Sean Golding is a comic creator from London, England. A transplant from Australia, Sean has been releasing his comic, Guns of Brixton, with artist Renzo Podesta. It tells the story of punk rock band Rachel and the Heads of State who are caught in a zombie apocalypse after playing a show. Guns of Brixton blends horror, punk, and comedy, turning the zombie genre on its head.

After playing a show, Rachel and the Heads of State decide to keep the party going with some cocaine purchased from a local drug dealer. The coke’s blue color is initially off-putting, but the band makes no qualms about consuming the substance. When the band is confronted by the bedlam and mayhem outside the venue, they find they have superpowers and are immune to the zombies, sending out heroes on a quest to find the source of the outbreak. Sean has released two exciting issues of this series, with a third on its way. Below, he gives us a little behind-the-scenes look at the horror comic and what went into creating Guns of Brixton.

Dying Scene (Forrest Gaddis): Tell us a little bit about yourself and the comic.

Sean Golding: I’m Australian, originally. I’ve been living in London for over eight years now. People always ask people why. I’m struggling to answer sometimes, but at least it’s nice hearing some of that. That’s sort of the inspiration for the comic. Well, obviously, Guns of Brixton is, yeah, it’s the Clash. I was living in Brixton when I first moved over here. I first had the idea when I was walking around there. Then sort of over time, the idea of who this band is, and sort of what they’re doing, and what the whole story is going to be. Things sort of came together over a period of time. That started in drips and drabs. During lockdown, when a lot of people actually sort of said, Oh, I’ve got time to do this now. I’ve got nothing else to do.

So let’s actually start writing something. I sort of really dove in and sort of got cracking and writing it. Yeah. There was definitely a period before that when I was like, well, I’ve got this idea for a comic. I can’t draw, you know, I can write it; but then, you know, how do I get an artist? I don’t know anyone who could be an artist. There was a lot of time sort of fun working through that creative process.

That definitely took longer than I thought it was going to, but, I guess that’s sort of what you learn when you’re doing these things. I’m finding that now in issue three, as well. A few delays on that side, but again, when this is all said and done, things will be better for everyone, right? It’s not, you know, everyone’s got their own life and their own jobs. Everything they need to do. You sort of have to take that as it comes, I guess.

Did you do any writing before this?

Nothing published. Ever since I was a kid, I’d write things and go through phases of writing, wanting to write, having ideas, not doing them, writing things that you don’t realize are terrible, and they’re never going to go anywhere. Whether that’s comics or more prose-based stuff. This is the first thing that I’ve published. I guess a lot of first-time creators get their pitch pack done, and you get all those pages done. Then you think this looks awesome. I’m going to send it to the big publishers, and they’re gonna love it. Then obviously, that doesn’t happen. There was a long time from that to actually self-publishing it. I’ve got one other project that has gotten sent out to people. That hasn’t gone any further than the only thing that I’ve published today.

Who are your writing influences or your comic influences that got you here?

I think one of the major influences in this, I’d actually argue, is sort of musical influences rather than comic influences. The stuff that I read is much more indie, but a lot of it is mainstream indie. Your Image, Dark Horse, rather than the sort of superhero, DC, Marvel type stuff. So, stuff from James Tynion: Department of Truth and Something’s Killing Children. I’d say that’s the sort of genre and world that my comic appetite lives in, I guess.

Nice. I like his horror, it’s a lot of fun. It reminds me a lot of like that American Werewolf in London vibe where it’s playful in some parts, but it’s still very, scary and fucked up in some parts too.

Definitely. I mean, yeah, you get to the last page of an issue will be like, that’s fucking weird. Whereas, you know, it’s building up to something. Then it just sort of got that great sort of timing, I guess, in his writing as well.

So where did you come up with this idea?

The original idea before that, in a weird way, I actually came up with was the name of the band, “Rachel and the Heads of State.” You know, what do they do? From there, I was like, well, that sounds like a punk rock band. There’s that whole motif, sort of the Point Break masks, they come onto stage with, that’s sort of what the lead is. Anarchic sort of punk rock vibe, I guess. Then over time, things came from there. I was like, Oh, great, that’s a punk rock band.

Where do they get their powers from? Playing on the sort of Spider-Man’s radioactive spider, it’s probably a bad batch of drugs. Initially to help them survive, whatever it’s going to be. If this does make it beyond the first story arc, it’s not always going to be zombies; there’ll be other situations that they’ll find themselves in, which sort of became the idea for this first story arc. A sort of violent weapon in London.

This villain that you see in issues one and two is sort of launching this attack., He’s on Zoom with a big black silhouette. There’s a sort of wider story, if it ever gets that far, where it might lead to. Sort of bits of ideas from different places. There’s a lot of musical influences and what I really had a lot of fun doing, sort of just dropping in sort of Easter eggs. Like the cover of the first issue, is sort of the famous Clash cover smashing the Guitar. When Renzo sent me that, it’s like an idea that he had for the cover. 

Dropping those Easter eggs and different references to punk, or, sort of other rock or metal, there’s an Iron Maiden reference in the first one there. Stuff that most people will never actually see or notice, but it’s just like, I know it’s there.

Are Rachel and the Heads of State based on anybody or any type of punk rocker in general?

The name is actually based on a good friend of mine. It’s sort of a play on her name. She doesn’t play music. I guess all of them are sort of based in part, you’ve got sort of your Debbie Harry vibe, you’ve got your sort of Hayley Williams vibe, they’re all sort of like female rockers and musicians, but there’s no it’s this person, or it’s that person.

Apart from the character, Rachel, who’s based on a friend of mine, it was a bit weird sending concept art. This is my friend, make it look good, but apart from that, they’re just influenced by musicians, not actually a one-to-one direct reference.

Okay. What type of, what type of punk would you say they are? 

It’s an interesting one to think about. I have written a couple of lines from a song that was quite fun. I’ve never written a song before. I’m not a musician. So, writing the lyrics, then actually sort of thinking, well, you know, when you had something written down, what does that actually sound like? You know, what does that actually turn into? I’d say they’re probably a modern band, pop punk, but maybe a little bit harder, if that makes sense. Maybe somewhere between, I don’t know, do you think a female vocalist in that world? So somewhere between maybe Paramore and Amyl and the Sniffers at the other end. 

If anyone ever wanted to turn it into a film and had to make the band, I’d probably say, you just make it sound great. I’m not gonna want to have any control over that. Not that that’s actually gonna be in the cards, but you know, I think I’m more focused on the story side. Obviously, that’s the vehicle. I’m a big fan of music, and a lot of that type of music as well. I don’t know the type of set maybe, you hear what they sound like in your head, maybe.

You said, there were a lot of punk rock Easter eggs that you were putting in there. Did your artist put any punk rock Easter eggs?

If he has, there’s things that I don’t know about. I love that even more. I did notice one that he didn’t tell me about, but it’s less of a punk rock Easter egg, it’s more of himself. Then sort of having to know what he looks like. In the first issue, when they’re coming on stage, and this person’s announcing, I said, “That looks a lot like you.” Side characters, the main characters that give direction on outfits are obviously welcome for him to do that. My sort of Easter egg for him is that most people won’t necessarily know what he looks like, but if any of his friends read it, they’re like, ah, cool, I see what you did there.

They get their powers from a batch of bad drugs, it’s blue coke. Is that a Breaking Bad or Star Wars reference?

Well, I mean, maybe a bit of both. It’s also, as it gets further on, we sort of see where that comes from. In issue two, they were sort of waiting to collect this ingredient that whatever was mixed in, and it was actually sort of the waste from a science experiment. That’s actually why they become aggressive. The zombies as well, but they don’t turn into them. It was not necessarily a reference to Breaking Bad, but also, you know, I guess the Star Wars reference is good. I haven’t actually thought of that.

You’re doing these comics mostly on your own, what are you finding about the indie comic scene in Europe?

I think it’s probably a hidden industry, It’s probably the same as the music scene. I think one thing that I have found is sort of just how open and helpful everyone is, like, you know, people reach out to you whether that’s here or self-publishing, it’s all going to be online, I wouldn’t know how to sort of get it printed. Then sort of get connected with someone who can do print to order in the UK, theoretically anywhere in the world. That’s through a company called Shift. 

It’s a very helpful scene. I wouldn’t necessarily know where to go to buy stuff. There’s a comic book shop on the same road as my office. I know where to buy stuff, it’s only limited distribution in terms of one small store there to actually get it around. I guess, the UK, or actually even sort of the in Australia online as well, which was nice, I guess, sort of conveniently, they were just just launching this store for the next sort of website out there. Sarah runs Comix.one, who’s trying to literally do the same thing. I want to create something for indie comics in Australia or around the world, but mostly in Australia. So I guess I’ve still got the passport.  They’re doing great stuff. I just got an email about some stuff he’s doing that sort of helps creators that literally came in today. These people were genuinely helpful, nice, and warm and they will do well.

I’ve been meeting a lot of people and everyone’s been fantastic. Everybody just wants everybody to succeed. It’s kind of great to see that in general. Any type of community, where there’s not a lot of competition. It’s been a really good experience for me so far. I don’t even have anything out yet. I’m just like, talking to people and trying to get stuff out.

Yeah. It’s not a competition. Like everyone, if someone wins, then stuff does well.  That helps other people do well as well. It’s not like you buy a Toyota, you’re not gonna buy a Volkswagen, right? Like you’re only gonna buy one. If you buy a Corvette because you like it, you’re probably gonna get another one.

You’re saying you do your comic print-on-demand?

Yeah, with shift in the UK. Then he’s been able to sort of connect it into a sort of catalogue in the US for stores out there. Print-on-demand online has been good. At first, it was here’s a PDF link to your mates or someone can go on Amazon or Google or wherever else, but to be able to actually hold it up, which is great. Then obviously be able to take that to conventions, as well. I’ve had quite a bit of bad luck with that.

There’s an Indie comic convention called Core Bubble, which happens in the north of England every year. I’m going to go to that next year. Hopefully, we have at least the third issue out by then. Given that it’s only three at this rate now, but at least after those tech people have got some bookmarks and some sort of pin badges.

How many issues do you have planned for this first arc?

It’s gonna be five, I have written six, and then I’ve actually sort of condensed down to five. I thought it was sort of dragging out a little bit at the end. So five, maybe with a sort of slightly larger issue. They’ll come out. Hopefully, within the next six to nine months, we’ll get to finish that. Be good to sort of release that as a trade paperback. That’s all been written for a while. I’ve got ideas for more arcs. I started writing, what was that issue seven, now it’d be issue six. The start of the next story arc, but I’ve written about ten or twelve pages of the first issue of that one. It’d be great if it does have a life beyond this arc. Otherwise, other ideas would be great to move on to or try and release next instead. 

Has there been any pushback over the length of time between each of your issues?

No, not so far. I think if I was to go back, I was super keen to get it out. The second was being worked on. I was like, great, this will be done in two months, and they can come out like every two months. If I was to go back in time, I would have held off the second issue for a bit longer. Maybe aimed for a three or four month gap, but I think because yeah, because issue two was sort of almost ready to go. When I released issue one, I thought we’d sort of be on this roll. That’s really been the gap between issues two and three. 

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