With the fifth issue finally just being released in late October and a trade paperback out Wednesday to collect that first arc, writer Ron Marz and artist Lee Moder’s Shinku seems to be back on track after a long hiatus between issues.The story, which follows the last surviving member of a samurai clan dedicated to hunting a rival gang of Japanese vampires, was one of the best new series introduced in 2011 and the lack of movement on it through most of 2012 was disappointing. Still, each issue that came out has been more fascinating and beautiful than the one before it, leaving a general sense that while the comic might not be out as frequently as we’d like, it’s worth the wait.Will that wait be a bit less in the future? We spoke with Marz about the series’s past, its future and what it’s like to try and win back your own fans.This is a SPOILER-FILLED conversation. Catch up on the series here before reading on.Five issues is arguably a shorter-than-usual arc, considering that the Big Two seem to use six as a standard. Was Shinku always planned to be a five-issue arc or did the delays play into it?No, we were always planning for each collection to be five issues. Sometimes you’ll see four issues collected into a trade paperback, but I think that really ends up being too slim a volume. We went for five issues because that seemed the right length for this arc, it allowed us to get the collection out a little sooner, and it allowed us to have a good chunk of “DVD extras” in the book.It certainly can’t hurt that doing so keeps the production cost down, so the trade paperback can cost a little less and still make some money.Well, everyone on the creative team is working for free already, so it wasn’t really a question of production costs. But, collecting five issues, rather than six does give you the opportunity to keep the cover price down a little bit more.It’s really too bad you didn’t have the opportunity to put undies-wearing Shinku on the cover of #5 – That probably would have driven a lot of interest!Honestly, that cover with Shinku attacking the vampires under the temple bell was actually completed before we knew where the climactic battle was going to take place. Lee Moder drew that image, and then I thought, “that bell has to be a big part of the climax.”How did Asano figure out that Davis is of such strategic importance? Did I forget something?Asano and his vampires have obviously been keeping tabs on Davis, realizing that someone with his expertise could pose a threat to them. Hence the attempt on his life in issue #1, which is how he’s introduced to Shinku.
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