All of the trappings of the horror and noir genres go together so well that it is kind of shocking that the genres aren’t utilized more to tell stories filled with hard-boiled detectives and creatures of the night. If this is the flavor that you are looking for, look no further than Steven S. DeKnight and Leno Carvahlo’s Humanoids graphic novel Hard Bargain.
Hard Bargain (currently available to back on Kickstarter) is a dark supernatural thriller that follows P.I. Frank Harding in 1940s Los Angeles in a classic noir tale filled with criminals and grifters, and also demons, monsters, and other types of supernatural beings.
DeKnight is no stranger to these genres (as well as many others) as a writer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, writer, director, and producer on Angel, Smallville, and Dollhouse, the creator and showrunner of Spartacus, as well as the executive producer and showrunner of season one of the Marvel/Netflix series Daredevil (he also found time to write Marvel’s Wastelanders in his free time).
We spoke to DeKnight about Hard Bargain and how he approached the horror noir mash-up in this exclusive interview.
Why does horror and hard boiled fiction work so well together?
Steven S. DeKnight: I think the most effective horror often has an element of mystery driving it. What’s wrong with Regan in The Exorcist? Who is the mysterious little girl in the video in The Ring and why does she want to kill everyone? Why are all of those strange events plaguing the Graham family in Hereditary? Hard-boiled crime fiction, of course, has that mystery element woven into its very DNA. These intersecting storytelling engines just naturally complement each other in a very organic way which makes for a crackling good yarn.
You set Hard Bargain in the 1940s. Was there ever a thought to place the story in a different era and why/why not?
DeKnight: For me, Hard Bargain couldn’t take place anywhere other than 1940s Los Angeles. The reason for this is the deep influence of Raymond Chandler’s hardboiled private detective books and short stories centering around iconic gumshoe Philip Marlowe. At its core, Hard Bargain is an homage to these wonderful, razor-sharp tales set in that exact same location.
How would you describe your detective Frank Harding?
DeKnight: Frank Harding is your classic private eye. A two-fisted slab of beef with a cynical shell protecting a wounded heart. A flawed man trying to make the world a better place even though he’s pretty sure it’s all going to hell no matter what anyone does. But he just won’t stop trying no matter how much he gets beaten down. Because that’s what you do when faced with the evil that men – and in this case, demons – do. You keep fighting.
You’ve written in a number of mediums. How do you find writing a comic similar and/or different?
DeKnight: All storytelling for me centers around interesting characters crafted to engage the audience. So that part of the writing covers all the mediums I’ve worked in. Next is structure, or more specifically the three act structure, which again pretty much covers how I generally approach plotting out a story regardless of whether it’s for comics, television, or film.
The biggest difference in writing for comics is the math. First, you have to very carefully lay out how many panels you have per page. You don’t want to have too many because that won’t give your artist enough elbow room to work their magic. Next, you have to calculate where the page turns are for your big reveals so they’re not spoiled as the reader goes along. Finally, you need to stick the landing in regards to the number of pages you are allowed per issue (or chapter, in the case of Hard Bargain). Usually it’s 20 or 22 pages, although I was fortunate enough for the good people at Humanoids to give me 28 pages per chapter for Hard Bargain.
What does Leno Carvalho bring to the material?
DeKnight: There would be no Hard Bargain without the incredible work of Leno Carvahlo. I absolutely tortured my friends at Humanoids for over a year searching for just the right artist to bring this first volume of Frank Harding adventures to life. They sent my samples from amazing artists around the world, and I’d be thrilled to work with any of them on future projects. But for Hard Bargain, I was looking for something very specific which I can only describe as a 1940s pulp aesthetic meets the lurid, Grand Guignol of the old EC horror comics. When they sent me Leno’s work, I damn near levitated out of my chair. He just nailed that look I was going for right out of the box.
Many fans have very fond memories of seeing Daredevil for the first time on Netflix. Any particular memories that stand out about the production?
DeKnight: Daredevil was such a labor of love for everyone involved. I’ll never forget when I first saw Charlie Cox step onto set in his red suit. There was an audible gasp of excitement from the crew because we were all such huge Daredevil fans. All of us were little kids that day remembering what inspired us to get into the business in the first place.
If you had to do a mash-up between a classic monster movie and film noir from the 1930s/1940s, which would you combine and why?
DeKnight: You really can’t go wrong with a mash-up between Dracula and any Philip Marlowe movie like The Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep, or Murder, My Sweet. A two-fisted, hardboiled gumshoe going up against the greatest vampire ever to grace the silver screen? Take my money. Actually, if I had to venture a guess, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone has already done this because it’s such an inherently intriguing idea. The closest I can think of off the top of my head would be the old Kolchak: The Night Stalker TV movie where he investigates a vampire in Las Vegas. Very much worth a watch if you’ve never seen it.
Upcoming projects?
DeKnight: So glad you asked! I have a horror graphic novel called Beneath coming out in August from Comixology (physical print edition coming in 2025 from Dark Horse) with art and colors by the incomparable Michael Gaydos, co-creator of Alias with Brain Michael Bendis. In television, I have the Spartacus spinoff series House of Ashur premiering sometime next year from Starz and Lionsgate. I hope your readers will check them both out!
Hard Bargain is available to back on Kickstarter until Thursday, July 25 at midnight. There is also a Humanoids 50th Anniversary tier that includes a deluxe hardcover slipcase edition of Hard Bargain and the deluxe slipcase hardcover edition of Arkadi and the Lost Titan.
