We chat with the comic creator about his new bloodsucking horror saga from Image Comics
Welcome to our Creator Corner, our new reoccurring interview series, where we chat with the coolest and most thought-provoking creators in the comics industry. In this entry, we're conversing with artist-turned-writer Christian Ward about his new vampire odyssey Blood Stained Teeth. Listen to the unedited audio HERE.
Look around. There's plenty to be mad about. What's the next step? What do you do with the anger? For Christian Ward, the only relief he could find was through creation, and Blood Stained Teeth is his viciously seething response to the horrors he observes every day on the telly.
The artist turned writer has partnered with illustrator Patric Reynolds, colorist Heather Moore, letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, and editor Heather Antos to unleash a nasty odyssey through capitalism and class using our favorite bloodsucker subgenera as the metaphor. The way Ward sees it, the best horror stems from a furious response to the chaotic wrecking ball we call humanity. He hopes by tapping into something primordial, he can expel his rage and make a rad comic in the process.
"I think horror tends to be a reaction," says Ward, "an angry reaction about the world around us. It's quite natural to take that creatively, and think, 'Well, I want to have a discussion about these things that are making me angry.' In this case, with Blood Stained Teeth, it was billionaires. I want to have a discussion about them and I want to have a bit of a dig, but I want to do it in the form of a story and I want it to be entertaining."
Blood Stained Teeth follows Atticus Sloane - misanthrope, criminal, asshole, and vampire. Give him enough money, and he'll happily gift you with immortality and an unquenchable bloodlust. What he might not tell you, however, is how the vampire world is severed between the righteously born and the wretchedly converted. And there's a war brewing between the two factions.
"As we go through the story," continues Ward, "we meet more people that Atticus has turned. We see this common theme of corruption. It's this idea of survival that leads these people to make really difficult decisions. Some of them will feel sympathetic, and we will hopefully connect with them in the way they struggle to put food on the table. Then, there's going to be others who relish going to that dark side and living that sort of life."
With every page turn, the reader witnesses Ward's anger toward those fat cats lording above. He's having fun letting the venom flow, and maybe, just maybe, you might catch some of what he's exorcising. Blood Stained Teeth is a cathartic entertainment for all parties on all sides, hopefully. Sink into it.
Be sure to follow Christian Ward on Twitter, on Instagram, and visit his Website. The first two issues of Blood Stained Teeth are currently on the stands at your local comic book shop. If you don't have a shop near you, please jump on over to Image Comics to order.
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