KEVIN SHINICK began his career as the host and time-traveling detective of the Emmy winning series Where In Time Is Carmen Sandiego? before becoming an Emmy winning writer (Robot Chicken), a bestselling author (Star Wars: Force Collector) and a celebrated comic book creator (W.E.B. of Spider-Man, The Flash, Guardians of the Galaxy, Batman). Perhaps best known for creating the animated series MAD, Kevin has earned a veritable pop culture pedigree by working alongside George Lucas (Star Wars: Detours), directing Stan Lee (Marvel’s Spider-Man), collaborating with the rock band KISS (Scooby-Doo and KISS: Rock and Roll Mystery) and helping Mike Tyson solve some mysteries (The Mike Tyson Mysteries).
Below, you’ll find a cover reveal for Kevin Shinick’s upcoming project, Host Mortem, in which two game show hosts from the 90s get together to investigate mysteries from the 1940s. Shinick was kind enough to answer a few questions about the story and art over email.
CrimeReads: What was the inspiration for your story?
Kevin Shinick: In a weird bit of circumstance, I feel I’ve been slowly making my way through pop culture to arrive at this graphic novel. A number of years ago I worked with the original Mystery Machine when I wrote the animated feature, Scooby-Doo and KISS: Rock and Roll Mystery. As a comic book writer I’ve written for Batman who we all know is a detective, and I helped create the animated series, The Mike Tyson Mysteries for Adult Swim. So clearly I’ve always had the desire to write an authentic, adult mystery and have been creeping toward it for a while now. Even though the Carmen Sandiego series was for kids, those kids are now adults and probably want a more mature story. I know I do! So this is definitely that. It’s gruesome, it’s grisly and it’s gratifying, because I knew it had to have a legitimate mystery at its core if I wanted to be taken seriously. But I found that telling a murder mystery in graphic novel form is deceptively difficult.
With each comic book I write I like to challenge myself to do three important things: (1) Have something interesting to say within the allotted page count. (2) Create literal page turners to propel the story. (3) Give the artist something they’ve always wanted to draw or challenge them to create pages for which they’ll forever be proud. Those are things you don’t really have to focus on if you’re writing for TV or movies. Those mediums come with their own rules and challenges, but graphic novels give you a chance to really collaborate with some amazing people. My main artist on Host Mortem is Damien Torres (Marvel Crisis Protocol) and Damien has done a phenomenal job of bringing the 1940’s to life in an exciting way that I feel jumps off the page. I also have amazing contributing artists like Andrea Schiavone (Gangsters Versus Monsters), because although Host Mortem is a 180-page graphic novel, it’s also four separate issues with four different points of view. Mine, Greg’s, our fast talkin’ receptionist’s and a mystery narrator. So I wanted each issue to convey something different. As a result, and with the help of my fantastic colorist Pippa Bowland (Judge Dredd, Project Cryptid) and incredible letterer Taylor Esposito (Red Hood and The Outlaws), some issues have different styles, some are black and white, but all convey that noir feeling that says, “This books got moxie!”
CR: Tell us about the cover design – how did you settle on this one? Did y’all have a strong vision for the design from the get-go, or was there a lot of discussion?
KS: In 2019, I wrote a Star Wars novel called Star Wars: Force Collector, and the person who designed the cover was an artist named Tony Foti. Tony and I instantly hit it off and not just because I thought his work on Force Collector was incredible. So when the time came to conceive a cover image for Host Mortem, my first call was to Tony. And yes, I had something in mind when I reached out to him, but if you’re working with a great artist like Tony, they’re going to take your idea and put it through a filter of their own imagination. This is something I rely on when working with various artists. And it’s a delicate balance because you want something specific, but you also want to be surprised. You want the artist to show you things you hadn’t thought of or didn’t take far enough. And that’s what happened with Tony and Host Mortem. I gave him the seed of an idea. I told him the images and feelings I was hoping to elicit and he delivered something so beautiful that I don’t think I ever could’ve put it into words. And that’s what you hope for in a collaboration. You hope you’re getting a mind reader who knows your mind better than you do.
CR: Who are some of the writers or illustrators y’all most admire from comics history?
KS: When I was ten years old, I read my first comic book. It was The Untold Legend of Batman, written by Len Wein and illustrated by Jim Aparo. By the end of it I was not only hooked, but desperate for my parents to be murdered in an alleyway. The story really gripped me and the artwork had me savoring every page.
Over at Marvel, my focus was on Spider-Man. The comics drawn by John Romita Sr. are still burned into my brain to the point that I can remember exactly where I was while reading them. Along the way, I also became a great fan of Neal Adams, Dan Jerguns, Kelley Jones and Ron Frenz, to name a few. At one point I was asked to jump on Superior Spider-Man Team Up as a writer and I was amazed to find that there was never a comic book storyline that had Norman Osborn’s Green Goblin teaming up with Otto Octavious’ Doc Ock. So when I set out to write that particular story in flashback, I was lucky to get Ron Frenz to illustrate those very scenes. It was a dream come true.
Same for Kelley Jones. I had salivated over Kelley’s work on things like Batman’s Knightfall, and years later I got to team up with him to tell a Clayface story as part of Joker’s Asylum 2. On the writer’s side, it’s become very surreal for me because I’ve actually gotten to work with, and in some cases become friends with, some of the great writers who shaped my comic book experience. Writers like Jeff Loeb, Chris Yost, Mark Waid, Geoff Johns and of course, Stan Lee. Who, when I told him we had worked together previously said, “I remember! You wore those same pants!”
CR: What do you wish for readers to know before they dive in?
KS: I want them to know that I’m trying to deliver something that’s one of a kind. A new genre of game show gumshoe that’ll have humor, heroism and homicide. I have hopes of furthering these stories both as graphic novels and as classic novels, but none of it can happen without their support. So if anything I’ve said here today interests you, I’d love for people to follow us on Kickstarter, because the more followers we get the sooner we can launch and the better chance we have for success. You can also go to www.HostMortem.com which will take you to the Kickstarter or you can learn more about my hosting hijinks and what it takes to create this graphic novel over at my free Substack, Game Show Gumshoe. I’m launching this book on Kickstarter because I feel that’s the creative community that will appreciate it most, but also because I want to make sure I can deliver the best version of this book by compensating my artists for the incredible work they’re already delivering. I also want people to know that identical twins don’t have the same fingerprints, but I’m sure I’ll find a way to work that random fact into the story somewhere.
