Rafael Scavone has the devil’s luck. Not only does he get to return to the town of Hailstone for his new series Devil’s Luck: A Hailstone Story, but… Okay, fine, I didn’t do a good job of thinking through this lede. But Scavone is back in town, and this time, he means business.
“Revisiting Hailstone was already in my plans since the first series, in 2022,” Scavone told Comic Book Club over email. “I wanted this fictional town in Montana to work like a playground for horror stories, without tying them together or enforcing continuity. This way I can tell stories in different periods of history and don’t need to stick with the same issue or dynasties of characters.”
To find out more about the new series, and whether you’ll want to sell your teeth to pick up a copy, read on.
Comic Book Club: What made you want to revisit Hailstone for this series? And what characterizes the town?
Rafael Scavone: Revisiting Hailstone was already in my plans since the first series, in 2022. I wanted this fictional town in Montana to work like a playground for horror stories, without tying them together or enforcing continuity. This way I can tell stories in different periods of history and don’t need to stick with the same issue or dynasties of characters. What characterizes the Town of Hailstone is its isolation up in the mountains, often snowbound. There’s also the mining activity and, of course, the horror.
Where did the idea of stealing golden teeth come from? And side-note: isn’t gold a terrible material for teeth since it’s so soft?
Stealing golden teeth isn’t a particular new thing, in revolutions and wars it was a plundering practice. But the idea for Devil’s Luck came from the price of gold back in 1935, when it reached a peak just amid the Great Depression. I wanted a dentist as the protagonist and I was also looking to tint the story with greed, so my thought was moved like a magnet to a golden teeth plot. And yes! Gold is a terrible material for teeth, even though they had their use back in the XIX century and even before, but it was exactly because they’re soft and easy to shape.
Since you have a background as a historian, what’s your approach to using the info from the time period, and then whittling it down — or peppering throughout — so you make sure you have an interesting story that isn’t just fun facts?
I usually have two approaches when dealing with real historical time: sticking with the historical facts or just peppering historical info, as you mentioned. The first I use only for adaptations or comics about real events that need historical accuracy. The second is what I used in Devil’s Luck: from the Great Depression, I used the social and economic turmoil, the rotten stocks scams and so on, and the visual characterization of that time. But it’s all fiction, like that town.
Something that I think we must not forget is that people also have their own references for historical periods. And much of the magic of comics is what happens in people’s minds. So I also consciously try to not overflood the stories with historical facts. I just give enough info to give the reader a feeling of that period and that’s it. The rest is imagination — mine or from the readers.
There’s certainly a hint we may go in a supernatural direction, but we don’t really get that in this first issue… Why hold that element back?
I think it was to seed suspense, and also because the supernatural is a slow growing thing in Devil’s Luck. It’s there, and it’ll start to be more present as the series moves on.
What makes Tim Beacon, your dentist character, a compelling lead?
I think his fragility and weak position in the deal with the miners is what really puts the reader alongside Tim. But as the series moves on, Tim will grow in a unique manner that may shock some readers.
Talk about working with Eduardo Ferigato, and what your collaboration brings to the series.
Ferigato was key to this series. Not only artwise, bringing a beautiful noirish style, with him coloring it too! But Ferigato also brought a very cool insight for the series’ ending. It’s been awesome working with him, besides the great teamwork, his art narrative is killing in these pages!
What can you tease about the rest of the run?
It just gets better and better, and it’s not a bluff. The thing is that I made a mistake in this series, where each next issue gets better than the previous one. I know this isn’t a good selling strategy, because you usually make the first issue be the killer one, but I couldn’t help myself and I think it will be worth it. The second issue has a claustrophobic mood and is tense as hell, it’s one of my favorites so far. I invite the readers to give a shot.
Devil’s Luck: A Hailstone Story #1 is on Comixology now.
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