INTERVIEW: ‘Devil on My Shoulder’ is a revenge tale that turns supernatural
Image courtesy of Dark Horse / Provided with permission.
Dark Horse has a new four-part miniseries from writer Kyle Starks and artist Piotr Kowalski. This one is called Devil on My Shoulder and follows the story of Tee, a character who faces unimaginable horrors from a group of five men. She survives the ordeal and vows to seek revenge, but what’s unexpected is that her journey soon proves supernatural and otherworldly.
Issue #1 of Devil on My Shoulder is now available from Dark Horse, and recently Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Starks to learn more about the character of Tee and what she encounters in this evil, evil world.
For the unbeknownst, Starks is the creative force behind the successful series Where Monsters Lie and Those Not Afraid. On this project, he’s also joined by colorist Brad Simpson and letterer Josh Reed. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
What inspired the creation of this story?
One of the things I love about horror as a genre is it’s nearly unlimited list of sub-genres, and I often come up with these horror ideas watching some movie or reading some book and going, “Aw, man, I want to make one of those.” With Where Monsters Lie, it was a love letter to slashers. With Those Not Afraid, it was a love letter to serial killers and true crime, and with Devil on My Shoulder, I wanted to make a true bloody revenge like we haven’t seen in awhile but to put a little Kyle Starks twist on it all.
The inspiration for the story itself was inspired by the truly awful, true story of the torture and death of Junko Furuta, which is a truly horrific tale, and honestly, I wanted to make a world where someone who suffered like that got their revenge on the group of monsters that did it to them. So it was a combination of the two.
Is the real world and what actually happens out there scarier than anything supernatural?
I think I sort of answer this with the last one! But what happened to Junko Furuta is worse and more terrifying than any demon or monster or boogeyman, in my opinion.
But you do bring the supernatural into the story, right?
Well, I don’t want to spoil anything, but absolutely. This terrible event and its subsequent revenge definitely take place in a world with supernatural elements. The priest who finds our heroine, Tee, after her ordeal is an exorcist for the church. And if there’s a world with exorcism, then there’s a world of — you know, let’s not say too much. Let’s leave it at “yes.”
How would you describe the character of Tee?
Tee is your normal, average early 20s girl trying to figure out existing in the world when she’s kidnapped, tortured for 40 days, left for dead and comes out the other side a murderous, single-minded, revenge-seeking killing machine. The Tee we see for the majority of the book is [on] a bloodthirsty engine of revenge who you don’t want to be on the wrong side of. In a book full of nearly supernaturally bad and dangerous people, she’s the most bad and dangerous.
What’s it like working with Piotr Kowalski?
Piotr is the best! He’s a great collaborator. He is extremely professional. He’s always on time. Everything he sends in is always incredible. I think we work really well together — he seems to get my vision and is able to elevate the parts that need it without having to be given really any direction at all.
We had a blast working on the Where Monsters Lie franchise together, and my biggest takeaway was that Piotr is capable of drawing some really messed up stuff. And so he was a perfect partner for Devil on My Shoulder because it’s full of messed up stuff. And he really stepped up his storytelling here, in my opinion. If you enjoyed his work on Where Monsters Lie — or any of the other numerous works he’s contributed to — you’ll love this. I feel like his work is very cinematic for this series.
Do you feel that the story has mileage to go beyond four issues?
I think it creates a world that there’s more to be explored for sure, but when I approach these stories with the new status quo of four-issue series, I want to tell the best story for that moment. I’m not thinking past that. I think Tee has more stories we could tell, but I think Devil on My Shoulder is her best, most violent, most thrilling, most exciting one. For now, anyway.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Devil on My Shoulder, written by Kyle Starks, is now available from Dark Horse. Click here for more information.
