DUANE MURRAY Answers the Question, WHO ARE THE POWER PALS?
- Andrew Irvin
- Apr 3
- 19 min read
Interviews Editor, Andrew Irvin, is joined by Ontario-based creative, Duane Murray, writer of Who Are the Power Pals? - issue #1 of 4 now released through Dark Horse!
COMIC BOOK YETI: Thanks for popping into the Yeti Cave, Duane! How’s everything going now that Who Are the Power Pals? #1 has dropped?
DUANE MURRAY: Good, thanks! I’d love to say that now I’m just sitting back, relaxing, and letting the sales roll in, but with indie comics in particular, there’s no real rest. I hope people picked up #1, and I hope people liked it, and I hope people liked it enough to pick up #2, and will pick it up until it wraps up with issue #4, and I hope people liked it enough to tell other people about it. So, I took a brief pause on bugging people on social media, and contacting stores, but I need to get right back on that with issue #2 (out April 23rd!). I also have to package up a special thing I made for stores who went above and beyond in supporting/ordering the book… or even maybe just said something nice about us. I have a little limited ‘thank you’ for each issue. And beyond that, I’m just putting together a pitch for my next book, and simultaneously chipping way at other things. And that’s just comics. Family, auditions, other work, vacuuming occasionally… there’s always something.
CBY: I understand the demands of the multifaceted life and I’m right there with you, Duane. I took the opportunity to check out your Comics Bulletin interview with Ashley Hurst, which provides a great introduction to the comic. I’ll try to dig a bit deeper where the occasion allows. You described the plot as, “about two, failed, middle-aged actors who try to reclaim their brief brush with fame by dressing up in their old, ill-fitting costumes of the characters they played in a quickly cancelled superhero TV show as teenagers in the 90’s, by filming themselves fighting small-time crime to post on the internet” - a buddy comedy with a recent period patina. We’ve seen codependent relationships result in conflict and down-and-out actors make their comeback - what sets this apart for readers who enjoy the genre conventions you’re examining?
DM: A good answer to the good question requires someone much smarter than me to investigate deeper than I am capable of, but I think what sets it apart, is that first and foremost, because Ahmed and I are telling the story. And I am not trying to be glib here. As someone who has been an actor his whole life, and who went to theater school, we were always taught to bring ‘ourselves’, and our personal experiences to the character. Doing so will create something original, within something tried and true. Hamlet has been played by literally countless people (including me), and done by actors far better than me, but ‘my’ Hamlet is going to be different than any other Hamlet ever played, because of what I bring to the role. I am not sure that can always easily be quantified. Similarly, no one is inventing anything that is brand new to stories, even if something feels like a new concept. But I think the reason we continually come back for stories that we have already seen versions of, is to see what a particular artist (meaning writer, actor, dancer, singer, illustrator) brings to a particular story, role, character, song, etc. And in doing so, if the people are bringing an authentic part of the themselves to the thing… their ‘voice,’ it will naturally set it apart from other versions. Yeesh, for such a fun, silly comic (I hope), I’ve really started out on a very serious note. I need to throw a joke in here somewhere… just a sec… nope… nothing. (Sigh.) Honestly, I am not sure I am able to point to, or dissect, the thing we’ve done and say exactly what sets this apart. I just hope something does. Basically, I hope people dig our ‘voices’ on this particular story. I think we’re doing something unique and original feeling here, while also leaning heavily on our influences of early 2000’s Buddy Comedies, shameless 90’s references, with a little personal emotion and experience snuck in there for good measure.
CBY: I think from what I’ve read this far, you’re approaching a formula from a new perspective, and it involves building up the narrative in an engaging way. You mentioned finding Ahmed Raafat, your artistic collaborator, on social media through your friend Michael Walsh. With the immediate affinity you found for his work (which includes cover art and coloring), what stood out most to you about his technique and style?
DM: It’s hard to pinpoint exactly, because it just… did stand out to me. At the time, Ahmed was launching a crowdfunding campaign for his self-published Astronudes book, and after someone tagged Ahmed in my request Michael sent out for me, I looked at that online (he posts it for free), and I thought, “Yep. That’s it.” I felt it was a good cross between ‘realistic’ and ‘cartoony’ which I felt suited the tone of my writing for Power Pals. It had a nostalgic feel, which I was going to want to explore in parts. His characters had great facial expressions, and he showed a solid grasp of physical comedy, which this story was going to have a lot of. I also loved his pin-ups he had on social media, which showed me he would be able to nail covers. He’s also a big movie guy, which meant, since that is my background, I could have a shorthand of communication with him. Once I saw his work, I didn’t consider anyone else.
I should also point out that I loved his colours, and effects he chose to use in Astronudes. The colours were very flat, which is the look I wanted for Who Are The Power Pals, and he seemed to enjoy experimenting with visual effects, like having duotone shading in places, and I knew I was going to want to utilize different effects throughout the series, from crazy layouts, to panel shapes. You’ll see a lot of that as the series progresses.
CBY: You also pulled in Rob Jones as letterer - how did he get involved in the mix, and are there any other creative or editorial contributors to the process of completing this comic you’d like to credit further here?
DM: When we were creating the pitch for WATPP, Ahmed lettered it himself. He also lettered Astronudes, and I definitely think he’s a fine letterer, but… it’s just another thing to do, and I wanted him free to just focus on art. I also knew lettering would play a big roll in this, and so having someone whose sole job was that appealed to me. I was going to be asking a lot of the letterer. I am big on sound effects, and I knew I was going to be playing around with those, as well as creating little mini character faces for off panel lines. So again, I wanted someone who could jump in and go nuts.
Since this was my first time working with Ahmed, I wanted to work with someone he had worked with before, and so I looked at Rob’s work, and really liked it. I felt it was big, bold, and dynamic. So, between the challenge of fitting my verbose writing into bubbles, and my leaning on sound effects, I just thought Rob had work that showed that he could handle it, and also push to do things I hadn’t even thought of. Rob being in the same time zone as Ahmed helped as well. I also want to note both Ahmed and Rob are also writers, which always appeals to me. I like working with artists and such who also write. Shawn Daley on Better Place also writes.
CBY: To that point, while this isn’t your first comic, you’ve been steadily acting in featured roles for decades, with various producing and writing credits across film, television, and video games (I’ve definitely seen your appearances in Spotlight and The Expanse). Given the opportunity, what production format do you most enjoy working in, and in what capacity do you find the greatest fulfillment?
DM: Comics. Hands down. As a creator anyway. I really love acting, and I love writing for film and TV, and there are times I even liked producing, and/or working in development, but there is something to the process of making comics that gives me a feeling none of the others can. I think it’s because it is a very intense, and close collaboration, but not ‘too much’ collaboration the way it can be in the film and TV world with input and notes flying at you (sometimes conflicting) from every direction.
While also not as solitary as just sitting down and writing a novel (which I am trying to do… but man, that’s a lot of words). Getting pages back from artists is the best feeling in an artistic process I have ever experienced, and seeing people react positively to books is the most fulfilling. I would say acting on stage in front of an audience is a close second. But honestly, I love it all. Any chance to have some artistic expression is a pretty amazing feeling if I allow myself to feel it.
CBY: There is certainly a gratification in the rapport of working directly with an artist on realizing a story, seeing it come together with the turn of each page. As you noted, this idea has been in development since before the MCU kicked off, inspired by the Adam West/Burt Ward 1960s Batman series, and watching the growing pains of the superhero genre across film and TV adaptations from the end of the Bronze Age until the modern cinematic era began. What perspective can you share from watching the corporate synergy applied en masse across the film and television industry? How has the sector shifted for creatives within the entertainment business?
DM: Hmmmmm, believe it or not, me talking too much about this could result in me spoiling Who Are The Power Pals? a bit. I will say that this is something I explore thematically in the story. I’m not sure I am going to answer this question properly without getting into the cart of a rambling 500-page thesis paper, and potentially not answering the questions at all, but I’ll talk about some stuff. I can only really share the perspective of a low-rung person in the film/TV industry. I can say as a fan, the corporate synergy was exciting at first. I clamoured for adapted comic entertainment for years. The announcements were always so exciting, with the anticipation of which characters would show up, and who would play them… but I think we got tired. I did anyway. And bigger picture, I feel like the sort of takeover of theater releases by the big IP companies all but killed the mid-level, and small indie movie in terms of theatrical release. I miss being surprised by that small film in the theaters. It’s partly my fault - I’m not exactly going to the theater anymore to support those films. It’s hard to think those films can survive outside a small festival run. As for creatives in the industry, again, I can only speak to my low-rung position, but creatives are definitely suffering. The golden age of tons of buying by streamers of programming are all but over. The days when you could shoot a film independently and make some money feel over too. I am hoping there is a gap in that mid-level area of film we all loved not too long ago, where interesting films can still get made, and pointing specifically to mid-level films based on comics. I still think comics can make for great adaptations, and I am very excited to see 4 Kids Walk Into a Bank be adapted. I’ll be first in line to buy a ticket at the theater, because I would love to see more films like that get made, but to do so… they need to make money. That’s just the way it is. I don’t think I answered your question even a little bit, but hey… I said stuff.
CBY: You did, and the shout-out to a fantastic comic by Matthew Rosenberg and Tyler Boss is much appreciated. On the interplay between media, I noticed the use of the word “chillax” in the dialogue of the short-lived Power Pals TV series. The scene reminded me heavily of the dialogue from Orgasmo, which you didn’t explicitly mention as an inspiration. You did, however, put together a period-placed trailer for Who are the Power Pals? Can you talk a bit about the casting, shooting, and overall production process for this unique and entertaining live-action teaser for the comic?
DM: I’ve actually never seen Orgasmo, so it definitely didn’t influence me in any way. And interestingly, that ’90’s dialogue’ was something I added pretty late in the game. I think it was actually already drawn and maybe even lettered when I realized, “Oh, wait… I should probably use this opportunity to throw some 90’s slang into this.”
But anyway… the ’trailer’. So… initially, this was just an idea swimming around in my head, and back when it was swimming around in my head, I wasn’t thinking of making comics, because I didn’t think that was possible for me. The stories I thought of, automatically were ‘envisioned’ as films. And at the time, my best friend from high school and I (Shane Belcourt, who is credited with co-creating the characters) were always bouncing around and developing ideas. As two guys in Canada, we were always grabbing a camera and shooting stuff all run-and-gun, but we also wanted to ‘make it’ in that L.A. kind of way. Looking for places to pitch our ideas. So… I entered the idea (via a one-page) into the prestigious TIFF Pitch This! competition, and we were one of six projects asked to pitch to a bunch of industry people at TIFF. I think we got six minutes. Also… spoiler alert… our pitch SUCKED. We just… didn’t know how to pitch back then. We knew how to tell a story, and we knew how to make movies… but we didn’t know how to pitch. I don’t think Ivan Reitman smiled once. And that was kind of where it ended. We moved on to other things. HOWEVER, some good did come out of it. Firstly, I had a few comic creators I knew draw the characters that we projected on a screen (Matt Kindt’s drawing ended up as the variant #1 cover), and… we made the fake True Hollywood Stories ‘Where are they now?’ teaser as a quick and fun way to get out the backstory, and set up the world. Again, Shane and I were very ‘run-and-gun’ type film makers, so the overall production process wasn’t all that interesting. I called up some friends to act in it. I bought and assembled the costumes, and we shot and edited it. Actually Craig Arnold, and Mitch Eisner who played ‘Buzzard’ and ‘Swallow’ were not people I knew, but Craig was at my agency, and I think still in school, and I asked if he had a friend who could play Swallow, and he brought Mitch on board and they were great. Weirdly… YEARS later, I would end up playing Craig’s dad on a couple seasons of Degrassi.
Anyway, that video was used at the pitch, and then sat on my hard drive forever, but I did show it to Ahmed when I picked him the comic to give an idea of he tone, and once the book was coming out, I showed the Dark Horse marketing team the video, and they liked it, so we used it as the ‘book trailer’.
CBY: It makes for a distinct and fitting accompaniment to the comic, so I'm glad to hear it ended up being put to good use after its initial production. In recognition of your other outings within the world of comics, you released a graphic novel in 2021 called Better Place, working with Shawn Daley as illustrator. How did you draw contributions from Jeff Lemire, Matt Kindt, Nate Powell, and others during the production of that comic, and how did your process differ with Who Are the Power Pals?
DM: So I got contributions from all those guys, because I know them, and consider them friends. When I was working in producing and developing film and TV projects, well before every graphic novel IP was being gobbled up immediately, I worked with each of them in different capacities on adaptations of their earlier works. Due to a myriad of reasons, as with most things in the film and TV world, none of them came to fruition (usually, because I was unhappy with how their property was being treated, and so I pulled the plug.) So when I was writing Better Place, I wanted contributions from the people who inspired me to create a graphic novel. But, I didn’t want to have just these pin-ups by famous comic creators at the back of the book. I wanted them to be a part of the story, and so I had them create comic pages, or covers, of the comics the character Dylan is reading on his journey. And they all graciously helped out.
In terms of the process differing between the two books, I think I maybe noticed a slight difference when I first started with Ahmed, only because I had only ever worked with Shawn. Shawn and I collaborated on 160 pages, and so it was a very easy and seamless collaboration. So, I recall early on with Ahmed, it felt slightly different, because Ahmed is a different person. But I felt after maybe even just the pitch, that Ahmed and my collaboration felt equally seamless. I didn’t alter my way of writing the script or anything to suit Ahmed. I just did my thing. Which is usually to write out what I ‘see’. I generally write ‘panels’, but only for my own pacing. Loose description in most panels, and specific in some, and basically say, “ok, here’s how I see/feel it. If you see or feel it would be better another way, go for it.” Nine times out of 10, I will go with what the artist has done. I’ll even change the writing or dialogue to better suit what they have drawn. Only if I feel something actually doesn’t work for the story will I ask for a change. Otherwise, I do my best to make what’s there work with dialogue tweaks, etc.
And in terms of editorial, Dark Horse is rather hands-off in the creator-owned world. At least that’s what I have found. So it isn’t a heavy editorial hand by any means. Just friendly guidance when needed (in my case from editor, Brett Israel) .
I will say where it did differ was going from a graphic novel - where we finished the entire book before I pitched it, so I didn’t really have any parameters - to a monthly 4-issue comic, where the story not only had to be told in a specified number of total pages, but also be broken up into ‘issues’. So, I did have to adjust for that, because I had written a story over what felt like 5 issues, (with a double sized 40-page first issue), but was told I would only get 4 issues at 28 pages each. So I went from a roughly 146 pages of story to a 112 page story. That took some work on my part. I had to cut 34 pages. I basically lost an issue, and then some. So, I lost some scenes entirely, cut pages out of scenes (our six page pitch scene ended up as four pages published), find interesting ways to condense scenes with visual tricks, and had to lose a bit of the humour/jokes, because in comics… humour usually needs space. Wordless panels that are pure reaction don’t necessarily move the story. I just didn’t have the space to do that, so I lost a bit of that as well. But, I hope with Ahmed’s help, we still got to tell a good, fun story I wanted to tell, with a lot of laughs (or at least snickers… or polite smiles), and a little heart.
CBY: While Better Place came out through Top Shelf, we've discussed the 4-issue run on Who Are the Power Pals? is now being released with Dark Horse. Can you share a bit about how you ended up working with both publishers, and how the experience of pitching the comic differed in each instance?
DM: With Better Place, it was very much inspired by the Top Shelf books of the early to mid-2000’s. Books like Essex County, Super Spy, Swallow Me Whole, etc. Hence, why I had the creators of those books do pages for me in the book. I set out to make Better Place the way I made early independent films, in that… we made those because we wanted to make them, and distribution, and getting people to actually watch it came later. So I actually self-financed Better Place by paying Shawn (Daley) to draw it, just to make it. I figured I would probably just launch a Kickstarter or something to pay for a print run, and self publish. But Top Shelf has an open submissions policy, so just for the heck of it, I sent the finished book to Chris Staros at Top Shelf. He very quickly wrote me back…telling me the link wasn’t working! So, that was my first foray into pitching, sending broken links to very respected publishers. I apologized profusely and sent him the proper link. The next morning he wrote me back. I still have that email in my inbox. He wrote, “Had a chance to read this today, and it's excellent. Very touching, very beautiful. Let me run it by my editorial crew, and get right back to you. You did something really nice here!” And the rest is the beginnings of my work being published.
I am a fan of complete stories, and so Better Place was a single graphic novel. For Who Are The Power Pals? I actually wanted to venture into the monthly comic world. I also wanted a publisher commitment before I put too much of my own money into it this time. Better Place made its money back and more, but I didn’t feel like going about it that way was sustainable. So for Power Pals, I went a bit more typical. I first found my collaborator in Ahmed, and then wrote a pretty standard pitch, along with 6 sample pages and a cover. I sent out to a few places, again unsolicited, but how Dark Horse came to be is Tyler Boss, who I also had do a page in Better Place. He liked it and my Power Pals pitch enough to set up an intro with his Dead Dog’s Bite editor at Dark Horse, Brett Israel. So I sent the pitch to Brett, along with the aforementioned trailer, and he liked it, and brought it to some sort of selection group at Dark Horse, and they picked it up! So it was definitely different, as one was a completed book, and one was an idea that I knew the story for, but hadn’t finished writing. But I had pitched often enough in the film and TV world to be comfortable doing that.
CBY: It's useful to hear how having a strong enough concept can get you across the line, providing space to fill in the details thereafter. Having been involved in a huge swath of creative productions, with Who Are the Power Pals? as a four-issue miniseries, do you have plans to explore these characters and their world further? Are there other comics or film, TV, and video game projects you have in the works that you’d like to discuss in any detail?
DM: Nothing major to report… yet. Lots I am working on, but nothing to talk about really. I have a one page story in Scott Morse’s upcoming anthology This Ink Runs Cold, which it is an honour to be a part of, not only because of the legendary creators I get to have my name alongside, but also because of who is making it. Allen Spiegel Fine Arts is publishing it with Scott, and to be a part of Allen’s legacy is… beyond words.
Otherwise, the acting stuff is often very instantaneous, so as of now I do not have anything on the horizon, but by the time this interview is published, I could suddenly find out I will be on a set in a few weeks. I do have a small part in a Christmas movie coming out next season called Christmas Miniatures, with the best part being that my daughter in the movie is played by my actual daughter. That’s pretty great.
Otherwise, I am working away on comics. I have a book I am working on with artist Scott Brian Woods that I think is really… fun might be the wrong word, but I’m pretty excited about it. Better Place artist Shawn Daley is contributing to that one as well, while also illustrating a children’s picture book we are working on together.
CBY: We look forward to seeing the range of material you've got in the works! To close, we always offer guests an opportunity to share what they’re most excited about that is completely unrelated to their own work. What other comics, films, music, art, literature, etc., have you been inspired by lately?
DM: Films… Oh, I miss films. I used to be a film junkie. Easily seeing 5-10 films a week. Now…since I’ve had my daughter, and I seem forever sleep deprived, I need two days minimum to get through a film. So I mainly just watch TV episodes (I am always excited about a new season of The Bear!) I dream of a retirement where I go on film watching vacations to festivals, and just watch two or three films a day like I used to. So I am out of the film loop. And literature… I miss novels too. I rarely read a novel these days. I’d love to come upon a book series that made me feel the way I did when I first read A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, or the Harry Potter books, but I am not sure that will ever be possible again. Music? Last time I really cared about or got excited about music it was Broken Social Scene, or seeing Sufjan Stevens live in a church. Oh, I would love to see the Sufjan Stevens Broadway show if it ever comes to Toronto. Art-wise, my local gallery, The Art Gallery of Hamilton, held a showing of art by Canadian Cartoonists (Seth, Jillian Tamaki, Chester Brown, etc.), and I would love to see more exhibits like that.
I miss watching, reading, listening to things that were completely unrelated to my own work, but I don’t do that very often anymore. Almost everything I read, or watch now, is because I am reading it, or watching it, because it happens to be at least adjacent to something I am working on.
So in terms of what has inspired me lately… I don’t even know. But I can tell you what has inspired me, and that I return to again and again to inspire me.
Everyone should go read an Oliver Jeffers picture book. Specifically The Heart In The Bottle, but any would do.
Everyone should go to a live Kid Koala Music to Draw To session. If you can’t ever make it to a live one, he does them online for his Patreon subscribers. There are also a couple early one’s he did during COVID that are free on YouTube. It’s fantastic background music.
Go see cartoonist Seth do anything (again, live if possible). I can listen to him in conversation for hours. I can watch him draw for hours. I can stare at his work for hours.
I actually found the Malcolm Gladwell and Paul Simon audiobook quite inspiring.
I mean this could be a whole interview unto itself. Quickly, since this is primarily a comics site, I’ll give you my top three comics that have influenced and inspired my own work. Essex County, 4 Kids Walk Into a Bank, and Maggie Garrison.
CBY: Duane, it’s a delight to have you share your work with our audience. If you’ve got any social media, portfolio, or publication links I haven’t included across the scope of your work, please feel free to share anything you’d like with us here!
DM: I mean if you’re curious, and wonder, “Has he done anything I know?” you can check out my imdb link… as you do: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0614926/
You can watch the last indie movie I wrote and produced with a budget of $50K on Tubi for free! https://tubitv.com/movies/584146/red-rover
And the last large acting role I had was in the French award winning drama called Mégantic. I’m throughout the series, and I think it’s all worth watching, but if you want to see an episode that focuses on my character, check out episode 7. Also on Tubi. Also FREE!
And just follow on social media if you want updates on things I am doing, or random mundane thoughts! And thank you to anyone who has engaged with anything I’ve done. Time is precious, and any of it you use on something I’ve done, I greatly appreciate!
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