Exclusive Interview with Bayfield Local Jessica Petelle and Her Latest Creative Endeavour: Reburn

In the future, Catastrophic floods hit our planet which leave behind massive destruction and a woman they name, May. Super-powered and ready to fight, she joins forces with a woman who calls herself Hope. Hope longs to create a place where differences no longer exist, where all people band together to become one, The Unity.

Our story picks up years later. After fighting to help establish The Unity, people aren’t certain if May is dead or alive. Hope is well-established as the “servant and leader.” What was once a glorious ideal now controls all in the pursuit of power. Prism Industries and its CEO, Grey, provide Hope with the “protocols" -- a tranquillizer drug -- as well as a young army of soldiers bred from May’s super-powered DNA and any other tech necessary to keep the majority of its citizens peaceful and uncurious.

Issue #1 sets off a series of events that gives the followers of the folk hero known as “Our Lady May” hope that the oppressive Unity can finally be destroyed.

REBURN Issue #2 follows our heroine, MAY, as she steps forward to reclaim her life, find her daughters and begin to understand the scope of her legacy and powers. After being liberated by the Resistance, by Skye, Mercy and Forest, they take off on horseback to The Plains and into the lives of a whole new cast of allies, including the first appearance of POPPY, a character inspired by actress and filmmaker, Laura Vandervoort (THE HANDMAIDS TALE, BITTEN).

Not enticed yet? How could you not be?! Today, we are sitting down with Bayfield local, Jessica Petelle, to discuss her latest project, Reburn, that she is developing with an all-female creative team making waves in the comic book world.


1. What inspired the creation of Reburn?

REBURN was inspired by a feature films script that I read several years ago, written by my friend Alyson Shelton. Alyson and I were assistants at a production company when she shared the original film script with me. I had always remembered the story and the visuals from it, but when she brought it back to me re-imagined, I knew it had all of the right stuff to make a comic - and I found out that she was a big comic fan, so it just made sense!

2. What has the reception been like for issue #1?

We were overwhelmed with excitement when we launched Issue #1! It's always scary to put yourself out there creatively, but people were interested - not only our friends and family, but we had a lot of industry and comic fans come to it, so that made us excited to do another one.


3. What makes Reburn extremely unique is it is a comic developed by a fully female team. How did this team dynamic come to fruition?

Yeah, we didn’t know how unique it was at the time, but we did make a conscious effort to have all all-female team. We did a lot of ‘cold’ emailing artists we loved and got referrals thru friends and other artists. As our team came together, Alyson and I were pinching ourselves at how lucky we were to have such incredible people working on the book.

4. Since we are a blog about the Village of Bayfield, we gotta ask. A little birdie told us the first issue of Reburn was produced remotely in Bayfield. How has the pandemic affected the team's workflow? Working remotely in the village sounds relaxing to us (we know we're biased)!

Brad and I were fortunate that when everything was shutting down due to COVID, we were able to stay in town thru most of the year! With REBURN, Alyson and I were just finishing up a pitch that we were planning to take out to traditional publishers, but as everything closed down, we decided that we should just carry forward and finish Issue #1. It's not uncommon for comics to be created remotely since all of the artists have their specific role in the book, but over the next several months, we worked on Zoom. Every week or two we would hop on and do a ’show and tell’ with the art and then sit and talk for hours. It became an incredibly social outlet for us in an unsociable time! I would take walks in town to clear my head and would send Alyson voice memos of things that I would think about that we could implement into the book, so yeah, Bayfield definitely gave me creative inspiration - as usual!


5. Being the relaxing beach town we are, what are some local hotspots you found yourself visiting when it was time to step away from the computer and unwind? Have any spots in Bayfield inspired the project?

WOW! I don’t even know where to begin. I consider Bayfield my home and we are so fortunate to have SO many incredible locally-owned shops and restaurants. When I’m working, I always like to take a break and get some coffee (and candy!) at Shopbike. And, I love reading so The Village Bookshop is always great - and if they don’t have it - they’ll order it! Pioneer Park is very special to me. Brad and I renewed our vows there in front of our friends and family. It’s a treasure that we are so lucky to have in Bayfield. And the water, Lake Huron is so wonderful, how could you not be inspired by it!


6. To readers interested in getting caught up in the world of Reburn, where can they purchase a copy? Are there any local retailers?

The Village Bookshop has a few copies of Issue #1, but our Kickstarter campaign is the best way to order and support Issue #1, and join us for the ride as we funded our 2nd issue!


7. With an immensely successful campaign completed for issue #1 (which was fully funded in less than 24 hours, VERY impressive), a Kickstarter campaign for issue #2 is underway. What is the number one reason why people should pledge money to your project?

Thank you! Yes, Kickstarter is a great platform, because it allows the creator to essentially take orders in advance and gives backers the opportunity to interact with our team. So, a pledge is a way to let a creator know that you are willing to be in from the ground up. There are so many innovative and cool products on Kickstarter, comics is one section of it, but I know that I personally have backed all sorts of artistic endeavours and never been disappointed.


8. What other projects are you currently working on that people can check out?

Definitely check out TRIGGER POINT, the film we made in Bayfield! We’re really hoping for a sequel. And, I’ve been focusing on my directing career and gearing up as COVID restrictions are loosening, so hopefully, I’ll have more to report soon!

Thank you so much for your time, Jessica!

Thank you!!

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Eager to immerse yourself in the world of REBURN? You can back this project and grab a copy of REBURN issues #1 and #2 yourself by supporting their Kickstarter Campaign here.

UPDATE: Issue #2 of REBURN has been funded, but there are still stretch goals to reach! We want to congratulate the Reburn team for all their hard work and cannot wait to see how the world of this amazing comic progresses.