Amateur Midnight Monster Hunter [Interview]

For a while you were uncertain if “Count Crowley” would return, so when did you get the good news?

It was so great. We were deep into the pandemic. I never gave up hope. I never gave up on “Count Crowley.” Megan Walker, my editor, she was like, “I’m going to keep fighting for Crowley and I know we’ve got fans out there.” I believe it’s possible to get it back, but it was hard to get Dark Horse to commit to publishing anything when everything was so uncertain. A lot of the publishing companies were only going to go into publishing their biggest hits, their guaranteed moneymaker.

In the meantime, Megan actually moved. My editor is now working in the development side of Dark Horse Entertainment. She works now on film and TV as well. We had talked a lot about the potential of developing something for film and television. Along with the executive who helps run Dark Horse Productions, Chris Tongue, we started meeting regularly to talk about what that could look like, and we’re still meeting and we’re still talking about it.

At one point, I’m like, “There are so many more stories to develop, and what can I do to see if there’s any way we could get the comic up and running again?” They kept putting in the good word and kept checking in for me. Then one day I got that call from Megan, and [Dark Horse Founder] Mike Richardson said, “It’s time. Let’s do this.” I was so excited. Where was I at the time? I was in either Berlin or Malta, maybe. I was working on a movie called “The Last Voyage Of The Demeter.” A movie about Dracula, actually. I was having a hard time. That shoot was hard for me for a lot of reasons, but it was a really difficult, dark time. Getting that news was really awesome.

How far would you want “Count Crowley” to go? Could you see it being like “The Goon” and telling this story for a long time?

“The Goon” is such an inspiration to me. “Criminal McCobb” is another inspiration to me. Those series that have lasted now for decades and continue to come back and resurge. If I had my way right now, tens of thousands of people out there reading this would be like, “Oh yeah.” I mean, we’d have this huge fanbase that was strong enough that I could just keep making “Crowley,” at least six to 10 issues a year for years to come.

I know where I want to go, but I also am open to making discoveries. I’m going to add things, but right now I’ve got major monsters that Jerri’s going to have to face. I want to do this until I’m as old as Vincent Price. Wherever I’m living when I’m an old man, I want to be surrounded by all my horror memorabilia and still writing “Count Crowley.”

I just saw him in “The Baron of Arizona.” Are you a fan of that one?

Oh, so great.

He’s incredible in that movie.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was truly such a special kind of actor. There are so many actors who’ve inspired me over my career. Shit, the obvious the Meryl Streeps and the John Cazales. The people that at first really set me on this path were Lon Chaney, Lon Chaney Jr., Boris Karloff, and Vincent Price. I’m a huge fan of Christopher Lee, and I would love to play roles he got to play throughout his career. Those are my heroes.

Speaking of dreams, you keep a list of what you hope to accomplish. What’s on that list at the moment?

Well, we are so close to going into production on a feature that I wrote called “Hide Your Eyes,” which Erica Scoggins is directing. She’s become one of my best friends and she’s an incredible voice in the horror and genre space. It’s a film that I will be making some announcements about very soon. We have to lock in some things, but we’ve got this insanely amazing cast that’s assembling around it and killer producers. I’m excited about that.

I have two other comic book projects that I’m working on developing. I wrote a feature that I’m super excited about that we found a producer that looks like it’s moving forward. As an actor at the moment, I’m getting to play a role in the new Christopher Nolan film, “Oppenheimer,” about J. Robert Oppenheimer. The fact that I am getting to reunite with one of my favorite directors and definitely one of the greatest directors of all time, that has been a real joy.

I’m just really honing in on my passion for utilizing the space of genre where science-fiction and horror exists to tell stories that can reflect meaningful questions for me, and at the same time, collaborating with people I love. I am really forging some strong alliances with people who are my dear friends and we’re writing and producing together. That is a joy to me.

Life is so short. I just want to spend every day surrounded by people who make me a better person and a better artist, and I feel like I’m really doing that right now. It’s an exciting time. Yeah, the kids are doing great. They’re total monster kids. My kids are into video games, monsters, and reading. I’m so proud. My kids and I have been reading R.L. Stein’s “Find Your Fate: Indiana Jones” books, which I used to collect. We were reading those and just having a great time, man.

Good. Is Polka Cat well?

She’s great. I’m surprised she didn’t come up here. I try to feed the people their content. I hadn’t posted about her in a while and I was getting a lot of messages. I posted some pictures of her the other day. Considering what a major celebrity she is, she’s remained humble. She’s still super chill. She hasn’t gotten a big head. No big ego. I mean, no more big of an ego than any cat has, since they all know that they’re the center of the universe.

“Count Crowley: Amateur Midnight Monster Hunter #2” available on May 18, 2022.