Talking ‘Death Of Comics Bookcase’ Kickstarter With Zack Quaintance And Anna Readman

What do lycanthrope clergyman and deceased furniture have in common? They both appear in Death of Comics Bookcase — volume one of a planned three-volume anthology series written by Zack Quaintance. For the first time we have three lettered pages from “The Werewolf Priest,” Quaintance’s horror tale with artist, Anna Readman, as well as an interview with them about the frights readers can expect by contributing to the Kickstarter campaign:

Rachel Bellwoar: In a previous interview, Zack, you talked about how The Werewolf Priest was inspired by your time as a journalist on the Texas border. Were you always set on a werewolf priest or did you consider other monsters?

Zack Quaintance: It was always about the werewolf priest, and, originally, the priest was even the protagonist. But it was quickly evident we needed a narrator readers could use as a lens. I’m also a huge fan of Cormac McCarthy, and a theme of his early Texas novels is lost innocence, so I tried to combine my own (very difficult) time as a young reporter in Texas with the werewolf priest idea, and it just all seemed to really pop together.

But! That said, I have thought about a lot of other monsters that would work in this world. The Southwest, specifically Texas, is brimming with colorful legends, and I met a lot of interesting people during my time in Texas. For example, there was a car thief who police called El Vampiro, because he drove off a cliff once and somehow survived to rob again…but that’s just one example. I’ve got a pretty long list.

Bellwoar: Gore can be so tricky to pull off. Too much and you risk desensitizing readers but too weak and it won’t be remembered. How did you strike the perfect balance for this story, Anna?

Anna Readman: Zack’s script provided the right pacing and pauses in action that it enabled me to go full-out on the gore when it was required, giving it more impact and punch without overwhelming the reader. Brad [Simpson]’s saturated colours also blend the gore into the story, which I think accentuates the overall pulpy tone of the whole comic.

Bellwoar: The narration by the main, journalist character reminded me of the voiceover used for hardboiled novels and noirs. Was that an inspiration?

Quaintance: It definitely was! I’m glad that came across. In writing the narration, I was trying to combine that exact type of hardboiled noir voiceover with how an aspiring novelist might phrase things, adding in dramatization of the past as well as some literary flourishes. It helped that I’m more than a few years removed from my own time as a reporter, so it was easy to use the past tense convincingly in crafting that voice.

Bellwoar: I love how the reporter’s glasses become an identifying feature in this story, as the person who’s seeking the truth. Meanwhile the werewolf priest has his clerical collar. When did you and Anna come up with that genius stroke of character design?

Quaintance: Anna did the heavy lifting on the character designs. She really brought them both to life and gave them the tone and energies they have. One thing we talked about in advance was how much we both love pulpy horror. So The Kid having big glasses and the priest transforming into a werewolf but keeping signs of his collar and other garb both seemed to fit well into that. We wanted to do something gritty and sort of grounded with the news elements, while leaning into the fantastical with the horror that appeared within that setup.

Readman: I wanted to make the reporter look young and inexperienced so he would be as out of place as possible in contrast to these gruesome killings, giving him an uncorrupted and innocent insight into what is actually happening. The iconography of werewolves and priests are so identifiable that it was an easy combo to make into its own distinguished design.

Bellwoar: From Black Christmas to When A Stranger Calls, phone calls have been a source of terror in many a horror tale. How did you approach setting the mood for the tense one the newsroom receives in the middle of the night?

Quaintance: That’s my favorite page in the whole story, because it just perfectly captures the feel of a crummy, struggling newsroom at night after everyone has gone home. But it was Anna’s art and Brad Simpson’s colors that really brought the horror and tension there. That page is brimming with wonderful little details (the rat and pizza is so funny to me), and that was all Anna. At the same time, Brad’s use of a sort of muted turquoise palette is really brilliant. Truth be told, almost every newsroom I’ve ever worked in has had some sort of horrid fluorescent light situation, but the feel at night especially was still dark. One thing I love about making comics is the way you can use the visuals to lean into feel rather than realism. On that page, I think you’re feeling the squalor and tension well before the phone even rings.

Readman: I was trying to give a All the President’s Men meets True Detective (S1) vibe, but with a grindhouse overtone. The squalid and outdated tech-filled newsroom was to emphasise how underprepared our reporter is as they were about to be thrown deeper into this crazy case.

Bellwoar: With at least two more volumes of this anthology planned, where do you see The Werewolf Priest going next?

Quaintance: I’d absolutely love to develop this short into an ongoing series. I’ve got five issues outlined and an entire first issue scripted, with this short as the first eight pages. The Werewolf Priest wouldn’t be the title, though. The series would expand, and there’d be more news stories and more monsters, as well as a further exploration of how The Kid’s naivety brushes up (violently!) against the reality of covering a complex and politically-charged part of the country where he is himself an outsider. Oh, and in the larger book we envision, the real horror is more than anything the death of local news.

Bellwoar: Thanks for agreeing to this interview, Zack and Anna!

Keep reading for the full press release for Death of Comics Bookcase, Volume 1, and click here to contribute to the crowdfunding campaign:

“Six stories, 48 pages, one epic demise! This new anthology comic is written by Zack Quaintance, founder and former editor of the defunct comics blog, Comics Bookcase, which is being murdered in these pages…publically…and purely for entertainment purposes, of course.”

On his former blog, Quaintance said:

“I shut down my comics site a couple years ago to focus on creating comics. Now, I’m dusting it off to tell the tale of the titular Bookcase’s demise. There will be blood…and bookcases…and comics. It’ll be great!

One of the standout stories in the book is The Werewolf Priest, which features art by rising star artist, Anna Readman (Dancing Queen, 2000 AD), colored here by Brad Simpson(Coffin Bound). A young reporter takes his first job at a newspaper in South Texas, but everything changes when something murders an agent with US Border Patrol. Suddenly, paranormal horror is everywhere in this story that features stunning grindhouse artwork and a fun pulp sensibility. It also features letters by Becca Carey

United by a shared cheeky sensibility, the rest of the book features a range of genres and a mix of rising/established creators. In its pages, Kickstarter backers will find a superhero story by artist Nick Cagnetti (Pink Lemonade), with letterer  François Vigneault; fantasy by artist Luke Horsman (2000 AD), colorist Jason Wordie, and letterer Rob Jones; crime by artist Pat Skott (Next Door), colorist Ellie Wright, and letterer Rob Jones; and sci-fi/war by artist PJ Holden (2000 AD, Battle Action), colorist Dearhbla Kelly, and letterer Simon Bowland.

Tying the whole book together is a framing sequence, where an actual anthropomorphic comics bookcase is telling the tales, and that story is illustrated by Ryan Lee (Mountainhead, Rick and Morty) with colors by Doug Garbark, and letters by Shawn Lee.