With the release of Pop Kill #1 on the 26th of this week from Mad Cave Studios, we are delighted to be joined by writer, artist and creator Jimmy Palmiotti alongside writer, cover illustrator and animation designer Dave Johnson.
Hi Jimmy and Dave, it’s great having you both here with us. Could you please introduce yourselves to our readers?
JIMMY: I am Jimmy Palmiotti, writer, artist, and creator. Working in comics for over 30 years, best known as co-creator of Event Comics, Paperfilms and worked on many characters over the years including Daredevil, Jonah Hex, Harley Quinn, Powergirl, and my creations Painkiller Jane, Ash, Triggergirl, and so on. I am currently writing Deadly Tales of the Gunslinger Spawn for Todd McFarlane at Image Comics.
DAVE: I’m Dave ‘Devilpig’ Johnson, Grand Poobaa of the 33rd Sacred EYE, writer, cover illustrator, and animation designer. I’ve had a 30-year career. Drawing books like Superman: Red Son, Superpatriot, etc. I designed Ben 10, and have been drawing covers for just about everyone my entire career.
Could you tell us about the origins of Pop Kill?
JIMMY: Dave Johnson and I are great friends and he approached me with this idea of competing soda companies and the people that worked for them, a sport of twisted take crossing corporate crime in a James bond world taking place in Osaka Japan and I loved it and agreed to work with him on it. After that, we did some worldbuilding and that’s how Pop Kill was born.
How did Juan Santacruz, Brian Reber and Sean Konot join the Pop Kill team?
JIMMY: Juan is one of my go-to guys if I need dynamic storytelling and proper research to be done and this project was perfect. I have been working with Juan for almost 20 years and as you can see he was the right artist for the job. Both Brian and Sean, I am pretty sure were choices made by Dave, but he can correct me on that. Either way, they did an amazing job.
DAVE: Yeah, Reber was my doing, Konot maybe was suggested before we decided to do the Kickstarter.
What made Juan Santacruz the right artist for Pop Kill?
JIMMY: There is not a lazy bone in Juan’s body and the story for POP KILL demanded that the artist do their research on its location and to create a world we are familiar with, but have never seen on some level and Juan is great at that. As well we needed just the right character looks and storytelling done for this story. It is not a superhero-type thing, so we require someone that can make real-world backdrops look more dynamic. He is one of the most underrated artists in the business and pretty much my first choice of people to work with.
Who is Jon Pyle?
JIMMY: Jon is our oversexed James Bond type who is also a gun for hire and a bit of a lost soul even though on the surface he appears to have it all together. He is a hopeless romantic who is heavy on the hopeless side. He and Dina Delux are our main focus for the series.
How did Mad Cave Studios get involved with Pop Kill?
JIMMY: Dave had something to do with that.
DAVE: Well, I’m good friends with Mark Irwin at Mad Cave. I asked him if he’d be interested in actually publishing the book even though it was a previous Kickstarter. We talked it out over some beers, wrestled a fair bit, hugged it out and the rest is history.
What can you tell us about Kaito Koizumi and Goro Koizumi?
JIMMY: These guys own the competing soda companies, they are brothers and they cannot stand each other and are in heavy competition to dominate the market with their product and will stop at nothing to screw the other over to get it. For me, their anger and hate are a certain funny fuel for the story and every move they make has a counter move that happens that is entertaining and deadly at the same time. They are bad guys and like the best bad guys, so much fun to watch.
DAVE: My favorite part is they built the headquarters right next to each other so they could taunt each other when one or the other sold more soda. Their brotherly hate runs strong.
What has it been like working with Juan Santacruz, Brian Reber, Sean Konot and Mad Cave Studios?
JIMMY: The creative team on the book have all brought their A-game to the book and you can see it on every single page. I would work with them again in a heartbeat. Working with the folks at MAD CAVE STUDIOS was an unexpected gift. We could have brought these books anywhere, but not only was their offer good, but the care they are giving this series is just the best there is. They are promoting the hell out of it, working with retailers, and communicating with us daily. 4 stars across the board. My prediction that they will be the next big thing in comics publishing is already happening and I am so happy to be working with this amazing crew of Professionals.
Can you tell us about the world that Pop Kill is set in?
JIMMY: Location-wise it is set in Osaka, Japan, and in a world where espionage, action, and lust are the main thrust of the story. This is a fantastic grounded world where we take things a bit too far that we feel is quite the fertile breeding ground for even more adventures in the future.
How would you describe Pop Kill?
JIMMY: Simply a fun sexy, over-the-top action adventure custom-made to be told in comic book form. I think the covers all nail how over the top it all is and at the same time, it’s a romance between two people who were not looking for love.
DAVE: I’d compare it to the movie RED 1 and 2, ultra-violence mixed with humor, and some romance.
Can you tell us what other projects you are currently working on?
JIMMY: I am currently writing a monthly series for Image comics called THE DEADLY TALES OF THE GUNSLINGER SPAWN- and working on a series with MAD CAVE that will be announced this summer. My next Kickstarter is PAINKILLER JANE/G.I.ZOMBIE coming in a few weeks. I have a few things more, but again until they are announced, I can’t talk about them.
DAVE: I just finished drawing an issue for Tim Sale tribute book Batman: Last Halloween. I’m issue 7 of 10
Any message for the ComicBuzz readers?
JIMMY: Please support your local retailers and pre-order Pop Kill and if you want any updated information on the next Mad Cave books, please visit their website as well. To keep up to date with my work, please follow us at PAPERFILMS.COM and continue to spread the good word.
DAVE: Keep supporting creator-owned comics. Avoid Ai-made stuff as much as possible.
We would like to say a big thank you to Jimmy and Dave for chatting with us, and we wish them the best of luck with the release of Pop Kill.
