The following is an interview with writer Laurent Valles Jr. regarding the recent release of the comic book series, Sacrifice. In this interview, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief Barbra Dillon chats with Valles Jr. about the shared creative process of working with Uj Chen, Ichsan Ansori, and Lucas Gattoni, the number of issues in the works for this story arc, and more!
Barbra Dillon, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief: Congratulations on the recent release of Sacrifice! For those who may be unfamiliar, how would you describe the series’ premise, and what inspired you to tell this story?
Laurent Valles Jr.: Sacrifice is a horror comedy series I like to describe as “Hellboy meets Evil Dead.” The super-powered host to Lucifer has two missions: 1) Gather allies who can prevent Lucifer from bringing Hell to Earth. 2) Make enough money by fighting demons to pay the bills.
The main inspiration of the story came from series like Evil Dead, Shawn of the Dead, Hellboy, and even Ghostbusters. I’ve always loved movies and shows where there are horrifying situations that would make any reasonable person scared to death, yet because of how the characters behave, the horror elements of it can be downplayed and even made comical.
Being that I’m a fan of horror, and I feel in my element writing comedy, Sacrifice is a story I made that I thought would be entertaining and also play to my strengths as a writer.
BD: What can you tell us about your shared creative process in working with Uj Chen, Ichsan Ansori, and Lucas Gattoni to bring this story to life, and what (or who) have been some of your creative influences?
LVJ: My philosophy that I preach to my team is this. “I know what I want on the page. But I value your knowledge of how to do your job over what I want to see. If there is something you feel would work better than what I have suggested on a page and it doesn’t alter the story, let me know and we can work that out.” With this, there have been many panels or even pages where suggestions have been made and I agree with and ended up implementing those changes.
While this creates a more hands-on process in making an issue, it also helps create a better product, which is the most important thing to me when it comes to making comics.
BD: Do you have a certain number of issues planned for the first story arc of the series?
LVJ: The first story arc is planned for 6 issues. Two issues are currently out, with the third being worked on, set to launch on Kickstarter in March.
BD: Are there any upcoming projects on which you are currently working that you would like to share with our readers?
LVJ: Currently, Sacrifice is my number-one priority. While I do have other series planned and written out to different extents, I have no plans to pursue any of those until the first arc of Sacrifice is released.
BD: Lastly, what is the best way for our readers to find more information about Sacrifice and your other work?
LVJ: While I have a Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, my Twitter account is where I am most active on giving updates about what I have going on with my comic
