{"id":3524,"date":"2019-08-14T18:55:20","date_gmt":"2019-08-14T22:55:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/?p=3524"},"modified":"2019-08-14T18:55:20","modified_gmt":"2019-08-14T22:55:20","slug":"dot-ep102-writer-pornsak-pichetshote-and-artist-aaron-campbell-on-xenophobia-and-horror-in-infidel-plus-new-music-from-landroid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/2019\/08\/14\/dot-ep102-writer-pornsak-pichetshote-and-artist-aaron-campbell-on-xenophobia-and-horror-in-infidel-plus-new-music-from-landroid\/","title":{"rendered":"DoT EP102: Writer Pornsak Pichetshote and Artist Aaron Campbell on Xenophobia and Horror in Infidel, plus New Music from Landroid"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pornsak Pichetshote edited other people’s books for DC for years before he attempted to write his own. He didn\u2019t give himself an easy out. His first series, now collected as a graphic novel, is Infidel<\/em>, a horror story that explores xenophobia. It\u2019s hard enough to do horror and politics well separately without trying to combine them in a graphic format, but Infidel<\/em> is a complex and nuanced story that grounds its truly terrifying ghost story in a very real world. What really brings out these elements is the collaboration between Pichetshote and artist Aaron Campbell, whose imagery and inventive approach is the perfect compliment to the story. <\/p>\n

The characters in Infidel<\/em> are not simple caricatures of racists. Pichetshote set the story in New York to put it in a more liberal environment, politically. The setting is an apartment building in the aftermath of a bombing, where distrust is running high. Aisha, a Muslim woman living in the building, is living not only with that xenophobia, but a more supernatural menace, as well. Her boyfriend\u2019s mother, Leslie, who didn\u2019t like her at first, seems to welcome her now, and tries to comfort her. But her boyfriend, Tom, is cutting his mother less slack than Aisha. Aisha\u2019s best friend, Medina, was also raised Muslim but the two share different views of their faith. The supernatural element parallels the xenophobic threat, and together, they make for a socially pointed story that is also truly scary. <\/p>\n

Pichetshote and Campbell address their collaboration and how they put these different elements together. And we also get a bit of news about the new Hellblazer<\/em>, which Campbell is illustrating. He gives us a bit of insight about the upcoming book and how DC is bringing John Constantine back to his roots toward the end of the conversation. Pichetshote also worked on Two-Sentence Horror Stories<\/em> for The CW, which is new this month on their streaming service<\/a>, and some comics work that he was unable to get specific about just yet. <\/p>\n

Infidel<\/em> is published by Image Comics, and you can find that at www.imagecomics.com<\/a> and at booksellers and comic shops everywhere. Follow Pichetshote on Twitter under @real_pornsak<\/a> and Campbell under @olmancampbell<\/a>. <\/p>\n