You may not know the name Zenescope, but you definitely know their covers. They’re the ones in comics shops with sexy Grimm Fairy Tales characters, or sexy Alice in Wonderland characters, or sexy Phantom Tollbooth characters. Okay, maybe not the last one… Yet. But Zenescope is an indie companies that have hit on a way of drawing people in to buy their work, and then sucker-punching them with what is (hopefully) actually a good story.

With their Wonderland Trilogy, which reinvents Lewis Carroll’s classic world as a grim, gritty action/horror story filled with drug use and adult themes, coming to an end; and their new original “CSI with zombies” series The Waking about to boot up, I talked to writer/editor Raven Gregory about both series, what Zenescope really feels about their cover art, and if we can look forward to Zenescope’s own version Brightest Day:

COMIC BOOK CLUB: Let’s talk first about The Wonderland Trilogy, which is coming to an end. Where the series has been, and where is it going?

RAVEN GREGORY: Well it’s all built up to this. Return to Wonderland dealt with Calie learning the truth behind her mother’s mental illness, and the consequences of what happens when she returns from that world. Beyond Wonderland focused on a piece of Wonderland that broke free and began to stalk Calie as she struggled to deal with what she has learned, and her futile attempts to escape the destiny that was hers, and hers alone. And now with Escape From Wonderland, Wonderland has stolen her child, and she has returned to the realm intent on reclaiming her child and facing off against Wonderland once and for all. Everything has really come full circle for the character. From a confused daughter, to her refusing to accept her place in all this, to her now knowing who she is and accepting her destiny.

CBC: Is it bittersweet leaving these characters? Or are you ready to move on to other things?

RG: It’s definitely bittersweet. It’s very much like graduating High School. You’re gonna miss these characters that you’ve watched grow, but at the same time you don’t want to run the series into the ground and overstay your welcome. So it’s a little of both.

CBC: What is it about Alice in Wonderland that keeps creators coming back to that well?

RG: It really is just an eternal tale. One with so many different layers that it offers itself to various interpretations quite easily.

CBC: And then there’s The Waking, which debuts soon [February 3rd]. Talk about the concept for this a bit.

RG: In the big city, four police detectives investigating two routine murders discover that the victims of these crimes are coming back from the dead in search of those responsible for snuffing out their lives. Now the detectives are in a race against time to find the source of the recent ‘waking’s’ and will be torn between doing their jobs or allowing the victims to find their own brand of bloody justice.

CBC: What made you want to tackle “police procedural,” after the Wonderland books?

RG: Always been a fan of shows like CSI, Law and Order, etc, and I thought the two genres mixed nicely together especially considering that the earliest zombie tales dealt not so much with mindless flesh eating creatures but moreso beings brought back from the dead with an intended purpose. As for why this particular book came next I actually wrote the series six years back when I was writing THE GIFT and since Zombies happen to be the hot thing now, it was pretty easy to get put into production.

CBC: Both The Waking and the Wonderland books are pretty grim… Any chance we’ll see Zenescope doing a title called Rainbow Bunny Palace next, or something?

RG: Never say never. If it’s a good story worth telling it could happen.

CBC: Believe me, Rainbow Bunny Palace is a story worth telling. On to other things, Zenescope has a bit of a rep for being “those books with the sexy fairy tale ladies on the front.” How much of that is a conscious effort to draw in new readers, and how much is just “sexy ladies are pretty”?

RG: I think it’s a bit of both. With indepedent comics you have to have a hook to pull new readers in, and the sexy covers seem to work well at pulling in a fanbase that continues to grow with each passing week.

CBC: How effective have those covers been as a sales tool?

RG: We’ve had series that haven’t had those kinds of covers that just don’t come close to the numbers that Grimm and Wonderland do. So as a publisher you kinda have to go with what works.

CBC: Have you ever come under fire for the potrayal of women on the covers of your books?

RG: Not particularly. Most people who read the books find out very quickly that the women in the stories are portrayed as strong independant women. It’s the people who just judge the book by its cover that we tend to get the most grief from. But it’s all up to personal preference.

CBC: On the other hand, you’re also not shy about the content inside the books… In a crowded marketplace, where smaller publishers are trying to sell to everyone and anyone, why limit your books to “Max?” Or is it NOT limiting their reach?

RG: I can’t speak for other publishers but what we do at Zenescope is put out stories that we feel are worth telling. There is nothing out there that appeals to everyone so we just try and tell the stories that we would buy and we would like to read. That’s really all any creator can do.

CBC: Talk a little bit about the “indie” marketplace, and how it’s changed for you over the past year (or not).

RG: It’s tough. That much has stayed the same. But it’s also begun to open itself up to me if that makes sense. Before I was a newbie. Now people are aware that if my name is attached to a book the product is going to be at a certain level and that’s a nice place to be. But it’s still a tough business that you do out of love, and not for fame or fortune.

CBC: What trends do you see in indie publishing in 2010?

RG: With the Diamond benchmarks and the economy what it is it’s going to be survival of the fittest. Which isn’t necessarily a good thing. Sometimes it takes creators a while to find their voice, and by limiting that ability to expose the industry to different voices we’re going to lose out on a lot of great talent. But I think the ones that really stand out will still rise to the top.

CBC: You’ve said before that your Image series The Gift was a “dream come true.” Do you see publishing with Zenescope as a means to an end, or are they the end themselves?

RG: I think in writing, everything is a step to the next thing. Once you get the dream you move to the next dream. But all in all, working for Zenescope has been a wonderful experience and they have given me the creative freedom to tell the stories that I love and really, what more can a creator ask for?

CBC: Beyond The Gift, what would be your OTHER dream job in comics? Or are you living it?

RG: Marvel is always there in the distance, but if it never happens I’d be okay. I get to sit at home and make up stories for a living. It doesn’t get much better than that.

‘Escape From Wonderland’ #6 hits comic book shops on January 27th, with ‘The Waking’ #1 following one week later, on February 3rd. You can check out both books at Zenescope.com.