Love. Elvis. and Crime. Sounds like a recipe for a memorable night out, but in David Pepose‘s case it’s the plot for his new Action Lab: Danger Zone miniseries Going to the Chapel, which released its first issue this week!
Wealthy Emily Anderson starts questioning whether or not she wants to go through with her nuptials. But before she can say, “I don’t” (or “I do?”), a gang of Elvis-impersonating thieves show up to steal her expensive jewelry… and a hostage situation ensues, with no help from Emily’s dramatic family.
“Going to the Chapel was inspired by the time I was the best man at my oldest friend’s wedding — and by that I mean I was the worst best man in history,” David says.
“The bachelor party I planned was truly cursed — everything that could go wrong, did go wrong, from the Airbnb being trashed to groomsmen bailing on paying to me getting sidelined in the hospital with a kidney stone and missing the entire event. While I was recovering on painkillers, I thought to myself, At least this didn’t happen during the wedding. But then I thought to myself, What if did?“
David brings along artist Gavin Guidry, colorist Liz Kramer, and letterer Ariana Maher on his chiffon-draped caper.
“I’ve got a terrific team of collaborators on Going to the Chapel, and we keep in close communication,” he says.
“When I first started working with artist Gavin Guidry, I already had a first issue script and full treatment for him — when hashing out character designs, I wound up writing full descriptions of each character, complete with reference art about what they wore, which actors I thought they were most like, what their personalities and quirks were. It was a good way for the both of us to get in each characters’ headspaces, to nail the specific tone of the series.
David continues, “With colorist Liz Kramer, meanwhile, we discussed a lot about what influences we wanted to bring to the table — in particular, Matt Wilson’s colors on Black Widow and Patricia Martin’s work on Secret Weapons. Because of my Comics Experience coursework, I’m able to give notes to my colorists very specifically, which I think streamlines the process and minimizes extra rounds of changes. Similarly with letterer Ariana Maher — because I’ve got a decent amount of experience with Photoshop and design work, if I can test any notes on my end before passing corrections, it winds up being much smoother for everyone. Ultimately, as long as you keep in communication with your creative team and try to think ahead, the rest tends to fall into place.”
You are cordially invited to pick up your copy of Going to the Chapel #1 now in stores!