The Dragon in The Closet, Dragon’s Journey follows a dragon as he sets off on an adventure to defeat his family’s curse; along the way there is danger and mysteries to solve. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?

The first issue of The Dragon in the Closet, The Curse is about a cursed little boy who is constantly attacked by monsters. His Nana is a witch who comes to his rescue. I wrote it during a dark time with my daughter who suffers from suicidal ideation. She was so bad they were recommending she be hospitalized but we couldn’t afford it and our insurance covered almost nothing. The character, his Nana, is what I wish I was. Someone who could see the monsters and had the tools to protect their child.

In the second issue, the dragon, who can see through time and is kept in the family closet to predict monster attacks, finally breaks free of his prison. This issue is a natural progression of the story as Orin, the boy and dragon travel north facing monsters on their own with his Nana there with him.

What were some of the trials that you felt were important to highlight the character’s development?

My goal is to show Dragon as he enters the real world for the first time, While he could always see what the world is like because of his psychic gifts, in this book he not only sees the sky with his own eyes, he flies through it. Navigating the world vs watching from a distance are two very different things and he makes mistakes like when Orin gets attacked by Cave imps.

This is also an important part of the story for Orin as he is away from his Nana and counting on someone else to protect him, feed him and keep him safe. In upcoming stories he needs to learn to keep himself safe, but he’s getting there in stages.

When you first sat down to write this story, did you know where you were going, or did the twists come as you were writing?

The twists have come as I am writing. I write a few issues ahead of the drawing of this book. I work from an outline so I know where it’s going. I create a few pages at a time and post on the webcomic every Saturday.

Will there be an Issue #4 to continue Dragon’s journey, if so when will it be available?

Yes, Issue #4 is in progress now and will be out late next year. At the beginning of 2023 I will also release the first graphic novel for this series that compiles 1,2, 3 and some chapters of 4. In the meantime you can follow the story on the webcomic at TheDragonintheCloset.thecomicseries.com.

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