The Idea Factory

“Where do you get your ideas from?”

This has to be the most ridiculous and annoying question anyone can ask a writer. I cannot help but feel pity (laced with the previously mentioned annoyance) at anyone asking it. To me it suggests- no demands- that the person asking has never once in their entire life ever had an original thought. They have never said to themselves, ‘I wonder what would happen if...’ or ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if...’ or even ‘If I won the lottery I would...’


Because if you have ever experienced one of these thoughts then you know exactly where writers get their ideas from! So stop asking!

So why, I’m sure you’re wondering, did I begin with that particular rant?

Well, I’m going to talk about two very different comic strips here, both of which got me thinking, from different angles, about the hoary old ‘where do ideas come from’ chestnut.


First up the more serious of the two.

The Dark- published by Markosia, created by writer Chris Lynch and artist Rick Lundeen.

On the face of it - to this reader at least- what this looked like was another take on the superhero genre. And to a point I suppose it is.

We begin by meeting Daniel Abbot- a scientist who has developed a process called Memetech (basically information encoded in a drinkable form).

Abbot, in the guise of The Dark, wears a very cool coat that can feed Memetech info into his brain (Need to know kung-fu? Here you go!) or fire darts loaded with Memetech at foes.

There’s a bit of an Iron Man vibe to begin with- even down to the holographic ‘butler’- but don’t be fooled like I was.

Early on, just as I was settling into the groove, Lynch pulled the rug from under me in a glorious and unexpected way. Which is impressive enough to do once, but he manages to do it another two or three times throughout the book.

The plotting in dense and impressively done. The writing is multi-layered and clever and demands that the reader pays attention (this is a good thing, by the way).

Lundeen’s art is very good too. I have to say it’s not perfect- some of the figure drawing is inconsistent, but his page layouts are imaginative and bold.

And the connection to the opening question?

I was wondering how Lynch constructed this book. Did he start with the basic superhero premise of the coat and Memetech? Or did the big plot of the book arrive all at once and fully formed (because sometimes this does happen)?

On the other hand, in the next, frankly genius, comic I’m going to direct you to, we know exactly where the ideas come from...

Axe Cop is about, as the name suggests, a cop.

With an axe.

However, the USP of this strip is that the stories are written by Malachai Nicolle.

Malachai is (at the time of writing this) a six year old boy. It’s illustrated by his older brother, Ethan, who is a positively creaky (compared to the writer) 29.

This online strip is simply a joy from start to finish. Anyone who has been a boy of that age cannot help but be both entertained and moved by reading it. It really is like having a window into your own five or six year old mind.

Malachai’s ideas come from somewhere beautifully honest and pure where things like logic and emotion do not get in the way of telling a good story. He writes with an honesty that, let’s be honest, is impossible for anyone beyond their teenage years.

Get it quick- before he ruins everything by growing up!