news story / By Doug Brunell

Willow Creek: The Comic

Werewolves join Bigfoot in new Humboldt-based graphic fiction

(Jan. 17, 2008)  Mention the name Willow Creek and one thing immediately comes to mind: Bigfoot. If you’ve visited the area, you can easily imagine the stench-ridden man-ape living an elusive life in the surrounding mountainous forests as the townspeople happily go about their day.

When 33-year-old Los Angeles writer Christian Beranek visited the town in April 2007, a story that he had been developing finally took shape, and it all had to do with … werewolves.

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Beranek’s name may be familiar to people who read comic books and graphic novels. He and his brother Adam co-wrote Dracula Vs. King Arthur and issue four of Se7en, a prequel to the hit film that tells the origin of killer John Doe with each issue being done by a different creative team. Dracula Vs. King Arthur, which received several positive reviews, enabled the writer to quit his day job and concentrate on writing comics, something he had wanted to do since he was a child.

“When I was growing up in Europe we used to buy comics in the PX stores on the military base,” Beranek explains. “My first comic was a Batman digest. I was hooked, but it wasn’t until I returned to the US and started taking creative writing courses in middle school that I knew I wanted to be a writer.” That eventually led to his latest work.

Willow Creek is a five-part comic book series due out in February (with a special introductory issue in January), written by Beranek and Denny Williams and illustrated by Josh Medors (G.I. Joe and Runes of Ragnan). The seed for the tale actually came from Williams. “He wanted to tell a werewolf story that was classic,” Beranek says, “but also had a few unique twists.” The twists to this horror mystery story, which won’t be ruined here, involve Bigfoot, the tourism industry, murder and a werewolf.

Beranek, on his trip to the town, found plenty of material to use in the story and discovered that the town was able to actually inspire much of the story. “When I visited Willow Creek, I found the Bigfoot lore to be fascinating. There is a sense of mystery in that town … I have to think that there is some validity to the legend. Something was, or perhaps still is, out there.” Beranek is also quick to point out that the area won’t just be used as the comic’s title … it is the story.

“We stay true to the spirit of Willow Creek. I took a ton of photos, and we’re incorporating the layout of the town into the book. I also did a lot of research into the Hoopa tribe as they come into play later on.” When asked more about that “sense of mystery” he referred to earlier and how that affects the story, Beranek offered his take on the sleepy little town.

“There is that sense of friendliness,” he explains, “but at the same time foreboding … but we never portray the townspeople as evil. I may be giving part of the story away here, but the people of Willow Creek are there to help in their own way, but they have a vested interest in protecting the mystery of the woods, and our hero, Deacon McKay, [a big-city transplant who is the new deputy sheriff in town], will have to earn their trust before they reveal it to him.”

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