Devil Dealers begins with Greg Gagné, possibly the world’s greatest gambler, getting into a high-stakes poker game and winning half of all the world’s money. He then runs into other people who have played against the Devil at chess, races, fiddle contests, and more. Together, they’re going after the greatest treasures of this life and the next, all while staying one step ahead Satan!
The vast majority of the time in film, television, games and books, Satan is usually presented as a magnificent bastard with a perfect strategy in his chess game. The Lucifer shown in Ross May’s Devil Dealers is just as cunning as the rest, but this graphic novel stands out from the rest of the pack by going more in depth with its demon chasing protagonists. Ace gambler Greg Gagne is pretty original for a deuteragonist, with the potential to be either a boon or a curse for our heroes.
The artwork, provided by Brett Wood, has just enough realism and enough bounce to propel the action, which could have been overdone in the hands of a lesser talent. Dealers is able to make an impact also with its dialogue and the relationships between its cast, the latter being the most important ingredient in any comic.
Not only can I gladly recommend it, May and Wood were so kind to be interviewed for this article. Here’s their thoughts on the novel, as well as a few other things:
May, Wood: When did you decide the comic book game was for you?
May: I’ve been writing stories since I was very young. Since I love comic books, it was always one type of storytelling I wanted to pursue. Several years ago I got to write for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a childhood favourite of mine and just about everybody else, so I’ve been doing more comics!
Wood: The comic book game is really difficult especially for indie comics and even for the big companies but I’ve been fortunate to work with Ross May on Devil Dealers trade as well as Eric Rampson on the Silver Bullet issues 1-9. I’ve also done some work for Arcana studios. You have to really love to draw to illustrate comics because it really is a difficult medium to do. It takes so much time to illustrate a page let alone a 120 page graphic novel like Devil Dealers.
Wood: Who (or what) were your main artistic influences?
I’ve been influenced by people like Darryl Banks, Will Eisner, and a ton of artists. Really any cool art I see makes me wanna draw stuff. But the cool thing about comics is the challenge of telling a story visually and doing the panels so they make sense to the reader visually. From the script to the finished comic page is a lot tougher than a lot of people may think.
May: As a TMNT writer, how do you feel about the upcoming Liebesman film? Do you think Shredder will be able to properly move around in what we’ve seen of his style of armor?
May: I was around in 2009 to hear the start of talks for this movie. It wasn’t very encouraging then, with producers saying how “unrealistic” their origin was with the mutagen. Yeah, it’s unrealistic, but it’s also called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! I don’t mind changes, but they were nitpicking a lot of fun elements. So no, I don’t have great expectations for this movie, or think the designs are great. I might see it at a cheap theatre. By the way, if any reader hears me say “fun” and think I’m opposed to a darker take on Ninja Turtles, I’m not. Heck, I wrote both dark and light-hearted Ninja Turtles stories, and definitely know their history!
May, Wood: Devil Dealers has a number of references to various Faustian legends and stories, including what I think was a nod to Charlie Daniels and “The Devil Went Down To Georgia”. This might just be our pro wrestling lean talking here, but is Greg Gagne named after the son of Verne Gagne? If not, perhaps the baseball player?
Wood: Yea towards the end of Devil Dealers we have an epic battle of fiddle playing and it was a ton of fun to draw. Who doesn’t like a good fiddle battle with the Devil?
May: No, but you’re not the first person to ask me about this! Gagné is French for “win,” so I thought it would be a good name for this incredibly lucky gambling character. It’s always fun in real life when someone with that names becomes a top player in their field – I think there’s also a NASCAR driver with the name. While Devil Dealers is not a super hero story, you can see I was playing around with the idea that these characters are almost supernaturally good at what they do. Greg wins at cards no matter what. Edmund Knight – knight, a piece in a chess set – is incredibly intelligent and a chessmaster. Fastus makes you question what’s the line between speed and a fictional “super speed,” like for the Flash or Quicksilver. What she can really do is outrace anybody else, but does that mean she has a super power or that she’s just very, very fast? And should we think of someone like Usain Bolt as just incredibly fast, or can we think that he borders on this fictional idea of super speed?
May: More than anything, I hope people take away that this is a fun story! While the subject matter is about damned souls and fighting the Devil, people have been quite surprised that it’s a fun adventure. After that I hope readers appreciate all the connections to the Devil from different sources. Things like the blues player Tommy Johnson, and the Devil’s portrayals in the Old Testament, that pop up in this story in neat ways.
Wood: I hope readers are entertained by Devil Dealers and feel that they got their moneys worth out of the book. I think Ross wrote a great story and a feel good story at that. I enjoyed reading it quite a bit, of course I may be a bit biased!