King Minos – Nicholas Diak's Homepage

Back in January I had the honour to interview Samuel George London about the release of the first issue of his neo-peplum comic, Band of Warriors. Currently there is a Kickstarter going on for issue two of the comic and London has graciously returned to do a second interview about his continuing series.

First things first, it’s been since January since we last talked. How are you, and aside from Band of Warriors, what has been going on?

What a year!? I’ve been busy badgering away on some other comics I’m pitching to publishers but also my son was born a few weeks ago. He’s our second child, so it’s been wonderful to see them interact but it’s also a game changer in terms of time management. On the whole though, I’m good and looking forward to seeing what 2022 brings.

The first issue of Band of Warriors was released earlier this year. What has been the feedback and comments you’ve received thus far?

The feedback on BoW #1 has been really positive. The general feeling seems to be that it’s a strong start and people are looking forward to seeing where it goes. Pipedream Comics gave me a positive review which I’m really happy about.

Since issue one has been out for a while, spoil away! What has been the most delightful thing for you personally about that issue?

As you say SPOILERS AHEAD, but the most delightful thing for me about issue one was killing off who seemed to be a main character. I think most people thought that King Minos would be sticking around but unless they find a cure for decapitation, that isn’t going to happen anytime soon.

Has there been any experiences, encounters, something read, watched or learned in the last few months that has had an impact on Band of Warriors?

I went to visit my in-laws in France over the summer and we visited a beach that inspired the front cover of issue two. It’s always good to base things off of experience when you can.

Any new obstacles or hurdles encountered while trying to get issue two up and running?

Haha… The only thing was my son being born the week before. I was in a mad rush to get everything ready, so that I could just press the launch button. I almost had everything ready but hadn’t got round to the video. I managed to cobble something together, which does the job.

Your Kickstarter has some new characters mentioned. Tell us about them!

We know Gaia and Girogos a little already, although we’ll find out more about them in this issue. The main difference is that we’re ten years in the future from the previous issue, so they’re ten years older. The other two main characters in this issue are Sarpedon and King Brutus. Starting with Sarpedon, he’s King Minos’ brother and chief of Aremorio, which is where Gaia and Giorgos reside and is located in modern day Brittany, France. King Brutus hails from Cornovii, which is modern day Cornwall, England. He has an interesting back story to say the least but you’ll have to read issue 2 before finding out what that is.

Whats been your soundtrack while writing Band of Warriors? What do you suggest as a soundtrack for your readers?

When writing I usually listen to the same music whatever I’m writing, which is Tycho. It doesn’t distract me but helps boost my thought process. If I was to recommend a soundtrack for BoW #2 though, it’d be traditional Breton music. If you watch this video closely you’ll see that in the background there’s a triskell symbol, which you’ll also find on Giorgos’ shield.

You’ve been contributing to the canon of neo-pepla with your comic. The genre seems to thrive on in other medias except for film nowadays. What do you feel the sword and sandal genre needs to do in order to stay relevant?

Relevance is always difficult to a handle on but people just need a compelling story they can relate to. I’m hoping that this and the next issue (#3) of BoW does that through the journey that Gaia and Giorgos are about to go on.

A little outside scope for Band of Warriors, but still relevant to you: you have a podcast called Comics for the Apocalypse. Can you tell us about this endeavor?

Comics for the Apocalypse is a lot of fun. I interview other comic creators about what comics they’d take into an apocalypse. I started it a few years ago and I now have over 130 episode with the likes of Charlie Adlard, Alison Sampson, Mark Waid, and Rachael Smith having been on the show.

As spoiler free as possible, what are some amazing things readers can look forward to in issue two of Band of Warriors? The main thing is that readers will get to see who Gaia and Girogos are. In the first issue they were being protected by their parents, but now they’re all on their own.

Thank you very much for this second interview, wishing you and all your endeavors continued success!

Links

Band of Warriors is a neo-peplum comic that is currently in the stages of being crowdfunded on Kickstarter. Written by Samuel George London (The S Factor, Milford Green, and Project Hoax), with art by Federico Avila Corsini (Treble, Remitente, and Maranatá) and editing by Nicole D’Andria (Miraculous), the story begins with King Minos at the height of his reign and leads to an epic, adventurous tale that incorporates both Grecian and Celtic mythologies.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and what got you into comics.

I only got into comics in 2015 after finding out that the TV show, The Walking Dead, was based on a comic. I bought all the compendiums up to that point and was hooked. After that I discovered Image’s back catalogue and went down a rabbit hole of indie comics. After a year or so, I was inspired enough to give writing a go and luckily an idea came to me in the form of Milford Green, which is best described as a Victorian space adventure. I Kickstarted that in 2018 and have since successfully funded five other comics as well as having a four issue mini-series titled The S Factor published by Action Lab – Danger Zone, which is about the dark underbelly of a superhero dating reality TV show.

What was the genesis of Band of Warriors (BoW)?

My mother has a house on the island of Crete and when I visited there for the first time in 2016 I was enthralled by the history it had, both fairly recently (WW2) and even further in the past, especially the bronze age (3,000-1200 BC). That same year, I visited my wife’s family in Brittany, France. Of course, I had visited them before but this time we visited a megalith which was next to an old tin mine. For those of you not in the know, bronze is made up of copper and tin.

When investigating all of this further it turned out that bronze age tin from France and Britain (my own homeland) had been found among bronze age artefacts on and around Crete. This trading relationship between France, Britain and Crete during the bronze age got my imagination fired up and the idea of Band of Warriors began.

BoW was actually the first idea that came to me but I thought the scope of the story was far too big for me to take on as a first time writer. But now that I’ve got a few books under my belt, I thought it was high time I got it out to the world. Honestly, it hasn’t been easy trawling through all the history and mythology surrounding all of those regions to create a coherent story but I think (if I don’t say so myself) I’ve created a rather epic story.

What were your other sources of inspiration for this comic?

To name but a few; 300 (both comic and movie), Kill the Minotaur and Vikings (both comics and TV show) have all inspired BoW. The mixture of mythology, history and action really helped me see that it’s possible.

What texts did you use for research for BoW?

One that really stands out is 1077 B.C. by Professor Eric Cline. The book is an outstanding insight into the era and as an added bonus you watch a lot of his lectures online, which are also massively useful.

What was some of the most interesting things you learned while researching?

One of the most interesting things to me was just how international that time was. There were full on trading relationships from France and Britain to Crete and even to Egypt, Turkey and Afghanistan. It’s incredible to me that over 3,500 years ago this was going on.

There’s a few other comics out there that merge different mythologies: what would you say sets yours apart?

My USP, so to speak, is that I’ve grounded the mythology in actual historical events. Using actual history to try and connect the dots of mythology is time consuming as a writer but I think that it will help the comic shine for the readers.

Do you have any favourite sword and sandal texts?

This might seem vacuous but I really enjoyed the 2014 movie with Dwayne Johnson, Hercules. I thought they did a superb job of merging mythology, history, reality and action. Sure the character development wasn’t great but man was the action awesome.

What is your general thoughts/impressions of the current state of the sword and sandal genre?

I think the sword and sandal genre can be quite one-dimensional and predictable, so I think it’s important that for those of us who are passionate about it think outside the box. Dwayne Johnson’s Hercules was a great example of subverting my expectations from everything being about magic and what not when in reality it was all tricks of the eye and playing into the reputation Hercules and his team had created.

How did you go about meeting/recruiting your artist Federico Avila Corsini and editor Nicole D’Andria?

I met Nicole a couple of years ago through Kickstarter and it turned out she did freelance editing. I then hired her to work on the Milford Green series and she’s been my trusted editor ever since. Federico on the other hand, was through Reddit. A few months ago I put a call out on Twitter and Reddit for an artist to work on a story that involved both Celtic and Greek mythology and after sifting through about thirty artists, Federico stood out. Both his style and work ethic are fantastic, so he’s the ideal artist for BoW.

What were some of the biggest challenges or obstacles you encountered while creating BoW?

My biggest challenge was connecting all the dots and making the story consistent. I actually have one of those cork boards that allows me to see all the storylines side by side in chronological order. I feel like I’m trying to catch a serial killer but it really does help.

Having successfully Kickstarted other projects, what advice do you have for other folks looking to use the medium?

First and foremost, get involved with the community. Secondly, research successful campaigns. Lastly, make sure you triple check your reward and postage costs.

What is the biggest thing you want to accomplish with BoW?

Great question! We’ve got an initial six issue arc sorted but I’d love for BoW to become an on-going series that would be released every three months, direct to the people via crowdfunding. However, that’s only possible if we get the right level of support, so we’ll have to wait and see.

Thank you your time for this interview, any final words?

I’d just like to say thanks to you for taking the time to do this interview and to your readers who have read this interview. I hope you’ve enjoyed it and that you’ll check out Band of Warriors to potentially help support it.

Links

Band of Warriors Kickstarter (concludes 2021-01-29)

Samuel George London

Federico Avila Corsini

Nicole D’Andria

Artwork for this interview provided courtesy by Samuel George London.