Calm: The Level 1 Graphic Novel Plunges a Tiny Skeleton into a Grand Adventure

If you’re a fan of fantasy and adventure with a twist, allow me to introduce you to an adorable little skeleton named Quiet. Quiet: Level One is an original graphic novel from author and artist Jonah Lobe, and the new adventure is entering its final day on Kickstarter. The campaign has successfully funded, but if you haven’t yet jumped in, we’re here to tell you why this journey is worth discovering, and who better to tell you about it than the person who brought this original story to life? ComicBook had the chance to speak with Lobe about how this graphic novel came to life, what inspired our adorable protagonist and his worm-eating sidekick, and what’s in store for fans as they embark on their journey to discover the World Tree and all that lies within.

Quiet beginnings

(Photo: Jonah Lobe)

Quiet: Level One follows a tiny skeleton named Quiet and his companion, the narrator worm, as they set out to save the World Tree. To do so, they’ll have to outwit and ultimately confront the unstoppable invader known as Galahorn, and the first chapter of this epic tale is presented in a 180+ page graphic novel, which you can preview below. Lobe is an award-winning artist who has worked on games like Skyrim and Fallout as well as Marvel Anatomy, and now he’s venturing into a whole new world of his own creation. The seeds of this story were planted quite some time ago, as Lobe reveals that he’d been sketching versions of Quiet for years, but Quiet would eventually take on his true form after Lobe’s child turned 1 year old.

“It’s funny that you mentioned that your daughter loved it, because I had been sketching out iterations of Quiet for years before I had a kid. But when I really started Quiet, not this iteration of Quiet, but the one before that, where I was really starting to figure out who this character was, what their story was, etc., I created these 12 illustrations for Instagram paired with spoken narration,” Lobe said. “So each chapter was a one-minute chapter, and it was meant to read like a whimsical storybook. Lots of magic, lots of fantasy, etc. But honestly, the idea of ​​Quiet, and especially the aesthetic of Quiet that your daughter latched onto so much, was when I had a one-year-old. And this little kid with this big little belly and this big head is walking around my apartment, just learning to walk, whatever.” And it’s exactly like you just said, which is that once you become a parent, you start to see everything else through that prism.”

Diablo Inspirations

(Photo: Jonah Lobe)

Have you ever looked at a game like Diablo and wondered what the skeletons must be feeling right now? Well, Lobe did, and it inspired some of the design and world design of Quiet. “I mean the first idea was kind of before Quiet, but I drew a painting, I mean it was probably around 2016, 2017, at that point. I drew a skeleton, I was streaming, on Twitch, maybe doing something for the Adobe channel, and I drew a skeleton with a big head and a torch. And the gist of it was what if skeletons were afraid of the dark? And so he had a little torch and he was just by himself and he looked worried. He was looking around.” And a lot of the concept of Quiet came from the game Diablo and things like that, where in particular, and I’m thinking of the level 1 Barbarian playstyle of Diablo where you come right out of Tristram, talking about Diablo 2 here, of course, but it’s really any Diablo. And you go right into the first dungeon and you start stomping on skeletons,” Lobe said.

“I was kind of like watching, I was playing this game and obviously it’s so much fun and it’s such a power trip. You’re a paragon of strength and unstoppability. There’s these little skeletons that you’re crushing on the left, but they’re too stupid to chase you. They just kind of wander around until you take them out,” Lobe said. “And suddenly I was like, what if they’re peaceful? What if they’re having a great time relaxing and being undead and living their best life, and then this absolute psychopath comes along and destroys everyone?”

(Photo: Jonah Lobe)

“And I was wondering, what if there was just one little skeleton left and he came back to his village and found that everyone had been destroyed at that point? He would have no choice but to take up his father’s sword and try to stop this evil,” Lobe said. “And I realized, oh, this is the story of every fantasy novel we’ve ever read. It’s literally like Thulsa Doom comes in, kills Conan’s whole family, and now Conan has to react. So I took this idea of ​​being this powerful barbarian against the undead and just turned it on its head. It’s very simple in that way.”

This central premise can be linked to a number of games, including Mario. “I saw a great video on Instagram yesterday where these little Koopas were hanging out together watching a sunset and were basically like, what if we ran away? And the other one was like, what if there was a war? And he was like, what if we both ran away and then they cut to Mario brutalizing his people? And it was just like, oh, oh my God. Oh,” Lobe said.

Little Skeleton, Epic Journey

(Photo: Jonah Lobe)

Quiet will seek to defend the World Tree, which also ties into the Level One name in two different ways. “Level One refers to both Quiet as a Level One character and the place where it takes place. So the world of Quiet: Level One takes place in a place called the World Tree, which even as I say it, you can probably visualize. It’s not a stretch of the imagination. It’s similar to Yggdrasil from Norse mythology where it’s the world tree, and there’s different branches of the world tree where there’s different lands, separate lands,” Lobe said. “And so if you take that and you filter it through a video game perspective, because I do come from a video game background, that’s where I came from after working on Skyrim and Fallout and other games. And I kind of carried that idea of ​​the World Tree into these levels.”

“The idea here is that at the top is the source. It’s the source of creation, it’s the source of everything, and that’s sort of the ultimate goal of Galahorn, the Barbarian. His goal is to get to the top, and Quiet’s goal is to stop him from getting there, because if he gets there, he can end everything,” Lobe said. “So the first level of the Labyrinth is the underground level. We start underground, and that’s obviously where Quiet comes in and where the Barbarian comes in, but he’s coming in from a completely different reality.”

The Labyrinth itself is part of the Tree’s defenses, as many will get lost in the winding maze of paths before reaching the top. It’s also a rather comforting place for someone like Quiet. “Level 1 is a labyrinth, I call it Labyrinth Level 1, and it’s designed to protect the World Tree from an outside invader,” Lobe said. “It’s designed to keep people in if you’re among the living, because you’re not supposed to be there otherwise. And so in a lot of ways, for Quiet, Level 1 is a mostly hospitable place. It’s designed to keep living entities out. They’re not alive, and so, generally speaking, they’re mostly safe. There are trials that they have to go through and there are still beasts to defeat, and for Galahorn, it’s quite different. For Galahorn, the bad guy, it’s quite dangerous, and yet if you’re Galahorn, you’re like a level 100 barbarian, it’s still child’s play.”

“The graphic novel will take place primarily, but not entirely, on Level 1, which will be an underground labyrinth. And then the goal and the unspoken promise of the series is that we’ll go up and up and up,” Lobe said. “Now, I know how many levels there are in that tree. I don’t necessarily want to give it all away right away. And now, in future episodes of the series, Quiet Level Three could also encompass several other levels. We’ll see how things progress and accelerate and so on. But I think it’s best to start small.”

An even smaller companion

(Photo: Jonah Lobe)

While Quiet is the main character, he doesn’t really speak. In fact, he’s a little worm who transmits his thoughts to the reader and the world. “They call him the Narrator Worm, and so Quiet as a character is mute, doesn’t speak, doesn’t talk. So I think a lot of times, trying to figure out what’s going on in Quiet’s mind comes down to, well, what are their actions? How do they actually act when the moment comes? And trying to figure out from their body language what they’re thinking and feeling at a given moment,” Lobe said. “From a literary and artistic perspective, it’s a really fun challenge. The Narrator Worm is their sidekick, and he’s a character that they meet in the story at the end of the first act. I won’t go into exactly how, but the Narrator Worms are a kind of caterpillar that can only speak from the perspective of the person they’re with.” They are individuals with their own thoughts and feelings and in this case the narrator Worm is an acolyte who believes very deeply in silence.”

As for the book itself, most of the work is already done, so when you back the Kickstarter, you don’t have to worry about it taking 10 years to get to the finish line. You can also get a ton of different versions of the book and some amazing extras, including Quiet figurines and more.

“The book is almost done, yeah, and I’m spending a lot of time during that process creating covers, additional graphics, that kind of thing,” Lobe said. “It’s kind of taken me away from the book itself. I did a lot of it last year and I had to stop working on the graphic novel itself to work on the Kickstarter. Fortunately, that’s allowed me to create a lot of stuff specifically for the people who are backing the Kickstarter that goes beyond just the graphic novel. So the graphic novel is almost done, and the story is all written and everything. And basically, everybody who backs the Kickstarter can expect digital versions. They can expect softcover versions. But what they’re really going to want, I think, are the hardcover editions.” They’re beautiful, they have more pages than the softcover version, and it’s going to be a combination of behind-the-scenes art, concept, sketches, behind-the-scenes storytelling,” he said.

If you think Quiet: Level One might be something you want to look into, you can check out the full Quiet: Level One Kickstarter here.