We recently caught up with the creators behind the comic book series, Crestar and the Knight Stallion, comedian Abdallah Jasim and filmmaker Ajmal Zaheer Ahmad about issue 2 which had its release on August 23rd. Darick Robertson, co-creator of the comic series The Boys, serves as creative producer on the project that originally debuted with an official trailer (below) with Ajmal and Abdallah playing the Arab/South Asian/American heroes themselves.
We asked Ajmal and Abdallah about the characters and world behind Crestar and The Knight Stallion, the reception for the series, the current comic book culture landscape, and much more. Check out our conversation below.
What can you tell us about Crestar and The Knight Stallion?
Ajmal Zaheer Ahmad (AZA): Crestar and the Knight Stallion is at its core, a love letter to all the great classic heroes that have laid a foundation for our current pop culture mythology. Take equal parts super/bat/spider man, crazy modern world issues, the drama of family life and authentic and deep cultural values…and you get what we think is a very fun take on the action adventure comedy genre. We hope you all agree!
What the was mindset coming up with this world and the characters?
Abdallah Jasim (AJ): Believe it or not, the characters came very organically to both myself and Ajmal. In a way, they grew out of our personalities and began to take on a life of their own. Once we started hearing them speaking to each other in the voices we gave them, it was immediately apparent that we had the beginnings of zany, lovable but heroic characters.
They were both slightly more colorful than your average character so we decided to ground them in a more real life situation. That’s how we came to realize they should be the heroes of Detroit/Dearborn. Where lots of comics go big in their universes, we’re starting local. Real. Grounded. And hopefully it will make these characters stand out a bit more than a world populated with aliens, alternate dimensions and world ending battles. Who knows though, maybe one day our heroes will get there.
Tell us about the reception for issue 1 and what we can expect with issue 2
AZA: We’ve been blown away with the reception we got from issue 1. In fact now that issue 2 is out, most of the messages we’re getting from people are “where’s issue 3, we can’t wait!” For us, that’s the best reaction we could hope for. The first two issues have sold out at most retailers and from a business standpoint we’ve had enough success to make the transition to larger graphic novels. After issue 3 comes out, we’ll be releasing two large novels by the end of the year. I hope everyone out there picks them up because the big news is Darick Robertson the co-creator of The Boys is writing the next title with us, called “Crestar and the Knight Stallion – Devils Night”. If you liked the first three issues, the next story is going to knock your socks off.
What is something you’ve noticed over the years about the comic book/geek culture fandom. Is it changing?
AJ: Well I think with the rise of popularity of Manga and graphic novels, it feels like people are really gaining more access to this medium. My nephews and nieces all read graphic novels religiously. It’s one of the reasons why we decided to grow the franchise and start expanding into longer format graphic novels to tell our story.
AZA: It’s definitely changing! I remember being the guy who told everyone in the 90’s that marvel, DC, Star Wars, Transformers, etc. were going to be multi billion dollar properties in the future. I usually got blank stares in response, lol. I think the average person has now caught up to that idea and of course kids born since then know nothing but all this cool stuff. There is one big down side of course which is, we may be watering down the quality by pumping out so much material. We’re trying not to do that with our project and are putting a lot of love into every live action and comic frame so the quality doesn’t ever dip.
When people read Crestar and the Knight Stallion, what are you hoping they get out of it?
AJ: We’ve put a lot of ourselves into Crestar and the Knight Stallion. My request to all your readers is to take a chance and pick up one of the comics or spend three minutes and watch our trailer. You’ll see we made this idea to get back to the basics. Fun, funny, exciting and well told stories that showcase the best (and worst) in all of us.
AZA: We just want to give people that giddy smile you get when you watch something that makes you feel like a kid again.
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Follow Crestar and the Knight Stallion: Instagram
Follow Abdallah Jasim: Instagram
Ajmal Zaheer Ahmad: Instagram