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Yakuza Demon Killers

Yakuza Demon Killers is a new fantasy/horror offering from IDW Publishing. This creator-owned miniseries is written by Amit Chauhan, illustrated by Eli Powell, colored by K. Michael Russell, and lettered by Marshall Dillon.

Amit Chauhan writes,

At some point, most aspiring comic creators think: "How the [expletive] do I break into comics?"

Unfortunately, there is no clear-cut route. Creatives who have broken in can only share their personal experiences, hoping that their tale of struggle and triumph can help inspire the aspiring.

With that said, here is my story.

In any profession, it is important to cultivate relationships and network. In 2015, I met Eli Powell at MOCCA Fest in New York. Eli is a freelance artist who was tabling at the event. It was a chance meeting that would lead to a lasting friendship and ongoing professional collaboration.

The best advice for an aspiring comic writer is to find an up-and-coming artist to team up with. Ideally this would be someone who shares your taste in storytelling. After a few post-MOCCA Fest meetings, Eli and I decided to start work on Butcher: A Lesson in Criminality.

We decided to go the Kickstarter route to fund Butcher, and Bleeding Cool kindly posted up an article about our book. That press boost helped us achieve our goal, and then some. I had high hopes for that passion project, dreaming it would be the first step on the road to being published at an established company.

And it would be.

Even though Butcher wasn't picked up by a major publisher, it opened doors at various companies to pitch future ideas.

Soon afterwards, Eli and I won the 2015 Top Cow Talent Hunt. Our entry would get its own one-shot in the form of The 13^th Artifact. The story focused on one astronaut's struggle to survive after being stranded on a hostile alien world. The talent hunt did exactly what it promised, granting a shot to fresh voices. I am grateful to Top Cow's Marc Silvestri and Matt Hawkins for that opportunity.

After the talent hunt win, I chatted with Eli and we agreed not to rest on our laurels. Comics is about hustle, so we started work on the pitch for Yakuza Demon Killers.

Yakuza Demon Killers was a concept I had been mulling over for a few years. Growing up, my VHS/DVD collection was an eclectic mixture of creature-feature, crime-noir and Japanese horror imports. All these influences would come into play when scripting the first issue of Yakuza Demon Killers.

Yakuza Demon Killers is set against the backdrop of modern day Tokyo. A damaged thief named Ochita and her smug partner in crime, Rizzo, are planning the heist of a lifetime to steal an antique sword.  But they will soon realize the sword isn't what it appears to be, and their plan will trap them in the middle of a secret war between the merciless Yakuza and a horde of demons.

My aim with the story was to transport the reader into a Tokyo that hides a menacing underbelly of dark forces, prophetic riddles, and sinister intentions.

Luckily, along with Eli Powell, K. Michael Russell, and Marshall Dillon, we had the right creative mix to achieve that goal and make a stunning book. Aesthetically, the look of Yakuza Demon Killers draws from the gritty, neon Tokyo depicted in the film Enter the Void.

Powell has a real talent for capturing the grotesque in stunning and energetic sequences. Russell's powerful colors seamlessly combine with Eli's drawings to make the art pop off the page.

Then Marshall Dillon adds his magic touch to the final product by crafting edgy lettering that perfectly complements the comics mood. Letterers play an important role that is often overlooked in comics. They construct, and place, the text that ultimately dictates how the reader's eye navigates each page.

Once we had completed work on the Yakuza Demon Killers pitch, I emailed it out.

After sending out the pitch, we received the greenlight from IDW Publishing. The company has been releasing more creator-owned titles recently and they decided Yakuza Demon Killers would be a good addition to their slate.

IDW have been amazing to work with. They have placed trust in us as storytellers, and we have had a lot of fun creating this four-issue series. Hopefully comic readers will enjoy it too!

Yakuza Demon Killers is out via IDW Publishing in November and available in comic store worldwide. You can pre-order it using Diamond code: SEP160547

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