Episode 76: Scariest Things Interview with THE David Dastmalchian

Mike and Eric got the privilege to interview actor and newly minted comic book author David Dastmalchian sat down with us at Rose City Comicon. We got to talk about all things horror, and especially his Dark Horse book, Count Crowley: Reluctant Midnight Monster Hunter!
You might be wondering, The Scariest Things is a horror focused outfit, so why would we be talking to David? In addition to his growing acting career, he has now created his first comic book, for Dark Horse Comics, Count Crowley: Reluctant Midnight Monster Hunter.
It turns out Mr. Dastmalchian is a huge horror nerd and has been since he was a little boy, where he watched Crematia Mortem’s Creature Feature in Kansas City. Back in the ’80s, every UHF channel seemed to have its own late-night horror host, Crematia.
David has created a comic in homage of those fabulous old-school horror hosts, with Count Crowley. His protagonist, Jerri Bartman is a woman who is stumbling down the journalism professional ladder due to a confrontation with her boss over harassment in the office. She finds herself slumming it at her brother’s small-town UHF station when the late-night horror host fails to show up, and she gets drafted into the role of Count Crowley for KSKB’s Friday Night Scream Theater. She performs the role, half-drunk (OK maybe completely drunk) and despite her snarky and sarcastic take on the role, became a huge hit. And now that the mantle of Count Crowley has been passed to her, she finds that it comes with some truths that are completely sinister (and full of monsters!)
If you are a comic book fan, and specifically, a horror comic fan, this is a MUST ADD to your pull list. Not only is David’s story engaging, and tremendous fun, but the Art would be perfectly at home in EC Comics. Lukas Ketner (Witch Doctor) has art panels that are reminiscent of Bernie Wrightson (The Swamp Thing, Eerie, Creepy) and EC legends Al Williamson, Al Feldstein, and Wally Wood. The little touches that these guys did to create this really nail this as a must-have book. The character circles on the cover. The cheapie “advertisements” at the back of the book. The use of shadow in the background.
The book feels like Jessica Jones meets Elvira meets Tootsie, Glow, and the full roster of Universal monster movies. Needless to say, the publisher knows what they are doing when it comes to our beloved genre. Dark Horse has been the gold standard for horror comic properties, as they are the caretakers of all the resurrected 50’s EC titles including Vault of Horror, Weird Fantasy, The Haunt of Fear, and Shock Suspense Stories. Dark Horse also was able to relaunch Eerie and Creepy magazines, which in the ’70s and ’80s, got around the Comic Code Authority by making the material a magazine rather releasing that content in comic book form, and therefore ensuring that horror fans got unsanitized scary reading material. Huzzah!
Dark Horse, of course, is also the home of great original horror publications like the legendary Hellboy, B.P.R.D., Aliens, Harrow County, Manor Black and The Goon. Count Crowley looks to join that terrific stable of books, and we at TST hope that it has met that threshold (and more) and we hope it gets a second volume! It touches all those nostalgic feels, while remaining something very fresh and relevant for today. Count Crowley: Reluctant Midnight Monster Hunter Book 1 hits comic book stores on October 23, so reserve yourself a copy, and put it on your pull list!