Over-The-Top Visual Bombast: Discussing Comics And Crowdfunding With ‘Murder. Death. Kill.’ Creators

Murder. Death. Kill. has got to be one of the most intimidating titles for a comic book. But if co-creators Jim Hanna and Mike Macropoulos have their way, it’ll the series will be hitting shelves soon thanks to a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter. The story is a revenge tale features Xenovia who chops her way through a swarth of cyborgs and ninjas. In a Comicon.com exclusive, writer Hanna and artist Macropoulos discuss comic book violence, their creative process and the shock of reaching their crowdfunding goal in just a few hours.

Tom Smithyman: Murder. Death. Kill. It sounds a bit…violent. Why did the two of you want to tell this particular story?

Jim Hanna: COMICS! In the fantasy world that is comics, action, blood, and gore just are so cool and fun to see (and draw)…. I really can’t explain it, but I love it!

Mike Macropoulos: Because comic book violence is…cool! We certainly didn’t want to create a comic about ninjas and assassins that was page after page of nine-panel grid with talking heads and pseudo profound ramblings. We wanted to make something fun. Comics are a fantastic vehicle for expressing visual, over-the-top visual bombast. So yeah…violence!

Smithyman: You’ve said the story combines 70s’ grindhouse, 80s’ sci-fi and 90s’ Hong Kong cinema into a single tale. Why those genres, and how difficult was combining them into a cohesive story?

Hanna: Those are all genres that Mike and I really love. And making this book we wanted to throw everything in there! It’s kind of a cosmic gumbo if you will. The story itself is a very old and simple one: betrayal, loss and revenge. There are also some family dynamics at play too.

Macropoulos: It isn’t as if we set out to cherry pick certain characteristics from each of those genres, but this project was born out of a mutual love for these types of films. Jim has a great fondness for 80’s action and cheese, I am obsessed with 90’s Hong Kong and exploitation cinema and we both love Shaw Bros. kung fu and all things ninja. This stuff is just in our DNA, and, perhaps even more so than comics, it informs all the work we do.

Smithyman: Is this a self-contained story, or the first part of an ongoing one? Is there room to explore more in the MDK universe?

Macropoulos: Murder. Death. Kill. is intended to be an ongoing series of sorts, similar to the Hellboy model of self-contained minis and arcs that all fall under the same overarching tale. We have lots of stories to tell if we’re successful enough to maintain an audience.

Smithyman: Were you surprised that you blew past your crowdfunding goal so early? Are you planning any additional reward to pull in more funds?

Macropoulos: Honestly, YEAH! I tend to be the pessimist of the crew, though. But yes – we are extremely grateful it seemed to find an immediate audience. I wasn’t expecting to get funded in a few hours. We DO have a few more surprises and goals planned, yes. The idea is to have something exciting to share each week of the campaign.

Hanna: It was definitely a nice surprise! When you try something different, you never really know how it will be received. And oh yeah, we have a lot of surprises coming up!

Smithyman: You’re both friends and comics pros. Had you ever worked together before this? What was your process like for this story? 

Hanna: We have never! Always doing shows and admiring each other’s work, and then finally, we were like we gotta work together! As far as the story, and what we wanted to do with the book, it was `let’s do everything we’ve always wanted to do.’ Pure self-indulgence.

Macropoulos: We’ve been friends for probably a decade but have never worked together until now. I suppose you’d call the process old school `Marvel style.’ We meet up and discuss what we want to do with the book. Then Jim comes up with the overall structure and plot, he gives me a few prompts and a framework for what we need to happen on each page and then I get to work creating the art. Eventually he scripts based on that completed artwork. It works because we trust each other – and Jim’s background as an artist made it all pretty seamless.

Smithyman: Murder. Death. Kill. is really a story about revenge. Do you guys have any good revenge stories of your own? 

Macropoulos: Oh, man. Not a single one! My life of solitary contemplation is mostly spent hunched over a desk in the dark. That’s why I make stuff up.

Hanna: Personally? I believe living your best life and being happy is the best revenge. Or sleeping with their parents. It’s an either-or thing.

Smithyman: One of the rewards for the campaign is getting killed by the protagonist Xenovia. If each of you had the choice, how would you choose for her to take you out?

Macropoulos: Good question! I don’t have it all figured out, but I’d love for my assassination to somehow include chewing gum, Mexican pastries and a three-legged cat. And throwing stars.

Hanna: I would have her chop me up into little cutlets and serve me to my friends. I think I would pair nicely with a Bordeaux or a bold merlot.

Smithyman: Well, you guys have interesting…tastes. Good luck with the campaign and the series!