ComicBuzz Chats With Michael W. Conrad and Noah Bailey

With the release of the horror graphic novel The 99 Legs on November 17th from Comixology Originals, and in print next year from Mad Cave Studios, we are delighted to be joined by Michael W. Conrad and Noah Bailey. Michael W. Conrad is an Eisner Award-winning writer who has worked with many comic companies and written many comics, including Batman, Godzilla, Nightwing, Superman, Wonder Woman, X-O Manowar and many more. Noah Bailey is a cartoonist and illustrator. He has collaborated with writer Michael W. Conrad on the graphic novels Double Walker and Tremor Dose. Noah’s work can also be seen in Diabolical, Station Grand and Hatred.

Hi Michael and Noah, it’s so lovely to have you both here.

Could you please introduce yourselves?

MC: I’m Michael W. Conrad, I’m a writer who lives in Portland Oregon. Some folks will know me for my work on various DC characters like Wonder Woman, Batgirls, Batman, Superman etc. I was in the 2025 Eisner Award winning anthology for Godzilla’s 70th anniversary from IDW. Others will know me for my creator owned work, Plague House with Oni, In Bloom with BOOM! Studios, Neptune with Comixology Originals/Darkhorse, and of course Tremor Dose and Double Walker, both created by myself and Noah Bailey with Comixology Originals/Dark Horse.

NB: I am Noah Bailey, I’m a cartoonist and illustrator from Bettendorf, Iowa. I’m a Dostoevsky, Proust, and Vonnegut fanatic. I go to the movie theater an average of twice a week, and I really love lifting weights. Artwork consumes most of my waking hours. Whether I’m sitting down and studying the many artbooks, comics or magazines in my collection, just daydreaming about images and colors, or admiring a sunset to the point of nearly fainting from the beauty—artwork is on my mind all day and night!

Could you tell us about the origins of The 99 Legs?

MC: Noah and I wanted to do a book that pushed us in unique ways. So much about The 99 Legs is a first for us. Everything from the setting, to the kinds of characters and the way the story rolls out is willfully different from our previous books. In terms of choosing the story we would tell this time, it seemed to happen kind of spontaneously. We landed on a concept, got excited about it, and away we went.

NB: It seems like every time we are considering what our next project will be, the world just seems so open to possibilities and things to explore. I don’t think we are ever confined to a certain genre or way of creating. The number of ideas Michael approached me with after Double Walker is staggering! It was really just a matter of feeling that strong inspiration. We both have a lot of love for Giallo, and it seemed like an exciting pivot with a whole new set of tools and potentials! 

Michael, what made Noah the right artist for The 99 Legs?

MC: You’re asking the wrong guy, I think Noah is the right artist for everything. I’m just a huge fan of the way Noah thinks, how he approaches the page, and I always know when he takes liberties with the script, it’ll only make it better. I love that Noah takes risks, marches to his own beat, and I especially love that he’s making art like no one else is. 

Who are Dashiell Spears and Omarion Barrett?

MC: Dash is a writer of pulpy noir crime novels who hasn’t had a hit in quite some time, he’s turned to booze to cope with what seems like the autumn of his time as a professional writer. OB is Dash’s agent and friend who has concerns about Dash’s wellness, his inability to hit deadlines, and his now apparent alcoholism. When Dash finally gets a script over to OB bodies start popping up in the city, each killed in a way that mirrors the murders in the story. Naturally this causes our guys to have some serious questions for one another. 

Can you tell us about your working relationship?

MC: I try to leave Noah alone. I find that once I’ve written something and sent it over to Noah, it no longer belongs to me. Noah bounces the art over to me and I adjust as needed. I’ll include descriptions of places and people, but really Noah is in charge of how things look. Sometimes I’ll frame the shot for panels, or get really particular about elements of a scene, but Noah makes the final call. I don’t always work this way with artists, but Noah and I have done this together quite a bit over the past decade plus, and while he may at times surprise me, it’s always in how much he has improved a moment using his judgement.

NB: It is kind of an odd way of working, I’ve come to learn. Hahaha. Once Michael sends me the script, we don’t really talk much until it’s finished. I always find that I work much better in complete isolation and without any outside influence, even keeping things very close to the vest on social media—which has resulted in very long stretches of no posts and general silence. Hahaha. I think that I would like to try a newer approach in the future, and we’ve discussed this a bit. He can send a few pages, I send them back illustrated and we discuss and go from there, and so on. I miss Michael quite a bit sometimes during the process, and I think more communication would be a good thing for us in certain circumstances. I would be curious to see the difference in the result of this type of collaboration between us! 

How did the Italian Giallo film genre inspire The 99 Legs?

MC: In a lot of ways, Giallo is full of tropes, some good, some not so good, we took the spine of Giallo and left behind a lot of the stuff that hasn’t aged well. I think we both love the way Giallo feels unencumbered by the rules, some of Giallo is plain nonsense, but it works because it doesn’t give a damn. We tried to take that kind of spirit with our book, to focus on making something that felt like a romp, and twist into the mix elements of our own fears. The resulting book actually makes a lot more sense than I had initially hoped. Part of me didn’t want to dot the i’s, but for my own sanity I had to bring the pieces together narratively. 

NB: For my part, it was a lot to do with the colors, drama, and intensity of Giallo. I’ve seen enough Giallo films over the years to know exactly how they operate, and that informed my approach in a kind of ephemeral way. I don’t ever really get tied down to allowing any one influence to dictate the process, but I certainly had my “Sweet Mr. Bava, how would you light this scene?” moments. Hahahaha. 

Noah, you created all of the art for The 99 Legs. What part of that process did you enjoy the most?

NB: Oh boy, I enjoyed the inking phase the most, absolutely. The pencilling is a delight in itself, but it is much more taxing and time-consuming. I’d say I hit a real flow with pencilling after about 20 consecutive pages, but the flow came after a few panels of inking. It felt amazing to sometimes look at one of these pencil drawings, that took countless hours to draw, with a big ink brush in hand and say “Now, I’m gonna destroy you.” Hahaha. Although of course, really I knew it would just become something else. Something less considered and more just expressed. Ink always made it better, and once I learned to trust that, I had the time of my life. 

How did Comixology get involved with The 99 Legs?

MC: We’ve done several books with Comixology Originals now and have been treated well. Part of what has worked for us is the lack of interference with what we do. I’m allowed to write the kind of story I want to see in the world, and Noah is allowed to use whatever style he wants to complete that circuit.

NB: Comixology, under the leadership of Chip Mosher, was the first publisher to give us a shot. And I am eternally grateful for that. They have allowed us to create freely and wildly with no editorial supervision, and honestly that’s how I’d like to always do things. It’s been a blessing, and I am damn proud of the results. Pamela has been a real champion for us on this book and her kindness and understanding has meant a great deal during some very tough times. 

Can you tell us about the world The 99 Legs is set in?

MC: The 99 Legs takes place in the fictional city of Doveland. I don’t know if it specifies the state in the final version of the book, but it’s basically New York, and Doveland is essentially New York City. The time period is modern, but the locations and cars, and the whole vibe is very 70’s. I think we as storytellers are always butting up against technology, worried about how CCTV and cellphones and the like will impact the story. At some point I was just like–those things aren’t a factor here. I think I used the movie It Follows as an example. That film feels very contemporary, but one of the characters has this futuristic e-reader, and it doesn’t take me out of the story. I loved that. We took a nod there and just went the other way. 

NB: It’s a dark, moody, semi-urban, vaguely New England place. The kinda place you might have found Orson Welles’ face partially exposed to a distant light, peeking from the darkness of a doorway. Or Richard Burton brandishing a rifle that shoots out an umbrella, inside one of the many houses and buildings. Or Nancy Allen playing as bait for a mysterious psychopath on the shadow-strewn streets. At least that’s what I was going for. Hahahahaha.

Did you want to release The 99 Legs as a graphic novel from its inception?

MC: Yeah. It’s broken into chapters, but we never considered doing it as independent issues. I think we used a lot of the same kind of beats a serialized story would, but that’s mostly to keep people engaged in the story as a prose novel might.

What can you tell us about The 99 Legs?

MC: The 99 Legs fought us at every step. During the creation of this book we both moved, we experienced deaths among the people we love, I fell extremely ill, we both faced depression and personal hardship, along with so many other problems, but The 99 Legs still got done. There were times when I felt like the book itself, the subject matter, or the concepts we were exploring were coming for us. I’m glad we survived, and I’m incredibly proud of the book. I don’t think there’s anything like it out there and I believe that readers will agree. 

NB: I’ve said this before, but I love saying it, so I’ll say it again—I believe it is passion on the page. As Michael said, it wasn’t an easy book to start, and it wasn’t an easy one to complete by any means. It was a battle, and it was a battle of passion! We fought hard for it and I think that shows in the result. 

Any message for the ComicBuzz readers?

MC: Thank you to those who have been with us before, and welcome to those curious and bold enough to join us for our latest story. Google gobble, one of us.

NB: I love y’all, and I appreciate you for reading this. If you give our work a chance, I hope you enjoy it. If you don’t enjoy it, I hope you enjoy other things and have fun and live a life of peace, happiness, and beauty. Life is scary and weird, and I would love it if everyone knew that they aren’t alone in it. Share your feelings with people you love and be your sincere self as often as you can. I’m working on it myself! 

Thank you so much for having us!

We would like to say a big thank you to Michael and Noah for chatting with us, and we wish them the best of luck for the release of The 99 Legs.

Shabbir