44FLOOD is a comic book and art collective comprised of superstars Ben Templesmith, Menton3, Kasra Ghanbari, and Nick Idell. Here is an exclusive interview about their first offering, TOME. The artists behind 44Flood will continue to grow and redefine themselves for years to come.

I first approached Ben Templesmith about an interview when the TOME project was announced on Kickstarter. Since then, the project has garnered an unreal amount of support. I initially assumed that Boston Comic Con guest Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night, Fell) had a great new comic for us. I was delighted to be wrong. TOME is an over-sized hardcover sequential artwork anthology with an amazing array of talent from comic artists to painters and other fine artists. Each book ships with an accompanying CD of music. A documentary of the project will be available to backers of the campaign. Oh, and the theme for the book is Vampirism. Their Kickstarter reached its goal and exceeded the expected fundraising by a great magnitude.

44FLOOD is Nick Idell, Kasra Ghanbari, Menton3, and Ben Templesmith.

I really appreciate your time — I was in publishing for years, the production, layout and proofing of TOME must be taking up most of your time. Did you find that process exhausting?
KASRA GHANBARI: Thanks for the empathy! But actually, no, it’s been nothing but joy for all of us. What could be better than having amazing art by people we respect sent to us nearly every day for weeks on end and then figuring out ways to best present it all? Even the more mechanical parts of putting TOME together, like proofing, are an honor. All of us at 44FLOOD are artists that have a keen sense for these sorts of details, and we take the responsibility of putting TOME together dead seriously. We’ve also been very lucky to work with a world-class printer that’s accustomed to dealing with higher-end book designs and production. They’ve addressed and worked with us on every detail, from tweaking the initial book construction down to the expected humidity during the time period pages are drying.

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