The summer is the perfect time to make a wish on a star, but what if that wish didn’t come true in the way you hoped for?
Ilias Kyriazis new original graphic novel from Humanoids titled What We Wish For asks that tricky question, after a group of youngsters each make a wish on a passing comet. After 35 years, when the comet returns, their wishes begin to come true, but perhaps not in the ways they expected them to.
We spoke to Kyriazis about his new graphic novel in this exclusive interview.
How did the idea for What We Wish For materialize?
Ilias Kyriazis: It’s initially based on the constant daydreaming I’ve been doing since I was a child. I always liked to visualize that “something” was travelling through space to reach me and when it arrived it’d make all my wishes come true. Bad grades? Fighting with friends? No prom date? …I imagined “it” crossing the distance to fix everything in my life.
Well, at some point the writer part of my brain was… “what if this was true but I wasn’t updating my wishes as I grew older? What if they were locked in from when I was a kid?”
You have said that this is a very personal story for you. For your characters, did you imbue them with different aspects of your personality or are they based on others?
Kyriazis: I don’t want to admit it because some of them have pretty monstrous flaws but yeah… for a story like that you kinda have to look hard into yourself. My semi-autobio comics I did when I was starting out in Greece taught me to be less overt in my references but I always pull from my own experiences when I’m doing comics. It’s just that it’s never the part you think that’s the true bit.
How would you describe your artistic approach to illustrating What We Wish For as opposed to other projects you’ve worked on?
Kyriazis: A big thing for me was always clarity. I want my comics to be enjoyed by people who don’t regularly read comics. Especially a story like that that I believe will speak to slightly older readers. I’d love for this book to be gifted.
This largely dictates my artistic approach. I wanted this book to look fun and interesting but even when the story goes to dark places, I needed it to be easy to read. Also, having flashback scenes and comics-within-the-comic is a perfect opportunity to use different art styles in a single book which is always a joy for me.
Is there a character that you connect to most?
Kyriazis: Hmm… I do have a soft spot for Michael, the grieving teacher, and Stella, the struggling artist… There’s no way we can share the scenes between them online but they’re some of my very favorite pages. And I do love Angie but I hate the company she keeps.
Memories of creating Chronophage with Tim Seeley for Humanoids?
Kyriazis: Chronophage was my COVID comic. It coincided perfectly with the pandemic and when I think of the one I’m reminded of the other. To be fair it was the only good part of a dark period. Also, signing on a long project like that just as lockdown was hitting and comics were getting canceled left and right was a big relief.
Chronophage was me in my pajamas all day, playing with our cat, listening to Dimension 20 and figuring out how to make the sex scenes sexier and the scary scenes utterly disgusting. Not a bad time, not bad at all!
Thoughts on being back at Humanoids and their history in the medium?
Kyriazis: It’s all a ploy so I can get invited to Angouleme! But seriously, this is my second back-to-back project with them and I’d love to keep that relationship going. It’s a publisher that really fits my sensibilities plus I get to brag because, especially back home, everyone knows The Incal.
Upcoming projects?
Kyriazis: I finished writing a thing I’m very excited about! It’ll probably be my next solo graphic novel but it’s too soon to share more. But in early 2025 a comics adaptation I drew of Raymond Chandler’s Trouble is my Business is coming out, that reunites me with collaborators from Dirk Gently and Collapser!
What We Wish For is currently available at finer comic book shops everywhere.
