Zombicide Invader comic - Stefano Vietti's interview

A Zombicide Invader comic? Well yes! With “Zombicide Invader: Welcome hell” CMON arrives in the world of comics and does so with nothing less than Bonelli Editore! The collaboration between the board games company and the Italian publisher is about to start. From Thursday 28th January, it will be possible to buy the comic book by Stefano Vietti and Giancarlo Olivares set in the world of the famous board game Zombicide, the first collaboration between Sergio Bonelli Editore and CMON.

I had the opportunity to chat with Stefano Vietti, who edited the texts and whom I warmly thank for his availability. Read his interview here below.

Zombicide Invader comic: interview with Stefano Vietti

Hi Stefano and thanks for the interview, let’s start with the introductions: who is Stefano Vietti, what does and has he done for Bonelli Editore?

Hi everyone. I have been a comic book author since 1990. I joined Bonelli Editore in 1995 and started writing scripts for the Nathan Never series, and then for other characters such as Martin Mystere and Legs Weaver. In those years I also had the opportunity to collaborate with Disney and Marvel, writing a series of Spider-Man for the magazine “il Giornalino”. With Luca Enoch I created the fantasy character Dragonero for Bonelli, which is in production as a monthly series. Three years ago the collaboration with CMON was born, again with Luca Enoch, for the creation of three stories of Zombicide, Invader and Cthulhu death may die, with the aim of giving life, through comic stories, to the worlds and characters of the games table Cmon.

How was this collaboration between Bonelli Editore and CMON born?

David Preti, editor of Cmon and the driving force behind the whole project, proposed the books to Bonelli, who decided to manage them for the Italian publishing market. A collaboration born in a natural way, between a successful game publisher and a major comic book publisher that is celebrating 80 years of life this year.

Tell us a little more about the comic and the characters in this graphic novel, are they the same as in the Zombicide Invader game?

The world in which the adventure takes place is that of Zombicide Invader, but the main characters, Kane, Yuko and Oleg are new, created especially for the story.

The original CMON illustrations for Invader are by Adrian Smith, how much did they influence your work?

Adrian’s great creative work for the Invader concepts was a source of inspiration for Giancarlo Olivares, cartoonist… who then created the three protagonists and the incredible settings that are the backdrop to their adventures.

Why was it thought to set this comic in Invader and not, for example, given the great success, to the Fantasy versions “Black Plague” and “Green Horde”?

Cmon wanted to start with Invader and with Zombicide.

To define settings and characters, how many games have you played?

I have always been a gamer and I paint miniatures in an abominable way but with great fun. Luca Enoch and I often retire to a hermitage lost in the Bergamo mountains for creative weekends in Dragonero, supported by an excellent local restaurant … so we also did for the Cmon project: we isolated ourselves to write, with the games arranged on the table for inspiration.

Did CMON impose any stakes on the story, or did you have carte blanche?

Cmon had recommended that the stories told be in total synergy with the game worlds and they did. We were very comfortable with the narrated.

How are the graphic novel and the game intertwined? Is there the possibility, for example, that CMON will release free maps for Invader that retrace the events of the graphic novel?

Comic book characters were born with precise characteristics and available in the Kickstarter comics campaign, which ended just under a year ago with enormous success, as miniatures to be played. For other initiatives we are waiting to see what Cmon has in mind.

Do you think there will be a way to expand the scenario with other graphic novels? Or maybe some sequels?