Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Brandon Jerwa, Comics, Deja Thoris, Dynamite Entertainment, entertainment, mark rahner, vampirella

Mark Rahner On Handling Vampirella And Deja Thoris

Mark Rahner is currently writing two of the sexiest women in Dynamite Entertainment's line-up. Rahner talks to fellow Vampirella writer Brandon Jerwa about writing the iconic vampire and Deja Thoris as well as his future plans.

BRANDON JERWA: This VAMPIRELLA special is the last installment in your "Vampi vs. Insert-Pop-Culture-Creep-Here" saga. Do the stories have any connection to each other, or are they completely standalone?

MARK RAHNER: Their only connection: our beloved Vampi finds herself in other fictional monster worlds, and she proceeds to tear the hell out of 'em. They are, as Bill Maher used to say, satirized for your protection – Twilight, Buffy, True Blood. (With slightly different names so Vampi doesn't have to battle a lawsuit.) But they have large doses of intensely sick, disturbing horror.

Now she's in the world of Dexter. (I'm calling him "Baxter.") And it's the series finale you wish you'd seen. At least judging by everyone's hatred of the real one. It's weirder, and I hope more satisfying. And I won't spoil the ending, but I wrote it months before the real finale aired.

Vampi questions stuff you may have started to wonder about as the TV show dragged on and stretched credulity more. All of these pairings (well, invasions) address whatever inherent ridiculousness is in the world I'm riffing on. Doesn't anyone read the Yelp ratings for that bar & grill in True Blood? And in Dexter, how come there are so many serial killers in Miami? Why haven't all the detectives he works with ever gotten wise to him?

BJ: Do you remember your first Vampirella comic experience?

MR: I recall some perfectly understandable childhood yearnings to own that well-known six-foot Vampi poster.

BJ: From a writer's standpoint, I think Vampirella is a character who can be used so many ways, and they're not contradictory. "My" Vampirella, in the monthly series, is this cosmic heroine who hangs out with time-travelers and aliens, fighting to stem the tide of Chaos. You seem to go straight down the satirical horror route, and neither version is wrong. Do you see her strictly in that light? Would you ever want to take her in a different direction?

MR: I like how you brought this back to you. But sure, there can be as many different interpretations of her as there are of Batman or Sherlock Holmes.

I prefer Vampi more enigmatic, unsettling and not at all a superhero. In fact, I emphasize in this issue that her biting someone on the neck is a serious moment with impact. My ideal Vampirella would fill people with desire and dread. If I return to her after this, I'd like to go further in that direction.

BJ: You're a former newspaper reporter, and now a talk radio guy. Plus, we do a pop culture podcast together every week. If Vampirella suddenly appeared in the real world, how would you react as a journalist? Would she be the big case of your life from that point forward?

MR: I'd think she was a really bizarre prostitute, just like "Baxter" does at first. And then I'd transform into Carl Kolchak and follow her around until something awful happened and blood got on my Seersucker.

BJ: Vampi's not the only Dynamite lady in your life. Are you still moonlighting with Dejah Thoris?

MR: DEJAH THORIS AND THE GREEN MEN OF MARS is approaching its climax. If you haven't gotten onboard yet, it's an unusually grim, tense adventure that touches on abuse-survivor PTSD and survivor's guilt, but in the exotic, colorful world of Edgar Rice Burroughs. It wound up getting extended from four issues to 12. I hope word for it builds as the arcs come out in trade paperback, because I'm proud of it.

BJ: Let's end with you plugging your big work for 2014, and then saying something genuinely nice about me.

MR: This whole interview has been about you! I'm writing a TWILIGHT ZONE annual, and couldn't be more thrilled as a lifelong Rod Serling cultist. I'm pleased to have a story in the landmark WARLORD OF MARS 100. And I'm doing one more Dejah Thoris miniseries after this called "GET CARTER." Ruminate on that reference, and I think you can look forward to some entertaining Barsoomian badassery. 

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