The following is an interview with writer Joe Sieracki regarding the upcoming launch of a Zoop crowdfunding campaign for the collected edition of the comic book series, The Life and Death of the Brave Captain Suave. In this interview, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief Barbra Dillon chats with Sieracki about his shared creative process in working with artist Kelly Williams to bring the world and characters to life on the page, the incredible backer rewards that will be available to readers, and more!
Barbra Dillon, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief: You will soon be launching a Zoop crowdfunding campaign for the collected edition of The Life and Death of the Brave Captain Suave. As you look ahead to the combined collection, what has been your experience in revisiting your work (alongside artist Kelly Williams) on the series?
Joe Sieracki: Any excuse I have to talk with Kelly is time well spent! We’ve worked on a few projects together now, and we’ve developed a friendship over the years. We text a lot and occasionally play games online, but it’s nice to be back on this particular project together. We started working on it right after our first book, and immediately wanted to do something else with one another. It’s been about 2 years now since the first issue of The Life and Death of the Brave Captain Suave hit shelves, and I didn’t realize how much I’ve missed these characters. Set in my hometown of Cleveland, it’s a story that’s near and dear to my heart. Hopefully, that comes through to readers!
BD: In looking back at the development and creation of the series, what can you share with us about your creative process in working with Williams that really made this series unique to your incredible body of work?
JS: This book plays around a lot with fantasy versus reality, and Kelly did some really unique things with the visuals. He uses hand-painted watercolors to depict reality, then juxtaposes it against digitally colored fantasy panels using a Ben-Day screen to evoke the look of older comic books. It’s really cool seeing the two styles side by side! We also collaborated a lot throughout the creation of this book, and having worked previously together. We both had a much better sense of how the other works. I wrote each script with Kelly’s art entirely in mind, yet each and every page came back better than I ever could have imagined. The guy’s a wizard, and he has the beard to prove it!
BD: The creative process of approaching an adaptation of a prior work – especially one as well known as Don Quixote – can be a daunting experience. How would you describe your approach to breathing new life into the story, and what did you find to be most rewarding/challenging about the process?
JS: Actually, scripting these issues all flowed surprising well. While we certainly pay homage to Cervantes and his metatextual classic, it’s a pretty loose adaptation. There are a number of parallels to be drawn between our story and that of Don Quixote, but I sometimes wonder if anyone would even recognize the source material if we didn’t mention it. The superhero conceit fit so well as a modern knight errant; it was honestly just a lot of fun to write. I kept pushing to make it more and more over the top and ridiculous, and Kelly just leaned right into it. At the same time, we tried to instill a lot of heart into our characters, so it was a challenging tightrope to walk.
BD: Are there any specific backer rewards that you’re most excited about with the campaign and wish to share with readers?
JS: Besides the book which will be over 140 pages with no filler, we’ll be offering a number of original art rewards. Kelly will be doing some classic superhero commissions, as well as letting go of some original art pages from the series. I’m even doing some original art, and what I lack in basic artistic talent, I completely make up for with stupidity.
BD: Are there any other projects that you would like to highlight for our readers?
JS: I’d love for readers to check out our first project, A Letter to Jo, from Top Shelf. It’s the story of my grandparents during WWII, as my grandfather was drafted into the war. We based the narrative off of a letter he wrote my grandmother towards the end of his tour, which Kelly beautifully illustrated.
BD: Lastly, what would you like to tell fans who want to learn more about The Life and Death of the Brave Captain Suave?
JS: You can grab a free preview here. If you’re still not sold, then you should probably just back the book anyway, just to be sure!
