The following is an interview with Matt Ringel on the recent release of the comic book, Long Dark Winter. In this interview, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief Barbra Dillon chats with Ringel about his recent success in funding through project through Kickstarter, his creative approach to bringing the story to life on the page, and more!
Barbra Dillon, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief: First and foremost, congratulations on the recent success of your Kickstarter campaign for Long Dark Winter! For those who may be unfamiliar, what can you tell us about the premise of this horror story?
Matt Ringel: Thank you! The story is about a small town in Vermont that on the first day of winter, the sun doesn’t come up. The town is blanketed in perpetual night and the local sheriff has to investigate a series of gruesome crimes that get worse as the days go on in darkness.
The story fits into the Appalachian horror genre, which I love because of the heavy atmospheric tension and overall eeriness. In a good Appalachian horror, the physical setting is as much of an threat as the actual antagonist.
BD: How would you describe your shared creative process in bringing this world and characters to life on the page?
MR: The shared creative process with my team is a fairly organic one. The artist is Henry Ponciano and the letterer is Toben Racicot. I’ve worked with both of them for several years now, and we know what to expect from each other. They’re both very experienced and incredibly talented in what they do.
BD: Why do you feel that crowdfunding – and Kickstarter in particular – has been such a valuable resources to ensuring the success of today’s comic book creators?
MR: Crowdfunding has been a valuable resource for today’s comic book creators by giving us a different avenue than through the traditional direct market. In the past, the direct market was the only way to go, but the opportunities for new voices to enter the industry and was few and far between.
Creating a comic book is an incredibly expensive process, and crowdfunding has made it more accessible to creators. With that being said, platforms like Kickstarter have become a lot more competitive of a market than in the past. There are a lot of global economic issues that are making everyone’s budgets tight and are affecting spending habits. The platforms are also seeing a lot of bigger publishers starting to use it and just the overall quality of projects is increasing. There are some great projects coming out that really compete with what we see in the direct market.
BD: At Fanbase Press, our #StoriesMatter initiative endeavors to highlight the impact that stories can have on audiences of various mediums. How do you feel that Ted’s story may connect with and impact readers?
MR: One of the theme’s Long Dark Winter involves is addiction. It’s not a large component of the story, but it’s there. Ted’s character had a prosperous career that he left when his sister was battling addiction that drew him to the small town to look after her. Ted is a character that quietly shoulders responsibility after responsibility without complaint because he feels that if he doesn’t, nobody will. I feel that there are a lot of readers out there that can connect with that.
BD: Are there any other projects – past or current – that you would like to highlight for our readers?
MR: 2025 is shaping to be a big year for some of my projects. 2024 was a bit of a rough year when ALICE #2 didn’t hit the funding mark. I’ve shelved that project but haven’t written it off yet. My first project, FALLEN, which was later published by Red 5 Comics, is coming out in a collected trade paperback in February and is available for pre-order now.
I have a few other projects in the pipeline that are in various stages of development, and it’s down to figuring out the schedule for next year for which will hit Kickstarter when. FALLEN and Long Dark Winter have been fairly dark projects, and the two others I’ve been working on have been a bit lighter. One is a Kaiju comic that I think is going to be a lot of fun!
BD: Lastly, what is the best way for our readers to find out more about Long Dark Winter?
MR: Readers can learn more about Long Dark Winter by checking it out issue #1 on Global Comix.
The prelaunch page for issue #2 is also now live for people to sign up here.
You can also find out more about the projects updates and other projects on my Substack:
