Review Fix Exclusive: Dustin Brunell Talks Babes, Gore and Dinosaurs And More

Review Fix chats with Babes, Gore and Dinosaurs creator Dustin Brunell, who discusses the comic, his origin in the industry, goals for the future and the other series he’s currently working on.

Review Fix: How did you know a career in comics was for you?

Dustin Brunell: I owned a brick and mortar for a while and have been collecting for about twenty years. Getting into creating wasn’t a plan, my uncles death brought that about.

Review Fix: Who inspires you creatively?

Brunell: I mean the list in that regard is a long one lol. I think those before me have created a path, rugged as it may be to move forward. Nailing it down I think the dark is what draws me in though. Original story telling excites me.

Review Fix: How are your comics different or special?

Brunell: They’re original, they’re interesting, terrifying and beautiful. They can stand with the big boys in indie comics. Not just the stories but the art and every other aspect. Especially our newer books, we just get better the more we do.

Review Fix: Which of the three mean the most to you?

Brunell: Honestly the most important thing to me is making content people want to read. I hold myself to a standard that I feel is hard to reach and we’re smashing it.

Review Fix: Any challenges?

Brunell: My biggest issue was not being able to put out monthly books and I’ve found a way to make that happen. I honestly haven’t come across any gapes I couldn’t traverse.

Review Fix: What about this comic (Pick One) Sell us. Sell us hard. 

Brunell: Babes, Gore and Dinosaurs is our newest ongoing series and also what folks are calling a “Tour De Force” in indie comics. Our main character, Rikki is a retired Saurean (humanoid dinosaur) who has opened a bar in a bad part of Cenocity. Rikki and his bet friend Maya are getting into the groove of things when a pretty “Tank Bred” (genetically created in a vat) Tric named Eve comes in looking for a job. Even brings a lot more than a pretty face and Rikki may pay for his kindness in hiring her.

I think the title says a lot, if you’re a fan of anthropomorphic stories like TMNT or Street Sharks this will be right up your alley. Put that together with cyberpunk flair like Bladehunter. Drop in a dose of John Wick and you get BGD.

We’ve created a living breathing society in this series and we will be continuing to expand it.

Review Fix: What else inspired this comic?

Brunell: So many things from my childhood, from playing with dinosaurs to watching shows like Dinoriders and Dinosaucers. DnD and other tabletop games where you could be humanoid beasts and such. I draw inspiration from everything in life. We bring in serial killers, dirty politicians, the mob and many other topics into our world. Can you fall in love with another species? What about an AI? All these are topics we touch on. How far should a law go? BGD is a world where we can get into the darker side of things.

Review Fix: Who do you think will dig it the most?

Brunell: Anyone who likes dark gritty stories, folks who question the status quo. I like to think anyone who wonders about looking outside the box will be drawn to it. Fans of big action and pretty female leads. People who like Babes, Gore and Dinosaurs.

Review Fix: How do you want your books to be remembered?

Brunell: As something that was longstanding, not easily forgotten and something when they do end that leaves you missing it long after.

Review Fix: What are your long-term goals for your work?

Brunell: I’m currently working on plans and have been moving them toward what long term vets have been calling an empire. Currently we have 20+ team members and will have several more by the end of the year. Short term is 7 ongoing series by this time next year (all of which are currently in production). Long term goal is to be a name known by every collector in this industry.

Review Fix: What do you feel you need to do that you haven’t yet, in order to make these comics as successful as you want it to be?

Brunell: I think the biggest thing is to make sure I’m seen more. More exposure is a must in every aspect of this industry.

Review Fix: Anything else you’d like to add?

Brunell: Feel free to reach out to me, I’m always happy to talk about comics and the industry. Don’t forget to check out my other books The Listener series and Greed.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Brunell: So much, currently I’m working on a screenplay for a really cool upcoming gentleman. We’re putting The Listener TPB collecting issues 1-3 together and that will be out soon as well as a hardback anthology we have in the works.

Review Fix: Where can people find out more?

Brunell: Follow me on Facebook/Instagram/twitter. The team is always putting out awesome stuff for folks to see.

Review Fix: How else can people support you?

Brunell: You can check out kickstarter or indiegogo monthly for our books as we drop them monthly. Any support is appreciated. It takes incredible fans to get where we want to be and so far we have some the best. That group gets bigger every day and we as a whole couldn’t possibly be more thankful for them.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13819 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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