Indie Edge: Ted Sikora

Please tell us a bit about yourself!

I’m a filmmaker, writer, colorist, and letterer. Both Cleveland and Akron are home.

What are your favorite projects you’ve contributed to over the past decade?

I co-wrote and directed a dark comedy feature film titled, Hero Tomorrow, about a struggling comic book creator who gets a costume of his own character for Halloween. Once he has that costume he starts bumbling through the neighborhoods trying to fight crime. The film played festivals all over the world, and we were often told that his superhero character, Apama, would make a cool, actual comic. Milo Miller (co-writer) Benito Gallego (artist) and I have spent the last seven years turning Apama into a cool, actual comic. It’s not an adaptation of the film, but the book our character from the movie would have published. It stars an ice cream truck driver in Cleveland that becomes a ferocious, rag-tag superhero. The film is also the reason we named our publishing company Hero Tomorrow Comics.

What are you currently working on?

A new series titled Tap Dance Killer! It’s the story of mega-talented actress, Nikki St Clair, who is cast in a horror show musical and becomes supernaturally trapped in her role — think The Punisher meets Rocky Horror. The character Tap Dance Killer is from a libretto I wrote back in 1991, and a new cast album of that show, Nothing Like Vaudeville, is in the works too.

Apama is coming out in an ongoing series. The stories were originally released digitally and then in printed collections, but all of our first appearances and kick-ass covers never had that collectable, single-issue release. Apama The Undiscovered Animal is fully remastered, and will finally put the horse before the cart and pave the way for future stories.

Later this year we’ll also be debuting Bloom. It’s a standalone, prequel origin story to Apama’s hippie, ‘psycho-delic’ arch-nemesis, Regina.

What fun titles are you reading?

I’m digging Marjorie Lui’s Monstress (Vol. 1 / APR160803), Sana Takeda’s art is SICK! I also adore the IDW Artist Edition books… the Romita, Gil Kane, and Marvel Covers editions are all jaw-dropping!

EDGE ESSENTIALS

Pick up these books to learn more about Ted Sikora’s Indie Edge style!

• Apama: The Undiscovered Animal Vol. 1 TP (NOV151480)
• Apama: The Undiscovered Animal Vol. 2 TP (APR171799)
• Tap-Dance Killer #1 (See page 372!)