Abe & Kroenen Noir Episode
In August I went to the World Science Fiction Convention in Montreal and one of the most interesting things I did while there was attend a photoshoot of the webcomic Abe & Kroenen. Kim and Rebecca, the creative team behind this bizarre look at characters from Hellboy and beyond, are amazingly talented--able to create situations, props, sets, and even achieve tremendous expression from 8" action figures. It's astonishing. And highly entertaining. Watching them work was genuinely inspiring.
Kyle Cassidy was guest photographer for this special episode and it is now up on livejournal for all to see. Behind my cut here, I take a brief look at the making of Abe & Kroenen: The Jensen File.
[special thanks to Kim, Rebecca, and Kyle for allowing me to sit in on the session.]
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I met Agent Abe Sapien and badboy Karl Ruprecht Kroenen in a bar in Montreal. They ignored me as if I were some kind of crazy fan, but I tailed them when they left and managed to sneak into their latest photoshoot.
At the shoot I met (the lawyers keep using the word 'stalked') the brains behind the brilliance of Abe & Kroenen--world reknowned writers, photographers and web comic producers, Kim Belair and Rebecca Stacey. And did my eyes deceive me? They even had a special guest photographer, Kyle freakin' Cassidy.
There I was, a humble fan, in the very nexus of Abe and Kroenen operations. It was a room filled with sets and props cleverly derived on the fly from all manner of flotsam and jetsam. The very density of available objects did them in here, though, since I was able to hide amongst the sculptures, benches and tools and snap photos to my heart's content.
In the film noir episode, Abe Sapien would play a detective trying to solve the mystery of Agent Bateman's demise. And in the above, behind-the-scenes shot, we get a look at something you didn't see in the episode: Bateman's body itself! Exclusive!
But the most exciting shoot had to be the finale atop the Rugby Cigarette Warehouse. In this action-packed sequence... Well, you'll just have to read it for yourselves. As for me, I remained in Kim's basement for weeks until I found a way to sneak out unseen into the light of day. Sure, I had scurvy by that point, but, hey, it's the price you pay for fandom.
