The Seven Samurai. Yojimbo. Lone Wolf and Cub.
The samurai genre has a very storied history and carries a lot of weight with a particular type of fan. It conjures up thoughts of dramatic journeys, of loyalty, honor, revenge…insurmountable odds! And if you consider yourself a fan of this treasured genre then Blackbox Comics’ Shi No Kage is right up your alley! Diamond cornered Shi No Kage‘s artist and writer to find out why their new series does this beloved genre justice.
Diamond: So what is the definition of “shi no kage?”
Neil Davis: It’s Japanese and it means Shadow of Death.
Diamond: Catch us up to speed. What is the setting for Shi No Kage?
Gus Mauk: I guess I would say the setting would be the Edo period. Swords, Bows, armor, and gunpowder. However, the setting of most of the story takes place in a mystical ‘Realm’ where the scenery and characters are different for everyone who enters.
Diamond: How did you both get involved in the project?
Neil Davis: I wrote the basic treatment in high school with my friend Michael. We had notebooks that we would draw and write the story in. I’d put our main character into impossible situations and then to continue the story, he would have to come up with a way to write the character out of his predicament then do the same to me. It was a lot of fun. Then a few years ago, Michael sent me a letter and I was surprised when I opened it to find he had copyrighted the character on our behalf. I said we should do something with this and the comic idea was born. I have been a friend and fan of Gus’ work for a long time and once I told him he’d be drawing Samurai lopping heads off, he was in.
Diamond: Tell us about Hachiro. Why do we follow them through this story, specifically?
Gus Mauk: “He is the main character. lol. I think initially Neil’s story followed a “ninja-type” character through different obstacles, etc. Hachiro is just the version of that character we put in the story. The main arc of this story is the things he has to face to succeed. I would describe him as being very skilled and resourceful. Someone who puts duty before personal needs.
Diamond: The descriptions mention demons and beasts. Is this going to be heavily supernatural or lean more towards action?
Neil Davis: Oh, it’s action, definitely. However, it would take a psychologist less than a minute to identify where the beasts, demons, and evil things came from in my original script all those years ago. They are so obviously an allegory for the fears and worries of an awkward, nerdy kid. The giant ONI in Hachiro’s first encounter is the archetypal bully. The apparition of a father that isn’t in the picture anymore is so on the nose that it’s a little embarrassing. Later, he faces the embodiment of guilt, then a God-figure, and so forth. Hachiro’s enemies and trials mean different things to me now that I am older but I see some of these fears in my kids so I think these interpretations can still be relevant.
Diamond: The book definitely has roots in the samurai genre. The fact that Hachiro is one of seven samurai is a nice nod. Tell us more about that. What inspired this book?
Neil Davis: Kurosawa VHS tapes for sure. Side-scrolling fighting games on the original NES like Double Dragon and Streets of Rage. The Wu-Tang Clan. Ha! If I had to go back and rewrite the logline that I used to pitch to publishers I’d say “Imagine an old school side-scrolling fighting game based on a Kurosawa movie with a Wu-Tang soundtrack.”
Diamond: What’s the creative process like between you and Neil?
Gus Mauk: It’s a lot of fun. We get together and he shows me the script, and we go over things he or I would want to see to make certain pages visually interesting or dynamic. We try to keep a certain tone to the book. I’m sure Neil and I have a much simpler process than most other creators, We kinda just get together and go over a script and start spitting out ideas.
Diamond: Artistically, how did you go about depicting this period?
Gus Mauk: For me, it wasn’t as difficult as I first imagined. My all-time favorite movie is Shogun Assassin. And I’m a huge anime fan, such titles as Bleach were very inspirational. Neil would send me some good references to help out with depicting villages and other areas. For this first arc, most of the setting is a forest-type scene, so it wasn’t too bad.
Diamond: Artistically, any highlights from SHI NO KAGE? Something that was a blast to draw?
Gus Mauk: This entire book was a blast for me. 99% of the stuff that I draw on a weekly basis is something for someone else, like baby portraits, pet portraits, character commissions, and on and on….but when we started this book, I was able to go out of my comfort area a little bit and do somethings that I wanted to draw for a very long time. When we first started, I told Neil “it HAS to be bloody”. Go back and watch Shogun Assassin, the amount of blood in that movie is HYSTERICAL!
If I had to pick my favorite, I would say there’s a page in Issue 3 where Hachiro is seated on top of a bunch of dead bodies ( I think page 21). I literally drew this page 4 times before inking it. It was something I always wanted to draw, even with alternate characters in that spot. Also the cover for issue 3 was one of my best art pieces I’ve ever done, any medium. Also, I’m going to mention my LEAST favorite: any time I have to draw Hachiro’s younger sister, Hinata, it was a disaster lol. I have never had to draw younger characters before, so I would always second guess myself when depicting her. I think I drew her 3 or 4 times every time she was in a panel, just because I second-guessed myself. lol.
Diamond: What makes samurai culture so fascinating to people?
Gus Mauk: I think it’s just that age where honor is a valuable trait. Anyone can point a gun and pull a trigger, but it takes skill to use a sword, especially in an era where everyone used a sword. Samurai culture has been popping up in pop culture and gaining momentum for the last couple of years, Michonne on Walking Dead using that awesome sword, a few years back some good video games coming out, and this year with Ghosts of Tsushima, probably game of the year, definitely has people thirsting for more samurai related media.
Diamond: Looking forward, what can readers expect from Shi no Kage?
Neil Davis: Hachiro is on quite a journey here and the art by Gus and colors by Michael Yakutis depict that sojourn so beautifully, readers are in for a real treat. As for our hero, this endless string of challenges are the anvil in which he is pounded into a hero but that takes a toll, it has to. I don’t think a hero can have a meaningful victory if it doesn’t come at a cost. We’ve all been in situations where we think “This is it. It’s too hard. I’m not going to make it out of this” and that’s where I tried to place Hachiro.
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