Black Hole Cafe Concept

Back between 1999 and 2001 I waited tables at a local twenty four hour cafe called Kerbey Lane. I worked the graveyard shift exclusively. For a few years this place was like my own private club house. Most of my friends worked there, including my brother and best friend. It was a time when I could swing by at 1AM on any given night and drink coffee with my friends. I had worked night jobs before, but never at a place quite like this one. The restaurant has moved buildings in the past few years, so my club house lies vacant. I always dream of buying the building and running a coffee shop, just so I can find that vibe again.You would think two years wouldn't really affect someone that much, but it was a pivotal time in my life in a lot of ways. It's when the idea for Black Hole Cafe first started to emerge. 

The most glaring similarity is the cafe after dark. The world looks different at night. Even the people are different. I'm a night person, always have been. Even as a kid I knew that the day belonged to the worriers, the rat racers. If you can't tell, I'm not a fan of day people. I feel like they are too loud, too aggressive, too focused on the physical world. Even though over the years I've been forced to live among them, I'm not one of them. 

The night has always been magical to me. My favorite thing used to be walking at night. The loud people go to bed, and the world becomes quiet and peaceful. You have room to breathe and think. Every night I would walk through the neighborhood and stare at the trees. It seemed like magic was creeping around every corner. It's almost as if there is this silent presence watching you, nothing malicious, just curious and present. 

That's why I set my comic in a place like Black Hole Cafe. I worked nights, so it was during these years that I formed the idea for the story. I wanted to capture that feeling. It's based on People who live on the fringes of the normal world. And like me, they prefer the night too. I've also always been fascinated with the occult. I wanted to use these characters to explore those topics.

(See picture at top of Post)

Here's a few old sketches from 2000 I pasted together. The pic of Kole is actually from around 2004, the rest are the original ideas for the first comic. The pic of Simon on the far right is the first picture I ever did of him. His name just popped into my head as I was doodling his face. He's changed over the years, but he's still the same guy. The thumbnails are layouts of a scene from the original comic. The character that eventually became Dodd was more like Jimi Hendrix in the beginning. In this scene he is making a coat for Simon out of leaves. I'm still going to use this idea, just not until after the first story arc is over. 

This is a pic I did of Simon while working at a hotel in 2004. It wasn't a Holiday Inn, but you can see the stamp from the sticky I was doodling on. Originally he had this black and green scarf. I loved the way it looked, but since Simon was partly inspired by Doctor Who, I thought it was too close. 

Incidentally, Simon is inspired by a lot of characters, all people who straddle the world of the supernatural. Harry D'Amour, John Constantine, and Harry Dresden, just to name a few. Somewhere in my mind these characters all meet for a drink and talk about what bastards their creators are for making their lives hell. I'm definitely no exception. Simon is in for a life of pain.