First Comics News: Not so long ago, you and I finished an interview for First Comics News. I enjoyed chatting with you, Dakota, about your fantastic artwork! We ran that interview with you, published on our website, on January the eleventh, 2025. Since then, you’ve launched a new Kickstarter comic book, starting today, February 28th, 2025, entitled ‘The Hunter’, which looks for all the world like a sort of supernatural superhero type of Marvel Comics, the type like they did a lot of, back in the 1970s and early 1980’s. Which, you indicated, was exactly the look you were going for! Is The Hunter a new gothic type of superhero, and has he appeared in comics before? Let’s fine-tune that question. Like a lot of comics fans, I, too, am an artist, and from an early age, I was drawing my very own, unique superheroes, original creations, (and other types of heroic characters), that I created, in my youth. Is this costumed The Hunter character a character that you created many years ago, and just never published till now, for this Kickstarter that started today? In other words, has this character been on the back burner for a while, or did you just newly create this character for this particular Kickstarter comic?
Dakota Alexander: This is the first appearance of the Hunter in all respects. He was created as recently as last August. Just after I thought of the character, I committed to the idea of making the comic. Up until that point, I honestly had zero interest in trying to design a character, much less an entire comic. I just spent my free time drawing existing comic characters that I grew up with.
1st: Visually, The Hunter is a mystical-looking character. I’d guess, from looking at some of those images (attached), he looks to me to have that sort of (Marvel’s) Brother Voodoo-type look. I mean to say that he looks like a sort of supernatural type of character; that is what I meant, there. I’m not saying that he looks like Brother Voodoo because he doesn’t. I’m trying to say that I think he looks like he is giving off that kind of vibe – like he belongs in the bayou, perhaps in Louisiana, New Orleans, or perhaps even the Florida Everglades. Is this sort of what you were going for, or am I way off base?
Dakota: I guess you can say that the Hunter is a supernatural character – very much in how Moon Knight or Ghost Rider is essentially supernatural based. And his adversaries are only monsters. so that also basically confines his stories to the parameters of the supernatural. The Hunter is based more on British myth – he is Herne, the British god of the hunt.
1st: I’ve never before heard of Herne The Hunter. So, I just went and looked it up, and here is what I found online about this character in British myth: ” Herne with his steed, hounds, and owl, observed by the Duke of Richmond and the Earl of Surrey, in Harrison Ainsworth‘s Windsor Castle, illustrated by George Cruikshank, c. 1843. ”
1st: I also downloaded and attached, here, a black and white illustration of this Herne The Hunter, from the internet. This illustration was done by George Cruikshank, and the scan of it was done by Steven J Plunkett. How did you first learn of this Herne the Hunter character from British myth? Just typing this also makes me think of another British myth character, that of Spring Heeled Jack.
Dakota: I first heard about Herne from the British TV show “Robin of Sherwood” in the early 80s. Herne is also referenced in “Hellboy: The Wild Hunt.” However, while Herne is from British myth, the monster in issue #1 is a Rougarou, which is very much a part of the Cajun/Bayou mythos. There are many, many interpretations of the Rougarou, but ultimately you can think of it as a kind of swamp werewolf, but without the silver bullets. Silver is not part of the Rougarou lore. There is much more to it, which I plan to dive into more, in the book.
1st: Can you perhaps tell our readers WHO is The Hunter, and what is his back story? Can you give our readers a sort of synopsis of the storyline, and how many issues of the series are you projecting in advance?
Dakota: As far as his backstory, the Hunter is a combined form of the mortal Steven Conrad, a novelist, and the god Herne, the god of the hunt from British folklore. Herne exists in the ethereal plane and needs a human avatar to come to the corporeal. One could say that it is akin to possession, but that is kind of crossing theologies, I think. So, best not to try to be too defining with it. Ha, ha, ha, ha!
1st: So, maybe it is (a little) like Dr. Fate and The Spectre, and even Firestorm, at least in so far as two entities are combined into one. Or even the late Marvel Comics’ Captain Marvel (Mar-vell), when his entity was combined with Rick Jones, all those years ago. But more supernatural in scope.
Dakota: Yes, Herne and Steven share a consciousness. It is very much like Firestorm in that we’ll see internal dialogue between the two – both in the Hunter Form and as Steven Conrad. As for the “why”- suffice it to say, Herne has been charged by the pantheon of Gods to hunt and destroy the monsters in the mortal world. His spirit form was encased in an amulet, which Steven Conrad discovers. Herne is awakened and asks for Steven’s help in his quest- and they combine to become The Hunter. We are seeing them on their first night out together, as The Hunter. These stories are very “monster of the week” (style) and will be told in the compressed Bronze Age narrative style, so basically two issues per easter story. The overarching subplot, which has a main character develop, should take about fifteen issues to tell.
1st: Okay. So you sound committed to a long haul, in this series.
Dakota: Obviously, these books take a lot of time to make, especially since I’m the only one making the book. With that, and the fact that I do have a (day) job, I imagine this is years in the making, and I don’t imagine that I’ll have more than fifteen issues in me, as a creator.
1st: How long does it take you to complete a single comic-length issue of your comic, which you could base on how long it took you to complete the first issue of The Hunter, Dakota?
Dakota: Still working on the first one. Will let you know how long it takes, when it’s done.
1st: What motivates this character to do what he does?
Dakota: As I said, Herne is charged by the Gods to hunt and destroy monsters. Why exactly he is charged with this quest is going to be explained in some following issues, but I will say that much of Herne’s character arc is his learning to appreciate mortals and humanity, and his quest is related to that.
1st: What can you tell us about the book’s supporting characters and/or the villains in this piece?
Dakota: Well we have the Rougarou, and in later issues, we’ll have different monsters from different cultures around the globe – the Philippines, Japan, etc. As I said, it’s a very “monster of the week” vibe – which works well for deciding the motivation of the antagonists. Villains need motivation, and I think we live in much more nuanced times, which means we approach villains with different perspectives than before. For example, many people enjoy the “relatable villain” who might have the right idea, but the wrong approach. But even if you go with the basic “mad evil scientist”, it’s easy to fall into repeating tropes for motivations. With monsters, it’s possible to keep the elemental simplicity of good/ evil because they can be perceived as more forces of nature, bent on harming humanity – so the “why” is not questioned the same as a more human villain.
1st: I completely understand that. I mean, just one possible example or reason could be, “Why is this monster hunting humans?” Answer: “Because he is hungry!” Heh, heh. Or, it might be something like, “Because humans hunted me, in the past.” Don’t get mad – get even!
Dakota Alexander: As for supporting characters, we have Steven’s brother James, and his partner, Carlo. They are very much Steven’s family and emotional support. Plus, they are there, to get to see Steven “hang out”, and have fun interactions with other characters. As I said, Herne shares consciousness with Steven via the amulet, so sometimes Herne will mentally comment on the dialogues that Steven has with James and Carlo. We also have two Police Detectives- Rosario “Rosie” Reyes and Sullivan “Sully” Wincott. They have been on the trail of the Hunter, ever since his first appearance in Central Park.
1st: I guess these two police detectives have been assigned to this case, or did they just decide to put themselves on the trail of this mysterious character?
Dakota: They are following up on the attack in Central Park, which also involved the Hunter assaulting the police officer on the scene.
1st: I see. So, this is set in New York City? Is that where you are located?
Dakota: Yes. Though we’ll be traveling to a few international locations down the road. And thusly, we’ll see some international monsters . Also, there is a Luke Cage/ Captain America type fusion of sorts, and Imperium in England, who is more Like Captain Britain, but a woman. I created them to be in the fake hostess ads, and they just grew into real characters. We’ll see them making appearances in later issues.
1st: Dakota, Thanks so very much for kindly agreeing to chat with me, again, this time about your NEW comic Kickstarter, titled The Hunter! Have a great day!
Back the Hunter at Kickstarter.com
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