Creator Charlie McFarland describes his new comic “Pistol Shrimp” as an action/comedy under-the-sea Western about a shrimp who becomes separated from his wife after their fish tank gets dumped into the ocean. It follows his adventures as he attempts to reunite with her.
“It really just started with me and some friends joking around about the pistol shrimp. It’s a real sea creature and we just thought it had this really heroic-sounding name for something so small,” McFarland said of where the story idea came from.
While McFarland writes the script, “Pistol Shrimp” is a group effort. Artist, Luis Morocho draws and inks the story. Antonio Ramos-Wong colors it all, and Buddy Beaudoin adds the word balloons and letters to finish it up. Plus, the project was funded through Kickstarter.
“So countless friends, family, and comic book fans helped to get it made,” McFarland said. “You can actually see the names of a lot of those people in the first issue’s credits.”
The first issue is already available to read digitally for $0.99 on GlobalComix.com, and McFarland said he’s got enough ideas to keep the series going for a long time.
“As of right now we’re just trying to get the first six made, but ideally, I’d like to go for 40 or 50 even,” he said. “More than anything it’s just going to come down to how long I can afford to keep the project going.”
McFarland, a lifelong Owensboro resident, has been writing comics since he was 8 or 9 years old, when he read his first “Captain Underpants” book. Back then he was just making stick figures and 10-page stories. But after graduating high school, McFarland decided to take it more seriously and look for a professional artist.
“Pistol Shrimp” will be McFarland’s second full series. In 2021, he wrote a series called “The Citizen” about an ordinary man living in a city of superheroes. That was published through Action Lab Comics back in 2021. He’s also had three short comics published through Alterna Comics.
“I’m starting to feel like I’ve got some real experience,” McFarland said.
Anyone interested in projects that McFarland is working on can stay up to date by following him on Facebook at Charlie McFarland Comics, or find him on Twitter or Instagram. He said news for the second issue of “Pistol Shrimp” should be coming “very soon.”
