Mike Eakins
During my quest to conquer Baltimore Comic Con, I came across Andrew and Battle Quest Comics. Little did I know I would find a brand new world with infectious characters and lore. Comic Watch has the opportunity to sit down with Andrew and grab some insight into Battle Quest Comics, No’madd, so much more.
Comic Watch: Thanks for sitting down with Comic Watch and talking with us today. For those that may not be familiar with your work, tell us about yourself and how you got into comics.
Andrew Kafoury: I’ve worked in story for most of my life, in one-way shape, or form. I started to make my own comic books in 2011. Around 2014 I launched my first self-funded comic. Then I took it to several Comic Cons, and now here we are. In Covid, I decided to rebrand my publishing company as Battle Quest Comics – and now I have three titles that will start going out to stores in mid-2022.
CW: No’madd is such an interesting character, who seems to have the tenacity and desire of Superman, but the killer instinct of Kratos. Where did the story of No’madd come from?
AK: That is an interesting comparison. I never saw No’madd as either Superman or Kratos, I just saw him as a father who left home to go out and try to save the world and earn the greatest glory that was known to his people. But there was something about his desire to earn that glory – the way he put glory before his own family – I think I needed to explore. Why would he do that? What does it mean? I learned that heroes often have a tragic weakness – which is that they don’t know when they stop fighting. They are always off to fight the next battle. They lose balance. The things that matter to them – their soul, their family, their future – it all goes farther and farther away from them the more they put the next battle before anything else. And unless they can see the error of their way, they will lose everything – even their own life. The more I’ve looked into heroes in both stories, and also heroes in real life, I’ve noticed that this pattern of not knowing when to put the fight down repeats itself more often than not. It’s interesting, to me at least.
CW: No’madd uses minimal coloring throughout the book and gives a feeling of looking at a dream sequence. How did that come about and was that the goal for the book?
AK: I wanted the comic to be black and white to make it cheaper to print. But we ended up using grey tones in the first place, and so we had to print in color anyhow because the greyscale printers just didn’t do the job justice. Since we had to print in color, the cover illustrator Lee Moyer decided to paint the whole world in blue-scale. Which is harder to print than greyscale. So…in case you don’t know – blue is a really hard color to print.
CW: There’s a great mix of fantasy, adventure, and technology being used. What or who has been influential in your storytelling?
AK: Sounds trendy, but I like to read comic books and fantasy novels and I like to study cinematic storytelling. I also like to read philosophy and history. I think the story just sort of jumped out.
CW: What should people take away from No’Madd?
AK: That despair is a gift with many layers that often take years to unfold.
CW: Thanks for taking the time to chat with us today. Before we go, are there any appearances you’ll be making in 2022, and what is on the horizon for Battle Quest Comics?
AK: Chicago, Portland, and New York Comic-Con, and Seattle.
