We chat with co-creators Jen Xu and Kate Rhodes about Haven and the Fallen Giants, which is a fantastical and stunningly illustrated adventure that encompasses revenge, loyalty, prejudice, and love, perfect for fans of graphic novels like Nimona, Wings of Fire, and The Rema Chronicles.
PLUS you can read an excerpt at the end of the interview!
Hi, Jen and Kate! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourselves?
Jen: Of course! I am a comic artist and a writer currently shrimping over my desk. At the moment I am eating, sleeping and breathing comics. I have an unrelenting passion for speculative worlds and queer narratives!
Kate: I’m a comic artist, writer and composer who’s obsessed with storytelling. I pursue a lot of my various interests and have trouble committing to just one. I was a kid that loved science and art so worldbuilding has become my passion.
When did you first discover your love for writing and illustrating?
Jen: Comics have been a staple in my reading diet since I was a kid. I remember being absorbed in the comic versions of Grimm’s Fairy Tales and stories by Hans Christian Andersen. (I can’t seem to find those books online, so now, that whole experience feels like a fever dream, haha.) Comics became my primary way of consuming stories. I gobbled up everything I could get my hands on. I was a content enjoyer of the medium until I discovered Sailor Moon by Naoko Takeuchi. I was instantly enamoured by the art, and from then on, wished desperately that one day I could create something just as captivating and moving.
Kate: I was a kid that always needed a lot of mental stimulation, and I did that through drawing and spinning narratives in my head. I made my own picture books during my free time in elementary school and reenacted stories I’d heard to my younger sister to entertain her. I took writing and drawing pretty seriously, my parents enrolled me in art classes and I even won a story contest at school (It was about a lost girl trapped in a forest who turns into a wolf). But it wasn’t until I met my friends in middle school that I really fell in love with writing and art. My friend Mantha used to make these comics and her art just blew me away. She also introduced me to anime, in particular a fantasy one called Slayers, which was about an overpowered sorceress and her ragtag team of adventurers. I was completely engrossed in the show, and it, along with the endless well of creativity my friends harbored, gave me the passion to create my own story through pictures and words.
Your graphic novel debut, Haven and the Fallen Giants, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Jen: We won’t cheat, we’ll use five words between the two of us haha.
Kate: Haha, I mean the title of the book is 5 words and describes it pretty well i’d say! But I’ll give it a go:
Oppressive city, girl awakens giant.
What can readers expect?
Jen+ Kate: Cities built on Giant’s husks, the mystery that surrounds their lore, and a protagonist who won’t surrender to a world that has turned its back on her.
Where did the inspiration for Haven and the Fallen Giants come from?
Jen: The bare bones of the concept came to me in a dream. (Gundam Wing was very formative for me!) I have pretty vivid ones once in a while and I write the cool ones down. (The recent one I recall is nowhere near as fantastic as it involves ice skating with no socks, stinky feet, and being shamed into washing them by people in the room.) Back on track, a spring of inspiration that never dries are historical documentaries exploring various civilizations! I am also a huge fan of fantasies/sci-fi that combine ancient worlds with advanced technologies like Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and the recent entries in The Legend of Zelda video games.
Kate: Jen and I took the spark of the idea from an entry in her dream journal. We spent the next few days brainstorming the world and characters together. A lot of my inspiration for the story came from my love of fossils and the idea of combining ghosts and technology.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or illustrating?
Jen: I particularly love working on scenes where characters interact with each other, explore their feelings, or when a character is on the cusp of an emotional release. I also enjoy when Haven, our protagonist, can enjoy herself in pockets of calm within the narrative, when she is not weighed down by her responsibilities.
Kate: I love the dramatic moments. Like the first Giant reveal in the beginning, or when the Phantom makes an appearance later in the book. One of my favorite parts to write is at the end, when an important character in the second book confronts Haven and reveals that there is much more to her world than she ever expected.
Did you face any challenges whilst writing or illustrating? How did you overcome them?
Jen: It was a balancing act trying to condense a fantasy story into a specific page count while still leaving enough room for moments to “breathe.” The world building and narrative required us to squeeze more panels onto a page. So I studied manga by authors who are masterful at fitting more on a page while maintaining story clarity (The Bride’s Story by Kaori Mori and Dungeon Meshi by Ryoko Rui). Eventually, we got better at determining which scene needed more space and which didn’t.
Kate: I think writing a complete satisfying arc for the first book was a challenge. We saw the two books as one story, so we needed to really identify the themes of the first book. We spent a long time talking with my sister and our editor at the time, Sheila, on what we wanted to say with this first volume. Ultimately, we solved it by delving deep into Haven’s struggles which helped us understand her character arc.
Can you tell us a bit about the process in the story coming to life through illustrations?
Kate: We work together on every step. First, we brainstorm together, bouncing ideas between us and developing the things that make us excited. Then we outline the story in bullet point form, discussing the order of events and switching scenes around if we need to. Once we’re satisfied we move onto scripting. This is the funnest part for us. We usually pick characters for ourselves then start writing back and forth in the voice of those characters. This is the fastest step, it only took us a week to write the script for the second volume. Once the script is approved by our editing team we move on to thumbnails or “sketches.” These are page layouts made up of very rough drawings and the dialogue from the script. We take turns drawing these, usually picking the scenes we like best. Then we move on to pencilling and inking. Jen draws the characters, I draw the backgrounds. The last step is colors. I decide on color palettes and we send them to our flatters to get the base colors down for each page. Then we each polish the page with details and lighting.
What’s next for you both?
Kate: Haven Vol. 2! We are in the coloring stage so we’re almost done! We also just announced that our webcomic, Novae, will be coming to print in 2028!
Jen: We are sprinting full speed ahead to meet the Haven Vol. 2 deadline while continuing to work on our new adult fantasy romance, Novae! I am also working on a personal novella (turned novel at this point), and learning loads while trying to polish my prose writing chops.
Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up? Any you’ve read so far this year that you’ve enjoyed?
Kate: I’m looking forward to reading The Silent Paths of Night by David R. Slayton, second book in his greek inspired fantasy, and The Stolen Women by Alysandra Dutton, a historical fiction novel about the Sabine women and a woman warrior turned detective. I really enjoyed the Castle Swimmer graphic novels and The Thief of the Heights graphic novel this year.
Jen: I’m looking forward to the new Murderbot novella and super psyched about reading The Twelve Kingdoms by Fuyumi Ono for the first time with an official English translation.
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