BREATH OF SHADOWS - MY INTERVIEW WITH RICH DOUEK

Last week, the team over at IDW Publishing kindly allowed me to share several pages from their upcoming five-issue miniseries, 'Breath of Shadows', which centers on a famous musician who goes on a quest to help him find a cure for his addiction to drugs. But if you missed this excerpt, don't worry, because you can check it out by clicking here. Otherwise, you can just go with the flow and dive into the following Q and A with the author of this miniseries, Rich Douek.





1) Name three words that best describe who you are.   I'd say, writer, creative, and thinker.

2) What inspired you to create, 'Breath of Shadows'?    Beginning with the previous two series we created for IDW, 'Road of Bones' and 'Sea of Sorrows', both Alex Cormack (the artist) and I have been exploring horror stories set in historical surroundings. So, for 'Breath of Shadows', we wanted to continue our exploration, and this time, set the story in the sixties. After all, the sixties was and still is a very interesting decade, especially for its music scene, because a lot of music from that era was infused with a sense of importance, real importance, almost as if each song was going to change the world and make everything better. But not a lot has changed, has it? As decades later, we're still facing some of the same problems! So what happened? How did 'peace and love' become 'greed is good'? That's where we started, and it's one of the themes that runs throughout the story.

3) In your own words, how would you describe this story?   'Breath of Shadows' is about a talented musician named Jimmy Meadows who's searching for a remedy to cure his addiction to drugs, and more importantly, some meaning to his life. In order to do this, though, Jimmy decides to join a scientific expedition that intends to track down an ancient Mayan ruin, a Mayan ruin that holds the secrets to defeating his own personal demons, as well as a glimpse into the meaning he's so desperately in search of. But as he discovers the truth, he starts to learn that the answers to his questions are more horrific than he could ever imagine.

4) What song would you say best represents 'Breath of Shadows' and why?   To answer this question, I'd like to select The Rolling Stones song, 'Out of Time', as it was released a couple of years before my story is set, circa 1966, and there's something about the chorus that really resonates with me.

5) If you could get a celebrity - either living or dead - to promote your wares, who would you choose, and why would you want to choose this particular person?   I'd like to choose Stephen King. Not only because he's a master at writing horror stories who's held in high regard, but in addition to this, it would also mean a lot to have his endorsement, both personally and professionally, assuming he liked my work.

6) What's the one thing about this miniseries that might surprise people?   'Breath of Shadows' is more than just a gory horror story, because even though it's full of shocks, scares, and horrific imagery, there's also a deeper narrative running through it about the pursuit of fame, and how it can turn people into monsters that are just as scary as anything Alex and I can dream up.

'Breath of Shadows' is a five-issue monthly miniseries published by IDW Publishing, written by Rich Douek, and illustrated by Alex Cormack. The first issue will be released in February, 2023, and for further information, please feel free to check out the official Website, Instagram, and Twitter pages for IDW Publishing.