Knights vs Samurai interview with McFarlane and Dastmalchian

When it comes to comics you don’t get many names that can be recognized as quickly as Todd McFarlane. The man who gave us Spawn and brought us action figures we’d never thought we’d see has become a legend in the world of comics. Another familiar name in the comic realm is that of actor/writer/producer David Dastmalchian, a monster kid and comic fan who is quickly becoming a go-to for comic writing and creating in his own right. Hot on the heels of his success with Count Crowley and the recent announcement he would be taking over on Creature Commandos for DC (as well as helming the DC Halloween Special) Dastmalchian has penned another new series filled with the fantastical and fanged with Knights Vs Samurai.

The title is accurate with the story taking place in an alternate historical timeline where monsters exist and mankind’s journey over the oceans is even more dangerous thanks to the number of creatures roaming both land and sea.

Here’s the synopsis of issue one: Sir Charles Ward, “The Dragon Butcher,” has achieved knighthood, and acclaim, and is leading a legion of royal warriors on a noble mission, yet his self-doubt and grief haunt him. Venturing to a mysterious island in the Far East, Charles leads his diverse assembly of fighters (including a giant and two clerics) to seek vengeance against savage monsters who ambushed a group of English missionaries. Arrival on the island reveals that the truth may be drastically different from what Charles was led to believe, and the “savage monsters” he will face are a regiment of skillful warriors the likes of which he has never seen.

The artwork is beautiful and bloody. It shows a world that is a blending of different mythologies and cultures that come to life on the page in a way that’s perfect for the story.

I was lucky enough to get a chance to chat with both Todd McFarlane and David Dastmalchian about the series which you can buy RIGHT HERE!

Where did the inspiration come from and how did the world building happen for this?

Dastmalchian: Jess, we’ve talked a lot about my love of horror and the Friday Night Creatures feature. But another thing that really great for me as a kid was the Saturday matinée with the Ray Harryhausen films and all of the Seventh Voyage of Sinbad and classic adventure stories in the realms of fantasy. So you combine that with my deep and abiding love for English mythology, Knights of the Roundtable, Arthur’s Court, and then Dungeons and Dragons. And I, as a young imaginative kid, was starting to get really caught up in role-playing and gaming and reading stuff that nurtured that. Now, at the same time, I don’t know what it was that grabbed a hold of me, but I, very young, became very fascinated with Japan, Japanese culture, and Japanese history, especially warrior mythology and culture. I studied Japanese formally. And so I used to have this fantasy of bringing knights and Samurai in battle, clashing. And then I grew up and I developed a passion for storytelling and telling stories about characters that were going through things that I could relate to, even if the circumstances were totally different than anything I’d ever experienced. And so over the many years, I started to develop this idea, which by the time it reached germination and was ready to be shared with somebody, the very first person or the very first place that I thought of taking it to was McFarland Productions.

What Todd was doing and had been doing over many decades in storytelling, I thought, I doubt they’ll bite on this, but I should take… You want to take your first shot at the best shot because if they say no, then you learn from that and you go to all the other opportunities. So this was the first… It’s amazing. It’s very, very few times in my life where my first pitch on an idea was taken by the first person I pitched to, but this was one of those circumstances.

That’s amazing. And one thing that I love that I can tell Todd brought to this, too, is the artwork is such a neat combination of gritty shadows. It almost looks like wood carving and just a really neat antique theme to how it was presented. Can you talk about the process for bringing the look of it together, both of you?

Todd McFarlane: Well, I’ll start first, and then David can put the exclamation on it. Once we signed off and we knew what the idea was, then for me, I knew it was going to take an artist… I mean, you always try to put the proper artist, the look to fit the story that the writers are writing, right? I mean, and this may seem weird, but there are lots of artists I would put on Batman, I would never put on Superman or vice versa, because Superman, you need a handsome, beautiful type of artist, I think, for that book. And for Batman, I think you need somebody who can do shadows and grit, right? And sometimes when you flip them, they don’t quite work with the other one. Given the story that David had come up with and all the looks that I was imagining in my head, I knew we were going to need a nontraditional, beautiful superhero artist. I think that was a given in my head because otherwise, I didn’t think it was going to translate. And so I’ve said before that there’s a lot of artists that come out of Europe that I think have the right look.

And maybe it’s because they’ve been raised on the folklore and the history of so many stories outside of comic books, just the historic ones. I just think they got a great… I just think they have a great look. And Fede was one of the ones on our list, and we ran it by David, and David was as excited as we were, and he’s been working with them ever since.

Dastmalchian: That’s it. I mean, truly, this is a classically trained artist who lives in Rome, who’s passionate for form and line and color, and the human body is just… It’s his life. And he has played powerfully in the world of high-action stuff, Spawn Universe, et cetera. He can really capture high-stakes battle sequences. And then when I read his self-published Macbeth adaptation that he did, which is It was only in Italian, so although I know the story pretty well, it was basically a story told to me only through images, no text, because I wasn’t trying to translate as I went along. And I go, This guy is going to be able to, and Todd said this from the beginning. He’s like, I really think this is the guy because our characters, even the most brave on the battlefront, are riddled with all kinds of deep dark secrets, complexities, insecurities, trauma, grief. And I wanted you to see guys hacking and slashing their way with broad swords and katanas, throwing stars, nun chuck, et cetera, and at the same time being real human beings who are challenged with some really difficult stuff.

McFarlane: The thing is, I could add one more piece, Jess. One thing that’s frustrating from an artist’s point of view, and I’m sure equally from a writing point of view, because I’ve been on both sides at that point, is that the first issue of almost any storyline you do, in hindsight, is your weakest, right? Because you’re just trying to get comfortable with, how do I move this around? What are the characters doing? What are they? Because you’re starting to play with them in your mind. And the more you do of any title, I don’t care what it is, the more comfortable you become with it, right? I’m telling you, my first Hulk was a bit of a shambles, and the Spider-Man, and then you can just see the evolution as you go, Oh, and you figure stuff out. For his pretty and as well done as issue number one is that Fede did artistically, and he did a terrific job. David and I have been able to see now the next three issues, and literally, he’s ramping up, right? You just go, Oh, man, look at these pages. I wish people could see these pages now.

So hopefully, if people are excited with issue number one, then I know they’ll be even more excited, visually, at least, by issue two, three, because Fede’s really in a groove with David right now. And David will have basically gotten his sea legs underneath him to go, Okay, here’s how we’re going to move all this around. And yeah, it’s always weird. It’s always where the issue number one are not necessarily… They’re sometimes your best seller, not necessarily your best book. It’s an odd equation. The worst book I ever wrote in my life is the one that set a record for sales, Spider-Man Number One. And it was terrible, but thanks for buying a lot.

Well, as I said, you’ve gotten a lot of my money if you look in this office. I love the various creatures and dragons and designs in this. And I was just curious if you created a bestiary for these, because I’m a nerd about that. I’m a nerd who loves the whole biology and creation of monsters. And if you’re a kaiju fan, you know that that’s a big thing, how they work. And I was just curious if you did that.

Dastmalchian: Yes. So the bestiary that I started with mythological… I have a whole file in my drive. Mythological beings, the world of Knights versus Samurai. So going into it, I was very certain that I wanted to see Samurai and knights battling English-looking dragons, English-looking, sometimes allying with and sometimes battling with witches, trolls, ogres, some Icelandic creatures, sea creatures. But getting into the Japanese mythological bestiary that I was working on, because it’s so expansive and because I’m not as familiar as I would like to be, I was very fortunate that my now friend, but at the time someone I was just a fan of, Thersa Matsuura, who is the host and creator of Uncanny Japan and one of the foremost authorities on Japanese mythology Monsters and Folklore, she agreed to be a consultant for me on the project. And we got really into some cool conversations about how wonderful would it be to see a group of English knights, archers, swordsmen, battling Tengu, battling Senen. There are so many fascinating what the mountain witches are in Japan, the Yamamba, and how different they are from the English impression that we have of them. So that was really exciting for me to get to go down that path.

So yes, the answer is yes, and I hope it just keeps expanding. We’ve got all kinds of mystic creatures, some of whom have really intimate, important, deeply bonded relationships with some of our humans. I’m introducing animal companions. I love it. I can’t wait for people to see.

I was just curious. This popped into my head. Are you thinking about doing an RPG on this?

Dastmalchian: My dream, Jess, is that people love this book, and they care enough about these characters that I have that it makes… That, yes, of course, yes. I would love a tabletop game, Knights Samurai, which ultimately is like Risk meets D&D. That is an ultimate dream of mine. And you know what’s great about working under the mentorship of someone like Todd is he just keeps reminding me, just focus on the task at hand. You make the best script, the best comic we can, one comic at a time. You keep getting it to our readers and fans at an affordable price. Let them discover the work, and then they’ll show up. Don’t get ahead of yourself and don’t get too anxious. Just trust that time and the work will speak for itself. I do. I dream of ancillary projects. I dream of other writers coming to us and pitching their version of a certain battle that maybe was spoken of in the mythology of this world. Who knows? I always love to say the sky is the limit, but right now, one day at a time, let’s just make the best comics we can.

So one thing I liked about it, too, was you’ve got a very inclusive and eclectic crew in here. And you’ve got women, you’ve got different ethnicities. And I was just curious. It feels like there’s some Viking and Norse vibes within it. And I really dig how you’ve meshed this together. How did you come up with that? What was the process of creating that?

Dastmalchian: For me, the world in which Knights vs Samurai takes place exists in the human historical timeline. So it’s the late 16th century, where at the time when the Queen was ruling England, and the word was being spread around the globe and there was lots of colonization happening. In Japan, it was major civil unrest. All of the Daimyo were fighting for control of the nation. But it’s 2024 in which I’m writing this. And the readers who are going to be picking it up, whether they’re in America, they’re in London, if they’re in Tokyo, wherever readers are around the world that pick up Knights versus Samurai and get invested in these stories, the most important thing to me is that they see themselves within the stories portrayed here. And what is this story about at the end of the day? Is it about Great War warriors and historical mythology and the kick-assness of seeing a knight and a Samurai hacking and slashing each other? Of course. But underneath it all, the beating heart of this story is a story about people who look different from one another, who speak different languages from one another, who come from different cultures from one another.

And because of those differences, they have been very easily manipulated by the powers that be, by the puppet masters, by the great elites, which is not uncommon. And it’s been happening to all of us throughout history. And these people have been told that guy, that’s your enemy. He looks different than you. He speaks differently from you. He fights differently from you. That’s your enemy, without ever really questioning the bigger picture. So to me, populating this world with women, knights, and people that look different, different ethnicities, and different presentation, it just makes sense because it’s a soup. And in the end, I don’t want to give any spoilers away, but these people are going to start to question the missions they’ve been sent on and who are their real enemies.

I like it. Well, and I also really dug the concept of the Samurai looking like demons to the knights. When they saw them and the Anglo-Saxons or whatever you want to call them as they saw them. And then I’m like, oh, I bet I know who they are. And then sure enough, they come at the end, you see that beautiful image of them all there. And I wondered if we were going to see a flip side of this. What do we see? Maybe an issue two, we see what the other side looks like to them.

Dastmalchian: Dude, hold on to your hats, folks. In issue two, you get the complete turnaround. Now we see the Samurai looking at these people that are on their land and their beach, and then all hell breaks loose. It is Fede who just killed it. Every panel, every splattering of blood, every head that’s removed. It’s so good.

I had one more question. You kind of answered it, but I was really curious because we have the Shogun TV series right now, and James Cavill’s Shogun has been around, and there was an English-born Samurai. And I was just curious about if any of that historical context worked into this because you said that you did historical research in terms of the supernatural aspects and the monsters. And I was just curious about if you were going to plan on including anything in the series in the future about the historical context, the real-life samurais that were in the world at that time?

Dastmalchian: It’s in all of the fabric and the DNA of the story, all of the history, the research and the years that I’ve spent just reading about and being fascinated with the feudal system in Japan as well as the feudal system in medieval England, the similarities, the great differences. I hope for those who are into that stuff, this will be a fun read as they’ll see the parallels between what was going on historically and what’s going on in the fantasy world of Knights versus Samurai, because I did think it was important to help me as a guiding post with what’s going on in human history to use what was really happening, even though now I’ve got some big giant dragons.

Tentacle Monsters, which we always have to have. Well, David, Todd, thank you so much for creating this and bringing this together and being a part of this conversation. I can’t wait to see where you guys go with this. It looks beautiful. It’s fantastic. I want more. I want Knights versus Samurais versus vampires. I want it all.

McFarlane: Jess, let me just say that if you like it and you enjoy it, then the vast majority of the heavy lifting is on David’s side, so give him most of the accolade. My job is to come in and take some of the other part that is part of comic book reading and keep that message clear. The title, Knights and Samurai, is about as succinct as you could come up with. You didn’t get esoteric with it. You already know as soon as you say those three words, you’re halfway there visually. I don’t care who you are. And then to just do the balancing, David’s got to make these characters matter. I mean, if you don’t have that, you don’t have anything. And then make sure that on paper, because we are a visual medium, that we’re not novelists, we have to have that in an exciting way. So I remember I used to be up on stage with Stan Lee, and he could talk a lot about why people like Spider-Man and Peter Parker. And he would go on and on about people relating to Peter Parker in his age, and he made errors and all those other stuff.

And then my take was, I think I like Spider-Man because he’s fucking cool, and he crawls up a wall. Who doesn’t want to crawl off a wall? And who doesn’t want to swing? So if you can figure out that balance of like, yes, there’s all that in-depth stuff that Stan had, but it was really fun to look at, exciting to look at, there’s a combo that you have a good chance of basically convincing an audience to at least take a cursory look at, if nothing else, and hope then at that point, the pressure is on David and I to deliver the goods.

Well, and I’ve seen David’s work with Count Crowley and with the Headless Horsemen, and he’s very good at taking the genre and creating something that really hits you hard without making it a mallet. He’s really good at that.

McFarlane: He is good, that that’s why we got him. And soon-to-be Commando Creatures, I believe. Yes.

Creature Commandos.

McFarlane: Very excited. Sorry, I got it backwards.

Dastmalchian: Yeah, Jess, you can imagine when Todd McFarlane listens to your pitch and doesn’t exit the Zoom, but instead he comes in and goes, You got something here. It’s pretty amazing. So every step of this has been a dream. We have an amazing team. We have an incredible editor. I’ve got such great support. And Todd showing up and giving us a variant on issue one is insane. So everybody that reads this, get to your shop. If you haven’t put in your pre-order, getting it on your pull list, please let them know. And then get ready for the blood to flow. Get out your buckets and your towels because there’s a lot of blood, and nobody’s safe on this chessboard. They gave me permission to… We could kill whoever needs to die to tell the right story that we need to tell.

Yes, get it in your box. Get it in your box, kids. This is what we want. Thank you guys again so much. This has been fantastic. I can’t wait for this to hit hard because it’s going to… So thank you again.

You can pick up the first issue of Knights Vs Samurai here!