As both a prolific character actor and a comic creator, David Dastmalchian has played a role in shepherding some intriguing and unexpected stories. Later this month, Dastmalchian will be working with Todd McFarlane and artist Federico Mele on Knights vs. Samurai, a new Image Comics series that is sure to deliver on that front as well. While speaking to ComicBook about the upcoming release of Knights vs. Samurai, Dastmalchian cited working with James Gunn on 2022’s The Suicide Squad as one of the shining examples for how he approached the relationships of the series.
“Everything, 100%. And I’m glad you asked that question, because when I was writing this story, up until now, almost all of my screenplays, teleplays, plays and comic books have revolved around one central character, with a couple of important supporting characters. But we’re still following a story of a singular character on the hero’s journey, which is a form of storytelling we’re all very accustomed to. Looking at something like The Last Voyage of the Demeter and a crew. A team of people who may not get along, who don’t speak the same language, who are from different cultures, who kind of despise each other. But all of a sudden, having to fight an entity that is bigger than any of them, individually, was certainly influential. But the most important, I would say, was working with someone like James Gunn, who has found this incredible ability, over the years of his storytelling to incorporate an expansive ensemble of characters into a plot. And you absolutely know who each character is, how much you care about them, what you feel about them, their relationship to one another. So I looked back on, not only the time that I got to work with James, but on watching his films and going ‘Holy crap. I need to make sure every interaction has weight, has meaning.’”
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“You go, ‘Well, what is there? They’re just on the same team? No, I need a dynamic relationship between these characters, otherwise it’s not gonna mean anything,’” Dastmalchian continued. “I could give a million examples but there’s so much influence. And every great filmmaker I’ve worked with. A storyteller like Todd understands that you can dress the set, you can paint the page with the most badass muscly, gory clashes of Katanas and broadswords and nunchucks and throwing stars against spears, crossbows. It doesn’t amount to a hill of beans if the reader doesn’t give a crap about the characters, and doesn’t care about their relationships.”
What Is Knights vs. Samurai About?
In Knights vs. Samurai, Sir Charles Ward, “The Dragon Butcher,” has achieved knighthood, acclaim, and is leading a legion of royal warriors on a noble mission, yet his self-doubt and grief haunt him. Venturing to a mysterious island in the Far East, Charles leads his diverse assembly of fighters (including a giant and two clerics) to seek vengeance against savage monsters who ambushed a group of English missionaries. Arrival on the island reveals that the truth may be drastically different from what Charles was led to believe, and the “savage monsters” he will face are actually a regiment of skillful warriors the likes of which he has never seen.
Knights vs. Samurai #1 will be released wherever comics are sold on September 25th.
