In our ongoing look at how comics are made, we’ve got an inside look at Los Monstruos, a new Dark Horse Comics series launching on May 7th!
Join us as artist Jesús Merino details the series on the upcoming noir monster mystery series.
Without further ado, let’s dive in!
AIPT: Can you detail the name and some character details for each of the designs we’ll be featuring?
Jesus Merino: First off, the main character in the series is, of course, Perry Cutter, P.I.. James [Robinson] and I had a lot of conversations about how the character should be portrayed: not too terrific, but not a cartoon, so I discarded from my mind a lot of versions from different movies and artists that have been working with the werewolf character.
For Perry in his human form, I noted some actors, alive or not, that could be Perry in my mind, and talking with James, we chose the model, more or less, that could fit the character. Of course, that could change from panel to panel, but this way, we had a guide. Same for Perry’s best friend, Clyde, a kind of creature. In this case, James had the character perfectly drawn in his mind, so it was easy to follow his indications.
Then, there’s the love of the wolf, Rosie (tentatively named Betty, for you-know-who); although I tried to design her that way, one word came from James’ description: “Morticia.” A young waitress, Morticia, of course. And with that, I didn’t have the necessity of designing her (and actually, I didn’t do it!). That was done already. And well, the roster of not-so-secondary characters like Ines DeSoto (great idea of a character, James!) and the Night Shift…You know what? Read the comic! Everything is there!
AIPT: Were there any inspirations or starting points for each design we’re featuring?
Merino: In my case, when I read the script and James didn’t have the character perfectly defined, I used the old trick of doing a casting with real actors for the character. If that actor fits, I have in my mind an arsenal of references for the way the characters move across the story. I’m not talking only about the resemblance, but the way he acts or his body language makes a good starting point for the character.
Then I made the character mine and said goodbye to the original reference.
AIPT: With monsters popping up in your book, can you pick a favorite, and possibly a favorite monster movie?
Merino: I have a lot of characters that I would like to work with in future stories, but there are a couple of them that I’d love to appear in the following arcs.
One of them is Perry, of course, but I have to confess that Ines DeSoto, a policewoman, creature, and the character that we love to hate, won my heart as soon as I read about her. She’s not a Creature’s Bride at all! She has her own agenda!
And there’s mobster Ramses Ra, who I LOVED to draw; The Mummy is one of my favorite movies ever (together with Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein. Thanks, James!)
AIPT: If you had to describe your series with a song, what would it be and why?
Merino: There was all the jazz of the fifties that I used for being in the mood, but a song came to my mind again and again that could be the perfect song for the final panel of the story (sorry, boys and girls, you’ll have to read the book for knowing what I’m talking about); that is Midnight in Harlem, from the Tedeschi Trucks Band. Nothing to do with the story and the years, but, well, that’s the way the mind works!
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