DREAM REAPERS New Comic Book Series By George Morneau and Keith Ashton STORY BY MICHAEL SEGUIN PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHN LIVIERO TALENT HAS A FUNNY WAY of lingering, of waiting, biding its time and then exploding outwards. Karmic Malice Comics, a local publishing company, has just released the first issue of their debut title: Dream Reapers. The comic was written by George Morneau and illustrated by Keith Ashton. George, a lumber yard worker, first started embracing his artistic talents in his early fifties. “I come from a very artistic family,” George explains. “My brother and sister are unbelievable artists. We’re all self-taught. None of us have any formal training. Then, about five or six years ago, I became a very spiritual person. I started applying these gifts in a more sincere way.” Within two years, George experienced a volcanic eruption of creativity. He began writing poetry and sculpting. He donated an art piece to Crossroads on Ottawa Street. Some of his watercolors and poems were even featured at the Gibson Gallery in Amherstburg. During this incredibly fertile period, George began working out the details for what would eventually coalesce into Dream Reapers. “I’m friends with Tony Gray, from Glass Monkey Studios,” George states. “He’s developed his own comic book series, Conduit. He told me I had a pretty good story, the makings of a great comic book. That I needed to find an illustrative artist.” After a couple leads didn’t pan out, George encountered Keith Ashton at an art show. “They had a bunch of artists in the area show up and set up booths in the Windsor Market Square,” George recalls. “I sold a couple pieces. At one point, I was talking to this other artist and said, ‘You know, I’ve got this story. Do you know anyone who’d be a good fit?’ And she said, ‘Yeah. The young fellow behind you.’” The young fellow was Keith Ashton, a local freelance artist. Keith first began pursuing art in his teens after becoming embroiled in an unlikely love affair with comic books. “Back in high school, I never took art all that seriously,” Keith explains. “I dabbled, here and there. In high school, my art teacher,
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Illustrator Keith Ashton, left and comic book writer George Morneau.
Mr. James, taught me about comic book art. He was teaching me about different comic book artists and different styles and the techniques they were using. I ended up looking deeper. I went to Border City Comics, a local comic book store. I looked at all the different comic books. One of the artists that I stumbled upon was a man named David Finch.” To Keith’s surprise, David Finch was local. And thanks to his art teacher, Keith was able to meet his favourite comic book artist. “When I went in, he showed me some of the techniques he was using,” Keith recalls. “He told me that I was way too rusty to be taken on as an intern but that if I kept it up for the next couple years, who knows?” Emboldened, Keith ended up enrolling at the University of Windsor, hoping to secure an internship with David Finch. However, at the time, Finch was not taking on interns. Undeterred, Keith continued to hound his hero for a position. “I was emailing him every day for about a month,” Keith explains. “Eventually, he said, ‘You know what? You’re persistent enough. I’ll take you on.’” The internship turned out to be Keith’s baptism by fire. “David took me back to the drawing board,” Keith states. “He said I was one of the least experienced artists he’d taken on but I had the passion. So, for those four months I absolutely killed
