Nathan Page and Drew Shannon are the creative duo behind the Montague Twins series of graphic novels featuring Pete and Alastair Montague, twin brothers who not only play in a local teen rock band, but also solve mysteries at the same time.

The recently published second book in the series, The Devil's Music, sees a famous rockstar show up in the twins' small coastal town of Port Howl — bringing the threads of his dark past with him. He might even be the source of the rumoured "Devil's Music," a strange song that puts all of its listeners in a deadly hypnosis.

Their first book, The Witch's Hand, sets the twins on their mystery-solving adventures when they learn their guardian David, a former professor, has been keeping secrets about their parents. When three girls go missing after casting a mysterious spell, the duo team up with David's daughter Charlie to discover forces at work that will change their lives forever.

The Witch's Hand was shortlisted for the 2022 White Pine Award, which celebrates fiction for readers in Grades 9-12.

The comics pair Shannon's bold, retro illustration style with Page's smart, spare writing and are heavily influenced by pop culture, including music — their website even features playlists with songs that capture the themes and tone of each book.

Shannon, from London, Ont., graduated from the illustration program at Toronto's Sheridan College and is an award-winning illustrator with work published in the Globe and Mail, Washington Post, the Walrus, CBC, NPR and more, and has also illustrated five other books for young readers in addition to the Montague Twins series. Page was born in Kingston, Ont., where he began writing and performing at an early age. The Witch's Hand was his first graphic novel. He lives in Toronto with his cat, Marlowe.

Page and Shannon spoke with CBC Books about The Devil's Music and their creative partnership in bringing The Montague Twins to life, panel-by-panel.

Nathan Page: There is a record which is causing a Pied Piper-like hypnosis for the citizens of Port Howl, and at the same time, a mysterious rock star rolls into town — and wild times ensue.

Drew Shannon: I had graduated from Sheridan and was trying to create work for myself and hopefully use my portfolio to build up a client base. But I also wanted to have a project to chew on. So I started trying to think of different things that would be fun to play with, and I thought of the idea of a Hardy Boys style of mystery. I felt like that would be something where I could draw on some of my own influences, but then I could also mix it up and have fun with the genre.

And I also knew that I was only so good of a storyteller. I felt like I needed some help. Nathan and I bonded at a job we were working at together and just started talking about what these characters could be. And then eventually it was like, "Should we actually write this thing? And do you want to write it, because I can't?" And then, yeah, the Montague twins were born pretty much then and there, around 10 years ago.

Page: Oh, there are most definitely compromises and give and take, but that's part and parcel of the creative process any time you're collaborating with somebody. But it starts off relatively simple in that we just begin with an idea and we talk about the different things that we each want to see in it. And sometimes there's a bit of conflict, and sometimes it goes really smoothly. But from those conversations, the shape of a book starts to take form. And then I go off on my own and outline it and start to script it. And then many, many months later, Drew gets a product in his hand that he's able to draw.

Shannon: From there, it's mostly just making sure that I am telling the story visually in a way that is legible and that there's a proper flow to the script. It's a pretty dialogue-heavy comic, and so it's an interesting and really fun thing for me to be able to figure out what people are doing in frames as they're talking and as we're telling the story through character interactions as opposed to just showing things on the page.

Page: From so many different places, of course, but also some pretty unexpected ones at times — of course, Paper Girls and Hardy Boys, I think they're both great. But for me, stuff like The Lost Boys, Goonies, those type of adventure stories; but then also the TV show Skins, which I loved. And I don't necessarily know if it comes out on the page, but a lot of inspiration from many movies. When I think about work, it's Wes Anderson, The Last Picture Show and then music too is always, always inspiring. I cannot write a page without having a song in mind or some sort of soundtrack ongoing.

Shannon: For me, it's a lot of movies too. I grew up in front of a TV screen watching movies, and going to the movies. And I feel like a lot of my visual storytelling language has been pulled from filmmakers without me even knowing or trying. I always make this joke about how comics are the easiest way for me to make a movie because it's what I have access to — a skill set and tools that are visual, and I can tell stories with those. And I really like just trying to capture that feeling of watching Jurassic Park or something for the first time. It's so interesting to hear our book compared to other things, because it's almost like that.

Page: When I was writing it, I was just trying to take myself back to being a teenager — and, you know, maybe I shouldn't be proud of this, but I swore, I drank. I wanted it to feel like these are real teenagers. And so sometimes they're going to drop an F-bomb. Sometimes they're going to screw up. So in terms of there being any parameters or limitations, I don't really have any. This is how my friends and I would have talked as a teenager, so that's what I want to try to bring.

Shannon: I think a lot about the audience who's going to be reading it, and I don't want to dumb anything down. This book is marketed for teens, but we're hoping that anybody who finds it is able to appreciate the storytelling that is happening on the page, regardless of how old they are.

Page: If there's one thing about Pete and Al, it's that for every answer they get, there are going to be 100 more questions that come from it. And so they're always going to be trying to uncover a little bit more — not just about themselves, but their friends, their town, their parents' disappearance. They're never satisfied. They can't rest. They always need to be digging into something. And so readers can definitely expect some answers, but also a few more questions thrown into the mix as well.

Shannon: Oh, I'll just say right now this is the craziest thing that's ever happened to us in terms of what we could have expected. When we made the first chapter, we just put it out for free because we just wanted to make it. We care about these characters; we care about the story we're trying to tell. Whoever wants to read it can read it, you know? And it took other people to be like, "You know, this might be something if you wanted to pitch it or show it around." And we were like, "OK, that sounds like a good idea." And one thing led to another, and we got to this point where we are lucky enough to have two books being published by a major publisher. And we just feel so grateful that this story that is important to us is resonating with other people out there.

Page: I do lots of reading — different magic texts, different books that I want to pull certain elements from. With The Devil's Music, there was a lot of the history of music; the Pied Piper mythology was definitely something that I was pulling from, but also some modern takes on the effects of music as well. I can never do enough research, to be honest with you — there's always something else where I feel like there's got to be another tab open, otherwise I'm not doing the work.

Shannon: I do a lot of research from the period point of view. So I'm looking at making sure hairstyles and clothing seem accurate to what people would be wearing in the time period we set it in —also cars and background things, just to make it feel lived-in. So if I have to draw a record player, it has to be a certain style that would have existed in the '60s, just as an example.

Shannon: I think this book is a bit darker than the first one. It deals with some heavier subject matter like depression and anxiety. Something that Nathan and I had talked about was that we want anybody who reads this book to just feel a little less alone in terms of what they might be going through mental health-wise. And we hope that comes across — that was the intention that we had when we were making it.

Page: Yes, basically just hoping people feel seen and loved, and also able to escape into a good book for a little while.