There exists a world of horrors beneath the one we know. Where the creatures of our nightmares stalk amongst humanity and play their games of vengence, murder and intrigue. To police this world there is the Chain; a covert agency of monsters and killers, charged with keeping the human herd from ever growing too thin.

The Big Bad Wolf: How did you come up with the concept for Necessary Monsters?

Daniel Merlin Goodbrey: The book really kinda grew together from a bunch of different strands I had twirling around in my head. At the time I knew I wanted to work on something with Sean and I was wracking my brain trying to figure out just exactly what that might be. I'd been watching a lot of Alias I think - a series that I'd dismissed at the time but thoroughly enjoyed on rediscovery - and had the notion that something spy-thriller-ish might be a lot of fun to work on. But then I had this bunch of odd character names in my notebook - Gravehouse, Cowboy 13, Charlotte Hatred, Chicken Neck - which were suggesting to me something altogether weirder needed to take place.

Then things clicked together and I was like, ooh, Monster team up book! Done Mission Impossible style! But not the monsters you always see in monster team up books - the monsters I grew up watching instead. The Freddy Kruegers and Jason Voorhees and Candymans. They'd make for a fun cast of lovable misfits, wouldn't they?

The Big Bad Wolf: What can you tell us about The Chain?

Daniel Merlin Goodbrey: The Chain is a covert agency formed by a coalition of the various eldritch horrors that prey on mankind, in order to ensure there is always a mankind left for them to prey upon. I should stress, these are not the good guys. These are monsters and killers who enjoy being monsters and killers and who just want to make sure there are always enough victims around to provide the entertainment.

The Big Bad Wolf: Who are the members of The Chain and what types of powers/abilities do they have?

Daniel Merlin Goodbrey: Our story's primary focus is on one particular team of Chain agents, lead by the mysterious occultist, Jonathon Gravehouse. Necessary Monsters Assemble!

Gravehouse: Jonathon Gravehouse looked too long and too hard into the dark places of the world. Until something looked back that left him forever changed. Human frailty consumed by terrible secrets, an inhuman presence now resides within the shell of Jonathon Gravehouse. A presence able to drive a normal man to madness and death with just a whisper of the forbidden knowledge it contains. A longstanding agent of The Chain, Gravehouse declared himself retired seven years ago and has spent the time since in seclusion at his lake-side manor in New England.

Charlotte Hatred: Once the daughter of the governor of Hong Kong, Charlotte died an unnatural death at the age of seventeen. She's haunted the mirrors and shadows of Hong Kong ever since, a pale young English rose with long black hair that hangs across her face and hides her eyes from view. To see Charlotte's grinning reflection in your mirror is to know fear; to see into her eyes is to know instant, horrific death. As an agent of The Chain, Charlotte's ability to travel through mirrors makes her a valuable espionage asset.

Cowboy 13: An unstoppable psychopath in a zipped-shut gimp mask and cowboy hat. And we do mean unstoppable - the residents of Granbury, Texas have tried just about everything on Cowboy 13 over the years. They've decapitated him, burned him, drowned him, electrocuted him (twice) and he just keeps coming back. The Cowboy never speaks, but he will communicate when pressed through simple hand gestures. It thus remains unclear whether he works for The Chain of his own free will or purely under the coercion of his shackle. At any rate, Cowboy 13 gets to kill new people in interesting places and for now this seems to be enough to keep him happy.

Creeping Tuesday: The daughter of Creeping Henry, a famous dream-stalker who long terrorised the town of Oakwood, Massachusetts before finally being dispatched to Hell by a group of meddling teenagers. Tuesday has inherited her father's ability to enter the dreams of her victims and kill them as they sleep. A young black woman with piercing eyes, in dreams Tuesday becomes a twisted, dark reflection of her waking form. Creeping Tuesday is the newest and most reluctant member of The Chain, shackled into service by Gravehouse to replace her missing father.

The Big Bad Wolf: What can you tell us about Harps Bane?

Daniel Merlin Goodbrey: Ah, Harp's Bane. This is what we know, going in: Thomas Harp was an officer in the Union Army before falling under an ancient Indian curse during the last days of the American Civil War. Whenever Harp falls asleep his body is taken over by his Bane - an inhuman and barely intelligent creature that resembles a giant mal-proportioned gorilla with a pit full of teeth where its head should be.

Thomas wandered for years, wracked by guilt for his nocturnal actions, before finally discovering a mystical solution of sorts - a spell that prevented him from ever falling asleep. In time a side effect of this cure became apparent - Thomas hasn't aged a day since his Bane was caged within him. Always a reluctant monster, Harp joined The Chain willingly, seeing his service as a way to atone for past crimes.

But now Harp has gone rogue - killing his team of Chain Agents and somehow breaking the mystical shackle the organisation uses to keep its agents in line. Just what motivates Harp and exactly what he's up to is a mystery that I don't want to spoil for our potential new readers. Good guy, bad guy or worse guy? You'll just have to wait and see.

The Big Bad Wolf: Can you tell us a bit about the world in which Necessary Monsters takes place in?

Daniel Merlin Goodbrey: On the surface Necessary Monsters is our world, more or less. But scratch some fingers through the flesh of the world just a little and you find a place that's an amalgam of every terrible atrocity in every horror film you've ever seen. In Necessary Monsters it's the nightmare horrors and unstoppable psychopaths that are running the show - ordinary folk like you and me are only kept around for our amusement value and the pleasing way we go squish when sharp objects are applied to our bodies. Not a nice place at all, would be the bottom line.

The Big Bad Wolf: What can we expect from this book in terms of blood and gore?

Daniel Merlin Goodbrey: Well, I didn't want to skimp on the gore because the kind of horror films we were riffing on weren't exactly subtle when it came to spraying the blood and guts around. But at the same time you've got to balance that with maintaining the tension of a cool-as-ice spy caper. So yeah - it's pretty horrid in places. But, you know, playfully so. Spy thrills with brief moments of hyper violent horror punctuation. The skull-ripping scene is a particular favourite.

The Big Bad Wolf: What has impressed you the most with Sean Azzopardi's artwork?

Daniel Merlin Goodbrey: Oh Lord. Tough question! So many times when Sean has just blown me away with his artwork on this book. Amazing versatility while still keeping his own voice throughout. If I had to pick a top three "oooooh" moments, it'd be:

1. The scene I mentioned earlier where the security guard (played by UK small press marvel, Sleazy Dan Lester) rips off the top of his own head in response to Gravehouse's whisper.
2. The conversation between Tuesday and The Ju Ju Man in the room at the edge of death.
3. All of chapter five. Man! That's some comics right there, that is.

Oh, oh! And the first page we see Cowboy 13! And the Chicken Neck / Cowboy 13 fight! And the bit with the statue of liberty! I fail at top threes, clearly.

The Big Bad Wolf: At this point, has there been interest to move Necessary Monsters to other types of media?

Daniel Merlin Goodbrey: Yeah, we actually had some nibbles for the film rights back in the summer, just from the right people discovering the online serialization. But in the end we decided we wanted to get the first volume all finished and into print before really aggressively pursuing other media. Fingers crossed for the New Year and we'll see where things take us.

The Big Bad Wolf: When is the release date and how much is the book?

Daniel Merlin Goodbrey: Necessary Monsters will be available in all good comic shops in February for just $12.95. That's cheaper than a more expensive thing and certainly five-and-a-half times more fun. Garaunteed.*

The Big Bad Wolf: Where can our readers find out more about Necessary Monsters?

Daniel Merlin Goodbrey: They should point themselves at our website, www.necessarymonsters.com where through the wonders of internet serialization they can read a chunk of the story gratis, free and for nothing. Then they should go buy the trade paperback from their local comic shop or favoured online retailer because myself and Sean really need to eat food next year and would like to be able to afford to do so. That's diamond order code DEC09 0641, folks! You know it makes sense!

The Big Bad Wolf: In closing, what would you like to say about Necessary Monsters?

Daniel Merlin Goodbrey: I'd appreciate it if folk would keep it under their hats but, just between you me and the Internet? It's actually quite good. Or, if I may, to quote an extract from Kieron Gillen's introduction to the book:

"THAT SHIT WITH THE STATUE OF LIBERTY? FUCK YEAH. I MEAN, FUCKITY YEAH-YEAH-YEAH"

He's quite excitable is Kieron.

*not a guarantee.

The Big Bad Wolf: Thank you for your time, Daniel! Good luck with Necessary Monsters!

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