Interview: Talking To Rachael Smith & Yishan Li About Boarding School In The Tammy & Jinty Special
10th August 2020
Okay, enough of the misery and despair – time for something great in 2020. How about the brand new Tammy & Jinty Special? That should help a little. Right?
Inside, you’ll find two spectacular tales of courage and awe; Boarding School by Rachael Smith (Wired Up Wrong) and Yishan Li (Hellboy & The B.P.R.D.) and Cat Girl by RAMZEE (Zorse) and Elkys Nova (Roy of the Rovers), all under a cover from Marguerite Sauvage (DC Bombshells).
In Boarding School, writer Rachael Smith and artist Yishan Li tell us the tale of Tabatha and her little brother Richard, the only pupils in a mysterious old building. The only other people they have ever seen are the Governesses – four teachers who fawn over the younger sibling but treat Tabatha very badly. Does it have something to do with Richard’s special power? When Tabatha finds a new friend in the outside world, her old life quickly starts to unravel.
Make sure you pre-order your copy from the Treasury of British Comics webshop, or grab yours from all good newsagents and comic book shops on 12th August!
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We caught up with Rachael Smith and Yishan Li to talk all about the strange Boarding School adventure they’ve put together…
Rachael, Yishan. Hello both, hope that lockdown is treating you well, wherever you are. Rachael, can I just say that your Quarantine Comix have really been a source of many laughs, smiles, and knowing sadness for myself and I’m sure plenty of other readers.
Rachael Smith: Thank you!
First of all, I suppose I should ask what Boarding School is all about?
RS: The Boarding School is about two siblings, Tabatha and Richard who are being brought up in a grand, Victorian boarding school by several governesses. Everything seems normal to the two children, including the fact that they are the only two boarders. In fact they don’t even think to question anything until Tabatha (literally) runs into Stacy, a young girl who seems to be from another world.
Yishan Li: I can talk about the process I guess. Rachel can answer the bigger questions as I am not really good at those….
Okay then, we shall catch you later with the process stuff!
From the press release, it’s obvious that this is a tale that doesn’t just cover the school hi-jinks and old-fashioned japes that the title suggests. Instead, it points more towards a supernatural element, the sort of spooky tales we might expect to be found in somewhere like the Scream & Misty Special.
RS: Yes, there is definitely more to this school than first meets the eye!
Am I right in thinking this is a completely new strip, not one from the pages of Tammy, Jinty, or various other classic girls’ comics in the rich history of British comics?
RS: Correct, this is a brand new strip with brand new characters.
I can’t imagine it’s going to have all that much in common with something like The Four Marys by Barrie Mitchell that ran for the longest time in Bunty – where the strip’s main concerns seemed to be studying, getting up to very tame adventures, being bored, getting in grief with other pupils and teachers, and generally exploring the social issues of having two middle-class kids, the daughter of an Earl, and one of those working-class oiks on a scholarship mixing together in one friendship group.
RS: I suppose the story doesn’t, no, but the main character, Tabatha, has a lot in common with the main protagonists of those older comics. She is very determined, brave, and finds things she doesn’t understand utterly fascinating. She has a deep-rooted need to learn and better herself.
When thinking about first the story, Rachael, did you go back over some of the older comics, the Tammys, Jintys, even old Scream or Misty issues to get a feel for the sort of stories found in the older titles at all?
RS: Yes I was very privileged in that my editor sent me many PDFs of the old comics to read through.
Yishan, we said we’d talk about your process, something that ‘s always fun to do with artists. And it’s even better when you get to actually talk about it and show us – so thank you so much for sharing your process stages with us here.
How do you go about creating your art for something like Boarding School?
YL: Well, I love Rachael’s stories, however long they are! I think they fit my style really well. And I like the pace she sets for the pages as well.
Unlike most manga artists, I normally work with writers because I am more in the field of comics rather than manga these days. So after I get the script from the writer, I read through it and see if there are any questions to ask. While reading it, a general story flow will start to build up in my mind, this includes things like the camera angles and rough layouts.
YL: Then I will spend some time to actually draw it all, trying to capture the images that had flashed through my mind.
YL: After the layout and rough images, I send them to the editor and writer to get their feedback before working on inking. And after that, it’s just a straightforward process to get the pages done.
And finally, do feel free to mention here just what we can look forward to from both of you – tell us about the next things we’ll be seeing from you!
YL: I am working on a few Kickstarter comics as well as my normal comic jobs such as Swing for Topcow/Image and Army of One for Lion Forge.
I have attached some rough and inked pages in this email, feel free to use them.
Thanks so much to Rachael & Yishan for talking to us. You can find them online at Rachael Smith.org & @rachael_ and LiYishan.com & @superliyishan.
Make sure you check out the new Boarding School strip from Rachael & Yishan in the pages of Tammy & Jinty Special – available from all good newsagents and comic book stores. Or get it from the 2000 AD web shop and Treasury of British Comics web shop.
And while you’re thinking all things Tammy & Jinty, if you haven’t already seen it, go and grab a copy of the 2019 Tammy & Jinty Special as well – including Rachael & Yishan on Duckface – and we’ve included a couple of pages from that for your enjoyment below.
