By Zack Quaintance — Today we have an interview with writer/podcast Shah Emami and artist David Moses, who are launching a new comic on Kickstater, the Kirby-influenced Bastards of the Cosmos. You can learn all about the book below, but it’s a great amalgamation of many interesting influences, most (if not all) of which will be familiar to comics fans.

Check out our conversation below, and then head on over to the Bastards of the Cosmos Kickstarter page!

INTERVIEW: Shah Emami and David Moses talk BASTARDS OF THE COSMOS

ZACK QUAINTANCE: I love the elevator pitch for your book -- a samurai western revenge comic with flavors of Star Wars (ex. Mandalorian) and Jack Kirby (specifically his 1970s work) -- and I was curious, what about this current moment made you both gravitate to this story right now?

SHAH EMAMI: I think what I love about the book is that it feels timeless, despite coming out in 2021. Bastards of the Cosmos is a book that easily could have been released at the same time Jack Kirby was doing something like OMAC. Some cartoonists who have seen the book already mentioned that it reminds them of 80s black-and-white underground comix, too.

My favorite stories in fiction involve wanderers and vengeance. And those things are kind of a staple in westerns and samurai stories. As corny as it sounds, this book follows the whole idea of making the book you want to read. I wanted to write something that’s cosmic in scale but still human.

I started working on Bastards late last year. I wrote two issues before sending my collaborator David Moses the first one in early January of this year. We had collaborated on something Kirby-related before. I reached out and asked him if he would be interested in doing a book together. His enthusiasm is a big reason for my reaching out to him. I didn't even know what his answer would be. Luckily he had an opening in his schedule. Now here we are! The collaborative process has been pretty fun. I want to add that David was the first and last person I had in mind for this book. His passion for learning, creation and telling stories is contagious. It feels like I’ve been spoiled in this collaboration. When you have someone who is as excited about something as you are, it’s a reassuring feeling.

DAVID MOSES: I had finished up the last Tales from the Holy Mountain issue and had a few potential projects on my plate when Shah reached out. When you're a freelancer, you look for work, period. But it's even better when the work is something that you're really drawn to, both story-wise and visually. I love doing cosmic stuff, but when I was a kid, I was very into westerns and ninja and samurai stories, and tried my hand at drawing them with varying levels of success. So this project, in addition to it being an exciting and solid concept, allowed me to combine my current love of the cosmic with my childhood love of western/eastern elements. And I have great respect for Shah — his attentive interviews and drive for quality. I was very impressed with this as the first script he wanted to put out into the world.

ZACK: You cite a specific Kirby Eternals Annual cover (see below!) as a good idea of the energy of your book, so much so the cover is an homage. Can I ask you both what you love about the cover, as well as any memories you might have of it, like when was the first time you saw it, how you felt, what drew you to it, etc.?

SHAH: Yes! Jack Kirby’s The Eternals Annual #1 is an amazing cover. That’s an homage I wanted to go with before I even had the script fully written. You just look at it and it feels right. It has an energy that makes you want to pick up the issue and flip through it.

When I mentioned the cover inspiration to David, he was pretty gung-ho about it. We’re both massive Kirby fans. You can see that in David’s artwork, too. I sent him a mock-up version and he made the glorious cover to the first issue.

I should mention I’m obsessed with Kirby. Is it too late to say that? He’s one of my heroes. Guys like him and Wallace Wood are endlessly inspirational in how they did things in their own way. They’re like comic book gunslingers and ronin.

Those early Fantastic Four stories were my first comics, so Kirby remains in my DNA to this day. In recent years, I’ve been digging the solo work he put out after leaving Marvel in the 60s. Everything from New Gods over at DC to Kirby’s return to Marvel in the 70s is absolutely insane. And don’t get me started on Captain Victory from Pacific Comics! It’s insane how long it took for Kirby to have a book of his own that he had full creative control over. You could tell the man was firing on all cylinders and constantly creating.

I wanted this book to feel like a 1970s Kirby comic but have its own personality. David did an amazing job channeling that Kirby energy but putting his own visual stamp on it with the artwork. I couldn’t be more happy with the way that cover homage came out.

DAVID: Shah is a great collaborator for a number of reasons, for example: he comes to the table with very definite, well-thought out ideas, but he is also flexible and trusting of my instincts as a cartoonist and writer. Because he has this flexibility, I know that he's serious if he sticks to his guns. To me, that's what you want in a collaborator -- someone who gives you room, and also will fight for what is important. Regarding the cover, Shah had the idea to use the Eternals Annual cover as the template for the book, and of course, since it was a way to feature the main players of the story in Kirby fashion, I had no qualms. I tried to use old production techniques on this page especially -- i.e. pasting up the logo, the title at the bottom, the black banner items, and so forth -- because I wanted to get the feel of it across to the reader. I wanted to have a touchpoint not just to the image, but also to how the image was originally constructed.

ZACK: What do you each hope readers will take away from this first issue?

SHAH: Thank you for asking this. This is something I’ve been thinking about. I want to be thoughtful about how I answer this but not in a pretentious way. Everyone engages with stories differently. If you’re a fan of Akira Kurosawa, Jack Kirby, Sergio Leone, Star Wars, whatever—you’ll dig Bastards. But feel free to engage with it however you want. Even when I was writing the story, I had a specific meaning behind it. But your interpretation might be different from mine. Feel free to let me know when the book is out, I guess.

To go back to your very first question, the whole impetus behind my writing this book was this—what happens when people you thought cared about you throw you away when you’re no longer convenient? I felt like that would be an interesting conflict for an outlaw-turned-bounty hunter character to face. I hope some people tune into that when they read this book. That’s the situation I’m exploring in writing this story. Even the cyborg samurai character is fighting for his autonomy. But if you’re just here for space pirates and samurai duels, that’s cool, too!

I think all engaging stories, no matter how far fetched, come from a real place.

DAVID: I feel like there's a trend in comics where the first issue is essentially a pitch for a story that will be resolved in the first arc. The idea, I think, is to get readers hooked enough to keep buying those first five issues. But in a lot of older work, issues were self-contained, and the strength of the story was what brought readers back, not the need to have a major problem that was built up the whole time resolved. I like the fact that this "king size debut" has a resolution, while also opening a world that has massive possibilities. Having a satisfying story in one issue, with the potential for a thousand new ones, is my bread and butter. I absolutely love it, and I think readers will appreciate it here, too.

ZACK: Shah, I absolutely love all the influences you've cited for this book. How was it bringing them all together, and how much did you think about honoring those other stories in the space versus pushing toward something wholly new?

SHAH: Thank you. Are you a fan? I can talk about Jack Kirby, Akira Kurosawa and Sergio Leone all day! Terrence Young’s Red Sun film is another massive inspiration for me, for obvious reasons.

Putting the story together came pretty organically. The short version is--I started from plot point notes, to a bare-bones script which became about 65 pages of a full script. I cut out a lot for the final product. I feel it’s better to cut out excess than to fill a slim story with nonsense. I even drew the book out for myself as an exercise.

Like I mentioned, I started working on Bastards last year. I still have notebooks filled with notes and sketches I made while producing this story. It’s constantly unfolding. Some notes went from notebook scribblings in the early morning to becoming fleshed out points in the actual comic. Surprisingly, the book’s final form has been pretty loyal to the script.

I would recommend that if you’re writing a comic, draw it out for yourself. You’ll learn whether what you’re asking for is doable. But you’ll also be able to keep track of everything in the script visually. I still have my version of Bastards that I drew during the production process.

Like I said, my favorite stories in fiction are ones with wanderers and vengeance. So I had to go in that direction. Without being too long-winded about it, you take something you’re familiar with and put your own spin on it. I took my love of Akira Kurosawa’s samurai films, 1970s Jack Kirby comics, Sergio Leone westerns and blended them into a cosmic revenge comic. That said—Bastards is a western at its core.

My voice is in there somewhere. I’m very particular and intentional about how I do things. Sometimes you get frustrated and want to see a story done a certain way. And Bastards is the dream book that came out of frustration from wanting to see a certain kind of story.

You take the familiar and put your voice into it. Don’t censor yourself. Some people might not get where you’re going but at least you’ll be speaking authentically. It doesn’t matter if you were inspired by, say, Star Wars. Your story can become its own beast, regardless of the inspiration.

Every story is based on another story at first, I’d say. Even Star Wars is based on other stories. It’s pretty much the timeless tale of King Arthur with his sword in the stone, except it was for a new generation.

ZACK: David, how has it been working on this story versus some of your earlier work (which we've covered on this site), I think I right away seen some similarities but also some major differences...

DAVID: There is a groundedness to the BotC world. In the first couple of pages, you might not know that space plays a part of the story. Whereas in most of the tales I tell, space is the constant backdrop. This groundedness challenges me to make elements of the setting familiar and relatable to the reader, rather than pushing them off a cliff into a world of the unknown right away. It's a big challenge for me, because one of the things that made me start work on Galactic Junk Squad (Well, More Like Family) was *not* having to worry about believability! I could just launch into a world entirely of my own making. I feel like BotC is the next step for me, artistically. A venture into believable worlds. It's a big challenge, but I need it!

Shah also intentionally brought in cinematic story-telling elements that I will usually compress or work around. Exercising different storytelling muscles is always a good way to expand my vocabulary. I can only hope I've done the story justice!

ZACK: Anything else either of you want to tell readers -- as well as perspective backers -- about the book?

SHAH: As someone who has interviewed independent creators who self-publish or run crowdfunding campaigns on my podcast, WITS’ END, it’s exciting for me to throw my hat in the ring as a creator. This just feels like the right time to be putting out independent work. Some of my favorite comics right now come from independent creators like Nick Cagnetti, John and James Coats and Geoffrey Krawczyk, just to name a few. That’s where all the interesting stuff is. Too many people to list, though!

If the book does well, we’ll put out another one at some point. I remember telling you when we first started talking that I wrote two issues before even sending David the first one. My whole obsession with this thing has to do with wanting to know where the story goes.

I think the most important thing is to mention that the book is done. That means when we get funded, people who supported us on Kickstarter will get their books as soon as possible. When someone backs your book, it’s a show of trust and you have to follow through with your end.

I’ll wrap up by thanking everyone who supports this book. David and I are going to deliver you 29 black-and-white pages of cosmic vengeance! And I also want to thank Comics Bookcase for the questions and interest in Bastards of the Cosmos!

DAVID: The world of Bastards of the Cosmos is alive. There is a lot of story to tell, and if we can get your support, we can share much, much more!

Bastards of the Cosmos on Kickstarter

Read more great interviews with comics creators!

Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.