Burke Steve

Article by Kirsten Fenn
Cornwall Standard-Freeholder
19 August 2016

Cornwall native's comic book inspired by hometown

A former Cornwall resident now working as a 3D artist in Ottawa has designed a comic book inspired by his hometown for this year's CoTiCon event on Saturday.
"You might say I have a magical appreciation for the area," said Steve Burke, who is the guest artist at this year's CoTiCon.
His comic book What Happened in StoDunGlen is the story of a blue-winged love bird named CoKo and a forest mage named Tia who set out on a quest through the magical realm of StoDunGlen.
The pair must confront an evil troll who has been leaving rotten forest in his wake as he travels through the area.
The troll casts a magical spell on Tia that gets her into hot water, but thankfully CoKo comes to the rescue to help her out of the sticky situation.
"The story itself is about how these two characters come together," Burke said.
As this year's CoTiCon guest artist, he decided he wanted to create a comic book especially for the event.
And what better story to write than one inspired by the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry region, he thought.
Burke also got a little help from CoTiCon organizer Annie DeRochie, who is the brains behind the two main characters, CoKo and Tia.
"But there wasn't really a bad story," Burke said.
DeRochie told him he could have free rein to do whatever he wanted with her characters.
So he used his love and knowledge of the Cornwall area to put the eight-page mini comic book together.
Only 100 copies of the book have been printed, which Burke will be selling at CoTiCon this weekend.
They're going for just $2 a pop, he said, and all proceeds will go to Beyond 21, an organization that supports adults with developmental disabilities.
Burke said he wanted to use his book to support a cause that is close to his heart. His 19-year-old son is autistic. I
Besides his book, he'll also be bringing a 3D scanner to CoTiCon, which he used last year to scan people in their costumes and eventually turn them into 3D models.
"I plan on doing some 3D scans and I've got some artwork that I'll be selling," which are usually based on comic book and popular movie characters, he said.
"I'll have some interesting wooden pieces there, little laser cut samples with various characters on them that I colour in," he added.
But he hopes it's not the last we'll see of CoKo and Tia.
"I'm thinking what's going to happen is I'm going to work with Annie to every year have a new instalment H of the story," Burke said.
It's just the beginning of what could be many adventures to come for the Cornwall-inspired characters.