Vault Comics has been one of the most pleasant surprises for comic readers of the last couple years – a publisher with a solid vision that’s marrying a genuine passion for the medium with a diverse crop of creators and books to make something for everyone. While there have been growing pains as Vault has had to deal with delays and other setbacks, some of the newest books are finally here. One such book is “Deuce of Hearts”, a book all about trading love for power, written by Ricardo Mo and drawn by Tony Gregori, both creators with other Vault books, “Colossi” and “Karma Police”, respectively. Rounding out the steallar team is Claudia Aguirre on colors and Ryan Ferrier on letters.
We sat down with Ricardo and Tony to chat about “Deuce”, online dating, Faustian bargains, striking that right level of being a not-totally-shitty person, and more. “Deuce of Hearts” #1 is out today, November 8th. Head to your comic shop or Comixology to grab your copy.
Let’s start the interview with something of a softball – what is “Deuce of Hearts” all about, for those who may not have heard of it?
Ricardo Mo: “Deuce” follows the exploits of a lothario, a serial seducer, who can trade the hearts of those who fall for him for RPG-style upgrades. Fancy being fire-proof? Go charm that flirty barista. Want to be stronger? Work your magic on that locker room full of curious guys.
As with all affairs of the heart though, you have to be careful just who you seduce. Our protagonist, Sully, discovers this the hard way when he steals the heart of a mob boss’ wife. Pretty soon he has an army of goons and a supernatural assassin on his tail, and that’s just the beginning…
Tony Gregori: At which point Sully’s past catches up to him, and he’s forced to reevaluate the things he’s done and the person he’s become.
Plus he’s got a cute dog for a sidekick, which is all that really matters.
Sullivan Husk, the protagonist of “Deuce”, isn’t exactly the nicest guy. He’s spent the last several years making people fall in love with him only to trade in that love for fancy powers. What is it about a fundamentally flawed protagonist that makes them worth building a story around? How do you try to make the readers like this guy who does some pretty shitty things?
RM: We all do shitty things sometimes, yet very few of us are inherently unlikeable. And who among us has a flawless track record when it comes to love and relationships? So I think as long as Sully isn’t doing anything unforgivably evil, like stamping on puppies, then most reasonable people are open to the possibility of a redemption storyline. Not that I’m guaranteeing that’s what you’ll get with Sully. But, as the book progresses, we certainly give him opportunities to grow and develop and maybe show off some of his less selfish and destructive tendencies.
TG: I think it also goes beyond just romantic relationships, I feel like this story is a metaphor for how we treat each other like currency. I think most of us are guilty of this in one way or another, and can relate to some aspects of Sully’s character. For example: right now we’re using Leo for an interview, and we’re not going to call him tomorrow.
Part of this is on Tony, too, who makes Sullivan look a little “smarmy”, but not Eric Trump or Donald Trump Jr. levels of smarmy.
TG: Sully is “chmarmy”, equal parts charm and smarm ( I just made that up). Trump-level smarm goes with a level of unattractiveness that’s unattainable for most non-reptilians. They use money and perceived power to get their way. If you left the Trumps on their own, without Fred Trump’s money, they’d be completely obscure and irrelevant.
Someone who is entirely unlikeable is Don Fratelli, the husband of one of Sully’s latest love interests/victims. After finding his wife cheating with Sully, he sets out to kill him by any means necessary, even turning to the supernatural to get it done. What can you tell us about Fratelli and the big hitter from the spirit world that he’s calling in?
Continued belowRM: Well, Don Fratelli is an old school gangster and his preference would be to deal with Sully with a traditional bullet to the brain. But Sully has all these enhanced abilities and doesn’t make for the easiest target. So Fratelli’s forced to go otherworldly in his quest for vengeance, and it’s not something he’s entirely comfortable doing. He and his supernatural big hitter are uneasy bedfellows, to say the least, and that will make for tense interactions down the line. Also, the broken relationship between Fratelli and his wife is something we explore further. Like you said, Don Fratelli is entirely unlikeable and nobody feels that more than the woman he keeps closest.
The first issue of “Deuce”, like many Vault titles right now, has been heavily delayed. What’s the story behind that?
RM: Occasionally something out of everyone’s control will come out of nowhere and wipe out everyone’s hard work and progress. Shit happens sometimes, and you have no choice but to regroup, reorganise, and move on.
The real frustration kicks in when everyone pulls together, makes every effort to get things back on track, but on the day of release your books are still left sitting in a warehouse. Well, maybe shit just happened to the guy responsible for that warehouse, right? Maybe, but when you’re talking about multiple books for multiple publishers every month, that’s an awful lot of shit happening.
I’m not here to point fingers and, as I said before, nobody’s perfect. But I will say that recent events have been eye-opening and have made me reassess my opinions of creators and publishers I used to believe struggled with deadlines.
TG: I’m drawing the last 10 pages of the last issue, Claudia is all caught up, and Vault has been great about getting stuff ready to roll. It’s a shame that outside forces can interrupt that, makes it hard to build and keep momentum. At the end of the day it’s just another obstacle to overcome.
How did the two of y’all end up working on “Deuce” together? How did Claudia and Ryan become part of the team?
RM: I saw some of Tony’s artwork (for Karma Police, in fact) on Twitter and fell in love instantly. A conversation later and we were building the world of “Deuce” together. This seems like an opportune time to highlight just how much of a co-creator Tony is. If not for his input and, perhaps more important, his reining in of my more outlandish ideas, “Deuce of Hearts” would be called “King Swinger” and feature the misadventures of a horny chimp. I wish I was kidding. Honestly, the majority of “Deuce”’s more interesting, supernatural elements can be traced back to Tony, or at least a back-and-forth between us.
TG: The book was originally scheduled to be colored by Mike Spicer but he landed “Action Comics” so we released him from his blood oath. Adrian Wassel (Vault EIC) brought Claudia and several other options to Ricardo and I. I had seen “Kim & Kim” on the shelves and online, and had admired the artwork, but I hadn’t seen the rest of Claudias work. I was blown away, she is boundless creativity. We could see that her coloring style and aesthetic would be perfect for “Deuce”. And I think we were right, she’s just the best to work with, and is the artistic star of the book.
Ryan was on board from all the way back at the pitch level, he’s so prolific and talented in everything he does, a fantastic storyteller who eats, breathes, and poops comics. And a great fella to boot.
Tony, you get to draw some pretty interesting things as part of “Deuce”, mixing the relatively mundane of the real world with some super cool fantasy bits.
TG: That’s me, mundane life with bits of fantasy. I love Mike Allred’s “Madman”, “The Maxx”, stuff like that. I like big spectacle, but I really appreciate the stories in which the fantasy elements felt like they were used almost surgically within a real world setting. That being said there’s more and more fantasy bits as the story goes on, and we get deeper into this world.
Continued below
The means by which Sully is able to trade in the love of others is an app on his phone – Heartbreakr. With how ever-present technology is in our daily lives, it only makes sense that even Faustian bargains involving trading love for super strength or luck would get a 21st century makeover, right?
TG: I ended my online dating experiment about 2 months ago. I’d rather meet someone in real life, people still do that I think?
RM: If there’s a Devil, and if he’s into making deals, there’s no way he’s not already involved somehow in the current crop of social media and dating apps. Heartbreakr is simply the next stage of that, with all the pretense of innocence removed.
Without giving too much away, at the end of the first issue Sully is introduced to someone with a big connection to his past. What is this going to mean for his journey going forward?
RM: That someone will define Sully’s journey by introducing the idea of consequences. He’s had a good run as a playboy, but that lifestyle has a habit of catching up to you. Moving forward, Sully will have to face the consequences of his actions, and how he reacts to that will make or break his relationship with the mystery person. They could represent his biggest payload or his only real shot at redemption.
Anything else you’d like to add?
RM: At NYCC, Tony and I got chatting to Jim Steranko (name drop) and he seemed to get a real kick out of the fact “Deuce” used to mean a bad guy or devil, because apparently that never really made it over to the US. I’ve since discovered that in the US, “Dropping a deuce” is a term for taking a shit. So that’s probably why he asked me to explain my thinking behind the title.
TG: With that being said, we’re dropping our first “Deuce” today, Wednesday November 8th, with more to come!
