White Eye Productions, Inc.

Philip Bourque

I’ve been telling stories pretty much since I was six years old; mostly to myself, tales of battle and adventure in a sci-fi setting. When I told stories to others, it would be fantasy and none of my stories were well-thought out or in depth tales. When I was twelve, that’s when I started getting serious. An English teacher was amazed at the quality of one story I wrote (though she wasn’t so impressed with the fact that I handed it in late) and for the first time in my life, I thought I might actually be good at something. From then I started reading a lot more (mostly Dragonlance novels) and thinking up new stories. I had two ideas I thought I could make into novels. Near the end of high school, I was giving up on those ideas due to lack of confidence. Then, in CEGEP (college level studies) I was introduced to the internet and suddenly I had possibilities. My first digitally ‘published’ story was a Breath of Fire fanfiction, titled ‘Requiem of Souls’, for which I’ve received many praising comments. For the past five years or so, I’ve written a myriad of stories (some as part of art trades with friends, others for my own amusement and the amusement of others) and only now do I find I have the confidence to try and produce a publishable work (well, more than one, to be honest). I’ve been writing mostly fantasy stories, with a few science-fictions and I’m trying to branch out into other genres. Telling stories is what I love to do and it’s become part of my nature now; most birds fly, most fish swim, me? I tell stories.

Q&A

What drew you to comic books in the first place?

Nothing really ‘drew’ me. They were simply always there.

Who inspires you? Who are your influences?

When I was younger, it was the writers of the Dragonlance novels, Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, but recently, I find inspiration all over the place. As for my influences… Well, I don’t know, though a friend once told me my writing style reminded him of R.L. Salvatore’s. I don’t see it myself.

What other projects do you have in the works?

To be honest, I have countless stories that I’m working on. I have as many stories as Scheherazade. The ones that I have artists working on only number five. The other four are Starlight Chronicles, a webcomic I create currently using sprites; the sprite comic is currently almost 300 pages. I intend to have that one drawn eventually, so the sprite version is more or less a rough draft. Next is Zodiac of the Rising Sun, which takes place in a fictitious Asian land. Third is another comic called Suferio Tactics, which is a fantasy story about the rise of Clan Suferio, a band of outcasts. And finally there is Joan of Arc, about a young woman named Joan who is whisked away to a fantasy land called Arc where the king wishes to marry her, but is she really experiencing this or is she just going crazy because of home and school life pressure? So working on a total of five comics and always working on more ideas; am I crazy, you ask? The answer is yes, yes I am.

Tell us one thing that the world would be shocked to know about you.

Hmmm… Shocking? Maybe things for which people would look at me funny, but not shocking, I don’t think. How about this: I argue with Catholics, Protestants, Mormons, Jehova’s witnesses just to get them flustered about their beliefs.