DF Interview: David Pepose brings us society by way of a scouting manual in ‘Scout’s Honor’

By Byron Brewer

Years after a nuclear apocalypse, a new society has risen from the ashes...and their bible is an old Ranger Scout manual.

A young Ranger Scout named Kit has endured the harsh survivalist upbringing needed to conquer the irradiated Colorado Badlands. But after discovering a terrible secret once lost to history, Kit must risk everything on a dangerous quest to uncover the truth behind the Ranger Scouts' doctrine.

From multiple Ringo Award-nominated writer David Pepose (Spencer & Locke, Going to the Chapel, The O.Z.) and artist Luca Casalanguida (James Bond, Lost Soldiers) comes a post-apocalyptic coming-of-age tale that proves when all you know is a lie, a Scout's Honor is the only way to move forward. DF sat down with scribe David Pepose to learn more.

Dynamic Forces: David, I will ask right out of the gate (as we say in Kentucky horse country): Were you a Boy Scout? If so or if not, what is the inspiration for your new book, Scout’s Honor?

David Pepose: My younger brothers were both Boy Scouts, and as someone who missed the boat joining the organization as a kid, looking at the group as an outsider was the biggest inspiration behind Scout’s Honor. When you’re on the inside, being a Scout can be this positive and rewarding experience, one that teaches you self-sufficiency and initiative… but when you’re on the outside, watching your little brothers take part in this, the pageantry and the rules and the bylaws can have a borderline religious undertone to it all.

There are a ton of other inspirations behind this book as well — I’ve been a fan post-apocalyptic storytelling for a long time, so Mad Max: Fury Road, Fallout, The Hunger Games and The Handmaid’s Tale all played a part in the development of this series. But I also drew from a lot of real-world experiences as well, including my own religious journey as a Jewish writer, as well as the stories of disillusionment and heartbreak following the Catholic Church sex abuse scandals. Scout’s Honor isn’t just a post-apocalyptic action story, but a story about losing your religion… and figuring out how to fit the broken pieces of your upbringing back together.

DF: I’m not necessarily asking why this is a post-apocalyptic world, about what may or may not have occurred, but can you give the reader some type of feel for what exists as your backdrop, the atmosphere of our environs … what are things like here and there?

David Pepose: It’s been generations since the atomic bombs fell and decimated the planet, and even though the Ranger Scouts survived in a specially protected bunker, they’re not out of the woods just yet. The Ranger Scouts are considered the last and best hope for justice across the Colorado Badlands, and they’ve rescued and evangelized neighboring townships in equal measure.

But while this cult has been trained to survive in the wilderness, they haven’t quite conquered it just yet — there are still dangerous sandstorms, irradiated geysers, and hideously mutated wildlife lying in wait, not to mention a dangerous gang known as the Highwaymen, who pillage and raid unsuspecting villages across the countryside.

It’s a tough place to live, but at the end of the day, survival is what the Ranger Scouts do best. But I’d say that the Badlands are just as much of a character in this series as Kit, Dez, Shepherd, and the rest of the Ranger Scout organization.

DF: Introduce us to Kit.

David Pepose: In a lot of ways, Kit is the embodiment about everything good in the Ranger Scout tradition — she’s sharp as a tack, she’s tough and resourceful, but she’s also a true believer in the heroism of the Ranger Scouts of America. There’s just one problem — this hyper-masculine society only allows men to serve as Scouts, and so Kit has had to conceal her identity as a woman in order to pursue what she considers to be her life’s calling.

That would be a heavy enough burden for someone to carry on their shoulders, but Kit is going to discover she’s not the only one with a secret — namely, she’s going to uncover something at the heart of the Ranger Scout tradition that is going to shake her to her core, and make her question everything she once believed. It’s that discovery that’s going to kick off Kit’s quest for the truth, as she struggles to reconcile the values she was raised with versus the people who have secretly perverted those institutions for generations.

DF: What other characters might we be on the lookout for? Can you spotlight just a few important protagonists here?

David Pepose: A big part of Kit’s arc will be exploring her relationship with her best friend, Dez — as the son of the Scoutmaster, Dez has a lot of pressure on his shoulders to be the best, and getting shown up by Kit over and over again might someday turn him into the Loki to Kit’s Thor. But Dez also has some secrets of his own, and that’s going to complicate things even further — especially since he doesn’t know his best friend is actually a woman. Dez has been a super-fun character to explore, and one that I think will speak to a lot of people as the series continues.

Another character that has been fun to explore is Dez’s father, Scoutmaster Shepherd — he’s both the religious and political leader of the Ranger Scouts, and he fought hard to get where he is today. He’s absolutely a true believer, and he sees Kit as a kindred spirit, in a way — he makes Kit’s journey all that more difficult, as someone she both admires deeply and yet feels justifiably intimidated by. Shepherd is very much that old-school kind of patriarch who remembers keenly how bad things used to be, and will do whatever it takes to keep the Ranger Scouts from backsliding into the abyss.

DF: Can you relate to readers here any other aspects of the old Ranger Scout manual as this society’s “bible”? Aside from what Kit is involved in, how else has this affected the world as they know it now?

David Pepose: Honestly, the Ranger Scouts are essentially in the Dark Ages — their very history has been wiped away since the bombs fell, and the Ranger Scout manual has become their sole tether to the past. They say history is written by the victors, but I’d argue that it’s really written by the survivors — and so the Ranger Scouts have been playing a telephone game with history that’s really warped and mutated their society around them.

For example, the original founder of the Ranger Scouts, Dr. Jefferson Hancock, has been deified over generations as a messianic figure not unlike Jesus himself — and his Scout Laws have mutated into something closer to the Ten Commandments, a sort of spiritual bedrock upon which the Ranger Scouts have based their entire ethical code.

And that’s not getting into the brutal, rigorous training needed to survive the Badlands, punctuated by Ranger Scout merit badges — while there are standbys like archery and wilderness training, there’s also a need for skills like tactical driving and explosives. That was one of the first bits of imagery that hit me with this series was the idea of knowing immediately what skills your squadron possessed just by a quick glance — it’s a cool way of establishing hierarchy, and as Kit will discover, these badges might unlock more than a few doors…

DF: Devil’s Advocate Q: Does this tale reflect at all the controversy by BSA that has been such a part of recent news?

David Pepose: I think that has definitely bled over to some extent — I think in a lot of ways, the Scouts are very similar to that of the Catholic Church, in that these were institutions that were positive staples for so many people for so many years… and that has made it all the more heartbreaking when people have revealed some truly monstrous happenings going on underneath our noses.

The big question of Scout’s Honor, in my mind, becomes whether or not there’s anything spiritually valuable to take away as far as these institutions are concerned, while still seeking justice and reparations from the corrupt people who have used these institutions as cover. And that’s not a one-size-fits-all answer — just like Kit, at the end of the day, the only person who can decide what direction your spiritual and political journey will take is you.

DF: Talk about the art of Luca Casalanguida.

David Pepose: What’s funny is I actually approached Luca years ago about another project after seeing his work on James Bond: The Body, and while the scheduling for that particular book didn’t work out, I was thrilled when my editors Mike Marts and Christina Harrington told me he was available to tackle Scout’s Honor.

Luca’s got such a strong sense of drama, and he’s got the right amount of gnarliness to his inking style for a post-apocalyptic coming-of-age story like ours. He does really great work with contrast and shadows especially — he makes Kit such a thoughtful and expressive character, but when the gloves come off, she is a particularly fierce character to follow thanks to Luca’s impeccable action beats. When you pair him with a colorist as amazing as Matt Milla and a letterer as precise as Carlos M. Mangual, you’ve got yourself one hell of a creative team.

DF: David, what other projects current or near-future can you tell readers about?

David Pepose: Sure! We’re hard at work on the second installment of The O.Z., which we’ll be launching on Kickstarter early 2021 — Ruben Rojas’ artwork on this series is just purely next-level, and the pages he’s been turning in look incredible. We’ve also been making some steps on my upcoming sci-fi series Grand Theft Astro, which I’m excited to reveal as we get more art for it. And we’re still hard at work on our third and final volume for Spencer & Locke, which will be a real milestone once that’s fully wrapped!

Beyond that, I’ve got a few other projects in the pipeline in various stages of development — I’ve got a really fun, action-packed YA series that we’re starting to get the ball rolling on production, plus a new superhero story with my Spencer & Locke partner-in-crime Jorge Santiago Jr., as well as writing a new horror series that’s really near and dear to my heart. Honestly, I just feel so grateful for Scout’s Honor and all the other work I was able to accomplish in 2020, and I’m excited to push myself even harder in 2021!

Dynamic Forces would like to thank David Pepose for taking time out of his busy schedule to answer our questions. Scout’s Honor #1 from AfterShock is slated to hit stores Jan. 6, 2021!

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