If you’re a fan of Barbaric from Vault Comics, you’ll know this year is a big one for the super gory fantasy action series. In fact, the creators cut right to the point when they called 2023 the “Year of the Axe.” (See what I did there?) We’ve already seen at least one new title from the extended project in Queen of Swords, and now the book’s “showrunners,” writer Michael Moreci and artist Nathan Gooden have announced the latest such offering, Barbaric: Wrong Kind of Righteous #1.
This latest Barbaric book sees Moreci and Gooden joined by writer Nichola Eames, author of the beloved fantasy title Kings of the Wyld. The double-sized one-shot brings us back to an earlier adventure featuring Owen, Soren, and Axe as they come into conflict with “Sir Borys the Righteous Paladin and his trusty, talking Flail.” (That’s right, yet another talking weapon, baby!) The resulting story is more of what we expect from Barbaric: endless gore, top-notch banter, and more fight scenes than you can shake a stick (or axe) at.
Barbaric: Wrong Kind of Righteous #1 is due out November 29. In the meantime, Moreci, Gooden, and Eames were kind enough to form their own party to answer a few of our questions. That includes how they’ve all influenced one another, where Flail ranks, and what comes next for the Barbaric universe and “Year of the Axe.”
Courtesy of Vault Comics.
AIPT: Michael and Nathan: a little birdie told me that Barbaric was inspired by Nicholas’ Kings of the Wyld. What kind of influence did that book have specifically?
Nathan Gooden: Yes! Mike had mentioned reading Kings of the Wyld as a good starting point for us. Read it and loved it immediately. For me specifically, It really helped me develop the attitude of the world and got the ball rolling on character designs.
Michael Moreci: In addition to being a terrific read, what really draws me to that book is the voice. Nicholas cultivated this amazing voice that’s so alive — it’s fresh, funny, but also incredibly tender when it needs to be. So much fantasy relies on maps and magic systems and long, dull histories, and Nicholas throws things all out the window and replaces it with heart and humor (and profanity). I learned everything from his work.
AIPT: Nicholas, what were your thoughts when you first saw/read Barbaric? What does it add or maybe do differently than some other fantasy tales?
Nicholas Eames: Well, to be honest I was predisposed to like Barbaric, since Michael mentioned he’d been inspired by my own work (among many others), and once I dove in it was love at first sight. It pokes fun at the genre in a really hilarious way, and while it has everything you might expect from a tale called Barbaric – violence, gore, twisted humor – it also has characters you can empathize with and really get behind.
Courtesy of Vault Comics.
AIPT: Michael and Nathan, what does Nicholas add in terms of creating something fresh/novel within the Barbaric-verse?
NG: Nicholas really helped to enrich the history of the world, and added a layer of world building that left Mike and I asking, “Why didn’t we think of that!?” I cannot describe how much story Mike and nicholas were able to squeeze into a one shot. It is a complete journey.
MM: What’s best about Nicholas in this endeavor is how much he clearly and plainly understands what makes Barbaric tick. It makes sense since his work is formative to it, but he came in with a thorough understanding and also amazing ideas on where to take these characters.
AIPT: What was the collaborative process like between this group?
NE: For me, easy. It was my first foray into writing comics, and I couldn’t have asked for better or more supportive collaborators. Michael was readily available to offer advice or feedback as the story unfolded, and Nathan absolutely rocked every page. It also didn’t hurt that our first edit letter was pretty much just gushing praise. (Thanks, Adrian!) The entire experience was a lot of fun, and something I’d love to do again.
NG: Personally, I think this group has a bit of magic going. So I hope there are many more collabs to come. Nicholas has an open invitation with me, and very helpful with facial expressions and gestures. Really helped us land the punchline on some jokes.
Courtesy of Vault Comics.
AIPT: How does Wrong Kind of Righteous connect to the rest of the universe? Does this feel like a minor evolution for the look and feel of this world?
MM: I’m going to be very clear about this, and I’m just blowing smoke:
Wrong Kind of Righteous is essential to the Barbaric mythos. Flail, the talking weapon we meet in this story? It is not the last time we’re going to see him, believe me.
AIPT: Similarly, this book revisits the old gang of Axe-Owen-Soren. Why does that (weird, bloody) team and their dynamic continue to prove so compelling.
NE: As someone who watches a ton of anime, there’s some special alchemy in a trio, which a lot of manga and anime feature. In this case, Owen plays the part of our dour and reluctant hero, while Soren’s voice is sardonic and (more often than not) entirely reasonable. Axe…Well, he’s a maniac, so it’s always fun to watch (or write) these three very disparate characters interacting with one another.
AIPT: You can’t have a Barbaric story without a sentient weapon. How does Flail rank or compare to the likes of Ga’Bar and Axe?
NG: Flail is definitely at the bottom right now. He is very powerful, but what good is a weapon that doesn’t want to fight? Owen has no use for a weapon like that at the moment. Hopefully that will change, when the time comes and they need him. Who doesn’t want to see Owen duel wielding, weapons arguing with each other?
Courtesy of Vault Comics.
MM: Yeah, right now Flail is the worst – haha. But like I said above — this isn’t the last time we’ll see him, and he’s not always going to be so reluctant to crack skulls…
AIPT: The issue also introduces Sir Borys the Righteous Paladin. Why is he an interesting addition to this series and what it normally says about ethics and morality?
NE: What I like about the Borys/Flail combo is that it’s pretty much the antithesis of Owen and Axe. Owen has no desire whatsoever to impose his will upon others. In fact, he’d rather people just leave him the heck alone. Borys, on the other hand, takes perverse delight in punishing those who don’t measure up to his absurdly strict moral code. Their weapons couldn’t be more different either: Axe relishes the taste of bloody violence. He embraces what he is with fiendish glee. Flail, however, hates being put to use. The sight of blood makes him (quite literally) sick. It’s almost as if Axe and Flail found their way into the wrong hands, which makes a clash between these four characters all the more funny and interesting.
AIPT: No one does violence like Barbaric, and this book especially goes hard. What kind of back-and-forth or plotting goes into being as bloody and brutal as possible?
NE: Oh, I think this part came fairly easy to all involved. When you’ve got carte blanche to go full gore, it’s fun for all involved. It’s really cool (especially as a first-timer) to write the basics of a grisly scene and seeing it come back in all its hand-drawn glory. Nathan did an incredible job with this book, as did our colorist, and the battle scenes in this book are absolutely epic.
NG: This one was definitely fun to draw. Sir Borys is such a brutal man, so I had to really match that brutality with the art. Whenever you get the chance to draw a Giant’s head exploding, you take it.
Courtesy of Vault Comics.
AIPT: Is there something about this story – battling a judgy hypocrite – that feels extra relevant today? Can this book be timely despite/because of its unrelenting insanity and gore?
MM: You can so, sure. I mean, we never really intend to go topical (I find that to be generally banal), but it’s surely on our minds, safe to say, given that we’re living in the new age of snake oil salesman dominating so many facets of life.
AIPT: Nicholas, you also reportedly have another Vault project coming sometime in 2024. Anything you can tease/outright spoil about that?
NE: I do have another project with Vault, and I’m so psyched for it. It’s called Bay City Slam, and is – setting-wise – vastly different from anything I’ve done before (think cyberpunk but with less dystopian themes and considerably more laser beams and robot dinosaurs). At its core, however, it’ll be fairly similar to my previous work in all the best ways: fun, funny (I hope), action-packed, and featuring a cast of characters whose stories I can’t wait to explore.
AIPT: 2023 has been all about the “Year of the Axe.” Michael and Nathan, how do you think this “event” has progressed? Has it been a success in your eyes?
NG: I think it has! It really showed us that we have a strong and loyal fan base. We didn’t quite get as many issues done as we wanted, but we still managed to get a lot done. We have a ton more already in the works, and are excited to keep this story moving forward.
MM: I’ve been really proud of how the Year of the Axe has unfolded. Being able to progress our main story in Hell to Pay, do our first spinoff with Queen of Swords, bring in Nicholas — a fantasy superstar – for this one-shot, and close it off with what’s going to be our most brutal volume yet, Born in Blood…that makes for a solid year, in my opinion.
Courtesy of Vault Comics.
AIPT: Speaking of other books/stories, what comes after this one-shot? And, maybe a bit more specifically, how does it align in terms of tone or storyline? Where is Barbaric headed?
NG: So in terms of print schedule, I have really come to love this Barbaric main arc, followed by a one shot. Keeps Barbaric comics in people’s hands without breaking my back with work. It also allows other artists and writers to play in the world. In 2024, we have two more arcs planned as well as two more one-shots. Even a cross-over event with a very popular indie character.
In terms of story, I’ll let Mike tease.
MM: Next up is Born in Blood, which is going to be our darkest storyline yet. Owen returns to his Barbaric lands, and the homecoming is not a welcome one. It’s going to launch our series into a big 2024 — which, by the way, includes another one-shot, the Barbaric/Deathstalker one-shot — and beyond. 2023 was a big year for Barbaric, but I’m aiming to top it in 2024.
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