Recently I had the pleasure and privilege of having an interview with Ralph Moran, writer and architect of Ape’s new Dream Reavers series

Eric:   Thank you for talking with us…

Eric:   What was the inspiration for this non-traditional yet action-packed superhero book?  Where did the idea come from?

Raphael:   Really… you hit the nail on the head there.   I wanted to do a non-traditional action packed superhero book from the start.    I could easily do a superhero book with men in tights, but I wanted to make my debut book to be something that was different than anything on the stands.   I’ve been working on this idea for over 15 years now.   From the moment I saw the movie Nightmare on Elm Street I said to myself…There’s so much more you can do with that idea.   That’s how it evolved.

Eric:   Through the first two issues, Dream Reavers has a phenomenal balance of having a fantasy environment and a very intellectual story – as the story teller, was this easy for you? How much research went into the story framework?

Raphael:   Oh no…this was insanely hard.    This was my first mini-series.   I’d never done anything like this.   I probably went through 10 drafts of this story before I settled on this version.   It’s a evolution.    In fact the story had more sci-fi elements in the beginning.   It was really close to the movie Inception, but of course when that movie came out I had to do massive rewrites.  I did years of research on this story, studying the science and theories behind dreams and the afterlife.

Eric:   Of the main four characters, is there one that is your favorite?

Raphael:   I really like Marcus.  He’s a punk who just wants to have fun, but will still do his best to be the hero in any situation.   I think he’s the one with the most depth.   I could do a whole series on him alone.   I really like Aaron too.   He has a really cool twist in about every issue of the series.   I tried to do each issue with a cliffhanger related to him.

Eric:   Heroes are usually only as good as their bad guy – what can you tell us about the Spooks? The Spook King?

Raphael:    Spooks are the living embodiment of evil thoughts in humans.  They feed off human nightmares and fear.  They’re controlled by a mysterious person who calls himself the Spook King.    He’s a Cross between, Freddy Kruger, the Scarecrow, and Machete.

Eric:   How did you get hooked up with Ape?

Raphael:    By accident really.  I came across an ad for a webcomic series they were doing.  I got my story in the series and from there I pitched the series to the editor.

Eric:   How much input did they have on your book?

Raphael:   I had all the creative control on my book, but I probably couldn’t have done it without the great editor at Ape, Kevin Freeman.   He gave me a lot of great input on how the structure the story well.

Eric:   You have a great art team working on your book (I have been a fan of Marc Borstel for a few years now), is the final printed version what you originally envisioned?  Did they help shape the story at all?

Raphael:   I hand picked the entire art team on this series, especially all the guest artists.   Marc is an epically awesome artist.   I want to do every project I do in the future with him if I could.  I think we work well together.

Eric:   Is Dream Reavers planned as an ongoing, or is it more of a series of limited series? (i.e., Hellboy)

Raphael:   It’s a mini-series.  I’m hoping I can do at least two or three more mini-series to close up the whole story, but with the way the comic market is these days…who knows.

Eric:   What kind of comics are on your monthly reading list?

Raphael:   I’m a jaded reader.  I don’t pick up any of the Marvel and DC comics any more.   I just don’t see the appeal of them any more to me.  I’m into a lot of indie stuff, comics like Vic Boone and Breakneck.   Walking Dead and Invincible are always on my monthly read list.

Eric:   Shameless plug time – any other projects in near future?

Raphael:   I have a couple of projects in the pipeline.  Me and Marc are re-teaming on another project called Flee for Arcana Studios.  I’m trying to get a western steampunk series off the ground with 215 ink comics and I’m also working on a third series with Marc that will be even crazier than Dream Reavers.   It’s called Techno-mancer.   It’s a cross between Terminator, Thundercats, and the Prestige.

Eric:   Thanks again for speaking with the Pullbox!

For those of you that missed it here is my original review of ish #1

Dream Reavers is out and watch for a review on issue #2 soon!