Next Friday, July 8, WE WILL BURY YOU co-writer Zane Grant and artists Jonathan Spies and Adam Fletcher unleash their new collaborative DIY creation, a web comic brilliantly titled DETECTIVE WARLOCK, WARLOCK DETECTIVE. Which, as you might imagine, is about the adventures of a Warlock who happens to be a detective, with the last name of Warlock. Grant spoke to Fango about the mayhem readers can expect from the weekly series.

FANGORIA: Just what is DETECTIVE WARLOCK, where'd it come from?

ZANE GRANT: Detective Warlock is an occult investigator, whose last name happens to be Warlock. He's recently moved his practice back to his small hometown in East Texas, and he's dealing with that transition and the evil forces that have taken root. He's trying to figure out who is causing all the supernatural disruption and ends up in some strange situations. He fights a graveyard hag at a skating rink, battles a demonic black knight at a haunted Medieval Times-like entertainment facility, and exorcises some ghosts who have taken over a haunted house at the State Fair. Through all that, he befriends Jackson Stewart, an outsider cop, and Tina Hesser, a goth teen, who help him out.

The idea came to me last winter when I was living in a rat-infested apartment in Brooklyn. I couldn't sleep because every time I'd turn out the lights the rats would come in the room. I thought I was going crazy (but I ended up killing one with a crowbar, so they were real).  Anyway, I'd been reading a lot of “everyday wizard” comics, like DOCTOR STRANGE and HELLBLAZER and watching a lot of old crime films to pass the nights. I thought the mis-connects between the comic wizards' magic and having to explain or hide what was actually going on from normal people was sometimes unintentionally funny. There's one DOCTOR STRANGE that stands out, where he's stopping a robbery and has forgotten to change out of his wizard clothes, and the store clerk notices and thinks he' weird, so he makes himself invisible. A man who can make himself invisible can't remember to take his cloak off before he leaves the house? Amazing. So, the DETECTIVE WARLOCK stories assume that people know supernatural things exist, like Teen Wolves and Sorcery are real, but they can't really wrap their heads around it, so they need Warlock to solve those kinds of problems.

I told the idea to my friend Jonathan Spies, and he agreed to do the art. He came on as a co-creator and developed the looks of the characters, giving Warlock that Columbo meets Harpo feel, and the town, which is derivative of places in my hometown of Marshall, Texas, near where Joe R. Lansdale still lives. I brought on my friend Adam Fletcher to take over colors and letters, and I'm happy about how it's turned out. It's been fun to work on things with friends who live in my neighborhood, which I think is sort of rare for collaborative comics these days.

FANG: What can people expect from its tone?

GRANT: It's a horror comedy, not too dark.  The violence ranges from slapstick to more over-the-top gore. It's close to DYLAN DOG in that way, but Perry Warlock is less handsome and more chaotic, which takes the stories in a different direction.   

FANG: How long will each weekly piece be?

GRANT: Right now, we're doing a scene a week, which ends up being two to five pages.

FANG: Is the plan to keep it as a web comic?

GRANT: I like how accessible web comics are and the freedom of a DIY project like this, so I'm happy with those aspects of the form. I have virtually infinite space on DetectiveWarlock.com, so printing cost isn't a limitation. The only script limit is really Adam and Jonathan's time. In the end, though, we just want to make comics, so, we're not opposed to working in print.

FANG: How much does Warlock lore factor in?

GRANT: When I was really young, I remember a kid telling me that this old man in the neighborhood was a warlock, and he hated children. That was like 1985.  He also told me werewolves were real and that his dad, who was a cop, carried silver bullets. What weird things to say. I don't think people who self-identify as warlocks hate children, and I don't believe in werewolves. That's sort of at the core of the comic, those contemporary unfounded appropriations of folk monsters, so we weren't too hard on sticking to warlock truth. All that to say Julian Sands is unaffiliated with the project, but we do draw from folk tales, occult imagery, and mind-altering substances.

DETECTIVE WARLOCK, WARLOCK DETECTIVE is throwing a launch party (check the flyer below) on July 8 at Book Thug Nation in Brooklyn (100 N. 3 St) that will feature both “enchanted libations” and “cursed artifact raffle’!

You can see a preview and catch all upcoming issues of DETECTIVE WARLOCK at its official site. For more of Grant’s work, check out Fango’s talk with him and WE WILL BURY YOU co-writer and sister, Brea Grant right here. 

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