Crowdfunding Comics: Talking ‘Captain Suave’ With Writer Joe Sieracki

Where the outside world might see a homeless man, Captain Suave has read enough comics to know what it takes to be a hero. He also knows every hero needs a sidekick, which is where Stanley (aka “Champ”) comes in. This month writer Joe Sieracki, artist Kelly Williams, and letterer Tyler Esposito are dreaming the impossible dream and launching a Zoop campaign for The Life and Death of the Brave Captain Suave. For more on the comic book series, check out this interview with Sieracki below:

Rachel Bellwoar: In his introduction author, Brad Ricca, talks about Cleveland and the city as the birthplace of Superman. What does Cleveland mean to you and why did you decide to set this story there?

Joe Sieracki: I was born and raised in Cleveland, so it seemed like a natural fit to me for this story. What better place to be home to a superhero obsessed protagonist? Not many people know the history of comic books in Cleveland, but the entire superhero genre all started here with a couple of kids named Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel. Then of course there’s Harvey Pekar, and the whole underground comics scene. Comic books owe a lot to Cleveland, so it was the perfect setting for Captain Suave. Plus, it helps a lot that I know the city very well, which makes writing it a lot easier!

Bellwoar: My first experience with Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote was through the musical based on that novel, Man of La Mancha (specifically the 1970s film). When did you first become aware of Don Quixote?

Sieracki: I feel like Don Quixote is one of those books that is ubiquitous in the cultural Zeitgeist. Mention Don Quixote, and almost anyone will conjure images of a knight errant tilting at windmills. Even if they never read the book, they still have a general idea of the concept. That’s certainly how it was for me, so when I got this idea of modernizing the text with a superhero angle, I finally sat down and read Cervantes’ classic. I was absolutely blown away at how modern it already felt. The humor and heart really struck a huge chord with me. I knew if we could capture even a fraction of that in our heroes, we’d have something special.

Bellwoar: What was it like creating a hero who’s also a massive comic book fan?

Sieracki: Don Quixote was obsessed with tales of knights errant, so of course our hero is a massive comic book fan. The whole concept flowed very easily from there, from one crazy situation after the other. We kept upping the ante each issue in how ridiculous things could get, all while building up this relationship between Captain Suave and his “sidekick,” Stanley. All the while, we make a lot of references to classic comic books that I think fans will get a kick out of.

Bellwoar: How did you decide when to show Captain Suave as he sees himself versus how the world sees him?

Sieracki: That was also a huge part of the fun. Kelly does an incredible job depicting fantasy versus reality in a very unique way. We also had lots of discussions as to how the two can bleed into one another, which makes for some interesting panels. Who’s really crazy? Is it the person who believes themselves a superhero, trying to go out there and do right thing, or is a city of people willing to turn a blind eye to the injustices they witness on a daily basis? That’s for the readers to decide.

Bellwoar: In real life, Captain Suave’s sidekick is a young man but as Champ he looks like a little boy. Was that age gap always part of your original idea?

Sieracki: We were going for the kid sidekick trope with Champ, like the Boy Wonder or Kid Flash. Also, we thought it would be funny juxtaposing the image of a grown man with that of a child sidekick, which Kelly hilariously brings to life. It gave us a lot of comedic opportunities, but also created a special relationship dynamic between Captain Suave and Stanley, (Champ’s “secret” identity).

Bellwoar: I really love the maps you drew between each issue. What was it like creating those?

Sieracki: That was a lot of fun too, so I’m glad you enjoyed them! I’ve always loved seeing maps at the beginning of fantasy comic books, like Conan the Barbarian. We thought it would be cool to do something similar at the beginning of each issue, showing where in Cleveland Suave is imagining these fantastic events taking place. It was also an interesting exercise thinking of parallels to draw between his fantasies and actual locations around the city, so being from Cleveland helped a lot.

Bellwoar: Over the course of this series we learn more about the characters’ backstories but is there an origin story for the name Captain Suave?

Sieracki: As I recall, we kicked a lot of classic sounding superhero names. There were a few that I really liked that would most likely have gotten us sued by one of the big two, but ultimately, we landed squarely upon Captain Suave. It fit Kelly’s character designs perfectly, and also gave us the Debonair Duo with Champ!

Bellwoar: This series is called The Life and Death of the Brave Captain Suave. Does that mean the series will end with Captain Suave’s death?

Sieracki: Chekhov’s Gun rests squarely in our title, so we kind of have to, don’t we? I guess readers will have to back the book to find out!

Bellwoar: Thanks for agreeing to this interview, Joe!

To be notified when the Zoop campaign for The Life and Death of the Brave Captain Suave launches on Monday, September 23rd, click here.