Gauthier Dominic

Article by Francis Racine
Le Journal, Cornwall
4 May 2016

In Dominic Gauthier's study is a bookshelf, neatly organized. It holds different stories and is truly an extension of the imaginative man.

He's a storyteller, a man of many stories. His mind has always produced these stories, the product of a vivid imagination. "When I was younger, my friends and I would always create stories of superheroes,'' he said, during an interview in his Cornwall home."We were inspired by Wolverine, Captain American and their likes. Yet, after a while, we would create our own superheroes.''

With a nostalgia filled voice, Gauthier then goes on to explain how, as all of his friends grew older, the stories they told seemed to stop. "They would talk of girls and work;'' he explained."But there I was still thinking of different stories. I would take walks and just come up with all the little ideas.''

Yet the Cornwall native found a way to exploit his gift. Packing his suitcase, made his way to Niagara Falls, where studied film and scriptwriting. "It was a great experience,'' he recalled.

During his time there, he wrote several different scripts. "Nearly every idea I had was put on paper,'' he added."That's when I came up with a script for something called
Suppression.''

The story revolves around events happening after world peace is finally attained. Although we'd all love to attain world peace, we often don't really think about what that would cause,'' remarked Gauthier.

The happening creates overpopulation on Earth. This leads an organization, calling itself Unknown, to create an assassination system which, in essence, brings balance to the residents of Earth. But everything changes when the system goes haywire.

"It's a pretty dark story,'' admitted the storyteller.

The wheels were then set in motion to make the story into a motion picture. "We
had actors and we filmed a good portion of it;'' said Gauthier. "But we never managed
to finish it. I took it pretty hard.''

Fast forward some time, the Cornwall native became what he calls a struggling artist. "I was living in Toronto, broke,'' he admitted."I was in a small, overpriced apartment. I knew I had to do something.'' The storyteller therefore decided to do something drastic: come back to his roots.

"I moved back to Cornwall'' he recalled. As life went on, the stories were still appearing in his mind and he constantly wrote. "I have four different projects that I want to pursue in the future, '' announced Gauthier.

His most important one is located right in front of him, on his kitchen table. A poster sporting different faces, as well as the title SUPPRESSION, rests next to a booklet
containing several neatly drawn black and white comic book pages.

"Suppression stayed in limbo for time," he said, grabbing a hold of the
"Life got in the way I suppose."

But it appeared fate had different plans for Gauthier. The writer, who had always wondered what would've become of the interesting topic behind the idea, decided
one day to resurrect the story into a comic book.

"I had no clue what I was doing,'' he agreed, smiling while he readjusted his
glasses. "I went on this website where freelance artists go to find jobs. I wrote down the synopsis at around 7 a.m. and went to bed, not thinking a lot about it. '' When he awoke in the afternoon, he had 28 applications within the span of 10 hours. ''I was pretty surprised," he confided.

But it didn't stop there. In a matter a week, he had received 109 applications to work on his project. "I wanted to trim down, so I contacted 10 of the most talented ones, in my opinion, and asked them to draw some of the characters. I was going to make my choice after seeing all of them.''

But again, fate stepped in. "Right before I was about to make my decision, U received one more application, said Gauthier.

Gene DeCicco, who boasted an incredible portfolio, had done work in the past for Marvel Comics. "He created the artwork I was asking for in less than an hour and I was instantly hooked,'' expressed the author, pointing to the magnificently drawn pieces. The duo therefore started working together, creating one page at a time.

''We started the project about two years ago,'' added Gauthier. "It's a slow process but it's getting there.''

The typical comic book boasts 22 pages, but the writer hopes that the first issue of
Suppression will consist of 24. "It's not that big of a difference and I know how I want
it to end, I need those extra two pages," he pointed out.

The author hopes to have the first issue completed just before Christmas. "We have 20 pages now, so we're nearly done,'' he stated."From there, we're going to go see
publishers and try to get them to take it.''

What would be his favorite outcome? "I would love for the comic book to be picked -up by Image," explained Gauthier.

Image Comics is an American book publisher, founded in 1992 by several
high-profile illustrators, as a venue where creators could publish their material without
giving up the copyrights to the characters they created. It remains one of the largest
comic book publishers in North America.

The writer also hopes to create 40 issues of Suppression, as the story is already complete.

"I already have it all finished,'' he confirmed."There's nothing I would love
more than to become a fulltime writer!"