Corktown #1 interview with Mario Candelaria and Scott Ewen

Fusing the paranormal with the procedural, CORKTOWN sets out to redefine what it means to be both a vampire and a ghost separately but at the same time, by pitting the ghost of a slain Detroit PD detective against her undead vampire body so she can finally rest in peace.

With the release on issue #1 still fresh in readers minds and issue #2 imminent, writer Mario Candelaria and artist Scott Ewen were kind enough to spare a few moments to answer a few questions for Rogues Portal.

Rogues Portal: So, Mario, Scott, would you like to introduce yourselves?

Mario Candelaria: Hey everyone, my name is Mario and I am an ostentatious comic book creator and comedy writer. You might know me from such things as Transformers 2 and that one tweet I did that went viral.

Scott Ewen: I graduated from the Joe Kubert School in 2006 and have been doing the odd webcomic and comic anthology here and there since then. CORKTOWN is my first major comic and I’m really happy it’s been getting a lot of positive buzz.

RP: CORKTOWN #1 dropped on May 18th, for those who missed it, whats it all about?

MC: CORKTOWN is the story about a cop whose trying to stop a serial killer, but she’s a ghost and the serial killer is her undead body. It’s like The Wire meets True Blood minus all the naughty bits.

RP: How has the response been so far?

MC: The response been great!! Scott’s art in particular has been getting some praise and every once in a while someone will point out my ability to capture authentic dialogue.

RP: Its a really interesting concept, what (or who) would you say were your biggest influences while creating this story? Anything in particular you think readers should check out?

MC: This story honestly came while I was watching True Blood. I wondered if the vampires had souls since they were dead. I emailed Scott thinking he had a scientific answer for me and somehow we ended up with a unique spin on the genre. Aside from that, I really dig off-key takes on vampires like The Strain or Penny Dreadful and you can see those influences in there.

SE: In terms of the art, my biggest influences are Mike Allred, Terry Moore, Jeff Smith, and the Hernandez Bros. My usual work is a bit more cartoony, so for CORKTOWN I’ve been pushing myself to work a little more realistically in order to mesh a bit more with the horror aspects.

RP: By the end of this series will readers have a definitive answer to the age old question of who would win in a fight between a vampire and a ghost?

MC: They’ll have to read to find out! (Insert winky emoji)

RP: How about in a fight between a writer and artist?

MC: Scott could kick my ass. I may have some height and weight on him, but he’s from the streets of Detroit and trains every day. He’s ripped like Finn Bálor.

RP: One more while we are on the topic, (I’m sorry, I cant help myself) which creature of the night can we expect to return from retirement to challenge the victor? of either fight, I dont mind.

MC: I kind of want to take on a werewolf. Best case is I win, worse is his bite transforms me. But I think I’d really like to see Frankenstien come out at the end of CORKTOWN to set up the next one.

RP: What can we expect from the future for both of you? Do you have anything cooking away on the back burner?

MC: There’s always something cooling behind the scenes. Scott and I have had an idea for a series that I can’t get into before pitching, but I am interviewing potential freelance editors to begin helping me nail the script portion of it.

SE: Like Mario said, we have an idea for what our next collaboration should be. After that I think I may try a bit of writing again. I used to write all my own comics and I miss that aspect of it a lot. Writing and illustrating my own graphic novel is a big goal of mine and I think in the next couple years I’d like to give it a shot. A couple years ago I had a nightmare that I woke up from and thought “that would actually make a really great book,” and wrote a few pages of it. I would love to finish it at some point.

RP: Thanks for taking the time to talk to me, any last words for the readers?

MC: Yes! Please remember to tip your waiters at least 20%, and if you see something for the love of God say something.

SE: Be excellent to each other.