ComicalOpinions.com was fortunate to catch up with writer David Hazan on his new project, NOTTINGHAM, available from Mad Cave Studios on March 3, 2021. We’ve been doubly fortunate to receive an advance copy of the inaugural issue, and we’ll have a review up for our readers shortly.
In the meantime, let’s get to our 7 Questions with writer David Hazan.
1. For anyone who’s not familiar with your work, what are the works you most want to be known for?
Nottingham is my first full length comics work, so it’s where I’d recommend anybody to start! But, I have a free short comic that’s available on my website and more stuff in the pipeline, so stay tuned – and go to www.davidhazan.com to keep up to date.
2. What was your original elevator pitch to Mad Cave on the concept of NOTTINGHAM?
I had to go searching for this one, but it’s almost exactly what we ended up soliciting:
“In this revisionist retelling of the Robin Hood legend, the Sheriff of Nottingham is a medieval cop on the trail of a serial killer with a penchant for murdering the tax man. The investigation puts the Sheriff on a collision course with, the Merry Men, a terrorist organization hidden deep in Sherwood forest, and their leader, a man of mystery known only as Hood.”
3. The art for issue #1 is very dramatic and gritty. How did you connect with Shane Connery Volk on this story to capture the aesthetic you wanted?
Shane and I were both winners of the Mad Cave Studios 2019 Talent Search, so once I had settled on this book with Mad Cave, Shane got straight to drawing and the book started to come to life. There wasn’t much iteration on the aesthetic, as Shane outdid my expectations from the very start. The man knows how to draw a frown, what can I say?
4. Nottingham is roughly similar to the Robin Hood legend that most people would recognize, but this version definitely has a harder edge. It’s been compared to Robin Hood in the Game of Thrones universe. What inspired your take on the classic legend?
It was a number of things. First – I’ve always been a fan of the legend, but I’m also a cynic. I think people would, in this day and age, find it very hard to believe that a man with station and privilege such as Robin would go so far out of his way as to start a peasant revolution. Beyond that, it was a lot of storytelling pragmatism on my part. I knew I had to pitch a noir, but the idea of a conventional, hard-boiled detective story didn’t speak to me. I got to thinking about the roots of the noir genre and how I could apply that, and extrappolate that, into a medieval setting. The Third Crusade is our corollary to post-World War II anxiety here. The soldiers bringing home the horrors of war aren’t exactly primed to be “Merry”.
There are also other craft reasons for doing this. When you only have five issues, an established cast of characters allows you to shortcut the worldbuilding and dive straight into the action. I also love leaning into what a reader thinks they know and then taking a hard, hard left.
5. The first issue of Nottingham is similar enough to the original legend to still be recognizable. Does the series continue in that vein or do you plan on building a completely new legend?
I don’t think we’re particularly wedded to the legend. It’s definitely more set dressing than it is plot-defining in Nottingham. When you’re playing with history and myth, but twisting it, you get the liberty to pick the parts you like and use them and discard what you don’t want. Suffice it to say we’re playing in our own sandbox and there are plenty of surprises in store.
6. What are you most excited for readers to know about Nottingham, either in issue #1 or what’s coming up in the series?
What I’m most excited for readers to know are things that I can’t tell them yet. There’s murder and mayhem and betrayal. That’s the pitfall of writing suspense and mystery – I can’t say much without spoiling the experience! We definitely touch on some important and often overlooked bits of history that I’m excited for readers to discover, however.
7. What’s next for David Hazan?
I’ve got some anthology work coming out from an Australian publisher at some point in the near future. Beyond that, I have a Kickstarter planned for later in the year, but there are five issues of Nottingham and a trade to talk about first…so 2021 is going to be a busy year.
We wish to extend our thanks to David Hazan for taking the time to answer our 7 Questions. If this title interests you, don’t forget to check out Nottingham #1 from Mad Cave Studios on March 3, 2021
Also, let us know what you think about an alternate take on the Robin Hood legend in the Comments, and please share this interview using the social media links below.