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B. CLAY MOORE
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DF Interview: B. Clay Moore takes publisher’s first foray into the crime genre with ‘Last Flight Out of Wichita’

 

By Byron Brewer

 

Two Vietnam vets in the heart of a depressed 1977 America make a bad decision in an effort to make ends meet and find themselves in the middle of mob double-crosses and the ensuing violent fallout. Soon, the full force of Kansas City's organized crime – including the city's "black mafia," the infamous Purple Capsule Gang – turns to Wichita looking for two desperate men, their money, and a few pounds of flesh. Last Flight Out of Wichita is a thoroughly modern take on ‘70s noir, swinging from Las Vegas to Wichita and beyond.

 

Last Flight Out of Wichita is from writer B. Clay Moore (Hawaiian Dick, Battle Hymn) and artist Mack Chater (Briggs Land), and is DSTLRY’s debut sojourn into crime drama, a modern take on 1970s noir. I chatted with scribe B. Clay Moore about his coming book.

 

Byron Brewer: Hey Clay, it has been awhile! Congrats on this new DSTLRY book, Last Flight Out of Wichita. Can you tell readers how this book came about? What is its inspiration, the muse which caused its creation?

 

B. Clay Moore: For a long time I’ve had some loose thoughts regarding a heist story centering around the Kansas City mafia’s connections with Vegas casinos in the late 1970s (which is actually what the FBI used to bring the KC mob down), and also wanted to set a story in Wichita, which is the closest thing to a hometown I have. Wichita is one of those punchline cities, perceived as nondescript, mid-sized, Midwestern, and dull. Like any city, it’s much more than that, but it is directly in the middle of the country, surrounded by miles of flatland (which makes it a windier city than Chicago), and in the mid-1970s it was struggling like any other city. It’s also the center of the aircraft industry, which gives it an industrial heart. Somehow, when I was in the middle of the worst case of creative block I’ve ever had, all of these elements dovetailed at once, and the whole thing came to me.

 

Byron: As you said, this noir crime story has as its launch setting post-war 1977 in the U.S. Midwest. Before we deep-dive into this intriguing saga, give us a little taste of the canvas onto which we will be plunged. I grew up then, graduating from high school in 1976. But for the uninitiated, tell us about the feel, the atmosphere of where our story begins. Also: What research might you or artist Mack Chater have done to strengthen the reality of this time and place? I am always amazed what creators do to, really, make their canvas almost a character unto itself.

 

B. Clay Moore: Well, 1977 saw the tail end of a recession, and a general national malaise. The two lead characters are veterans of Vietnam, which represented a large portion of the labor force at the time. One works in an aircraft plant as a welder, and one is a baggage handler at the airport. As it happens, one of them is dating a Vietnamese woman at a time there was a large influx of Vietnamese immigrants to the Wichita area. Wichita is now a fairly thriving city, with an area population nearing 700,000, and is the largest city in Kansas. In the book’s time, the population was closer to 300,000, and growth was slower.

 

Mack and I are both fans of the era, and of entertainment from the era, so it’s been fun tracking down references for things like airliner interiors, general fashion trends, etc. We share a private Pinterest board where we drop reference, and have tried to add some era and geographical easter eggs for anyone familiar with time and place. As an example, I found a website that listed the location of every grocery store that ever operated in Wichita. So I spent some time figuring out what grocery store one of the characters would have shopped at, and what the grocery bags would have looked like on a counter in 1977.

 

Byron: See? Amazing!… Introduce readers to our two main protagonists, Vietnam veterans who find themselves struggling to make ends meet in the Midwest, facing the post-war erosion of the American Dream. Who are they? What is their relationship? Without spoilers, tell about the challenges that await each in the series.

 

B. Clay Moore: Cal Baxter and Ray Watts were in the same unit during Vietnam, and at the dark heart of their relationship is a secret the two share that no one else is privy to. Cal is black, dating a Vietnamese woman (her family isn’t wild about that) with a young son. Ray, living with a long-suffering waitress girlfriend in a single-wide mobile home, is a welder at an aircraft plant, but is the less responsible of the two, and prone to rash action, which is what truly kicks the story’s engine into gear. A cousin of Cal’s works as a concierge at a Las Vegas hotel/casino, and when he gets wind of a mob-related hand-off at the Wichita airport, he realizes it might be a chance for Cal to make an easy score.

 

Byron: What can you tell readers about Kansas City’s organized crime scene which engulfs our veterans? They face the likes of the historical Purple Capsule Gang and many other factions.

 

B. Clay Moore: By 1977, the infamous Purple Capsule Gang (Kansas City’s “black mafia,” nicknamed thanks to the purple heroin capsules they sold) was largely out of action, but members of the gang would still be around Kansas City, and there were connections with Kansas City’s “white” mafia. Interestingly, the “black mafia” in Kansas City was at times led by a white man, which made it the only predominantly black criminal organization to have that dynamic. As for the “traditional” crime families in Kansas City, they held interests in a handful of Las Vegas casinos, and would send a bag man to Vegas to collect their cut, which would then be distributed to other Midwestern families in places like Detroit. In our story, the courier who handles the money has a connection in Wichita, and is skimming money off the top, which sets things in motion.

 

Byron: What other characters are important to this story? Can we put a spotlight on a few of them here?

 

B. Clay Moore: The story begins when a dancer named Bliss Alexander is spending a night with Kansas City area mob courier Tony Longo. Longo is high and drunk, and runs his mouth to Bliss. Cal’s cousin Devron is a concierge in the casino hotel in which they spend the night. Cal’s girlfriend, Lynn, is his motivation to elevate his circumstances. A Vietnamese girl with a young son, her faith in Cal frustrates him at times. Ray’s girlfriend, Denise, is one step away from leaving him unless he cleans up his act, which he’s well aware of. In the second issue we’ll meet organized crime figures, including Jimmy “The Trace,” a mob associate who specializes in tracking people down, and Leon “Little Lion” Vann, an enforcer and former Purple Capsule Gang member whose small stature belies his extreme but dispassionate capacity for violence.

 

Byron: Talk about your collaboration here with Mack Chater. What does his awesome art bring to this table?

 

B. Clay Moore: Mack and I share similar sensibilities, which is why we’ve decided to extend our creative relationship beyond this first book, under our combined “Dead Echo Press” production identity. What’s amazing to me about Mack is that for a mature artist, his work keeps getting better and better. I think because he spent much of his career in video games and other fields, he’s still developing as a comic book artist, and he’s already great. But his ability to communicate real world environments and realistic, distinctive characters without feeling tied into photo reference is unique and impressive. I know he can draw anything, even though most of this story is set in an exaggerated real world. And when the book gets very, very violent, he isn’t afraid to cut loose.

 

Byron: Clay, what other of your coming projects, inside or outside comic books, can you tell readers about?

 

B. Clay Moore: Not much right now, but soon. Mack and I have another book on tap later in 2025 that we’ve literally been developing for years that we’re very excited about. It’s an expansive, longer form political horror story, and we’ve got some other things planned down the road. Beyond that, there are a couple more projects approved that I’m looking forward to, including revisiting an older property that people might not expect.

 

Dynamic Forces would like to thank B. Clay Moore for taking time out of his busy schedule to answer our questions. Last Flight Out of Wichita #1 from DSTLRY Media is slated to be on sale February 19!

  
 
 



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