Q&A: Co-Writer David “DB” Andry Brings Submerged Secrets to the Surface in ESTUARY: A GHOST STORY

Underwater horrors and submerged secrets surge to the surface in the new comic book series Estuary: A Ghost Story, which follows a marine archaeologist and a ship captain as they investigate a mysterious shipwreck off the West Coast at the behest of an enigmatic nun.

Co-written by David "DB" Andry and Tim Daniel with stunning artwork by Maan House, Estuary: A Ghost Story #1 is now available from Oni Press, and Daily Dead had the pleasure of catching up with co-writer David "DB" Andry to discuss the new comic book series, including the collaborate creative process between him and Tim Daniel, dipping into the vast unknown horrors of the ocean, and how Mike Flanagan's Midnight Mass served as a huge inspiration while working on Estuary: A Ghost Story.

You can read our full Q&A with David "DB" Andry below, and to stay up to date on Estuary: A Ghost Story and other exciting releases, be sure to visit:

• https://www.onipress.com/

Thank you for taking the time to answer questions for us, David, and congratulations on your new comic book series Estuary: A Ghost Story! When did you and co-writer Tim Daniel (who also created one of the first issue’s amazing variant covers) initially come up with the idea for this haunting story?

David “DB” Andry: Thank you! I’m very excited for people to check out Estuary. Tim and I are always hovering around the horror genre, but we hadn’t done a ghost story together yet. It felt like a missing item in our personal libraries. I really wanted the kind of story that you could tell sitting around a campfire. Tim and I have been working together so long that I really don’t remember who comes up with what, but one of us started placing the story along the California coast, around Monterey Bay. We both have spent a lot of time in that area, it has a very specific feel and mood, so it really helped set the tone of the story. Tim wanted a relationship at the center of the book, and I was very much into that. The history of that area started filling out parts of the mystery and everything fell into place. It was one of the more naturally developing stories that we’ve worked on, very easy and smooth to put together.

I’m always fascinated to learn more about creative partnerships, especially in the comic book medium. What is the creative process like when you and Tim write a story together? Do you go back and forth a lot as you each write different sections of a story, or do you collaborate in real time while creating the script for each panel?

David “DB” Andry: The collaboration we do in real time is mostly in the development process. We talk things out over the phone for a long time. Throwing ideas back and forth, letting the best idea win over and over until the general shape of the story is there. Tim will usually come up with a key piece of art (like you mentioned, his cover for issue one was that key art that he came up with to help visualize Estuary), and I will do a very rough draft of a first issue. I like doing the dialogue, so selfishly I try to get all the dialogue done in that first pass. Then I send that to Tim and he does a pass. We ping-pong it back and forth until it’s solid enough to turn into a script and we repeat the process. Sometimes, I’ll rough out the entire series all at once after Tim has created an outline. Sometimes, we’ll do one issue at a time. Even though we have a good system, each project has worked out a little differently. But we always check in and talk each part through, so there is never any surprises if someone finds a different path while working on their part.

Equal parts eerie and ethereal, the stunning artwork by Maan House really complements your prose and brings this supernatural tale to haunting life on the page. What is it about Maan’s distinct visual style that made him the perfect artist to team up with for Estuary: A Ghost Story?

David “DB” Andry: Perfect is the right word! Maan is so great at creating mood, utilizing blacks and shadows to obscure and to suggest at terrifying things just around the corner. He is a horror master and his work is ideal for the kind of story we’re telling here. Maan is also wonderful at making changes in panel layouts in the script, making choices all along the way that improve the storytelling and enhance the haunted feeling. There really is nobody better to tell this ghost story.

As someone who enjoys being on the water (which can be calming one moment and terrifying the next), I love the aquatic setting of Estuary: A Ghost Story, and you and Tim are no stranger to water-centric stories with your experience writing previous stories such as Crush Depth. What is it about the ocean that you and Tim enjoy diving into with your stories?

David “DB” Andry: It’s almost a cheat code. The ocean is so vast and so unknown. It draws you in and frightens you. Ghosts are scary, an underwater ghost... that’s a whole different level of terror. In Estuary in specific, so much of the story is rooted in history—personal history and the history of the area—the eternal nature of the ocean was a perfect vehicle to help us tell this story.

Religion and spirituality play a key role in Estuary: A Ghost Story. How important was it for you to explore those subjects from different perspectives in this tale?

David “DB” Andry: Very, very important. Religion, spirituality, faith. These are key concepts that the characters in Estuary are confronted with, wrestling with, exploring. Maris has been raised religious, but it didn’t really take. Hunt has been raised with a strong sense of spirituality but without the confines of religious dogma. It really helps define each character and informs us of why they make the decisions they do. It also goes toward their attraction to each other, they see the differences and similarities within each other even with very disparate backgrounds.

Were you influenced or inspired by any other comics, books, films, TV series, or video games while working on this story? As a longtime fan of John Carpenter, I couldn’t help but be reminded of Antonio Bay from The Fog while reading Estuary: A Ghost Story.

David “DB” Andry: That’s a high compliment! For me, Midnight Mass was a massive inspiration. Mike Flanagan in that series weaved in religion, relationships, faith, with some serious thoughts about guilt and regret. It’s a pretty perfect piece of media that I watch on a yearly basis.

What has it been like to work with the team at Oni Press as you prepare to publish Estuary: A Ghost Story and release it into the world?

David “DB” Andry: Oni has been wonderful! They have been so great working on exclusives for Big Clutch and 3rd Eye Comics, putting things together under a serious time crunch. Bess Pallares, our editor, has been especially terrific, handling some challenging situations with deftness and kindness. Tim and I would walk across hot coals for her!

Estuary: A Ghost Story will initially be a four-issue series, but do you and Tim have plans to continue this tale or follow Maris or Hunt in future stories if the opportunity came about?

David “DB” Andry: Absolutely! Initially, the title of the series was just A Ghost Story for the very reason that we could easily continue it with more ghost stories to follow. Maris and Hunt could have a long career in handling the supernatural.

What advice would you give to comic book writers who are just getting started?

David “DB” Andry: Read everything, write every day. Finish things! Start small: short stories, anthologies. Get those things finished and move on to the next one. Writing shouldn’t be something that you need inspiration to do, it should be a muscle that you’ve developed. Very few people can do this full time, so you’ll need to be able to sit down when you have a free thirty minutes and bust out a couple pages of a script or an idea for a new story. Be curious! I think one of the best things a writer can be is curious about the world, about yourself, about other people. Learn to take feedback with grace and thankfulness.

With Estuary: A Ghost Story #1 now haunting comic book shops, what other projects do you have coming up that you can tease for our readers, and where can they go online to keep up to date on your work?

David “DB” Andry: Tim and I are working on a big project that should be announced late this year or next. Art is just starting on it and we’re working with an artist that we’ve worked with before (hint!), and I couldn’t be more excited. Other than that, we’re developing a bunch of pitches that will be going to publishers shortly, so wish us luck. Readers can follow me on Bluesky or Instagram @dbandry and Tim on X (Twitter) or Instagram @TimDanielComics.

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From the Press Release: This spring, Oni Press – the multiple Eisner and Harvey Award-winning publisher of groundbreaking comics and graphic novels since 1997 – is proud to present an extended look inside inside ESTUARY: A GHOST STORY #1 (of 4), a chilling tale of secrets buried deep beneath the surf of the idyllic Pacific coast written by rising stars Tim Daniel & David “D.B.” Andry (Crush Depth, Morning Star) with gorgeously atmospheric artwork by modern horror virtuoso Maan House (Mine is a Long Lonesome Grave)!

Atop a rocky cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean sits the Mission at Arbués Point, a 400-year-old Spanish mission made infamous as one of California’s oldest and most haunted historical sites. But beneath its crumbling, tourist-trap facade, a reclusive nun has spent decades within the Mission’s walls, honing her prayers and practice in pursuit of a secret long-buried beneath the majesty of the chapel, and under the dark waves of the tidal estuary below. When marine archaeologist Maris Cristobal accepts the nun’s offer to begin excavating a fabled shipwreck lying in wait beneath the Mission’s turbulent waters, she’ll soon discover that the sins of past and present are about to wash together into a harrowing surge of a vengeance that can no longer be contained . . .

Kneel and pray for your redemption when ESTUARY: A GHOST STORY #1 sets stores ablaze on April 8th — featuring a holy mosaic of blessed covers from interior artist Maan House, Vanesa R. Del Ray (Redlands), and Tim Daniel (The Plot)!

For more updates on Oni Press, visit them on Bluesky, Facebook, and Instagram.

ESTUARY #1 (of 4)
WRITTEN BY TIM DANIEL & D.B. ANDRY
ART BY MAAN HOUSE
COVER A BY MAAN HOUSE
COVER B BY VANESA R. DEL REY
COVER C (DESIGN COVER) BY TIM DANIEL
FULL ART VARIANT (1:10) BY VANESA R. DEL REY
B&W VARIANT (1:20) BY MAAN HOUSE

ON SALE APRIL 8 | $4.99 | 32 PGS. | FC

COVER A BY MAAN HOUSE

COVER B BY VANESA R. DEL REY

COVER C (DESIGN COVER) BY TIM DANIEL

FULL ART VARIANT (1:10) BY VANESA R. DEL REY

B&W VARIANT (1:20) BY MAAN HOUSE

INTERIOR ART BY MAAN HOUSE