PREVIEW: David Accampo, Jeremy Rogers and Jared Souza on SPARROW & CROWE: THE DEMONIAC OF LOS ANGELES

This summer, a stalwart member of the iFanboy community sees his comics debut with the occult mystery mini Sparrow & Crowe: The Demoniac of Los Angeles #1.

You helped make Dave Accampo’s book a reality by supporting the project on Kickstarter. Now it’s time to preorder the first issue from Hermes Press, due out in late July.

Writers David Accampo and Jeremy Rogers, photo courtesy of Christa Nahhas

Sparrow & Crowe: The Demoniac of Los Angeles #1

(W) David Accampo, Jeremy Rogers (A/CA) Jared Souza

Sparrow and Crowe: The Demoniac of Los Angeles combines old-school horror with modern cinematic storytelling, as Dr. Crowe, a washed-up exorcist haunted by his own demons, and Sparrow, his sardonic Goth-girl partner, face off against Crowe’s biggest failure and greatest enemy when a powerful demon possesses the daughter of a Los Angeles crimelord. It’s a catch-22 for the duo, as they’re stuck between both hell and the mob, with the girl’s life hanging in the balance.
Publisher: Comics
On Sale: July 25, 2012
Price: $3.99
Product Id: MAY121179
ISBN: 9781613450260

We think you’re gonna love Sparrow and Dr. Xander Crowe in their premiere romp through the dark side of sunny California. But in the immortal words of Levar Burton, don’t just take our word for it…

“Dark and freshly twisted, Sparrow & Crowe is full of great story, great characters and more awesome demon possessions than you can shake a crucifix at. Accampo, Rogers and Souza have given the world something that’s one part The Exorcist, one part Elmore Leonard, and one part something all their own.”

– Scott Snyder (American Vampire, Batman, Swamp Thing)

“In the tradition of Hellblazer and Twin Peaks, the sunny exterior masks a dark and deeply weird Los Angeles.”

– Gabriel Hardman (Secret Avengers, Exile on the Planet of the Apes)

“A twisted romp through the evil that lurks around every corner in the City of Angels. ”

– Corinna Bechko (Heathentown, Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes)

We talked to writers David Accampo, Jeremy Rogers and artist Jared Souza about the origins of Sparrow & Crowe and what readers can expect from this thoughtful blend of horror and noir. Included, a preview of Sparrow & Crowe: The Demoniac of Los Angeles #1.

 


 

From SPARROW & CROWE #1

iFanboy: This comic  mini series is a spin-off from Wormwood: A Serialized Mystery. Do readers need to have listened to the podcast audio drama to understand what’s going on in The Demoniac of Los Angeles?

David Accampo: Absolutely not necessary in any way!  That’s something we wanted to be very careful about. Wormwood was a lot of fun in that it was our mash-up of Twin Peaks, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Hellblazer… and it lasted three seasons, which are all still on iTunes. But as we started to talk about comics, we knew the audience wouldn’t necessarily cross over. So, really, we wanted to take these characters we know and love to write, and just showcase them in a whole new light. Technically, we’ve framed this series as a prequel. So while there are mysteries about Crowe’s past even as we start this comics series, those aren’t things from the audio show. Those are the mysteries that we have built into Crowe’s past. And the comic book series will actually shed some light on these bits of Crowe’s past in flashback.

iF: How did Sparrow & Crowe make the jump from audio to comics?

Jeremy Rogers: Dave and I, along with our writers and cast, had toyed with the idea of turning this into a comic (and also animated show, network series, film franchise, mystery novels, Telemundo inspired soap opera) as early as the first season of Wormwood. There just wasn’t enough time to write and produce the show and properly develop a new avenue. But that’s fine, because we needed time for Jared Souza to find the show, become a fan, and illustrate some pages from his favorite episodes before approaching us. Damn—that sounds dangerously close to cosmic phooey, but….

DA: Yeah, that was really cool. I’ll also add that I’m such a longtime comics fan that it’s entirely possible that Wormwood was partially an attempt to do a comic in audio form. I really did unleash all of my comics desires on that audio show — anti-hero detectives, monsters, mysteries, soap operatics… it’s all stuff that comic books do really well. So, when Jared approached us about adapting Wormwood, it almost feels like we put that signal out to the universe, and the universe answered.

From SPARROW & CROWE #1

iF: Jared, what attracted you to these characters and their world? As a fan of the audio series, what aspects of Wormwood were you excited to explore visually?

Jared Souza: Probably the first thing that really grabbed me about Wormwood was the music, but of course that was only the first ten seconds or so. What I found next was vivid characterizations, excellent dialog, and a compelling plot and setting that brought me into a world that reminded me of the best work of David Lynch, though a bit less surreal and a bit more supernatural…

The other big thing was the emotive power of the show, which didn’t feel contrived or manipulative, as it so often does in film and audio drama, when music in particular, is used to that effect. When I started listening to Wormwood I was homeless and unable to work on my own art. The DIY aspect of modern audio drama and the fact that, with audio drama, the audience is required to actively fill in the visuals with their own imagination made me feel more involved creatively at a time when I didn’t have the time or space in my life for creative pursuits.

Later when my situation became more stable I found myself often listening to Wormwood and other shows while drawing; that’s when I really started to think, this would make a great comic book. Something different, but close enough to the mainstream to have real commercial potential. And well, an established fan base too.

iF: Why LA?

DA: We refer to Crowe as an “occult detective” because there’s very much a noir, private eye vibe to him. We love Raymond Chandler’s Phillip Marlowe, as well as movies like Chinatown — so LA just has this great seedy atmosphere… the sunny exterior masking an underlying darkness. The way Jared paints LA is fantastic — it’s this clash of sunny glamour and gritty shadow  that just works perfectly within our sensibility.

iF: What kind of horrors can we expect to see before the Demoniac of Los Angeles wraps up? Do you have plans for more Sparrow & Crowe adventures beyond their tangle with the Demoniac? 

From SPARROW & CROWE #1

JR: Hmm. Well, in these five issues, you’ll get the chance to parallel and compare the horrors incurred by mortal hubris against archaic demons (real nasty ones!) I hope you read that last bit in your best Ray Stantz internal voice. Seriously, though, there’s definitely a streak of the uncomfortable throughout Sparrow & Crowe. You know, good old fashioned psychological torment and emotional pain, with demons and human sacrifice and mob goons galore. We’re even going to spend time with a very unhealthy necromantic relationship that I’m excited to unleash upon unsuspecting readers. I hope that I’m not making this all sound dour and depressing. There’s a lot of fun to be had.

DA: Beyond “The Demoniac of Los Angeles” we’ve really opened up a can of worms. We could adapt the Wormwood series to comics, which would be amazing — three seasons of great mysteries and monsters, scotch and soap operas. Or, we could tell more tales of Sparrow & Crowe and the occult mysteries they’re called in to solve. These are characters that we’ve written for awhile, and they’re so full of life that we have years and years of stories we can tell — we just need to pick the direction.

 

Stay tuned for more on Sparrow & Crowe: The Demoniac of Los Angeles later this week, including a Special Edition podcast recording featuring Dave and Jeremy. Our own Conor Kilpatrick hosted the writers in a panel discussion at Northridge, California’s Earth-2 Comics called “Independent Voices in Comics: New Stories and How to Sell Them.”

Until then, make sure to hit your comic shop this week and ask them to order you a copy of Sparrow & Crowe #1 from Hermes Press.

 

 

 

Comments

  1. Awesome. Dave is one of the good guys. I’m very happy to see this book is on its way.
    I’m looking forward to that special edition podcast, too.

  2. I found Wormwood through Paul mentioning (somewhere) he’d written an episode, and ended up devouring the it all. I’ve read the first issue and all I can say is, well done gentlemen a magnificent first issue.

    Good luck with it I am already hoping for more.

  3. I’ve been lucky enough to read a little of it, and it’s a very strong first issue. People who pre-order this are in for a treat.

  4. Congrats, well done