Interview: Stephen Lindsay Hates Zombies

In Those Slack-Jaw Blues, writer Stephen Lindsay and various artists explored the outrageous, seemingly impious, mixing of one baseball bat swinging Son of God with legions of the undead. Two volumes later, Jesus is searching for believers among the survivors, trying to find an elusive congregation supposed to help him, and hooking up with the only zombie that recognizes him, Laz, and a beefy, thong-wearing male stripper named King. Together they continue the good fight, not only against the ravenous undead, but also against an unholy army raised by a zombiefied angel, and time-traveling werewolves. Lucky for them, honest Abe Lincoln joins the battle, wielding a mean axe.

I admit, at first, I had my doubts. What could have easily become a blasphemous cavalcade of bad art and profanity-filled dialog has risen to a stylish--classy but cheeky--story of strong-armed salvation, unlikely faith found in the worst places, and one tall log of a president skipping through the ages to aid in mankind's salvation. The simple but effective power of Lindsay's straightforward narrative, exhuberantly visualized in frenetic panels by artists Steve Cobb in volume one, and Daniel Thollin in volume two, compels you to keep reading. While I wait for volumes three and four, I asked Stephen Lindsay to confess to a few questions.

How did you come up with the idea for Jesus fighting zombies?

I knew I wanted to do a zombie comic, but there were so many great zombie survival horror/drama comics out there that I knew I had to do something different. So I decided to take more of a B-Movie approach. And as with everything I do, I instantly went back to my Catholic School upbringing for inspiration (my therapist says it's good to let it out...). The title instantly popped into my head and made me chuckle. From that moment on, it was off to the races to try to get the ideas out of my head and onto paper!

Have you gotten any flak for putting Jesus in harm's way like this? And have you lost any sleep over worry about being smitten down by avenging angels or losing your head or anything like that?

Surprisingly, no. With an idea like this, you'd think I would be catching all sorts of shit for it, but it just hasn't happened. I think the reason is that I'm not SIMPLY disrespectful with how I handle Jesus. It would be easy to only go for the shock value of the title and nothing more. But that was never my intention. I didn't want to make Jesus a clown. I wanted to make him human. I like the idea of this working-class hero... somebody people would rally behind not because he's the Son of God, but because he will simply keep kicking ass for what he believes. He won't quit until the job's done or he's dead.

What are your religious or spiritual leanings, if any?

I view religion from a distance. As I said before, I had a Catholic School upbringing. My parents have always been really open minded and never rammed religion down my throat. But I did go to a Catholic School for 8 years. I was an Altar Boy and everything. I just never bought into the whole thing. The hypocrisy of teaching religion right before science rubbed me the wrong way even as a kid. So the first chance I got, I switched over to public school and let me REAL education begin! I have no problem with spirituality. People need to believe in something. It helps them through difficult times in their lives. But organized religion? Nah. To me, it's just another business out to rip people off.

What's the deal with slack-jaw Laz being the only one to recognize Jesus for Jesus?

An artist friend actually hit me with that idea really early on. What if the only person on Earth to believe in Jesus unconditionally was actually a zombie? I loved that notion! People are so jaded that they refuse to see their savior when he's right in front of their faces--but this zombie can see him for who he is. Laz represents the idea that even at our lowest point, there's still hope for our humanity to come through. That, and it allows me to have what basically amounts to a retarded character running around in the book!

In Yea, Though I Walk...Vol. 1, you introduce Abe Lincoln, who's a natural when dealing with werewolves. How did this plot thread evolve and why Lincoln?

Early on, everyone who dug the book decided to give me unsolicited advice on what my NEXT book should be, and they were always "So-and-so HATES (Insert Monster)". I loved that people were responding to the book, but it drove me nuts to think I was immediately going to be pigeon-holed as the guy who writes "Historical Figure Hates Monster" books. So one day, as a joke, I posted a blog with a throw-away line in it about how my next book should be Lincoln Hates Werewolves. Again, the title stuck with me and I immediately started to run with it. Before I knew it, I was thinking of ways to get Lincoln and Jesus together so I could pair them up, buddy-cop style!

Will Jesus ever find that congregation he keeps searching for?

In a word, no. I mean, he finds the church and 1 member of the congregation. But the others have left. The congregation was part of the early iteration of Jesus Hates Zombies. But as I started writing it, the cast was just too big and the focus on Jesus was lost. So I wrote them out of it. But you MAY see them in a spin-off series I'm currently working on that takes place in the same time-frame, but has nothing to do with Jesus or Lincoln...

Have you been approached for the film rights yet? And if you were, who do you think would make a great Jesus?

I haven't been approached yet. I'm allowing a film student in NYC to do his senior film based off of 2 of the stories in Those Slack-Jaw Blues, but as far as larger film rights, no. Personally, I think Aaron Eckhart would make a KILLER Jesus. Check out his role in that shitty Julia Roberts movie Erin Brockovich. He's PERFECT!

Can you give us a hint of what to expect in volumes 3 and 4?

Volumes 3 and 4 get dark -- much darker than the story has been thus far. I've gotta put the character through hell if there's going to be any kind of payoff in the end. New friends will emerge to help them, there will be some deaths, and I'm crossing over a character from one of my other books...

What question would you love to be asked, and what's your answer?

Question: Can we option Jesus Hates Zombies to turn it into a cartoon on Adult Swim, with you on scripting duties?"

Answer: HELL YES!

Amen to that, brother.