Blog

The Occultist is a series I’ve talked about before here on Comic Attack so it should come to no surprise that when given the opportunity to do an interview with writer Tim Seeley, I took it. He was able to answer my weird questions for your entertainment so I hope you enjoy.

Comic Attack: Do you do any research into the occult for story ideas and was it something you studied before writing these stories?

Tim Seeley: Yeah, I’d done some research before for Hack/Slash, but I really dove in for OCCULTIST. I read a whole bunch of websites and blogs about Out-of-Body-Experiences, and Astral Projection, as well various afterlife mythologies. I’m sure my web history looked particularly “New Agey” after working on this book!

CA: Do you have a favorite character in the series? If so, who?

TS: I like them all. I think it’s probably easiest to write Detective Anna Melendez for some reason. I grew pretty affectionate of The Providences over the course of the series. Not enough to not kill them horribly, but still…

CA: Will Rob ever take to looking into fantasy books and games for ideas on how to use the power of The Sword or does he think he’s too cool for that?

TS: Ha, well, his mom never let him read that stuff growing up, so he’s probably due for some Dungeons and Dragons guidebooks soon.

CA: Who would you want to have Rob and company crossover with, regardless of legality or sense?

TS: Hellboy! Also, let’s say “Masters of the Universe,” just because I would take any excuse to work on He-Man.

CA: How great would a Melendez solo series and/or one-shot be?

TS: Hot lady detective who specializes in occult crimes. Hell, it worked for my Witchblade run…let’s do it. Dark Horse, call me.

CA: Did you have input on what the dead would look like or did you let Norton run wild?

TS: I know enough to let Mike and Steve Morris (who designed the Reaper) just have fun.

CA: If there was an Occultist action figure, what would it do and what kind of accessories would it have?

TS: He would totally come with a a green translucent flying disc, and a orange translucent book (The Sword) of course! Shit, now i really want one.

CA: If you got to use The Sword for a day what would you do with it?

TS: All the things Rob wouldn’t do. That book would drop me like a hot turd.

CA: If you could cast The Occultist show, do you know who you would want as Rob and Anna?

TS: For Rob, I’m going with Anton Yelchin, who was in Star Trek, but also, more importantly, the Fright Night remake.

As for Anna, I’m casting Stephanie Beatriz from Brooklyn Nine Nine! On man, that’s such a good idea. Shit, now I really want one.

CA: You’re off to save the day, what dinosaur do you ride in on?

TS: I let a baby T-Rex ride on my back, just to mess with people.

Dang, I’m right there with him on that Occultist TV show. That could be awesome. Well there you have it folks. I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did interviewing. Thanks to Tim Seeley and Dark Horse for this opportunity and see you next time. Go read The Occultist!

Dr. Alexander Bustos

drbustos@comicattack.net