Paul: Steven, tell us something about yourself, family, schools, etc

Steven: I'm married and have three children, 12 (boy), 6 (girl) and 4 (boy). I went to Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ where I obtained a B.A. in Journalism.

Paul: What was the first comic book you ever read?

Steven: I think it was a Archie comic... but my first adult comic was a Judge Dredd from 2000 AD.

Paul: How did the concept of Dark 48 come about?

Steven: Dark 48 was first conceived as a screenplay. I wrote about 25 pages and then shelved the project. I went on to write BloodRayne. After BloodRayne I wanted to bring back my character Tiger Wraith. The new incarnation of the character materialized in BloodRayne: Dark Soul. It was fun. I was going to launch her into her own series but Dark 48 kept drawing me back.

Paul: Who is doing the artwork for Dark 48?

Steven: A newcomer to comics. Daniel Indro. He's from Indonesia and a very talented penciler. The colorist is Joel Seguin.

Paul: Can you brief us about the storyline and characters?

Steven: The first story arc is a two-issue introduction to the world and characters. The team leader is from the United States - Danielle Russell codenamed ANTHEM. The second in command from Canada is TWILIGHT - Abigail Harte. Next up is Mia Cavazos - SOLSTICE from Spain; Brigitte Jentsch - PANZER from Germany. She's a Black Shark pilot (single seat attack helicopter) and back-up Medic; Natalia Zharkov - OKTOBER from Russia. She's the other Black Shark pilot; Noriko Ishi - KATANA from Japan. She's a Medic; Mackenzie Faulkner - WRAITH from the United Kingdom, also a Medic; and finally Caitlin "Cat" Simmons - RUFFIAN from the United States. The whole two-issue story is told as RUFFIAN writes to her mom in a journal.

Here's the storyline: The United States is plunged into darkness when a Soviet-engineered virus is accidently let loose on the populace, attacking the Y chromosome of males, inducing rage. The terrorist cell didn't know what they had intercepted. Their intel claimed it was a virus bound for the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta. They soon realized too late it was a highly volatile, man-made plague the soviets were going to use in Afghanistan back in the 1980s. It was a virus genetically engineered to attach itself to the Y chromosome of males, inducing rage. The Russians hoped the Afghan rebels would turn on each other saving them lives and ammunition. We follow an extraction team...Battle Corp Delta - an all-female strike team – whose mission is to traverse the contiguous lower 48 searching for survivors...and hopefully a cure.

It's "Halo" meets "DMZ" by way of "The Walking Dead."

Paul: You have created other fantastic comic books, do you think they will resurface sometime in the future?

Steven: I know that TIGER WRAITH will appear again. At least as a two-issue mini probably in late '08 or early '09. I still have a few BloodRayne stories in me as well so I'm sure I'll return to her sometime soon.

Paul: I must ask you an off-the-wall question. Have you ever had a paranormal experience and if you did, can you tell us about it?

Steven: I'm a big "Ghost Hunters" fan and try not to miss an episode... as far as any paranormal experiences I've never seen a ghost but I did hear one once. I was home by myself. My wife had left the house a few hours earlier. My wife used to call me Es... short for Esteban which is Spanish for Steven. It's a long story. But I was reading by myself that night with the TV on as background noise. I heard her voice call out to me "Es?" as if asking if I was there. I was just about to say "Yes" when I caught myself. The hair stood up on my arms but I didn't get scared. I just yelled out. Wow...you're pretty good at sounding like my wife. Now knock it off. I never heard it again. My son who is now 12 told me once an older woman or "old lady" as he referred to her would come in his room. He was only 2 then but I've read that children are receptive to that kind of stuff. I don't know. As I said, I never saw anything but that doesn't mean I don't believe in them.

Paul: What conventions will you be attending or have attended?

Steven: I'll be attending the New York Comic Con in April of '08 at the Digital Webbing booth in Artists Alley. Not sure yet on San Diego. I may do Wizard World Chicago. Things are still up in the air.

Paul: How can someone contact you?

Steven: The Dark 48 website should be active soon. www.dark48.com . The email there is dark48comic@gmail.com . I can be reached through that email.

Paul: What are your hobbies and recreational activities?

Steven: I play drums and guitar...I was in a band for a bunch of years. Mainly rock music... but I do like punk as well. I've been trying to catch up on some comic book series I missed. Trying to finish up Batman HUSH. Love Jim Lee's artwork in that.

Paul: If you can have 6 dinner guests, 3 fictional and 3 real-life from any time period, who would those 6 people be and why?

Steven: Real life... One would be my father. He died two years ago from an infection he picked up in the hospital. He was in there for something totally unrelated and never came home...so I'd love to have him for dinner. I'd love to invite Teddy Roosevelt because he seemed like such an old "tough" guy. I always liked the Rough Riders stories and would love to hear them told first hand. Tom Hanks. He just seems like a really sweet man...and he's a pretty good actor too. He looks like he's probably a great storyteller as well. Fictional...Selina Kyle as drawn by Jim Lee. I don't think I have to explain why. BloodRayne would be cool to hang with. She's sexy, witty and can kick some serious vampire butt. Finally, Jack Griffin - the Invisible Man. I always wanted to be invisible and even though he was insane he was also brilliant. If I could learn his secrets I too could be invisible but would I go mad as well?

Paul: If you could go into any time machine, what year would you stop at and tell us why.

Steven: I'd go back in time and become Bill Gates' best friend. I wrote a short unproduced film with that as it's premise. Maybe I'll shoot it someday soon just for kicks.

Paul: What TV shows, movies, cartoons do you like?

Steven: My favorite not-to-miss shows are The Shield, Rescue Me, Lost, Heroes, The Hills, anything with Eliza Dushku, Reaper is fun, did I say The Hills? I meant to type Beverly Hillbillies. Movies? Love'em. Jaws is one of my favorites. I really have too many to list: Escape from NY, The Exorcist, All the Star Wars films, Halloween, John Carpenter's The Thing...just a few. I can't wait to see I am Legend. I loved the book by Richard Matheson. Cartoons? Simpson's, Teen Titans and the original animated Batman from way back with Mark Hamill as the Joker. I used to watch South Park but after one season it's all the same to me. Sorry to all the South Park fans but to each his/her own, right?

Paul: What books do you enjoy?

Steven: My favorite book is I am Legend by Richard Matheson. It's just a fantastic book... even if it was written back in 1954... it's timeless.

Paul: What comic books do you read now?

Steven: I don't have as much time to read as I stated before so visiting my LCS on Wednesdays is pretty sporadic. I just finished reading Batman: Dark Victory, the first half of Batman: Hush, and I'm going to start Planet Hulk shortly.

Paul: What gives you your creative energy?

Steven: Strangely my 9 to 5 job. I really hate it so it drives me to do other things that will hopefully (and soon) get me out of the doldrums and into doing something I love fulltime... and that's writing.

Paul: If Dark 48 became a movie, who would play the main character parts and why?

Steven: I was waiting for this question. You have to understand, Dark 48 was already a planned movie from the get-go. I had it cast even before I put pen to paper to write the first script for issue #1. Here goes. For ANTHEM I see Laurie Holden. She played the motorcycle cop in Silent Hill. I'd want her in that platinum blonde spikey hair. Man, she looked awesome in that film. She's actually the only one I see in that role. For TWILIGHT = Evangeline Lily. SOLSTICE = Rosario Dawson. OKTOBER = Milla Jovovich. PANZER = Eliza Dushku. KATANA = Kelly Hu (I know she's not Japanese but she's hot). WRAITH = Kestie Morassi from Wolf Creek and for RUFFIAN = Alecia Moore (Pink). That's right, Pink as RUFFIAN. She's raw enough to carry the role...she's not too shabby to look at and she can certainly kick some @ss. :)

Paul: This ends the interview, any encouraging words of wisdom?

Steven: Every great writer has been rejected... so don't get discouraged. Just write what makes you happy and content. If it's good, the powers that be will come around...hopefully sooner rather than later. :)