The following is an interview with Xeric Award-winning writer Neil Kleid (Ninety Candles) regarding the upcoming release of the comic book series, Medieval, through Comixology Originals. In this interview, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief Barbra Dillon chats with Kleid about his shared creative experience in working with artist Alex Cormack to bring the story and characters to life on the page, what readers may take away from the story’s themes, and more!
Barbra Dillon, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief: Congratulations on the upcoming release of Medieval! What can you share with us about the genesis behind this series?
Neil Kleid: Absolutely, thanks. The origins of Medieval are really two-fold: First, after penning two emotionally-heavy, dark, grounded series for Comixology (The Panic and Nice Jewish Boys), I was really looking to write something that came from my gut versus my head—something visceral and fun and let me stretch myself creatively into areas I hadn’t gone before. At first, I thought about writing a superhero or a horror story…but then I read Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, and accidentally transposed “Connecticut” with “New York,” and well…I realized that what I was after was actually a fun, over-the-top sports comic with a twist.
In Twain’s novel, he displaces a guy named Hank Morgan—a “yankee” who seems to be a man of all trades. In the book, Morgan introduces a variety of modern conveniences and nineteenth-century philosophies and military tactics into sixth-century England, specifically into Camelot. My one gripe with the book is: How did Morgan know how to do all of that, and also do it perfectly? Look, I can do a lot of things—some well, some moderately well, some terrible—but there is quite a gap between being able to effectively use a cell phone and being able to invent one. To me, that’s the flaw in Twain’s story and what I was hoping to do with mine is present a regular New Yorker—brash, passionate, opinionated…but also limited to the things he knows. He knows a lot about construction and baseball, and he can drink and curse with the rest of them. But he can’t build an electrical grid or even a car. He doesn’t know how to do a lot, and so that finds him out of time having lost a great deal—his girl, his team, his job, and the modern conveniences we take for granted today. So, when you’ve got a guy who’s lost everything he loved, what is he left with? Who does he become? What can he become…and what can he change?
It’s pretty brutal, sure. There’s blood and cussing and baseball and drinking…but there’s also the grounded emotional soul-searching that folks have come to expect from me. Oh, and it’s a love story. I hope people dig it.
BD: How would you describe your shared creative process in working with artist Alex Cormack to bring this epic mashup of Arthurian knights, baseball, and nonstop carnage to life on the page?
NK: Alex is brilliant. Buy this book for his art alone. I love the work he had done on some of his previous books (The Devil Wears My Face, Drive Like Hell) and so I reached out to him through friends to see if he might be interested. Despite being a Boston baseball fan, Alex agreed to co-author with me and I could not be happier—especially as we’re joined by Sarah Litt as editor (with whom I worked on Nice Jewish Boys.) The collaboration has been a dream: I write scripts with bad baseball puns and Sarah edits them, helping improve the narrative, offering fantastic insights, and telling me where we need more blood and recommending whether or not “f—kmonkey’ or ‘f—kweasel’ is the better profanity. Once the script is locked, Alex does some rough sketches, and we offer some ideas for how to make them better. Then, he does pencils for each page where we tweak if anything seems like it got missed between sketch and page. Finally, we go to full color and then I letter on top of those. Sarah does a lettering pass, I make any revisions. Bada boom bada bing fuggetabout it—we have a comic book.
Mainly, most of our conversation is about “what can we do here to push our limits, and show something that feels both emotionally relatable and perhaps heartwarming…but also something that will make the reader cringe in pain?” That applies to the art, it applies to some of the dialogue…overall, I think the three of us are aligned in our mission to make a reader feel something, but maybe sometimes it’s something you feel in your heart…and others it’s what you feel in a particularly vulnerable extremity!
BD: At Fanbase Press, our #StoriesMatter initiative endeavors to highlight the impact that stories can have on audiences of various mediums – no matter the genre. How do you feel that Medieval’s story may connect with and impact readers?
NK: Well, look, it’s a pretty brutal comic book with a ton of f-bombs. Some people will immediately take to it and many more will shut it immediately.
But even if you’re the latter type, I hope that you will give it a chance. Because at its heart, this is a book about big emotions and what it means to find yourself.
I think our hero, Danny Landau, is all of us. He may not be “the everyman,” but he has big feelings and big anger and big loyalty. I also think even some of the so-called mythical characters in this book—which, of course, is set during the time of King Arthur—will connect because Alex and I have presented them in ways that show they (and we) are completely human. We all love, we all get lonely and envious, we are all fans for something, and we all have a mean streak. Even though this is a sword-and-sorcery comic, it’s completely grounded in that sense—sure, there are knights and jousts and dragons (whoops!) and magic…but these are mortal, flawed people just trying to do right by a people, a team, a relationship, or a country…and in most cases, do right by themselves.
We’re all seeking connection in our lives—and most of us don’t have to go back to the sixteenth century to do it. Danny’s story…his quest within the pages of Medieval…personally, I believe we can all relate to what he’s going through. He’s lost his girl, his world, his career, the team he loves, and even social media for Pete’s sake! When a big part of who you are is something that you love or feel passionate about—and then that thing is taken away (or you are taken from it)? Who do you become? What do you have to do to become that person?
BD: What makes Comixology Originals the perfect home for this series?
NK: Comixology Originals is a place for fantastic concepts and big swings (No baseball pun intended.)…but beyond whether or not this series is the perfect home for it, I can clearly state that Comixology Originals is the perfect home for me, as a creator.
This is a team that embraces new, unique ideas and trusts their creators to bring them to life. When I brought them this concept—way outside my creative wheelhouse—and explained what I was attempting to do, their first answer was, “What do you need to get it done?” I’m also a big believer that today, a huge majority of media consumption is happening on a digital device—a phone, a tablet, connected / streaming TV—and bringing a book like Medieval to Comixology means that we can first instantaneously connect a global digital audience to our series—and allow them to read it by page or inspect Alex’s fantastic artwork panel by panel—and then, hopefully, get it into their hands with one of Comixology’s amazing and respected publishing partners. It’s kind of the best of both worlds, without even stating how well this team supports and markets and promotes their solid library of titles.
Also, look: Jeff DiBartolomeo is a huge New York baseball fan (We don’t say the “Y-word”—what, are you trying to get us sued?!!) So, he really helped champion this along. I only felt slightly bad about it after I explained I’m a Detroit Tigers fan.
BD: Are there any other projects – past or current – that you would like to highlight for our readers?
NK: If we’re talking about Comixology Originals, I’ll point readers to Nice Jewish Boys, by me, John Broglia and Ellie Wright, that came out last year. An intimate suburban crime story, it’s probably one of the most personal things I’ve ever written—it’s about ethics and moral responsibility to yourself, your family, and a community—and what happens when your ethics run aground against the law. Based on an actual crime story, Nice Jewish Boys (Some have called it “the Jewish Breaking Bad.,”) can be read digitally as a single volume via Comixology Originals, and you can read more about it here.
If you’re a fantasy person, and are reading Medieval because of all the fights and jousts and blood, maybe check out Kings and Canvas, a book I crowdfunded with co-author Jake Allen and the teams at Outland Entertainments and CEX Publishing. It’s about an exiled king in a world where boxing has replaced guns or swords, who breaks out of prison to save his family. “Game of Thrones meets Rocky Balboa.” You can learn more about it and order the hardcover collection right here.
Other than that, I am currently working on an original horror prose novella set to debut in 2026. This one is creepy and fun, and also pretty recognizable to those familiar with its many inspirations and influences. More on that as we get closer to the release!
BD: Lastly, what would you like to tell fans who want to learn more about Medieval and your other work?
NK: Medieval is bloody, brutal, baseball fun and it’s got a heart of gold encased in steel armor. Issue one of five is out on November 11th via Comixology Originals (preorder/buy on Amazon, download the Kindle app to your mobile device, read the issue—and subsequent issues—as they come out.) There’s a cool little twist at the end of the first issue. Don’t spoil it for others, but rather pass along the link and let them figure it out for themselves.
We hope everyone enjoys Medieval—Alex and I hope to make more. The only way we can do that is if folks read it, review it, and help us promote.
You can keep track of me and find many other books and stories I have written at https://www.neilkleidbooks.com/
You can subscribe to my sporadic, near-monthly newsletter here: https://buttondown.com/neilkleid
I’m on Bluesky and Instagram as Neil Kleid. I ain’t hard to find.
Thanks again!
