Matt Kindt has collaborated with Hollywood stars and fellow comic super stars, but his next project teams him with someone he’s known all his life: Mrs. Margie Kraft Kindt.
Kindt and his mom’s new 3-issue mystery comic called Gilt Frame will be published at Dark Horse Comics through Kindt’s Flux House imprint, and stars Sam, an orphan in his early twenties, and his rich Aunt Merry.
The unlikely, eccentric duo travel from Paris to Hawaii to Montenegro, encountering jewel thieves, art-forgers, gun-runners, the century-old ghost of the woman in black, a lost puppy, and a master French detective along the wild way.
Mrs. Kindt is enjoying the creative process and the time that she gets to spend with her son. Kraft Kindt said “Although it is a privilege and thrill to collaborate with someone of Matthew’s caliber and of his generation, the real joy and value is personal. What a bonus at this time of life, the gift and pleasure of so many hours and days in the company of a grown-up son, sitting across from each other at our partner table, settling into our chairs as we brainstorm plot twists.
Kraft Kindt described their process and said “Each of us takes on the roles of our characters. I develop the energetic persona of the star of Gilt Frame, the take-charge Meredith Pearson — Aunt Merry to her beloved nephew and best buddy, Sammy — while Matt shoots out dialogue for him. We toss around how they would play off each other — so completely immersed in the exhilarating work we are both passionate about, that every once in a while, we stop and ask each other, ‘Are you getting this down?’”
Matt Kindt said “Sam, the young nephew in Gilt Frame, is really the star of the show here. The voice of reason who generously gives old Aunt Merry just enough screen time” not to embarrass herself. He’s always looking out for her as they solve a real puzzle of a murder. It’s not a locked room murder mystery. It’s more of an unlocked…UNHINGED murder mystery.”
The collaboration also harkens back to his childhood, and said “While we were working on this book it brought back memories of me when I was ten or so…and Mom constructing pretend “crime scenes” at home for me to solve. Follow the fake bloody footprints to figure out what happened. Pay attention to the broken clock. Why is that door open? That childhood memory actually explains a lot. Very formative. So of course it only makes sense for us to build another crime scene together. Brings me back to my roots and to what writing has always been for me – play. We’re having fun.”
The 64-page giant-sized Gilt Frame #1 will be available in comic shops on August 7. Advance copies will be available for sale at the Dark Horse Comics booth at San Diego Comic-Con in July.
Check out one of the three covers below and our recent interview with Kindt right here.
