Skyclad: energy from desire. A graphic novel 30 years in the making

Meet Louene Willoughby, part of a coven of witches who control natural magic by performing rituals Skyclad. Literally “clad by only the sky.” Louene’s story stretches back to old world Europe, where her skills as a healer and midwife brought charges of witchcraft. Tortured and sentenced to death, Willow stepped from the fires unharmed, saved by a real witch called Panacea. Moving to America and a century of being her disciple led to mastering strong magic of her own. Then she discovered Panacea’s true source of power and fled in fear. Louene soon learned that she could draw mystical energy from the earth, the sky, from human desire. She journeyed across the wilderness of early America to discover that the “savages” she’d heard about — the Native Americans — had their own powerful magicks. She learned, she grew, she mastered it all. Cut to: Today. Her black cat familiar Eddie ever close by, Louene has opened WILLOW’S, a gentleman’s club bearing her nickname. Exotic dancers entice men’s appetites but leave them unsated — and Willow feeds on that power, gaining magical energy which maintains her youth and beauty. Until Panacea returns — seeking revenge for being spurned and to rip that power from Willow’s beating heart.

This is the premise of SKYCLAD, a full-color graphic novel on Kickstarter from Glass House Graphics and Alpha Comics. It is created and edited by David Campiti, scripted

by Mary Anne Evans, and illustrated by award-winning Australian artist Michal Dutkiewicz.

Derived from Indian religions, the word “Digambara” literally means “skyclad,” a term since rooted in Wiccan tradition. Going skyclad is a way to connect more closely with the natural world and to remove barriers between the practitioner and the divine. In the book, the practice serves a connection with nature, unity, purity and freedom. Sexuality is considered sacred and an integral part of spiritual practice, where the human body and sexual energy are revered as manifestations of divine power.

“The idea came, oddly enough, from meeting a woman many years ago at a Pittsburgh comic convention. She said she was a Wiccan dancer,” said SKYCLAD creator David Campiti. “Turned out Willow worked at some club and did routines with a witch’s hat, candles, a spell book, and not much else. Artist Mark Jones did a drawing of her, so she gave me her blessing to be my inspiration for the book. I worked with my good friend Scott Rockwell developing it, then Michal Dutkiewicz came aboard. It’s a labor of love with a long labor. From that chance meeting to printed color book has been 30 years in the making.”

“I wanted to evoke a hocus-pocussy feel but with a little lethal lady biker chick and ancient kingdom exotic priestess stuff,” Michal explained of his approach and technique. “The witches I saw as sympathetic, having dabbled with alternative religion and mind-altering substance is my youth. I saw them as fairly trendy — the California Beverly Hills witch coven.”

Michal brought traditional pen and brush to paper for SKYCLAD — no digital drawing here — to evoke his inspirations, among them Jose Gonzalez, Esteban Maroto, Alex Raymond, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, and “a bit of Frazetta.”

Michal Dutkiewcz was born in Adelaide, Australia. He is a three-time winner of the Stanley Award for best adventure strip artist (1991, 1995, 1998) and winner of the Royal South Australian Society of Arts Award for best painting. He came to prominence drawing his sexy strip “Verity Aloha” in Eureka magazine. Michal burst into the American comics scene drawing the super-hero team book Hero Alliance for Innovation, followed by a run on the classic Lost in Space revival with actor/author Bill Mumy; it was later completed and collected into a graphic novel. Michal drew for both Marvel and DC on such titles as Wolverine: Doombringer, Batman Forever: The Official Adaptation; Catwoman, Psyba*Rats, Team Titans, and Superman.

SKYCLAD is available on Kickstarter as a full-color graphic novel at this direct link —

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/banzaigirl/skyclad-graphic-novel-by-david-campiti-and-michal-dutkiewicz

About the Author

Richard Boom Richard is the driving force behind Comics for Sinners. His love and admiration for female comic book characters is virtually unparalleled, which immediately explains his biggest 'sin': his Hot Mummy fetish. This sketchbook theme is philogynistic in nature and even the source of his WIP comic book series "The Sisterhood".