DF Interview: Zack Kaplan shows us why playing the game isn’t so much fun in ‘Masterminds’

By Byron Brewer

When an ambitious and troubled video game programmer dares to audition for a secret society in the gaming/tech industry, composed of cutthroat, genius masterminds that promise to help their members achieve their wildest dreams, he and his rebellious co-worker find themselves in a gauntlet of real-life puzzles that quickly turn deadly. Are they truly smart enough to survive the mysterious game of the Masterminds?

From Dark Horse Comics comes Masterminds by writer Zack Kaplan and artist Stephen Thompson. As soon as I saw the creators, I was on board. Join me as I discuss this noir thriller with scribe Zack Kaplan.

Byron Brewer: Zack, tell readers a little about what sparked this rather unique miniseries. Unique, yes, but something that working folks especially see occurring in “real life” more and more. As you once said, “To win the game of business, the game of life, you have to get on the inside.” Elaborate.

Zack Kaplan: Masterminds is a noir thriller and a chance to join the world’s smartest secret society. The chance to be accepted into an elite membership of affluent power players, to have every door open for you, and to prove you have the intelligence, the smarts and the ambition to truly get ahead. It’s a true mastermind circle, a surreptitious group of masterminds committed to helping one another achieve…everything.

Where did this idea come from? I guess I just had enough. I grew up on the idea that hard work and talent and good morals were the path to success. But like millions of hard-working people, it seems the game has changed on us all. If you don’t just get lucky, there’s only one way to success, to achieve true unbridled power and luxurious riches. You have to get on the inside. It’s a secret, but if you find a way in, the sky’s the limit. The question is, what is required to join that hush-hush mysterious circle?

Byron: Introduce us to your key protagonists, an ambition video game programmer and his rebellious co-worker. Who are they and what is their relationship? How does “getting on the inside” apply to them?

Zack Kaplan: We follow an idealistic dreamer, Edward Hale, who grew up in a sheltered town getting into trouble. He found video games as a way to satisfy his knack for genius puzzle-solving and pursued the video game business for the chance to find connection amongst other creative peers. Instead, he found a dead-end job of long hours, underappreciated achievements and rejection for his ideas. That is until he stumbles upon Masterminds’ audition puzzle and solves it. He ends up being thrown into their initiation process with his fellow coder, a hard-boiled rebellious young woman named Angie, and together they set out to pass a series of dangerous and thrilling tests, puzzles and riddles, unlock membership and achieve greatness. For her, it’s a chance to pay some bills and escape the rat race, but for Edward, like so many of us, it’s the chance to finally be seen as someone that matters, that has something to say, that just needs an open door to achieve greatness. 

Byron: Without spoilers, who are the mysterious Masterminds? How ancient is this group headquartered, I believe, in Silicon Valley? What are their stated goals and their genuine goals?

Zack Kaplan: Oh, they are not headquartered in Silicon Valley, or anywhere really. They certainly have high profile members in the now dominant tech industry and the behemoth gaming industry, but it’s not isolated to those businesses. As far as we can discern from our distant vantage point, Masterminds stretches to every corner of the world’s various economies. Mastermind circles are a real thing; they became more prominent at Harvard about fifty years ago, but they trace back to Benjamin Franklin. They are secret groups of successful individuals who set out to become powerful and rich, and help each other do the same. However, this particular group, Masterminds, well, they are the most powerful group like this in the world. And that’s because they do whatever it takes to get ahead. They are always looking for new members, people who are not just brilliant but who share the willingness to do anything for influence.

But they are a mysterious group, and we do not know much about them. That is part of the puzzle. What do they really want? What are they really after? And who is really behind it all? Who are the Masterminds?

Byron: Give readers an overview of the miniseries as it pertains to our protagonists. Can you let us in on some of the “real-life puzzles that quickly turn deadly”?

Zack Kaplan: Oh no, I can’t go into too much detail there – those discoveries will be the most fun! But I will say that we are hoping readers will feel inspired to, well, sort of, play along at home, see if they can pause on the page and solve the riddles or puzzles themselves. We’re going to painstaking lengths to make sure each puzzle feels unique and exciting and dangerous. And while the story is not a choose-your-own-adventure by any means, there is a sort of inherent challenge at hand.

Are you smart enough to get into Masterminds? And how far would you go to do it?

Byron: Oooh, I LOVE those kinds of elements in such a story!… On both sides, intelligence – the quantity rather than the quality of it – seems key. Are our heroes smart enough to survive, indeed triumph, over the unsaid goals of play for the Masterminds?

Zack Kaplan: Like any good thriller, there is a lot more going on. The audition is one layer. The game is one layer. But there are several puzzles at play here – who is behind this group? Who is playing and who is being played? And who can we trust in this story? The Masterminds are brilliant, and our heroes are brilliant, and so there’s a real game of wits at hand. So yes, are our heroes smart enough to survive and to solve the many mysteries at play?

And I was very much inspired to take on a story like this because I find myself starved for it in comics. There are a small handful of thrillers, but most of them veer into horror territory or an action hero. I really wanted to tap into the mystery at hand, to give the reader a chance to keep guessing at what was going to come next, and to show what happens when man is pitted against man for success.

Byron: Yes!… Talk about the awesome art of Stephen Thompson. How does it feel to reunite with your partner on Midnight Shadows? Can you compare and contrast your collaboration on both Midnight Shadows and Masterminds?

Zack Kaplan: Oh, from the first few pages that Stephen and I created for The Midnight Shadows, I knew we’d have to do something else afterwards. He has a real love of world-building and insanely detailed pages, and his approach is so cinematic and visually arresting, it taps into everything I enjoy about story-telling. I would say the difference between our first Midnight Shadows collaboration and now on Masterminds is simply that it’s different stories with different aesthetics, and we have a shorthand now of what we both like to do. A well-oiled machine. But Masterminds is a fresh look, far darker and more Fincher-esque.

And then when we added in rising star colorist Thiago Rocha, it was just special. It’s definitely some of the most cinematic comic panels I’ve worked on. And it’s a story that desperately needed that noir palette that has a lot of depth in the shadows. And then, we have Eisner-winning letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou working his magic and Tom Muller killing it on design. It all goes to making a very modern and fresh-looking book. I can’t wait for readers to see it all.

Byron: Zack, what other projects for you coming soon can you tell readers about?

Zack Kaplan: Dark Horse’s Kill All Immortals has now been collected in graphic novel trade paperback, and I’m super excited for readers to finally be able to check that out. It’s Succession meets Jon Wick and it kicks serious ass. It follows a billionaire family of immortal Vikings and the only daughter finally wants out – but she’ll have to fight through her family to get her freedom. It’s just high-octane action, but also with a real complex dramatic character story behind it, and we’re hoping your next favorite action heroine after Erika Slaughter. Fico Ossio, Thiago Rocha and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou are on the creative, and it’s a gorgeous, frenetic and arresting book. I’ve been teasing more Kill All Immortals for many months, but it has been promoted to an ongoing series, and our official announcement for more is right around the corner. I can’t wait for readers to get a taste of what’s to come!

And then Mad Cave’s cosmic horror adventure Dark Empty Void, by myself, Chris Shehan, Francesco Segala and Justin Birch, all five issues of that are now out, and it will be collected into graphic novel trade paperback in August or September! It’s about a group of scientists that open a black hole, lose control and crazy things come out, including a human being. If you like Arrival, Annihilation or Aliens, you will love that book.

Dynamic Forces would like to thank Zack Kaplan for taking time out of his busy schedule to answer our questions. Masterminds #1 from Dark Horse Comics is slated to be on sale August 27!

I interviewed Zack about Kill All Immortals a while back. Check it out: https://www.dynamicforces.com/htmlfiles/interviews.html?showinterview=IN05292438451

And we discussed Dark Empty Void here: https://www.dynamicforces.com/htmlfiles/interviews.html?showinterview=IN08142493144

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