You know Wine Ghost. She's that girl on the dating app you thought twice about swiping right. She's drama, she's fashion, she's got a depression that just won't quit, and she's the flagship character of famed non-binary cartoonist Sage Coffey. Previously, Wine Ghost has starred in short adventures, from possessing people to using a bath bomb, but now she's the star of Wine Ghost Goes to Hell, her first full-length graphic novel adventure.
This week, Iron Circus Comics launched the Backerkit crowdfunding campaign for Wine Ghost Goes to Hell follows Wine Ghost's most turbulent challenge yet. Her ex and friend from her previous life has arrived in Hell, resulting in a lot of house-hunting -- and a lot of drama. In this exclusive interview with CBR, Wine Ghost Goes to Hell writer and artist Sage Coffey discussed the origin of their beloved character, their new graphic novel, and what the future has in store for Wine Ghost.
CBR: What inspired you to create Wine Ghost? How did you come up with the character?
Sage Coffey: I was invited to Challengers Comics in Chicago for a month-long event celebrating women and non-binary creators, in which a new artist tables at the shop each day. The day I tabled had some really rough weather, so I had a lot of downtime to sit and draw. Eventually, Wine Ghost came out! She was born from boredom, haha! But the more I drew her, the more her personality started shining through! Her first story was really just about introducing her and how she'd react to something as simple as an ex on a date.
Your visuals for Wine Ghost Goes to Hell are a fun and recognizable blend of wacky cartoonishness, horror elements, and whimsical touches. What inspired Wine Ghost Goes to Hell?
So, so many! I grew up with a lot of campy horror playing in the background of day-to-day activities, so a lot of the cartoonishness comes from that and having watched a metric butt-ton of cartoons!
Aesthetically, I think being a scene kid in the aughts, the animated series Mission Hill, and blacklight Haunted House rides you'd see at places like Keansburg Park, NJ, really informed what Wine Ghost ultimately looks like! I also don't have the best brush control in the world when inking, and I think that adds a fun kind of wobbliness to my lines.
What do you love most about writing Wine Ghost as a character? How do you decide what kind of adventures or challenges to give her?
When I wrote Wine Ghost Gets a Bathbomb, I was using a lot of bath bombs at the time! Similarly, one of the inspirations for Wine Ghost Goes to Hell was the house hunting my partner and I were doing at the time. Basically, whatever I'm going through, she's going through in a horror-ified and goofy-fied fictionalized version!
Wine Ghost is a pretty complex character! On the surface, she's the careless, messy, party-going, and wisecracking lush, but each of her adventures reveals a more emotional and vulnerable side. How do you reconcile those two sides of this character?
Lived experiences, cultural differences, and overall background collectively inform how folks move through the world, and taking that aspect of getting to know people in real life and applying it to characters or even working backward by asking questions like, "Why does Wine Ghost like to party?" helps provide depth to what would otherwise be a flat character! With Wine Ghost, a lot of her characteristics are exaggerated aspects of myself in my early twenties, so writing her is a little less thought intensive than writing characters like Pepper or Sebastian.
Along with Wine Ghost herself, Wine Ghost Goes to Hell features an impressive cast of characters! How do you come up with the supporting cast's designs and personalities? Who was your favorite to write and draw?
Pepper is my favorite supporting cast, for sure! She started out being tiny and more cute, similar to Wine Ghost's design, but the more I drew her, the more I realized that approach wasn't complimentary to who her character is. There's a lot about Pepper we don't see in the graphic novel that I'm excited to explore in later works!
The world of Hell in your graphic novel is otherworldly yet very familiar. What was your favorite part about writing and designing this weird and wonderful afterlife dimension?
I love coming up with the infrastructure of Hell! It's part creature feature, part ornate Chicago-style architecture. I took an architectural history class at SCAD because it was so outside my realm of knowledge, and I needed another history credit, haha! But it really made me appreciate all that goes into city design!
Even though Wine Ghost Goes to Hell is a comedy, there is a tragic and human element to the story. Wine Ghost and the entire cast are dead but still have unresolved issues and insecurities that have followed them beyond the grave. Are there any challenges balancing the wacky, satirical comedy with human drama?
I wanted to treat Hell less like death and more like moving to a new city. It's just [that] instead of moving with lots of luggage, they're moving with their baggage instead! There are some unique challenges that come with balancing drama and comedy, but I think it boils down to treating your characters as humans -- even if their exterior form is a big ol' crawdad or a ghost with hairy legs.
You've made comics for newspapers and sites such as the New Yorker, the Washington Post, anthologies, and even worked on games! How would you compare your experience making art for newspapers and anthologies versus making your graphic novel for your own character?
Working with Wine Ghost as a character feels easy because I understand her. But tackling a long-form story was so different from what I expected! With newspapers and anthologies, you're given much stricter guidelines as far as length, color palette, and theme. With Wine Ghost Goes to Hell, I was really able to run wild, and while that freedom was overwhelming at first, I found a way to make it work for my usual process!
What's next for you and Wine Ghost?
Currently, I'm working on an unannounced comic with a really stellar small press. I'd really love to do more Wine Ghost comics, and for me, the pie-in-the-sky dream would be to develop a Wine Ghost animated series! She's just a character I like spending time with. One way or another, I'm sure we'll see more of her!
The Backerkit crowdfunding campaign for Wine Ghost Goes to Hell is live now.