February 2008

Check out FREE LUNCH COMICS!: From left to right: Steve Custer, Matt Ryan, and Steve Kanaras!

By PENELOPE OVERTON | Hartford Courant Staff Writer
January 20, 2008


HADDAM - Not unlike the superheroes they bring to life, the three men behind Free Lunch Comics lead a secret life. They teach, publish or sell houses by day, even dabble in local politics, but at night and on weekends, they delve into a fantasy world of ink and imagination.

On Sundays, Steve Kanaras, Matt Ryan and Steve Kuster gather their stable of local writers and artists together in Kanaras' real estate office in Higganum to construct brooding protagonists, shadowy villains and a talking pig named Norman, who dropped out of medical school.

Today, at a comic book show in Plainville, they will unveil "Only in Whispers," the first in a series of supernatural comic books. Kanaras, the Haddam Realtor, wrote four of the stories. Ryan, a free-lance illustrator and teacher, drew one of the stories. Kuster, the publisher, designed the book.

The collaboration started 15 years ago, when they were teenagers hanging out in their basements in Granby. They cobbled together a mini-comic about a female vigilante before Kanaras left for college. Kuster and Ryan went on to form Free Lunch Comics.

An offhand invitation to join his two old friends at a local comic convention drew Kanaras, who by then had served as a town selectman and was running the Democratic Party in Haddam, back into the fold. He soon joined his friends at the helm of Free Lunch Comics.

"With my job and the politics, I had drifted so far away from that world, and without even realizing it, I had lost not just that thing I loved, but a part of myself, too," Kanaras said. "But it clicked right back into place when we got back together. It felt right."

It took the three friends a year to develop, create and publish "Only in Whispers."

The book includes four illustrated stories, one stand-alone prose tale and a section devoted to readers' own stories of supernatural encounters. A mysterious man, Mr. Quiet, introduces the stories, which he warns can be told "only in whispers."

Each new book will reveal subtle new details of Mr. Quiet's background, said Kanaras. The same might be said for Kanaras himself. Although he doesn't hide it, few of his fellow politicians and Realtors know that he stays up all night plotting spooky ghost stories.

"It's never exactly come up at a board of selectmen's meeting," Kanaras said of his hobby.

In this first edition, Kanaras writes about a life-changing brush with creatures that he now believes were demons during a visit home from college. Before that incident, Kanaras did not consider himself particularly religious. Now, after that warning, he believes absolutely.

The format, tone and subject matter recall the old American classic "Tales from the Crypt," but the creators hope their use of guest authors and illustrators who embrace the newer Japanese manga style will allow them to appeal to comic lovers young and old.

Bridging that gap is important, said Ryan, the state coordinator of the Comic Artists Guild. It's something that Ryan does every day. He grew up on the classics, but the cartooning students he teaches at the Farmington Valley Art Center crave the Japanese style.

"People think it's got to be one or the other, but I think our readers are more sophisticated than that," said Ryan. "They don't want to be labeled or told what they like. Both styles have so much to offer. If it's good, I don't think they care what you call it."

The decision to embrace both styles is unusual, but some who have tried it have been very successful, said Heather Dawn Cheney, who works at Sarge's Comics in New London, one of the state's most established and influential comic book stores.

That cross-generational appeal is one reason Sarge's plans to stock "Only in Whispers." The creators hope the big publishers agree and will take "Only In Whispers" national.

The official launch party will be held today at the monthly comic and collectible show at the VFW Hall, 7 Northwest Drive, Plainville, which runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The books sell for $3.95 each.

Contact Penelope Overton at poverton@courant.com.