• What stuff do you use to make the comic?
  I use Arches 140lbs hot press watercolor paper. (It’s actually cotton, so it can put up with a lot of abuse.) I paint with Winsor&Newton watercolor paint and Golden brand acrylics, and when and where I use masking fluid, it’s Winsor&Newton brand too. Other than that, mechanical pencils, lots of coffee and grey hairs.
  
  
• What does the comic look like?
  Here's a few pages from Across Thin Ice:
  You can see more either in the Development Art section, or on the Nordguard blog.
  
  
• Where can I get a copy?
  As of July 1st, you can order a softcover copy online from the publisher, Sofawolf Press, at:
  https://www.sofawolf.com/products/nordguard-ati
  
  You can also pick up a copy at any of the comic or fandom conventions that Sofawolf Press attends.
  Upcoming events include:
  -San Diego ComicCon (Booth 1236 in the Webcomic section) July 20-24th
  -Rocky Mountain FurCon in Denver, August 12-14
  -RainFurrest in Seattle/Tacoma, September 23-25th
  -MidwestFurFest in Chicago, November 18-20th
  
  Sofawolf Press has several official overseas distributors:
  -In Germany, BlackPaw books (Currently out of stock on Across Thin Ice)
  -In Brazil, Loja dos Furries (Click here)
  
  
• Will the book be available on Amazon, or in major chain stores?
  Eventually, it might, but the going is slow!
  Essentially, the process goes like this:
  Later this year, Across Thin Ice will be listed (as a Staff Pick!) in Diamond. Diamond is a catalog of comics which includes the big titles from places like Marvel and Darkhorse, as well as smaller publications from indie/medium publishers. Comic book retailers order their stock from the Diamond catalog, and if enough people order Across Thin Ice, it will have a subsequently increased availability. When Across Thin Ice is available in Diamond, I will put out the call for folks to ask their local comic book shops to order the book! :]
  You can stay on top of the process by following either the Nordguard Blog, or @nordguard on Twitter.
  
  

• What's the comic about?
  Pi and her team of sled dogs, part of the Nordguard elite, strike out northwards on a dangerous rescue mission. Bandits, thin ice, and inclement weather they can handle. It's what they don't know about their mission that can kill them...
  
  The Nordguard is a private group consisting of many teams, with outposts spanning across much of the explored north and Whitelands. Their mundane functions include running mail between distant outposts in the north, keeping the roads open, cutting new trails, and acting as guides. However, the core of the Nordguard's purpose is to aid those in need, as summarized in their company motto:
  Always Running, Never Tiring
  So That Others May Live
  
  
  Pi and her team are called forward on a seemingly routine rescue mission to one of the northern-most mines, Tartok. In truth, they are racing toward a danger they could never imagine, and ever closer to a betrayal from friend and foe alike. Tartok Mine holds a terrible secret: something ancient and terrible pulled from the icy earth. Many will die in an effort to claim it, and many more will fall trying to destroy it. Pi's team find themselves in the middle, struggling only to escape.
  
  You can read more, here!
  
  
• Will the comic be available to read online?
  Some pages of the comic will be up online, posted sporadically as I complete them and in no particular order. You’ll have to pick up the book to get the whole story. Best place to see new pages as they come out will be on this site, Nordguard at Blogspot and Nordguard on Livejournal.

• When will the book be out?
  Across Thin Ice will be released the summer of 2011!
  [Here's the whole official announcement.]
  
  The book will debut at AnthroCon June 24th from Sofawolf Press, and later this summer at ComicCon in San Diego. You will also be able to pick up a copy at most major comic and furry conventions that Sofawolf distributes to--upcoming ones being AnthroCon in Pittsburg, ComicCon San Diego, Rocky Mountain Furcon in Denver, Midwest Furfest in Chicago, EuroFurence in Germany, Rainfurrest in Seattle, among others, and next year at Wondercon.
  
  Starting July 1st, you will be able to buy a copy online from Sofawolf Press, here!
  
  
• How much will it cost?
  The sofcover, full color edition of Across Thin Ice will be $19.95
  There will be a smaller run of a hardcover edition for $39. Depending on demand, Sofawolf may decide to print a second edition run of the hardcover books.
  
  
• What will the books be rated?
  Across Thin Ice, and all further Nordguard books, will be for all audiences, probably a PG13 sort of thing for coarse language and a whole lot of dead bodies.
  
  
• How can I get a hardcover?
  If you missed out on the online presales of the hardcover books, Sofawolf will still be bringing the remaining hardcover copies to AnthroCon and ComicCon. Depending on the demand of the books, Sofawolf will consider printing a second edition run of them.

• How long is the first book going to be?
  Across Thin Ice will be 75 pages. The second book, title as of yet undecided upon, will be about the same, and third book will likely be a bit longer.

• Who’s the publisher?
  Sofawolf Press (www.sofawolf.com) is the publisher. They are a privately owned independent publisher, specializing in anthropomorphic works and have been in the business for over a decade.

 

• Why anthropomorphic animals?
  I like to draw animals. I also think animal characters can add new advantages and challenges to story telling in general.

• Is this a historical drama?
  Nope. If anything, it’s an action-adventure science-fition story set in a parallel universe to our own, where the world is populated by talking animals.

• Is it historically accurate?
  Aside from that whole talking animal thing I mentioned above, you mean? Yes and no, and mostly no. While some political powers, technology, geography and social events are similar to our world at the turn of the century, they are not the same.

• When and where is the story set?
  The story takes place in 1903, in the Northern Territories of the United Territories--analogous to what is modern day Nunavut (north east Canada, around the Hudson Bay area.)
  
  
• Why are they wearing clothing, and where does it come from?
  
  The more civilized, united species of the world--such as those from the New Land who are spreading throughout the United Territories--wear clothing for the same reason people do: for society, identification, work, vanity and protection. In more primitive parts of the world, from the jungles of New Guinea to the northern reaches of the White Lands, the less civilized of animal cultures wear significantly less clothing. Many of these more "feral" animals disdain their softer cousins for doing wearing clothing.
  
  Many materials are natural fibers, such as canvas or cotton. Also, an animal as a species is aware of it's own strengths and weaknesses. Today, humans farm muskox for their wool, which sheds naturally every winter. In the Nordguard universe, an enterprising muskox can make the deduction to sell it's own fur, especially to newly arrived "summercoats" who have not adapted to the brutal winters of the north. The same goes for sheep, yak, cashmere goats and so on. Antler is also a "renewable" resource.
  
  In the north, resources are scare. Even in the real world, caribou eat bird chicks in the spring for the added nutrients. No animal will leave behind a useful resource to rot, and it stands to reason cultural norms and religion would conform to the the very basic need for survival. Some tribes in the White Land routinely make use of skins or other parts of ancestors, as it bestows the items more spiritual weight and power.
  
  There are some species which are not seen as sentient, or rather, more "demi-human," such as seals and walrus. They share no common language, live in a different element, and are wholly alien to most terrestrial mammals. In the north, seals are hunted, skinned and eaten by many tribes. In the south, someday, this may cause quite the stir and in sixty to hundred years of the comic's time, there may be people advocating "Seal Rights!"
  The same can be applied to whales, which in the early 1900s, are still considered giant fish who taste good and make great oil.
  
  Exploitation is a quality all sentient species share, and in the Nordguard universe, it's curbed only by cultural stigma, civilization and it's moral laws.

• But they’re all animals, what do they eat?
  Well, carnivores still eat meat and herbivores still eat plants. Civilized carnivores will eat fish, birds and reptiles, and some, to varying degrees, have adapted to become omnivores.
  
  However, in some places in the world, animals still eat animals. In the north, for instance, it is considered taboo by most, but a dire necessity at times.
  
  Further:
  At some point in this world’s history (as with our own) groups and tribes of people decided it wasn’t so advantageous to be killing each other. What they really needed to do was get up together and go kill other people. So, historically, when different species started to ban together, they slowly formed what became modern societies, probably rife with ‘speciesism’ and class systems. Laws and cultural norms adjusted to fit. Eventually they could call killing one another ‘murder,' rabbits could vote alongside wolves, public institutions were no longer segregated (though, in the 1900's you might still see a "bison only" country club, for instance,) a bear would go to prison for attempting to eat your pronghorn neighbor, larger cities might have a self proclaimed "cat's only" district, but everyone could play reindeer games.
  
  At the turn of the 20th century, when the Nordguard's story takes place, the civilized world is booming with advances to science, technology and culture. In the New Land, the industrial age has swept the nation. Large scale farming sweeps the southern countrysides as the railroad system makes it easier and quicker to move grains, vegetables and other produce into cities and the denser, urban areas of the east. The ability to can and preserve fish has lead to a population boom, as well as stimulated enterprising companies to seek out new fishing grounds in the largely unspoiled and untouched north.
  
  In the Nordguard universe, fish are the main thing on the carnivore's menu. Reptiles and birds are also seen as ala carte creatures and have evolved to fill more of the “animal” niches in the world.
  
  Some animals, such as seals and other pinnipeds, are seen as a kind of demi-humans. They have their own languages and societies, separated from the modern world by distance as well as culture. Someday in the Nordguard’s timeline, you might see Animals-For-The-Ethical-Treatment-Of-Seals picketing outside a seal-coat store, but for now, people tend to treat them as a less-than-human food and blubber source, right alongside whales and dolphins.
  
  The early 1900’s are not necessarily known for it’s ‘political correctness,’ after all.
  
  Also, the global population of creatures would have to be substantially lower to support multiple species of sentient beings, so much of the world is uninhabited by "civilized nations." These regions are still primordial, populated by “wild” or “uncivilized” tribes of animals still hunting one another.

• How do you explain dogs in the world?
  At some point in history, canines emerged as one of the dominant animals on the globe due to their adaptability and versatility. As they evolved and spread to various regions, they slowly acquired different traits. There are no “breeds” per say, but dogs from different parts of the world will tend to look similar.

• Do they really pull the sled?
  Yep! European explorers trekked across the arctic using man-drawn sledges (before the natives helped them out with the whole ‘dog-sled’ concept.) The Nordguard’s harnesses and sledges are based off of those historical concepts and designs. If humans had the same constitutions as a husky, I doubt they’d ever need to have another animal tow them around. ;]