By Zack Quaintance — I had a chance to read Barbaric #1 recently, and quite honestly, I don’t think I’ve had a better time with a comic all year. The art by Nathan Gooden with colors by Addison Duke and lettering by Jim Campbell is bombastic and exciting, and the writing by Michael Moreci is witty, hard-hitting, and packed with clever bits of perfectly-timed philosophizing that have made Moreci’s other book, Wasted Space, the best space opera in comics.

In short, Barbaric #1 is damn good, and I had to chat with Moreci about it. You can find our conversation below along with a five-page preview of the new comic, which is available for pre-order now at your local comic shop ahead of its June 16 publication date. Enjoy!

INTERVIEW: Michael Moreci talks new Vault Comics series, BARBARIC

Barbaric #1 is available for pre-order now.

ZACK QUAINTANCE: First things first here, where did the idea for the axe that gets drunk on the blood of evildoers come from? Was that a big eureka moment when that idea hit you?

MICHAEL MORECI: The answer is probably a lot less exciting than you might think. Originally, it was a talking sword. Then Nate (Barbaric's artist/co-creator) was like "how do we draw a face on a sword?" And since we couldn't answer that, we decided where we could fit a face and, viola, you get an axe.

The whole reason behind it goes into my love of juxtaposition. If people know my work, especially Wasted Space, you know I like putting oppositional forces in motion and seeing what happens. That's what we have here: a barbarian forced to be good; an axe that has a thirst for violence (as any axe should) but is also tasked with being a moral compass. All drama is conflict, and this is a way to keep the conflict fresh, by adding these points of internal conflict that are always in opposition with one another.

ZACK: Can we talk inspirations for this one? Obviously, you have to think about Conan when doing a barbarian comic, but what else played into the creation of this one?

MICHAEL: What's weird is that, truth be told, I'm not a huge Conan fan. I've read a bunch — hell, I've even written Conan, back in the Dark Horse days — but I wouldn't call myself a passionate fan. Which is probably for the best; this way, I'm not in too deep and end up losing the perspective you need to create something new out of something old, rather than just homaging it.

What did influence me a ton was Kings of the Wyld, an absolutely amazing fantasy novel by Nicholas Eames. This book just rips. It's funny, it's violent, it's totally nuts--and yet, it has a huge beating heart, great characters, and a perfect story. I love that book. When I read that, I was like "Oh, you can do this? Why didn't anyone tell me?!" That's what I'm aiming for with Barbaric. I want it to be big and loud and ridiculous at times; but underneath it all, there's a real heart and soul, a great mythology, and characters that you care about.

ZACK: I’m a big fan of your ongoing with Vault, Wasted Space, which like this comic has some really great dialogue and a unique voice. How does writing for Barbaric differ from the writing you do for Wasted Space, outside of the obvious one is a space opera the other is about a barbarian?

MICHAEL: Wasted Space was the comic that really cracked comic writing wide open for me. I'd written a bunch before then, and I've written some since, but that was really the first time I really let myself just go on the page. It felt like me for once. The Plot, though it's completely different than Wasted Space, also feels like me — just in a different way.

The thing that I discovered is what you pointed out: voice. Voice is so absolutely critical, and I wish I'd learned this sooner in my career. It's evident that the voice behind Wasted Space and Barbaric and very similar--there's no doubt about that. But I think, with Barbaric, I'm really trying to write something that's more character-centric. Don't get me wrong, I worked my ass off building the characters in Wasted Space — Billy, Molly, and Dust are some of the best I've created, in my opinion. But they always functioned in context of the overall Wasted Space story, and that story was a very specific one. Barbaric is way looser. While there is a broader mythology, it doesn't have that same set, singular conflict (kill the Creator). It's about the world, it's about the characters, and that freedom has allowed me to open up and try some different things, which has been great.

ZACK: Nathan Gooden and Addison Duke are, unsurprisingly, doing fantastic stunning work from start to finish here. There’s some real standout visual setpieces here — from the first two-page spread of that fight to the splash page toward the end when our hero is joined by a companion — and I was wondering what the collaboration process was like on those scenes?

MICHAEL: Like most my comics, I let the artist go where they want to go. My philosophy is simple: I'm not the artist, therefore I don't know what's best when it comes to the art. My scripts are pretty full, but they're just guidelines. I want my collaborators to be free to make their own decisions and make the book as much theirs as it is mine. Granted, the process starts with me, but it ends with them.

That said, Nate and I jammed on this a lot through phone calls, texts, and emails. We just got each other more and more excited, and it was almost like we were trying to one-up each other in what crazy thing we could think of next. What's great is our openness and the fun we've been having has opened up some great things. Like, when Soren pulls those knives out of her tattoos? That's all Nate. He had that idea, ran with it, and it blew me away. And he did that more than once.

That extends to Addison, and Jim. Both tried out new stuff on this book, and it all worked. There's something to be said — and a lot of people should take note of this--about letting creative people have the freedom to go do what they do. Amazing things tend to happen.

ZACK: Finally, this is an obligatory new #1 issue promo question, but I have to ask it — what’s the scope for Barbaric? Are we looking at another ongoing like Wasted Space?

MICHAEL: Well, the reality is that we live in a market-driven economy, and for more Barbaric to exist, it has to perform well. We have to be commercially successful. Now, let me tell you: I have robust plans for this story. Nate and I already have multiple arcs in mind, and a few other tricks up our sleeve as well. I'd love to be able to keep this series going. I want this, ideally, to be my Hellboy. A series or two a year, building a big mythology that just gets bigger as it goes. If the audience comes along with us, we'll take them for one hell of a ride.

Barbaric #1 is available for pre-order now at your local comic shop, ahead of its June 16, 2021 publication date.

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.