In Brynmore, recently divorced and newly sober Mark Turner returns to his hometown, a small island off the coast of North Carolina. Mark has hopes for a fresh start and some positive change, with a plan to renovate the island's dilapidated church into a new home for himself. Mark's optimism is met with immediate resistance as the locals confront him with hostility. Soon after that, Mark finds himself enamored with a mystery lurking in his basement and a sinister legacy dating back generations.
Co-created by legendary horror scribe Steve Niles and illustrated by Niles' October Faction collaborator Damien Worm, Brynmore is an atmospheric new horror series from IDW Publishing. The first two issues are on sale now, with the third issue slated for September 27th. In an exclusive interview with CBR, writer Steve Niles and artist Damien Worm discussed the inspirations behind Brynmore, how their creative process has evolved, and more. IDW also shared an exclusive look at some interior pages from Brynmore #3.
CBR: Brynmore is a new horror series set on a rural island off the coast of North Carolina. What pulled you to this location for the story, Steve?
Steve Niles: I'm always looking for places to tell a good monster story. Brynmore is kind of autobiographical for me, as far as the demons the main character has. I grew up in Virginia, so I knew about the Roanoke colony as a kid, but there are all kinds of Islands along the East Coast with really strange histories. As I was looking into the barrier islands, I decided to place Brynmore somewhere within them. Then I considered that naming it after the main character, Mark Turner, could bring in a murky legacy he's forced to reckon with.
This story features a classic mystery in the basement. What do each of you think is so endlessly compelling about that trope?
Niles: We're all afraid of the basement. If I was told I had to take something down there, I used to drop whatever it was off, then run like Hell up the steps, imagining some kind of monster grabbing me and pulling me back down. My adrenaline and fear would rise up into full-blown terror. The dark, cold basement scares every kid, whether it's in their own house or the basement of an apartment building. Our imaginations run wild about what's in the dark waiting for us.
Damien Worm: It's a classic in the horror genre. You can hide everything there, even monsters and horrible secrets.
Steve, how do you decide whether a story will have first or third-person narration? What made third-person the right choice for this story?
Niles: You know, it's not something I think about as I go. It really just happens as I write. This one was hard because I didn't want to open Mark's thoughts to the reader. I wanted his actions to speak more. As the story moves forward, lots of things happen without Mark around, so he wouldn't be able to comment or narrate while it [was] happening in the present. So it had to be more omniscient. That was the natural way to go.
Damien, what is it like creating a feeling of suspense and atmosphere in average places?
Worm: That was really challenging. The story is not happening in a dark village surrounded by haunted woods and an old creepy gothic castle at the end of the path. It's happening on a sunny island with people having fun on the beach. It wasn't easy to get the proper atmosphere, but I think we finally got something interesting.
Steve, what made Mark such a compelling character to you?
Niles: Mark is newly sober, so what he's struggled with in his past and the curse he encounters on the island layer on top of each other. He has a lot of problems connecting and dealing with his relationships. I tend to visit characters like this a lot. I never forgot what it was like to be a kid and what my relationship with my parents was like from that perspective. Family is so complicated, and the older I get, the more I understand my own parents as people who had their own personal struggles. So Mark has to also deal with his daughter, who has also got baggage from his actions, plus face whatever he has to in his basement. I hope it makes the character both familiar and captivating.
There are some mysterious ancient symbols in this story. What is the process for creating something like that?
Niles: I love bringing in mysteries that you can't exactly understand or unravel. It makes writing all the more fun to just play with things that are obscure like that. I can stand back and give it space to grow with its own momentum.
Worm: We used some ancient rune references. I finally created some from scratch, and I twisted some runes and symbols from dead language alphabets. It was fun.
There's a feeling in this story that the past has a major impact on the present. Can you talk a bit about that, Steve?
Niles: That's the definition of a good story plot, so I appreciate that. Mark has a hard past. He's already fighting something within, so now place him where there may be horror from the distant past coming from all sides.
How has your creative relationship evolved over the years working together?
Niles: Damien and I have been working together for over ten years now, and every time I bring him a new idea, he's totally open to it. He's a unique artist and one of my favorites. He plays with texture and color beautifully, and his drawing style is whimsical and horrifying at the same time. Since we started, he worked more in computer graphics, but now he's really gotten into drawing everything first.
Worm: We've been working on several books together for ten years (and we have stuff brewing), and he's by far the writer I feel most comfortable working with. I always try to capture Steve's ideas on the panels/page as much as I can. And Steve leaves a lot of room for the artist's own ideas. That's great because it's not so common nowadays.
What would you say to readers familiar with your previous work who maybe haven't heard much about Brynmore?
Niles: Brynmore is very different from other stories I've written. Give it a try! I'd appreciate it!
Worm: It's a really unique story. A really great story about an island that hides something ancient and terrible on its foundations.
Brynmore #3 goes on sale September 27th. The first two issues are on sale now.