Interview: Ken Haeser - The Living Corpse

I got the chance to speak with Ken Haeser at NY Comic Con about his book The Living Corpse and the interview was full of zombie love and fear. Read on to get the scoop on the book and the upcoming film.

Omnicomic: How did you get into comics?

Ken Haeser: Actually, I went to the Joe Kubert School.

Omnicomic: So that was always your intention?

Ken Haeser: Yeah I always wanted to draw comics.

Omnicomic: So how did you get with Zenescope?

Ken Haeser: Well we were pitching the book, and it actually got picked up to be a movie first before a comic. So it was kind of ass backwards. Computer generated movie that they're actually working on right now.

Omnicomic: Is that going to be based on an existing story or something new?

Ken Haeser: It’s kind of like an origin story. We did a zero issue and issue 1 picks up 25 years later, so the film will kind of fill in everything in between.

Omnicomic: How would you describe this comic briefly?

Ken Haeser: it’s a zombie comic that's not really a zombie comic. He's the hero of the book. We're putting a twisted spin on all the monster stuff like that.

Omnicomic: The book seems to have a certain style, a certain sense of humor to it. What’s your inspiration for keeping it fresh?

Ken Haeser: It’s pretty much us being sarcastic. When we first started thinking about the book we were thinking this zombie wouldn't be very happy. He's pretty pissed off most of the time and sarcastic.

Omnicomic: What's your favorite part about working on the book?

Ken Haeser: Being able to do pretty much whatever we want with it. If we want to do a Frankenstein story we can do a Frankenstein story. Do all the stuff we always wanted.

Omnicomic: What's the most challenging part?

Ken Haeser: Trying to keep it fresh, keep the humor up. Just trying to get it out there because it’s kind of a tough sell. A horror comic that's kind of cartoony.

Omnicomic: Anything else you're working on?

Ken Haeser: Supposedly we're doing a thing for Heavy Metal magazine, but that's still kind of up in the air.

Omnicomic: Real life zombie situation, what's your best zombie tip?

Ken Haeser: Run really fast and hide in the attic. Actually, I would just get bitten and just have fun with it.

Omnicomic: How true do you try to stay to the zombie mythology?

Ken Haeser: Well we made him smart, but at the same time he's tied to the graveyard. But he also fights some different adversaries, such as priests and Wendigo. Its fun because we can put him in a situation and we know the character so well that know what's going to happen.

Omnicomic: Are you working with the CGI folks directly for the film?

Ken Haeser: Yeah. We did the character designs, and then Shoreline Entertainment took over from there. They're saying 2009 for a release date, and they’re supposed to start animation the end of next month.

Omnicomic: Best zombie movie?

Ken Haeser: Night of the Living Dead. I could watch that over and over again.

Omnicomic: Yeah the zombies running in the remake got me though.

Ken Haeser: Yeah you've got to have the zombies running slow, but sometimes the fast can work. Like the Friday the 13th remake has Jason running which kind of scares me.