the Wormworld Saga

The Wormworld Saga is a digital graphic novel by the German artist Daniel Lieske. Daniel started his “art career” quite early, as he says, by selling his first drawn comics on his schoolyard. In a secluded corner of a historical frame house in the old town of Warendorf, where Daniel resides with his family, he has created a studio, where he draws and paints, reads and writes, listen to music or as he says, just surf the internet for inspiration. In his own words : “I hold dear childhood memories of playing in the woods, climbing on trees and exploring gloomy places. When I was born, the first 'Starwars' movie hit theatres and I grew up with 'The Muppets' and movies like 'Indiana Jones', 'Dark Crystal', 'Legend' and 'The Goonies'. All these and much more influences show up in my artwork today. They shaped the way I look at things and built the foundation for my own imaginary worlds.”

It’s a story about a young boy who discovers a doorway into another world tucked away in his grandma’s attic—and it’s a story about a giant dragon trapped in a mountain, and about a mysterious Firelord who rises from the fires of Worm Mountain. Wormworld contains all the sorts of places Lieske would like to wander himself: “a deep forest, a long ocean shore, a high mountain range and an endless desert,” with Worm Mountain at the heart. Unlike many webcomics it wasn’t released a bit at a time. Lieske worked through it all, and then released it at the beginning of 2011 as a completed chapter, much like releasing a book. The format is also interesting ; it is one continuous scroll from top to bottom, a design choice made to avoid page turns ; which overturns the idea of the comic book (that we all are familiar with). There are still frames, of course, but it’s an interesting experience that feels like a long, seamless page from top to bottom. [1] To give you an idea :

[1] Ref. http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2011/01/lose-yourself-in-the-wormworld-saga/