Writer and filmmaker Adam Lawson has been putting out fantastic work for years, from shows like Escape the Night and comics like The Eighth. He has recently been putting a lot of time and energy into creating comics with his new company, Failed Superheroes Club. The goal of this company is to create stories that feature heroes with flaws. Considering nobody is perfect, it's the perfect premise for some exciting stories.
Failed Superheroes Club also brings talented creators from around the world to lend their talents to these stories and get their work out to the masses. One such creator, who has worked on some pages of a new series called The Kill Journal, is Fabiano Montesano, better known as the rapper Famoe. Besides his music work, he also has an amazing talent for tackling everything from line work to coloring. However, his contributions to The Kill Journal extend beyond the colors he provides.
As Famoe is a musician, he has also worked on an exclusive tie-in album for the book, and its first single titled "I'm a King" has gained massive success on all music streaming services. The book's exclusive album will also be included with the comic's hardcover release in 2021, as part of the book's Indiegogo campaign (a campaign that has already exceeded 100% of its goal).
We recently sat down for a chat with Famoe about his work on The Kill Journal and some of his inspirations for the horror-themed title; his answers had us diving into all forms of media and even the potential that the book has for television!
Hear our exclusive chat with Famoe via the podcast player below. Fans of The Kill Journal's art will also find our interview with the book's writer, Adam Lawson, along with the transcript.
Darth Lexii: The Kill Journal looks incredible. How many pages are you working on for this? Are you doing the whole thing?
Famoe: I'm only working on the origin story of Brecken. That one guy with the hat and shotgun. There are 88 pages in the whole comic, and once the comic is done, you have the origin stories of four different heroes.
Darth Lexii: It's Brecken, Finch, Marty, and Sydney, right?
Famoe: Adam's favorite hero is Sydney. But I did six pages for Brecken, just the coloring. The funniest part was when I was talking to Adam about what style he wanted for those pages. He said I don't know. You can do whatever you like. I was like, all right, I want to stand out. I'm trying to do a different style that people are supposed to do. It took me ages. Adam was like, yo man; you're investing too much time on it. I was like, hold on, I'm giving you six pages, and at the end of the day, they are going to be the best six pages.
Comic Brooks: For drawing in general, when you're doing your line work and inking, what were some of your horror inspirations for The Kill Journal?
Famoe: When I was thinking about the coloring, the main point of that story is the first two pages are a flashback. Those pages are a bit desegregated as the regular stuff. Then we go to the story before Brecken becomes Brecken because it's to see what's going on, what has happened with the character. I talked to Adam, and I was like, what kind of color direction do you want me to go with? Because this story is more like the videogame Red Dead Redemption with the alligators and stuff like that. And I was thinking the whole time about what direction I'll take because you need both old school and new school stuff for the upcoming pages. I'm researching Red Dead Redemption, checking out the colors for color grading. I was doing research for three or four days, and I was like, if I'm putting in the Red Dead Redemption style with a Jason or Freddy Krueger style, maybe it can be something special. Adam asked for creepy and bloody, and I thought, how the hell am I going to do that. There are certain spots where you look at the destroyed background on the fourth page, but there was no intention to put blood in it. I recreated all the pages to make sure it fits. The funniest part to me is if you watch the first page and it looks like something from the oldies as if your father is trying to hit you and you have a creepy childhood, then one page after that, you get more highlights on it. The last page is in your face. Adam said I did a great job. That was my inspiration for adding some new style to it and making it like Freddy Krueger and Jason. The more you get involved in the story, the creepier it gets.
Darth Lexii: With Marvel and DC or whatnot, do you have a dream company to draw for?
Famoe: I started this as a part-time job. I'm happy to be with it and to be involved. If you do this with passion, you don't have those deadlines, and you don't have that stress. You like to work instead of seeing it as a job. If I had a shot with DC or Marvel, I would be down. Who knows? Maybe, Kill Journal has the potential to get on Netflix.
*This article has been edited for clarity*
The Kill Journal is a story about Revenants, evil spirits that have come back from the dead bent on the slaughter of the innocent, wielding chainsaws and crawling through nightmares. St. George, called by God or so he claims, and his band of survivors are hunting them down and learning the true evil that lives in the soil of America.
Comic fans can check out The Kill Journal here. Fans of Famoe's music can hear his new single here as well.