.357 MAGNUM OPUS - A BOOK WITH A LOT OF BANG!

It's a little known fact that a number of notable comic book adventures were inspired by the silver screen. For instance, ‘The Dark Knight Returns’ was loosely based on the last Dirty Harry film, ‘The Dead Pool’, ‘The Origin of Hawkman’ recycled certain elements featured in an old Harold Lloyd comedy, ‘Professor Beware’, and the following graphic novel paid homage to a collection of cult classics cultivated by my good friend, Ghezal Omar. Want to know more? Then please check out our conversation inscribed below.

1) What are your own origins, Ghezal?   I was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, but due to civil unrest, my family moved to California when I was a child and we’ve been living here ever since. Or to be more specific about it, the Bay Area.

2) What inspired you to create, ‘.357 Magnum Opus’?   I suppose you could say that I was inspired by the wonderful world of film. Well, when I first wrote ‘.357 Magnum Opus’, it was for a class in college, basing a few scenes on the Quentin Tarantino classic, ‘Pulp Fiction’. And then when I moved to Afghanistan for a few years (don't ask me why) I rewrote a lot of it, inspired by other great movies directed by people like David Fincher, Darren Aronofsky, and Guy Ritchie, etc., etc., etc.

3) In your own words, how would you describe this story?   The overall story revolves around two bounty hunters, Sexx Pistol and Kassius Del Mar, who are tricked into kidnapping a felon and then dealing with the consequences afterwards.

4) What song would you say best represents this graphic novel and why?   It’s funny that you should ask this question because some of the scenes featured in ‘Magnum’ were influenced by several different songs, including, “Psycho Killer” by Talking Heads, “Disco Science” by Mirwais, and “Poison” by Bell Biv DeVoe. But if I had to pick just one song to represent the entire graphic novel? Well, in that case, it would have to be “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns N' Roses, as it’s a dark song that delves into a world of sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll.

5) If you could get a celebrity – either living or dead – to promote your wares, who would you choose, and why would you want to choose this particular person?   As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a big fan of Quentin Tarantino, so I would like to choose him as he’s a great filmmaker and it would be a huge honor to have him read my work.

6) If ‘357’ had a motto, what would it be?   ‘Two X’s’. Double the pleasure, double the fun.

And on that note, I would like to thank Ghezal Omar for telling us about her amazing graphic novel, ‘.357 Magnum Opus’, before encouraging you to check out her official Website, Twitter, and Instagram pages.