Written by Andres Salazar and penciler Jose Luis Pescador, Pariah, Missouri is a self-published western/horror ongoing title. It's part Deadwood part Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Part wild-west historical drama, part supernatural mystery, Pariah is set in 1857 a few years before the Civil War. Pariah is a team book, we follow Hiram Buchanan an undercover Pinkerton, Nellie a feisty courtesan, Jean a practitioner of voodoo from New Orleans and Toro a Comanche bounty-hunter as they ferret out evil.

Salazar writes;

I consider myself as a storyteller. When I'm with people I tell stories, it's actually a main motivator for why I try things. It's why I'm a stand-up comedian. I've been writing ever since I was a kid and it wasn't until now that I have everything lined up to actually make this product. After my first short film, After Cheri, I started writing more screenplays and they were going nowhere (big surprise in LA huh?). I have been making ash-cans and other small-press comics for years. I wrote Pariah, Missouri with comics in mind this time, but using my experience of writing spec teleplays.

I wanted to tell a story that was MY story. Not something made-by-committee. I love westerns so I wanted to start there. I have an affinity for stories about religion, magic and race relations, so I put that all in there. I wanted a dash of comedy (but not camp). I love shows where the location is important (if you haven't seen Twin Peaks, shame on you!) and that the story is character driven.

I worked for Howard Chaykin, who lives down the road from me. I blindly emailed him and couldn't believe in a few hours I was talking to him! He liked my inking portfolio and next thing I knew I was in his office working as an art assistant. I consider him a 'Rabbi' and mentor and learned a lot about the business and how to tell stories. He doesn't mince words and if anything his brutal honesty propels me to want to make this book.

"At San Diego Comic Con, I met a friend of Jose Pescador and we got in touch. When I did my 'casting call' for pencilers online I sent out 2 pages of the story and asked for them to submit some samples. It was all over the board, as you can imagine, and so was their costs per page. When I saw Jose's pages I knew right then and there I wanted this guy. Then it turns out he's a fine artist and opens at galleries in Mexico, that made it even better. I wanted an artist, not just a comic book guy, and I got it in spades with Jose. Now armed with a penciler, I can ink and watercolor the pages and we got ourselves a product. Right now we are launching the first 2 issues on Kickstarter in a collected book.

This money will pay for the art and production costs. All extra funds will go to issues 3 and beyond. I am offering some exclusive prints, shot glasses and extras only through Kickstarter. On the updates I am posting a number of videos, both behind the scenes on making the comic, but also some comedic mock-interviews which should be fun.

This is just the beginning for Pariah, MO, I have major machinations for this world! I got a table at San Diego Comic Con for 2013. I have the Pariah card game coming out in February. I have many more stories to do in 2013. My goal is to keep Pariah as an ongoing title, with collected story arcs coming out each year. Again, I'm a storyteller and I've got 34 years of stories in me so I'm ready!

To see the Pariah, Missouri Kickstarter campaign, click here.