How A Crow Becomes a Murder

As a writer, you should never totally throw out your ideas. That’s not to say that everything you type out on your keyboard will be gold. Sometimes an idea is premature. The world just wasn’t ready for it yet. That was the case with Feed Them to the Crows.

Several years back, when I was reviewing comics regularly, I often used the long list of comics looking for coverage that came out each week as a bit of a crutch. How can I possibly write my own stuff when there are so many other comics out there that need attention? I highlighted comics from big publishers and indie shops and Kickstarter campaigns across two different websites and every time I made a good dent, there was another Wednesday with a new batch of titles to sift through. There’s where Mario Candelaria came in.

Mario and I had been friends for awhile after I had covered a few of his comics. We found out we grew up around the same area and we shared a lot of the same interests. As he was getting Killchella off the ground, he asked for my POV on it as someone who read a ridiculous amount of horror comics. After sharing my thoughts, Mario asked if I’d come onboard as an editor. Did I know anything about comic book editing? Absolutely not.

After one of my first emails to the team was met with the series artist quitting, I was off to a great start. Eventually everything came together and Killchella is a fun and bloody read. Along the way, Mario asked me to perform similar duties on Devil Water and One True Love. I was seeing how a comic was made first hand, understanding the process, and playing an active part in its creation. This was a step I needed to move from comic book reviewer to comic book writer.

One day, Mario and I were bouncing some ideas between each other through Facebook Messenger. We hit on this concept playing with some of the tropes of the horror genre, particularly around monster hunting. I remember pointing out how the Winchester Brothers from Supernatural must look to the outside world. Imagine some weird stuff starts happening in your town, then these two strangers show up, your neighbor ends up dead, and those two guys disappear. That’s pretty suspicious, right? That’s one of the principle thoughts behind Feed Them to the Crows.

This three-issue mini-series written by Mario and myself, illustrated by Daniel Caval, and colored by Colin Johnson, centers on Mitch, a young man on the eve of adulthood as he’s about to make the biggest decision of his life. He’s finally found the man he believes killed his mother. A man he believes with all of his heart, mind, and soul is a vampire. Hanging in the balance is Mitch’s younger brother, Jake, who idolizes him. Will Mitch avenge his mother? Will he save his brother? Will he commit cold-blooded murder? You’ll have to hit the button below and check out the campaign to find out.

Next time I’ll talk a bit more about the winding path we took to get to this point including the near misses and the loss of hope for this series.

I’ve been making an effort to read more manga this year. At the time of this writing, manga represents about 35% of the comics I’ve read in 2026. That’s up from 20% last year. One series I’m finally getting around to finishing is Monster from Naoki Urasawa. This was recommended to me ages ago by Phillip Sevy and it has been a riveting ride so far. I’ve got one volume left to complete the series and I honestly have no idea where it’s going to go.

The series starts with a fascinating concept as a doctor makes a judgement call to operate on a young boy instead of a high profile patient. He could only save one and he chooses the boy…only to find out later that he saved a psychopath. How responsible is the doctor in the boy’s murders? Is the blood on his hands? It’s kind of like that idea about going back in time to kill Hitler.

Monster takes tons of twists and turns, introducing more characters with each volume and showing just how far this killer’s reach goes. I will admit that it has gotten a little complicated as we get to this late stage, but one thing is clear. The tension is off the charts. This is something I found with Death Note too. It’s like the series hits this high mark of tension and just doesn’t let up. It keeps it there, like an ever-present creature, even in the calmer scenes. It’s something that I don’t see nearly as much in Western comics. It’s a real art that’s exemplified in manga.

I’m so pumped to see how this series comes to a close. I’ve been savoring it a bit and with one volume left, I’m really looking forward it. I have Urasawa’s other major work, 20th Century Boys, waiting shortly after.