Interviews

If the dream of the '90s is alive in Portland, then the decade's nightmare is alive in Drugs & Wires' cyberpunk post-Soviet eastern Europe. Cryoclaire and Io Black's webcomic envisions a futuristic 1995 where virtual reality and cyborgs are as fashionable as JNCO jeans. Unfortunately, that future kind of sucks. Especially for Dan, the comic's battered and weary protagonist. ComicsAlliance spoke with Cryoclaire and Io Black about the comic's unique setting, and its eclectic fashion and black humor.

Next month sees the release of a brand new volume of The Magdalena from Top Cow, introducing a new bearer of the ancient mantle. Like her predecessors, this new Magdalena is descended from the bloodline of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene, and has been chosen to protect the Catholic Church against monstrous threats. ComicsAlliance caught up with writers Tini Howard and Ryan Cady and artist Christian DiBari to talk about the decision to introduce a new Magdalena while keeping the previous one around, and the fine line they had to walk to tell a story inspired by on one of the most popular religions in the world.

The Golden Age of comics is best remembered for the creation of the iconic superheroes such as Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman. But for every lasting success story, there were other characters who were created and then seemingly forgotten. Whatever happened to those heroes? A new anthology spearheaded by Einar Másson and Matt Harding looks to answer that question. Not Forgotten is a collection of stories that revives some of the other heroes of the Golden Age, in the hopes of returning these relics to new relevance. With an impressive line-up of creators, the anthology is currently running on Kickstarter, seeking a funding target of $25,000. ComicsAlliance spoke to Másson and Harding about how the project came together.

With the third volume out this month, Deadman: Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love by Sarah Vaughn with art by Lan Medina can now be experienced in full, with a collected volume out this summer. The book is a perfect mix of Gothic romance, vintage haunted house movies, and classic DC super-horror, built around the character of Boston Brand, also known as Deadman. Deadman: Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love is the story of a woman named Berenice who faces a ghostly mystery even as she deals with her tumultuous love life, caught between her boyfriend and her nonbinary best friend. ComicsAlliance talked with Vaughn about the origins of the book, the blending of genres, and the importance of its queer lead characters.

Since its original run from 2002 to 2004, Colleen Coover's Small Favors has been one of the most highly regarded erotic comics of all time. It tells the fantastic story of Annie, a woman who uses up her lifetime supply of self-pleasure and is sentenced to be monitored by a manifestation of her conscience, Nibbil. Unfortunately for her prudish side, Annie and Nibbil quickly fall in love and spend eight issues having extremely imaginative sex with each other and a few new friends --- all within the context of a happy and charmingly romantic love story. Now, thirteen years since its final issue, a hardcover collection from Limerence Press is set to hit shelves in April, complete with a new story that Coover drew based on a script from the original run. ComicsAlliance spoke to Coover about the history of Small Favors, how the experience shaped her career, and the rules that governed the universe of her "girly porno comic" love story.

Chris Sarris is a normal dude from Cleveland, Ohio. Co-workers describe him as “the guy in the office that says ‘This is what we did’ when giving a presentation to the boss, even though he did all the work.” Chris also has a bit of a secret: He played Steve Rogers in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Ordinary blue-collar worker concerns may include low minimum wages or job automation. Repairman Logan Ibarra's concerns, however, aren't as ordinary; he just want to escape his night's last assignment without getting beheaded, assaulted by flowery parasites, or stabbed (any further). With nearly two years into its run, Tessa Stone's horror-comedy webcomic Not Drunk Enough is now set to be published as a trilogy by Oni Press. ComicsAlliance sat down with Stone to talk about Not Drunk Enough, claustrophobia, and the debatable merits of actually being drunk during a horror scenario.

Fighting is often an expression of love. It means defending and protecting and sacrificing for what matters most: your home, your family, your right to love, your right to exist. It means enduring adversity for what matters. The Order of Belfry is a webcomic about an order of female knights who protect their kingdom and defend what they love — which often happens to be one another. It is through this knight's order that creators Barbara Perez and M.J. Barros create their own space, one that's inclusive and centered on queer relationships, that also fights for love. Webcomic Q&A spoke with Perez and Barros to learn more.

Glitterbomb is a comic that's never what you expect it to be. It's a story about an actress struggling to regain her fame in an sexist, abusive industry and when the resentment she feels manifests in horrifying and incomprehensible ways, she decides to get her revenge. With the first miniseries complete and a collection on the horizon, ComicsAlliance chatted to Jim Zub and Djibril Morissette-Phan about their unique Hollywood tragedy and what the future has in store for the series.

At least nightmares end. They may destroy your night's sleep, imperil your mental health, and unearth long-buried skeletons, but at least they're fleeting, banished mostly when the sun rises, right? Well, not for Alan. His nightmares follow him around town, through his home, and even to his work place --- much to his employer's annoyance. In Cameron Lucente's RoomZero, Alan learns that burying your demons won't stop them from coming to life. ComicsAlliance spoke with Lucente about monsters, toxic masculinity, and developing the RoomZero world through DeviantArt roleplay chats!