Last week, we told you our own David Walker (@DavidWalker1201) had been named as the writer of Dynamite Entertainment’s new Shaft comics. Luckily, Keith (@the_real_chow) was able to talk with David about how he came to write the book for Dynamite — and the state of diversity in the comic book industry more broadly — in this special one-on-one conversation.

Topics covered on the show include:

• The pressure of writing one of the most iconic Black characters in fiction
• David’s years-long journey to bring Shaft to the comic book medium
• Why Dynamite Entertainment was the only publisher who could have done Shaft justice
• The difficulty of breaking into the comics industry as a writer, and especially as a writer of color
• David reveals the impetus behind his Sam Wilson vs. John Shaft post
• The difference between writing established characters and creating wholly new characters
• How the Big Two caters to fanboys the way Fox News caters to the Tea Party
• David’s multi-year plans for more Shaft storylines
• Why the artist Bilquis Evely’s career will blow up once Shaft comes out in December
• All this and more on Hard NOC Life! Watch it on your screen, hit “play,” and check this.

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