DF Interview: Rich Douek puts a couple on the perdition path in the ‘Drive Like Hell’ graphic novel

By Byron Brewer

Bobby Ray and Dahlia planned the perfect bank heist, and even stole the perfect getaway car. There's just one little problem: It belongs to the devil himself, and he wants it back. Bad. When the job goes wrong, Bobby Ray and Dahlia find themselves embroiled in a high-octane chase across the highways, on the run from demonic cops, satanic bikers and psychotic religious freaks, all of them after the car and the mysterious artifact in its trunk. With all the forces of evil on their trail, there's only one thing Bobby Ray and Dahlia can do: Drive Like Hell!

From Dark Horse comes Drive Like Hell, a graphic novel collecting issues #1-4 of the running comic, by writer Rich Douek and artist Alex Cormack. It is not often a monthly has passed me by that I catch up to it in a collection, but this is such an occasion. So, readers to whom this property is new, join me in discussion of the graphic novel with scribe Rich Douek.

Byron Brewer: Rich, my friend, I have been covering your awesome work since Day 1. You are one writer who has yet to fall into any one single genre category. Tell readers what inspired your latest saga. What’s the genesis of your fast and furious tale, Drive Like Hell?

Rich Douek: Coming off of the horror trilogy we did together – Road of Bones, Sea of Sorrows, and Breath of Shadows – Alex and I wanted to keep collaborating but I think we were both looking for a little change of pace. While those books were awesome to work on, they were really heavy subject matter, and I think we were yearning for something a little more light-hearted. In talking, we discovered we had a mutual love for over-the-top 70s/80s car movies, from comedies like Smokey and the Bandit and Cannonball Run to fast-paced thrillers like Bullit and Duel. We wanted to add a bit of a horror element to it, and Drive Like Hell was born!

Byron: Introduce us to Bobby Ray. Who is he when we first meet him in the book and, without spoilers, can you hit at what challenges he might face as the pages turn?

Rich Douek: Bobby Ray loves to drive. That’s indisputable. But he also loves the freedom driving gives him. He’s a good guy with a checkered past, and he probably thinks a little too much of himself. But his dead-set certainty that there’s no situation so bad he can’t drive his way out of it is what makes him who he is: the perfect getaway driver!

Byron: Who is Dahlia? Without spoilers, talk about her relationship with Bobby Ray as we find it early in the book and later after things fall into chaos.

Rich Douek: Dahlia is a girl with big dreams. She’s always had her sights on escaping her small town life, and isn’t too concerned with following the law in order to do it. She’s smart, calculating, and can be a little manipulative in her less-than-proudest moments, but she’s got a good heart underneath it all, and just wants a better life for herself and her friends.

Byron: Can you spotlight here some of the other characters important to Drive Like Hell?

Rich Douek: Driving a car from hell attracts a lot of attention, for sure, not the least from it’s previous driver, a demon posing as FBI Agent Roarke. As an agent, he has all sorts of allies he can call on, from demon-possessed cops to Hiram, the deranged Satan-worshipping biker who leads the infamous Choirboys gang. But that’s just the start! When double-dealing radio preacher Reverend Roscoe hears everyone is after the car, he decides to send his army of loyal holy rollers in to get a piece of the action. And we haven’t even gotten to the forces of Heaven yet.

Byron: When I began reading this, I was looking at it more as a gritty biker noir story. But the supernatural aspect really surprised me when it hit, despite the title and online art. Like BAM! Talk a little about how the macabre kind of engulfs and then enhances this character-driven tale.

Rich Douek: At the most basic level, Drive Like Hell is the story of all the hijinks that ensue when you steal the Devil’s car, so the supernatural was always going to be a part of it. When Alex and I conceived of the series, we set out to top ourselves in every single issue: If we were going to have a 10-car pileup in issue 1, we wanted 20 in issue 2. In short, we wanted to wreck more cars than the Blues Brothers did!

But in our eyes, the best way to make things wilder and more intense each issue was to really ramp up the spiritual forces getting involved, each faction having their own motivation. However, the heart of the story is Bobby Ray, Dahlia and the demonically-possessed car, an unlikely trio who find they all have something in common – they’re sick of getting bossed around by forces claiming to be greater than them!

Byron: Talk about the awesome art of Alex Cormack.

Rich Douek: When I got the first pages of Road of Bones in, I knew that I wanted to be working with Alex for the rest of my career as a comics writer. We just really get each other, and are constantly pushing each other towards our best work. I initially felt a little apprehensive bringing this to Alex – I hear artists complain about drawing cars all the time – but, to my surprise, he really wanted to tackle the challenge of depicting high-powered car chases on the page, and I think he knocked it out of the park in a way that very few books do.

The art is kinetic, full of movement – the chases feel like CHASES, tense and exciting in a way that I feel like I’ve never seen in a comic! For all the amazing atmosphere building he did in the trilogy, Alex proved without a doubt he can handle action with the best of them!

Byron: Rich, what other projects do you have in the works that you can tell readers about?

Rich Douek: On November 19, I’ll be making my debut in Gotham City, with a short story in Batman: Brave and the Bold #19 featuring Victor Zsasz, drawn by Stevan Subic. It was an amazing experience to be able to write a Batman story, and I’m really looking forward to hearing what people think of it.

Then in December, along with the release of Heartpiercer in paperback form, I’m taking the reins of Flash Gordon Quarterly #2, telling an all-new story showing what Prince Barin has been up to in Mad Cave’s Flash Gordon universe. I had a great time writing it, and it was very cool to contribute to the mythos. And yes, I wrote it with the Queen soundtrack playing in the background.

That’s it for my 2024! As for next year, we’ll just have to see!

Dynamic Forces would like to thank Rich Douek for taking time out of his busy schedule to answer our questions. The Drive Like Hell graphic novel from Dark Horse Comics is slated to be on sale December 3!

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