We met up with comic book creator and writer, Doug Wagner, best known for his dark comedy and horror work at Image Comics. He’s currently working on Image Comics’ PLUSH and BEWARE THE EYE OF ODIN, and has also recently finished three successful Kickstarter campaigns for THOMAS RIVER with Brian Stelfreeze, YUMI: SPY FATALE, BADDIE ROYALE with Hoyt Silva, and NARCO with Daniel Hillyard.
Some of his other works include BATMAN: ARKHAM ORIGINS, LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT, WORLD OF WARCRAFT: BLOODSWORN, and GUN CANDY.
Over the past 15 years, Doug has written for such companies as The CW Network, CBS, NFL, TruTV, Summit Entertainment, Warner Bros. Pictures, Legendary Pictures, DC Comics, Blizzard Entertainment, Image Comics, Dynamite Entertainment, Top Cow Productions, and 12-Gauge Comics.
James: Tell us more about how you got into writing and creating comic books and your journey?
Doug: “Oh, wow. There’s no quick and easy answer to that one. I actually started writing stories at a very young age. It’s unfortunate, but I was a stereotypical, TV-style, weird kid, so I spent a lot of time by myself. This led to me creating worlds where I had friends, and I spent almost every waking hour in those. Yep, on the bus, in class, at home. As you can imagine, that just made me appear even weirder to everyone in the real world. It got me in a lot of trouble too, that’s for sure. Apparently, leaving typed ransom notes in the house while you hide in the closet is frowned upon in our society. However, at that point in my life, I had no idea I was writing. I didn’t realize what I was actually doing until I was 17. At that time, Cully Hamner and I had met in high school and started creating stories for him to draw. It took a few weeks for me to recognize we were writing comic books (I can be slow), but when it did finally dawn on me, writing comics became my lifelong obsession. It took me about seven years of pitching and hundreds of rejection letters before I got my first gig with Malibu Comics. I was able to get one issue of work out before Marvel swooped in, bought Malibu, and closed them down. That was a hard one for me to swallow. I struggled to regain ground after that. Nine years to be exact. But in 2004, Keven Gardner and I were sitting around talking about what we’d do if we were in charge of a comic book company, and during that talk, we both had an epiphany. Why not just start making comic books. We jumped in feet first, and after a lot of hard work and a few favors called in, we released THE RIDE into the world. After that (with help of many friends), I just kept pressing. More pitching and more rejection letters followed, but I kept at it until I finally started making some headway. What can I say? I’m a very stubborn human being.”
James: What projects are you known for and what are they about?
Doug: “I’m probably best known for my creator-owned works at Image Comics – PLASTIC, VINYL, and now, PLUSH and BEWARE THE EYE OF ODIN."
“PLASTIC is about a ‘retired’ serial killer who is in love with a blow-up doll. No, you didn’t hear or read that wrong. He and the love of his live travel the backroads of America eating donuts and keeping to themselves, but when a Louisianan mobster takes Virginia in an attempt to get Edwyn to do his bidding, Edwyn reawakens urges he thought he left behind years ago in an attempt to get back the love of his life.“
“VINYL follows Walter. He’s a serial killer that believes the FBI agent trying to put him away is his best friend. You know, because it’s the only person that wants to continually have lunch with him. When the FBI agent disappears, Walter discovers he’s been taken by some bizarre Sunflower death cult. Walter is outmanned, so he goes to find some “like-minded” serial killer friends to help him get his best friend back. He basically forms the Justice League of serial killers.”
“BEWARE THE EYE OF ODIN is a far cry from my usual dark comedy, serial killing stories. It’s steeped in Norse mythology. It follows a young Viking prince who has been cursed to return the actual Eye of Odin back to its rightful owner, the Frost Giant King. He’ll have to pass the realms of Hundrafolk, Trolls, and Earthen Smiths. Much against the young prince’s will, he’s accompanied by a one-armed blacksmith that wants to earn his way into Valhalla and the village weirdo that believes she’s a Valkyrie.”
James: Tell us more about what were the inspirations to start this new series, PLUSH?
Doug: “Well, as I’m sure this will be a surprise to no one at this point, I love quirky, dark comedy stuff, so I’m always on the lookout for the weirdest ideas the muses will whisper to me. One day, I was wasting my time away on the socials and bumped into a picture of a furry that immediately sent chills up my spine. I started giggling to myself when the thought of a group of furries hunting people would be hilarious to me. Realizing that just wasn’t quirky enough for a story, I filed it away. Then one day, I’m on a Zoom call with a friend and we start discussing the history of cannibalism. The muses kicked me in the head and serial-killing, cannibalistic furries popped out. It started writing itself from there.”
James: What is it about? Tell us more about the protagonists and antagonists.
Doug: "PLUSH follows Devin Fulcher. His life is a disaster. His fiancé has cheated on him and is now pregnant with another dude’s child, his finance’s father is the local Sheriff willing to do anything to make sure Devin marries his daughter, and his parents agree with the Sheriff. He’s trapped. His roommate talks him into going to a furry convention with him. Along the way, he’s roofied, witnesses a group of furries cannibalizing another furry, gets arrested, and ends up in jail. He’s been given an horrific ultimatum by the Sheriff, and to make matters worse, he finds out the cannibalistic furries are now hunting him."
James: Tell us more about the creative team.
Doug: “The PLUSH creative team consists of Daniel Hillyard, Rico Renzi, Ed Dukeshire, and Erika Schnatz. Daniel is the artist, Rico the colorist, Ed the letterer, and Erika the logo and book designer. They’re all amazingly talented and I honestly couldn’t make PLUSH what it is without all of them. Daniel and I have been working together for years, and at this point, he’s like family to me. We communicate almost every day and have very similar tastes, which makes it easy to create insanity together. Rico was our first and only choice for PLUSH. We wanted to create a “neon horror” and Rico immediately came out of both of our mouths. I’ve known Rico probably longer than I’ve known Daniel, and I’d always hoped he and I would get a chance to work together someday. See, dreams do come true. Much like Daniel, I’ve been working with Ed for years now. He’s been my first choice Letterer since the first time we worked together. As strange as this will sound, Ed gets me. I type something like, “DEVIN (angry balloon)” and Ed somehow knows exactly what I want and puts it on the page. Last but not least, there’s Erika. Erika has been designing my books for the past couple of years and I adore working with her. She makes my life easy. Much like Ed, she somehow transforms by ideas into magic. I mean, have you seen the PLUSH logo? It’s brilliant!“
James: What is next?
Doug: “As usual, I’m not really allowed to discuss projects that haven’t been announced yet.”
James: Bummer. . .well, we tried. What would be your vision on how you would like to expand the franchise into a film or series?
Doug: “I know this is strange, but I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about my comic books expanding into film. I don’t write comics in hopes they’ll become a movie or TV show. I write comic books. If they evolve into something else, that’d be great. If not, I’m good with that too.”
James: Well, your fans can definitely envision some amazing tv and film adaptations! One last set of questions: where are you based, what do you enjoy when you are not writing, and where can we find you on social media to follow you?
Doug: “I reside in the mountains of Utah where I conspire with my three rescue cats about felines ruling the world, I read tons of comic books, and I attempt to grow the oddest succulents I can find. You can find me at the following links:
FB: Doug.Wagner13
Twitter: @Doug_Wagner
Instagram: @Doug.Wagner13
Website: www.shocknoggin.com”