Posted in: Comics | Tagged: army of darkness, Comics, Duane Swierczynski, dynamite, entertainment, michael moreci

Duane Swierczynski Talks To Michael Moreci About The Army Of Darkness: Convention Invasion

Published Fri, 10 Oct 2014 19:00:10 -0500

Duane Swierczynski, writer of Ex-Con #2, talks with Michael Moreci about Army of Darkness: Convention Invasion, both on sale Oct. 8

Duane Swierczynski: Mike, I'm absolutely seething with jealousy that you got to write this super-sized Army of Darkness one shot. And it's a total blast, you jerk. (This isn't really a question. I just wanted you, Mike, to react to my seething. And to calling you a jerk. laughs)

Michael Moreci: If anything, this is why we get along so well. We have a healthy jealousy of each other that keeps us just friendly enough with the right dose of animosity. And we're both jerks. But in a likable way.

DS: Which Evil Dead movie did you see first? And which installment have you watched the most?

MM: I saw Evil Dead when I was real young and have since seen it a hundred times since. Same with Army of Darkness. Though I haven't seen Evil Dead 2 that many times. Though that movie holds the place for one of the strangest viewing experiences of my life. In college, I had to have this minor outpatient surgery. I was all hopped up on drugs when I got out and stopped (with my parents) to rent some recovery movies. I snagged Wrestlemania V and Evil Dead 2. Did I mention I was on a lot of drugs? Anyway, wow … watching Evil Dead in that condition was weird. And fun.

DS: What's your approach when it comes to licensed comics like Army of Darkness? Honor the original while injecting your own brand of lunacy into the story? Speaking of which, did you have any limitations regarding the story? For instance, is there an Army of Darkness series bible somewhere that says Ash can't be depicted eating tunafish sandwiches and milk, etc.?

MM: Man, licensed books often scare the hell out of me. I love doing them, but I think part of the gig goes against your training as a writer, in the sense of establishing your own voice. I don't think I can do any property, it has to be a property I really love and meshes well to my voice. I don't think I can bend my writing that much to do any ol' anything. Luckily, I think AoD is in my wheelhouse — fun, weird horror. So I'm able to do both — honor the original and make the story my own as well.

The only limitation was that I couldn't give Ash a sidekick named Duane. I tried.

DS: Is "fight dirty, fight fast" your personal credo?

MM: In my youth, no. As I've aged … it's pretty much all I have.

DS: What else do you have cooking, comic-wise or otherwise?

MM: It's been a busy week, with two new projects announced. It's funny, because the response is usually like "whoa ho ho, Mr. Big Shot!" But, like, these projects have been in the works for such a long time — it just so happens they got announced now.

Anyway, yes. I just announced my next BOOM! book, Burning Fields, which is a military horror series coming in January. Also announced Transference with Black Mask, a time travel espionage book coming in January. They're illustrated by Colin Lorimer and Ron Salas, respectively. Very, very excited for both. And my Dawn of the Planet of the Apes series releases next month!

We had an extended preview of the issue that we didn't get to run this week because of all the NYCC announcements. But here is the rest of the preview. Click the image to make bigger.