A Cop and a Zombie Walk Into a Bar...Talking Slate & Ashe With Ethan Murphy

Sorry, don't have a joke to finish that headline with.What I do have is an interview with Slate & [...]

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Sorry, don't have a joke to finish that headline with. What I do have is an interview with Slate & Ashe Creator Ethan Murphy. Slate & Ashe is a new comic that pairs a zombie with a cop. Together they fight the zombie hordes... that is if Ethan Murphy's Kickstarter succeeds. As of writing this it's looking pretty good. Ethan has $2,913 pledged of $6,500 goal and 25 days to go. Here's a quick run down from the campaign website: The Who On the surface, Vickrum Slate and Marlon Ashe seem like two completely different people that have absolutely nothing in common and no middle ground. But the reality is, Slate and Ashe are just two people from different walks of life that are both trying to find their way and hopefully a little redemption. And in the end, what better way to form a brotherly bond than through bizarre hardship and excessive suffering? The Cop What Marlon Ashe lacks in size he more than makes up for with lip. If he can't shoot his way out of a situation with his "Switch-lock" than he'll just shoot off his mouth. This cop rarely plays nice with the living or the living impaired. [caption id="attachment_91503" align="aligncenter" width="300"]

The Cop

The Cop[/caption] The Zombie Dr. Vickrum Slate is as smart as he is cynical giving all new meaning to the phrase "the living dead." Armed with little more than a dry sense of humor and even drier skin, he moves faster than a jack rabbit on crack. Bullets and raging monsters both find him impossible to catch. [caption id="attachment_91504" align="aligncenter" width="289"]

The Zombie

The Zombie[/caption] Give me the short sell on why I should donate to your kickstarter. Ethan Murphy: If you give to the Slate & Ashe campaign, you will help usher in the next phase of the zombie genre. For the first time ever, Slate & Ashe gives readers the opportunity to see things from both sides of a war: The living and the undead. You'll get to find out what life would be like as a zombie. ComicBook.com: What are your plans for distribution after the initial run from the Kickstarter? Looking at digital platforms like MonkeyBrain? Murphy: We're currently set up on IndyPlanet.com for distribution of hard copies and the first issue is already available for download on iTunes. We also have digital distribution for further issues set up with MonkeyPipeStudios.com. ComicBook.com: Does Slate and Ashe have a planned story arc to the end? Murphy: Yes, we've fully mapped out the first story arc. It will be six issues. We're currently in production on the third issue and I've written the scripts for the first four books. I've also outlined most of the next story arc. We'd like for this book to be an ongoing series. ComicBook.com: You discuss your love of all kinds of storytelling in the Kickstarter video, why did you go for comic books? Why not film or fiction books? Murphy: I actually went to film school with the goal of becoming a screenwriter. In fact, I write all my comic scripts in the standard screenplay format with Final Draft. But I quickly realized that what a writer puts on the page rarely ends up on the screen. This makes comic books a lot more gratifying. You get the chance to see your creation take shape and it remains your creation. Not to mention the fact that I grew up reading comics and have always wanted to make my own. ComicBook.com: Why do you think that comics attract the as you say "outcasts, misfits and oddballs" (clearly no negative intention meant... as we're all in that group)? Murphy: Comics tend to have characters dealing with unfavorable circumstances. Characters that are desperate for an opportunity to change things for the better. These opportunities usually present themselves in fantastic or miraculous ways. Readers can relate with someone given the chance to improve their own life and appreciate the idea of using a new power to help others. I also think that comics give hope to the downtrodden by reminding us that there is still some good in the world despite all the evidence to the contrary. ComicBook.com: What are your comic influences? How did these influence Slate and Ashe? Murphy: My greatest influences as a writer are probably The X-Men and Batman and Robin. The X-Men are people cursed with power and habitually hunted by society. They have every right to retaliate or abandon humanity but instead they put themselves in harm's way for the betterment of mankind. The X-Men's inherent sense of responsibility is a theme throughout Slate & Ashe. And like most comic fans, I too love Batman and Robin. I love the idea of just two men watching each other's backs as they take on an entire city. Slate & Ashe's partnership is very reminiscent of the original dynamic duo working together as a sum greater than its parts. ComicBook.com: Favorite zombie film? Murphy: My favorite zombie film is 28 Weeks Later. I love the idea of society pulling out all the stops to fight the infected with everything they got. I find it more engaging to witness a full-fledged war between the healthy and the infected as opposed to seeing one side simply try to survive the other. ComicBook.com: Do you think the success of The Walking Dead has been good or bad for the genre? Why? Murphy: The Walking Dead has essentially been a good thing for the genre. It's helped to generate a lot of interest and people are starting to see that you can tell a compelling, character driven story amidst the dystopian carnage. People are now open to the idea of a zombie comic having substance and not just mindless violence. Pun intended. Here's an exclusive excerpt from issue one:

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