Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Aaron Gillespie, chaos, Comics, dynamite, entertainment, Lady Demon, nei ruffino, Purgatori

Aaron Gillespie Talks Lady Demon And New Purgatori FOC Covers Revealed

Published Thu, 02 Oct 2014 21:30:50 -0500

Dynamite Entertainment's relaunch of the Chaos Comics characters has been going extremely well as they expand out to a new Lady Demon series written by Aaron Gillespie. Byron Brewer chatted with the writer about the new series and working with the other creators to make the launch successful. Also below, its sister series Purgatori had a couple new covers revealed for FOC today.

BYRON BREWER: The return, refurbishing and rebranding of the Chaos! Universe continues with Lady Demon #1. Aaron, how does it feel to be a part of what has proven a successful revamping of classic comic book characters by Dynamite?

AARON GILLESPIE: It's really cool working alongside so many great creators to flesh out this universe. Since the beginning, Dynamite has been committed to telling these stories in a way that stays true to the original Chaos aesthetic. Readers really seem to be gravitating to it and I couldn't be happier.

BB: Why is Lady Demon the next Chaos! denizen to get the solo treatment?

AG: The day Lady Demon got announced, I was flooded with tweets, facebook IMs, and links to blog posts…so that should tell you something. Fans wanted Lady Demon, so they're getting Lady Demon.

BB: How did you come aboard this project?

AG: Dynamite asked me what I would do with a Lady Demon mini and I pitched. Thankfully, they liked my pitch.

BB: Can you compare the classic character of Lady Demon with the iteration we will meet in your book? What was done to bring her to a modern reading audience?

AG: Well, the original character started out as an aspect of Lady Death. Since Dynamite doesn't have Lady Death, I was trying to figure out how to make the character work in the new universe. Mistress Hel is still new to readers and I didn't think the time was right to split her personality.

I read an old 3 issue Lady Demon miniseries that took place after the character had truly split from Lady Death. What I loved about it was that it was as much about the woman that Lady Death possessed as anything else. It also threw Lady Demon into the middle of an action comic, which I thought was really cool.

So I took that approach. Our Lady Demon has always been her own entity. She's an arch duke of Hell who oversteps her bounds a little and winds up on Lucifer's bad side….(does Lucifer even have a good side?)

BB: Tell us a tad about this storyline.

AG: Lady Demon possesses the body of Violet Sparks. Violet is a young woman who has been thrown into the middle of something she doesn't understand. Everyone she ever loved has been killed and she's bound to get to the bottom of it. Lady Demon is a (sometimes) willing accomplice and the two set out on a Grindhouse style revenge mission.

BB: For the uninitiated, can you tell us who Lady Demon is? Your perceptions of her character?

AG:Lady Demon is a powerful personality in Hell. She has her own realm and rules with an iron fist. She has designs on taking over the entire place. She's power hungry and never content.

So placing her inside a mere mortal and forcing her to act as a passenger is something I'm having a lot of fun with. It's entirely against her nature and that leads to some cool character moments amidst the bloodshed.

BB: Are you impressed thus far with the art of Mirka Andolfo?

AG: Impressed is putting it mildly. I loved the work she did on the Chaos! mini, so when I heard she'd be drawing Lady Demon, I was excited. So far the pages she's turned in have been amazing. I'm really lucky to have her drawing this book.

For more on Lady Demon #1, click here.

And now here are the two FOC (final order cutoff) covers based on the artwork of Nei Ruffino.

FOC Incentive A: For any retailer whose orders on PURGATORI #2 meet or exceed 80% of their orders on PURGATORI #1, they will be eligible to purchase as many copies of our PURGATORI #2 RARE RUFFINO BLOOD RED INCV editions as they desire at Net Cost $2.00 apiece.

FOC Incentive B: For any retailer whose orders on PURGATORI #2 meet or exceed 80% of their orders on PURGATORI #1, they will be eligible to purchase as many copies of our PURGATORI #2 RARE RUFFINO VIRGIN INCV editions as they desire at Net Cost $2.00 apiece.