Alex Yarde taps an exclusive interview with Brian Azzarello (DARK KNIGHT III THE MASTER RACE) and talks Beer, Comics & ALPHA KING collaboration with 3 Floyds Brewery!
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Acclaimed comic writer Brian Azzarello (100 Bullets, Dark Knight III: The Master Race, Before Watchmen: Rorschach, Wonder Woman, Joker), artist Simon Bisley (Hellblazer, Lobo) have teamed up with 3 Floyds founder and brewmaster Nick Floyd along with colorist Ryan Brown and letterer Jared K. Fletcher to delve into the twisted mythos behind the brand in ALPHA KING.
ALPHA KING is set a long time ago in a town far, far away (Hammond, Indiana), where Brewer and CiCi are producing a home-brew so distinct that it attracts the attention of a monstrous king and his horrid minions from another dimension. Swords are unsheathed, lines are crossed and sieges are laid for the rise of the Alpha King.
I had the pleasure to speak with Brian Azzarello at length about this incredibly awesome collaboration, his devotion to Three Floyds and of course, to fan boy with one of my favorite comic book writers!
Alex Yarde (AY): In twenty panels, you blew away my preconceptions about Craft Brew, Sword & Sorcery revenge tales and Indiana in general! How did the Alpha King Comic get started?
Brian Azzarello (BA): For a long time I really dug their beer, we became friends and they said they wanted to do a comic. Essentially every one of thier beers was a different character and Nick Floyd is heavily into gaming. All these different beers have a mythology. So, it was a matter of creating a world for all these characters to inhabit. That’s how Alpha King came about.
AY: There’s a great line in the comic that reads ” the skin of normalcy has been torn away you’ve fallen into the flesh beneath the bone”.
BA: Thanks!
AY: It seemed to apply to Brewer personally but also this Netherealm below Indiana?
BA: Yeah, one of 3 Floyds original slogans was “Not Normal” so I’m running with what they’re giving me!
AY: The protagonist, Brewers’ “rebirth” as this ripped monster slaying badass was both horrifying and awesome to behold! The conversation between him and his guide “I’m a Brewer from Munster / You’re a slayer of monsters!” and that housecat that twists his head back on and bulks up Battle Cat style, is he going to stick around?
BA: Gumball is DEFINATELY going to be a major character in this story!
AY: What’s your favorite 3 Floyds brew?
BA: Man I like most of them! Regularly I like Zombie Dust a lot, it’s really fantastic. Also they do a beer there called Yum Yum I enjoy. 4 or 5 years ago they did a vanilla bean beer Dark Lord that was one of the greatest beers I’ve ever had! It was so fantastic.
AY: So they don’t make that one anymore?
BA: No, they’ll probably make a vanilla bean version of it this year but the recipe for Dark Lord changes every year.
AY: When You Simon & Nick came together for Alpha King, did you think of anything other than the comic? Like, who would play Brewer & CiCi in the Animated Film? I’m getting a Jack Black / Kyersten Ryder vibe when I’m reading them in my head.
BA: Haha! You’ve got great voices in your head!
AY: You’re currently writing DC’s “Trinity” Batman, Superman & Wonder Woman, where do those distinct voices come from?
AY: It’s funny, the one I’ve written the most recently is Wonder Woman. For me they are all very different characters, each one has a different motivation for doing what they do. I’m currently writing Dark Knight Batman.
AY: Dark Knight III The Master Race.
BA: Yeah, I’m writing them all, it boils down to what is their impetus to be heroic? I think Wonder Woman in a lot of ways was born to it. Superman just wants to make things better, and Batman his motivation comes from a very dark place. He’s trying to end something he can’t end.
AY: I’m LOVING Dark Knight III Master Race! There’s a great scene where Batman & Carrie travel up to the Fortress of Solitude, Superman is sitting on an ice throne frozen solid, totally disconnected from the world, Bruce is on the working end of a Sledgehammer shouting-
“Wake up Kansas! Wallow time is over! I can’t do this anymore it will kill me! The World NEEDS YOU!.. Saying this kills me too!”
Clark finding out his daughter is in league with the Kandorians finally wakes him up, that whole scene just clicked, I felt like I did reading the original TDKR. How is collaborating with Frank Miller on this?
BA: It’s been great! Oddly enough we entertain each other while we’re doing this stuff! (Chuckles)
AY: Do you guys get a lot of face time? Are you on the phone a lot?
BA: Oh no, we’re never on the phone. I go up and we sit around in his studio. He’s usually at the drawing board and we talk through the story.
AY: I was speaking with a good buddy of mine Jeff, he runs East Side Mags in Montclair N.J. We were talking about Batman vs. Superman, I personally loved it, so did he. We were both reminiscing that as kids we’d never dream of seeing Paradeamons on 
the big screen. For me, these are great literary figures and I apriciate the depth given these characters. For example, I felt riffs on Geoff Johns very dark Earth One Batman. I wondered what was your take on the film?
BA: I was at the premier and I probably need to see it again! There was a lot to unpack there, I really loved Wonder Woman, how she was presented was great!
AY: I’m currently writing a story about a documentary film – Sweaties: Rise of the Uber Nerd, in it there’s a quote from the director about Comic Cons becoming mass media events and that many of the attendees of Comic Book Conventions have never actually read any of the comics that the characters they love seeing in the theaters or television are based upon.
In speaking to my buddy Jeff, who’s doing ok because of some greater interest generated from films. What do you think would help where the rubber meets the road for people to come in to Comic book stores and buy the floppies? What has created this schism between the film & comic book mediums? Do you think that’s a fair assessment? What can be done to help?
BA: I think as far as the rise of the whole culture goes, technology caught up to what we can do in comic books. For years (Comic Book Movies) would just look terrible, today, they can make a better spectacle now on screen then we can so for us, on the Comics side, the answer is to write better stories. Stories that will drive people into the stores.
Better stories then they’re telling in the movies, that’s what we need to do.
We need to do stand alone stuff too. JOKER, which I wrote years ago that’s a hardcover, that thing still sells consistently. It’s accesable, anyone can go in the store, pick up that book, there’s no origin story in it, you don’t need all that stuff, it’s a tight story and that’s what we have to do.
Continuity is what keeps people from buying comics, those people that don’t buy comics, now at the same time, continuity is what keeps the people that buy comics to keep buying comics.
AY: The tension between the long time readers that go nuts if you redboot or renumber stuff and the folks just coming in who can follow along and understand the stories is real. Though new writers and artists step in and create new takes on older characters which drives them along and I enjoy that.
Also I think new media like DC Animated is great for young fans like my kids to get caught up on very obscure Silver Age characters, example, my son is watching Justice League Unlimited and wants to be The Question for Halloween, I told him no one is going to know who he is and his answer was “That’s what the Question would want.” He’s a serious comic fan!
BA: Haha, that’s great. Yeah, there’s room for both long time & new fans, there has to be.
AY: Getting back to Alpha King, are they making an Alpha King brew this year?
BA: Dude, Alpha King has been brewed since the early 2000’s. When I first tasted it I knew this brewery was something special! Yes Alpha King that is thier flagship beer!
AY: Alpha King is being released in print and digitally May 4th, that Saturday May 7th is 15th Annual Free Comic Book Day. Is there also a synergy between 3 Floyds beer fest and the release?
BA: Dark Lord is one of the most sought after brews only available once a year on “Dark Lord Day.” Saturday, April 30th at the Dark Lord Day Festival on the 3 Floyds Brewery grounds in Munster. Bisley & I will be there signing ALPHA KING #1.
AY: What advice would you give to a new writer?
BA: Write everyday! It’s a muscle, you’ve got to exersize it..If the only thing you want to write is comics, you’ll never write comics. You either write because you can’t help it or you don’t do it. Everybody’s got a Batman story. Don’t think you’re gonna break into comics with your Batman story, you’ve got to earn that.
ALPHA KING #1 (color / 20 pages / $3.99) is on tap in comic book stores and digitally on Wednesday, May 4th from Image Comics. Look for my continued coverage, reviews 
(of both the comics and the beers) and hopefully more interviews with the talented creative team behind ALPHA KING in future All Things Geek!
Art-Image / 3 Floyds
