I've been writing Cal McDonald so long, more than twenty years now, that you'd think I'd have some kind of steady routine down. But the sad truth is I don't. Sometimes what inspires a Cal McDonald story is something as simple as a title, or, on rare occasion, a piece of art will trigger an idea. That was the case with My Demon Baby. This was back when Tom Jane modeled and Tim Bradstreet did the covers. Tom was holding a prop gun waiting for a shot and his two-year-old, undaunted, ran in, and he scooped her up. Tim was fast and got a shot, and that picture inspired the entire story.
No Peace for Dead Men was an altogether different experience for me, though. I have been planning the events of the story for a long time. It's a pivotal point in Cal and Mo'Lock's story and pretty messed up, if I do say so. What I had to wrestle with was how to get it into a one-shot. I weighed my options and wrote the issue. It was kind of a tough one for me. We lost an old friend and a lot of things changed, but Cal is where I wanted him now, so get ready for the next couple of years being filled with complete and total madness.
The process is very simple. I usually write a few paragraphs and send them to my editor, Scott Allie. He then sends me back twenty pages of notes and off we go! I kid the Allie. I love him, and his notes always spark ideas. Once we’ve agreed on the overall story, I just dive in. Sometimes with Cal I’ll write a prose piece and then use the narrative for captions, but this time I’ve been working closely with Scott and streamlining the whole process. I’m curious to see what fans think of No Peace for Dead Men, because it is definitely the result of a new approach and a new focus by me, Scott, Daniel, Chris and Michelle, and Dark Horse. This time around it’s a real team effort and I think it’s working great!
-Steve Niles