Q&A: Writer Craig Hurd-McKenney and Artist Noah Bailey Discuss the Deep Space Horrors of Their New Sci-Fi Graphic Novella STATION GRAND

Insomnia can be difficult to endure in itself, but what happens when you can’t sleep in the far reaches of deep space and your only companion is a computer and your unraveling psyche? That intriguing (and horrifying) question is explored in stunning visual style within the pages of Station Grand, a new sci-fi graphic novella written by Craig Hurd-McKenney, illustrated by Noah Bailey, and lettered by Saida Temofonte.

With Station Grand now available via Oni Press and Simon & Schuster, Daily Dead had the great pleasure of catching up with Craig and Noah in a new Q&A feature to discuss their intriguing collaboration!

Thank you for taking the time to answer questions for us, Craig and Noah, and congratulations on Station Grand! How and when did you initially come up with the idea for this story?

Noah Bailey: Thank you so much for having us! I’m really excited to talk about the book!

Craig Hurd-McKenney: Thank you for talking to us about Station Grand! As a writer, I keep copious notebooks filled with ideas. Sometimes it’s a title, sometimes it’s a sketch. Sometimes it’s a name. And in that process, sometimes the ideas blossom, sometimes the ideas merge, and sometimes the ideas gestate and/or go dormant. In the case of Station Grand, it was not until I met Noah and we got to know each other more that our mutual sleep issues came to the surface of our discussions. Given our similar experiences, and our cinephile sensibilities, I knew that Station Grand was something I wanted to work on with him. With his energy and ideas, this idea blossomed.

Station Grand follows Dr. Michael Kinney, who faces his own existential horrors and sleep-centric terrors while also trying to survive the dangers of deep space. Craig, how important was it for you to balance (or in some cases juxtapose) Dr. Kinney’s internal conflict with the external risks of being in space and terraforming another planet?

Craig Hurd-McKenney: I’ll argue with the premise of the question slightly. How do we know the internal and external are different risks/conflicts? For me, it’s about putting the reader in the position of identifying with Dr. Kinney on a human level, but also experiencing a bit of delirium that someone with sleep disruption might experience. Beyond that, I’m a science nerd and I love our deep space research (and I don’t include space tourism in that). Just today, I was reading an article about the best proof of extraterrestrial life that we’ve yet seen on an exoplanet 124 light years from Earth. So the reliability of science is the contrast to the unreliability of the mind in distress. That’s what is fascinating to me about Station Grand. How does Dr. Kinney work to resolve the issue with his rational (and arguably unreliable) mind?

Noah, I love your artwork for Station Grand, as your visuals add a palpable texture of terror that really pairs well with Craig’s prose. What did you enjoy the most about working on this story?

Noah Bailey: Thank you!! I really appreciate the kind words! I think the most exciting thing for me was trying to visually convey Michael’s mental state and his shifting perception with different mediums and styles throughout. Also, rendering the environments was just an absolute blast. I have grown really fond of drawing backgrounds, and this story was a great opportunity to get a bit experimental with it!

From Event Horizon and Sunshine to Alien and Pandorum, I’m a huge fan of sci-fi horror, especially when it comes to the deep space setting. Were you both influenced or inspired by any other sci-fi horror stories while working on Station Grand?

Craig Hurd-McKenney: Certainly we were all influenced by vintage sci-fi pulp novels. Noah and I talked a lot of sci-fi film influences, such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and others. For me personally, other films like Moon with Sam Rockwell, or Alex Garland’s Annihilation, were on my mind. Moon addresses some of the claustrophobia of Station Grand, while Annihilation pushes us into the surreal of the unknown.

Noah Bailey: Honestly, I was very influenced by a lot of ghost story movies while working on the book! The Haunting (1963) and The Innocents in particular. I was actively trying to not watch or recall too much from my favorite sci-fi flicks or books. I really wanted to try my damnedest at creating my own take on this stuff (aside from the reference Craig provided). But, movies like Planet of the Vampires or the Star Trek original series are just kinda in my blood at this point, so I’m sure there’s more than some of that mixed in there. Hahaha.

Do you each have a favorite moment in Station Grand that you’re especially excited for readers to experience?

Craig Hurd-McKenney: I just want people to be able to read it on different levels. You can read it as truth, or you can read it as a fever dream. Or you can analyze its symbolism, its root in our cultural understanding of psychology, the ego versus the shadow self. Jungian psychology and the failure of socially constructed safety nets are at play here.

If I’m answering about an art moment, I’m excited for people to experience the six-panel page where Dr. Kinney is eating breakfast, overlaid with other elements from the story. It is a page that Noah held for a while, to surprise me with it. It brings me joy every time I see it. Noah demolished that page.

Noah Bailey: You can’t see me, but I’m crying and blushing at the same time. Hahaha. Thank you, Craig!!

I personally really love the final “chase” sequence! Craig wrote it in such an exciting way that I really couldn’t wait to draw it. It played out in my head so vividly and I knew exactly how I wanted to “shoot” each panel and how the shadows would frame everything. I was getting heart palpitations just imagining the negative space! The sweet, sweet negative space! Hahaha. It’s a sequence that I’m very proud of and I like to look at! Which I can’t always say! Hahaha.

From the first draft to the final version, approximately how long did it take to write and illustrate Station Grand?

Craig Hurd-McKenney: We Kickstarted the original version in 2022. So I was probably writing for a few months prior. When I engage with an artist on a project, I am open to things morphing as the artist brings themself into the world I’ve created. In this case, I feel like Noah and I created a pretty synergistic world, and he immersed himself for five or six months? Maybe more? And then when I reached out to our editor, Gabe, at Oni, he asked for a new intro to give a bit more insight into Dr. Kinney, we added the new opening and backmatter. I’m losing track of time, but I think that conversation with Gabe happened in 2023. So all in, we’re looking at about three years?

What has it been like to work with the team at Oni Press to help bring Station Grand to life?

Craig Hurd-McKenney: I’d known Gabe, our editor, for a while before pitching anything to him, so it was a very good feeling to entrust the book to someone I knew and not just a stranger. As Gabe has moved on to work on his own writing, we’ve landed with a fantastic adoptive family within Oni. Also, shoutout to our designer, Winston, who did an impeccable job on the book. I couldn’t have asked for better, and he really listened to our ideas and desires for how the book would look while also bringing his own artistic sensibilities to play.

Noah Bailey: I agree with everything Craig said. Working with Oni has been really wonderful in every way. From the top down they’re a full house of passionate, intelligent, rad people. I feel infinitely blessed to be working with them in any capacity and I look forward to continuing this friendship and creating more together!!!

Ultimately, what do you hope readers take away from Station Grand?

Craig Hurd-McKenney: I hope they take away that comics can be of many styles, many lengths and many genres. There’s not one way for comics to be.

Noah Bailey: I like what Craig said a lot. But, I hope they take whatever they want away from it. Hahaha. Craig has set it up in a way where you can really enjoy it on any level. If you wanna dig, analyze and put some work in—you’ll find a lot there! If you wanna just read a haunting sci-fi story, well that’s there too! And I hope you like the artwork! Please, please like the artwork! Look at all those crazy pipes! Hahahaha. I’m sorry.

Do you have plans to continue expanding the world of Station Grand in future stories if given the opportunity?

Craig Hurd-McKenney: There are so many other universes left to explore. Dr. Kinney’s story is done, in my mind. So watch this space… Noah and I, both together and separately, have a lot of amazing things coming your way.

What advice would you each give to writers and artists who are just getting started?

Craig Hurd-McKenney: You do not need anyone’s approval to make something you love. The books don’t have to be fancy, they don’t have to be expensive. They just have to be. And no one is stopping you but yourself. So don’t make excuses. Rather, make comics.

Noah Bailey: I think (from experience), it’s really easy to get trapped in this small-town kinda way of thinking—that everything is unreachable and the people doing these things are more interesting or exciting than you. It’s just not true. Hahaha. If you want to do it, Craig is right, the ONLY thing stopping you from doing it is you not doing it. Just be happy, make things that make you happy, share them as much as you can, and you will be doing exactly what we are doing.

With Station Grand now available from Oni Press, do you each have any other projects coming up that you can tease for our readers?

Craig Hurd-McKenney: I have Curse of Dark Shadows coming this summer from Hermes Press. Art is by Jok, of Image’s In Hell We Fight and Mad Cave Studios’ The Body Trade. This is a licensed continuation of the ABC gothic soap opera, Dark Shadows, and brings the story to the present day. If you like vampires, and drama, and intrigue, then this one is for you. I have another secret thing I can’t talk about yet, but it should be out in late 2026.

Noah & I also have a few things percolating together, but too soon to talk about.

Noah Bailey: I’ve got a horror graphic novel in the works with my longtime friend and frequent collaborator, Michael W. Conrad, called The 99 Legs—so look for that soon from Comixology Originals and Dark Horse Comics! I’ve got a buncha stuff I can’t mention, which makes me sad, and I’ll be releasing new issues of my comix magazine Diabolical! here very soon!

Thank you both very much for your time!

Noah Bailey: Thank you so much for having us! This was a lot of fun!

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Station Grand

By Craig Hurd-McKenney
Illustrated by Noah Bailey
Publisher: Oni Press (April 8, 2025)
Length: 80 pages
ISBN13: 9781637156285

From Xeric Grant-awarded and Ignatz Award-nominated writer Craig Hurd-McKenney and acclaimed illustrator Noah Bailey (Double Walker, Wonder Woman: Black and Gold) comes a gripping sci-fi novella about the darkness that lurks beyond Earth’s orbit . . .

Dr. Michael Kinney is light years from Earth, overseeing the terraformation of Venus. Michael is all alone, save for the computer who keeps him company during the 272 day-long orbit from night to day around the sun. And during this time, there is no contact with Mission Control.

With his circadian rhythms disrupted by his extended stay in deep space, his insomnia peaks. Reality as he knows it comes into question. As Michael struggles to finish his mission, what he thinks he knows will collide with the existential mysteries of the universe: Who am I? Why am I here? Am I alone? Why is this happening to me?

Craig Hurd-McKenney is a Xeric grant-awarded and Ignatz Award-nominated writer. He lives in Seattle with his husband and four rescue dogs. Online, he lives at hspcomix.com.

Noah Bailey is a professional illustrator, designer and comic book artist living in Chicago, Illinois.