that is entirely her own creation. It’s planned for book of around 140 pages.
«I’m going to try to finish the first case, at least. I might not end up producing as many books as I originally envisioned. For now, I want to be a bit more realistic and try to complete one thing before tackling new projects. I’ve tried balancing multiple projects simultaneously in the past, but it takes up so much time. I’ve spoken with Alex, and we’d like to do a bit more with *Nutter & Blank*. But we can’t say exactly what it will be just yet.»
