Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Todd Stashwick - Springing Into Devil Inside's Next Chapter


It has been about a year since the free web-comic "Devil Inside" was launched at SDCC 2010 by the very handsome, very bromance-y team consisting of actor Todd Stashwick and artist Dennis Calero.

Red Dot Diva remembers visiting the duo at their booth at Artists' Alley in 2010, and was deviously hooked by the first couple of panels and the concept of the web-comic.

Released every Wednesday, "Devil Inside" faithfully took the readers through many twists and turns about a chief demon's journey to find himself on Earth. Starting from a place called Paradise Valley.

With its sometimes macabre visuals, mysterious characters (who can ever forget snarky Raven Corvus?) and cryptic hints, "Devil Inside" Chapter 1 has been a helluva ride!

What made it more special was how both Todd and Dennis have been graciously interactive with their fans on the social networks. And via word-of-mouth, the number of eyeballs for the web-comic grew as the weeks went by.

The two gentlemen also put that same awesomeness in their actions, and together with fellow actress/ comic creator Brea Grant and other friends, they started Slamcon - an impromptu "for-everyone" party on the last night of SDCC. Fans, media, celebs and comic creators freely interacted with each other at Slamcon which was held at the Hyatt Hotel mezzanine, and by all accounts, Red Dot Diva heard it was a great night. (Read about Slamcon here!)

Mirror image? (Pic from Todd Stashwick's FB)
It is too bad that Red Dot Diva was unable to celebrate "Devil Inside"'s first anniversary at SDCC this year. However, she was able to dispatch her own evil helpers (namely @wikkibird and @jendotcohen) to track Todd Stashwick down at their Artists' Alley booth again.

Even though the successful Slamcon party ended late (er... early?) a few hours before, Red Dot Diva heard that Todd was back at their booth in the morning looking unusually bright and perky. Hmmm.. this sure reeked of something supernatural.

Undeterred by strange happenings, @wikkibird posed Todd some diva-tastic questions and in turn, he threw a few "Devil Inside" bones for fans and readers to pick on.

Interview Clip 1 - Todd tells us how the last year of "Devil Inside" has been:



During the interview at SDCC, Todd said, "Chapter 2? We already have the outline for it. We will put out a bonus art first and then roll right on to Chapter 2." In fact, as Todd shares in the next video clip, the plot lines have already been marked out:



Red Dot Diva knows that by now, impatient fans of "Devil Inside" are literally chewing their fingers off for some hints about Chapter 2. Personally, Red Dot Diva has been wondering if Jack Springheel will be tempted to go back to his "old ways", and Todd tried not to spoil the readers too much with a rather cryptic answer:

"We are going to see some new characters," Todd offered. "The characters whom we've hinted at in the first chapter become significant in Chapter 2. And as for more evil or less evil? You are going to see Jack suddenly have to contend with something he didn't anticipate. It's going to be fun and it's going to be scary. And now that we are familiar with some of the characters, we can start playing more games with them."

Oooooh. Red Dot Diva sure likes the sound of that.

@wikkibird proceeded to enquire if any of Todd's children have taken a deeper interest in comics now that he has been quite invested with creating "Devil Inside". Todd nodded his head and said, "My son draws. He's thirteen years old and he's possibly very interested in concept art. He really *loves* drawing... like landscapes and futuristic environments and post-apocalyptic scene-scapes. And he reads comics."

Does that also mean that Dennis Calero's 7-month-old spawn Baby Paloma, will get into the artistic dimension as well? With an amused grin, Todd said, "Dennis will probably say 'ya... absolutely'. Her mom's a children's book illustrator, so it is highly probable it is going to run in the family."

As loyal fans do not quite ever get enough of Todd, @wikkibird asked about his upcoming projects:



It is certainly evident that the two comic creators have not been laid back about the web-comic's progress. Chapter 2 of "Devil Inside" will be arriving right on time this coming Wednesday at midnight PST, so don't forget to check it out!

If one needs to catch up on the previous Chapter, click on and read "Devil Inside" right here.
And remember to tell them what you think about the web-comic. Todd and Dennis love receiving comments and feedback!

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Todd Stashwick played Eli the "Multiple Man" in the cancelled but popular NBC series "Heroes", and he has been seen as a guest star in many TV series like "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" (Myron Stark), "Supernatural" (as Dracula), "Burn Notice", "Detroit 1-8-7", "Private Practice", "Men Of A Certain Age" and his appearance in "Leverage" will be on air soon.

To keep up with the news, follow Todd Stashwick on his official website, Facebook and Twitter.

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Artist Dennis Calero has worked with various companies like Marvel's "X-Factor" and "X-Men: Noir", IDW's "Star Trek: The Next Generation" tie-in comics, DC's "Legion of Super-Heroes" and was also artist for quite a few of the "Heroes" TV series graphic novel tie-ins. Dennis will be working on the prequel graphic novel for the "Immortals" movie together with David Mack (Kabuki), Ron Marz (Witchblade) and Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night). The hardcover will be published by Archaia.

Dennis also has his own website, Facebook and Twitter accounts.

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