David Dastmalchian brings Kansas City into the spooky world of comic books

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Hollywood actor from the Kansas City area is trying his hand at comic books.

The series, Count Crowley, on shelves now is from the mind of David Dastmalchian. It tells the story of a television journalist who finds themselves in a rut and in a world full of monsters.

Dastmalchian is known for movies like Dune, Suicide Squad, and Blade Runner 2049. However, the Overland Park native is now taking his talents to the page with some Kansas City inspiration.

Inside the pages of a comic book your imagination comes alive. On the glossy pages of Count Crowley, Dastmalchian displays his spooky dreams.

“I gotta tell you, it’s been the dream of my life making this comic book, I just look at it every time and I’m like a 12-year-old kid again,” Dastmalchian said.

When Dastmalchian was a child he found a second home at Clint’s Comics South in OP which has since closed, but the original location is at the intersection of Main and Westport Roads.

“I found a place where I could just feel like I belonged and the stories that I loved and the characters that I loved, always enriched my life in my imagination,” Dastmalchian said.

The comic is on shelves everywhere, including B-Bop Comics North and South. Inside the cover Count Crowley stalks her prey and tells spooky stories over the airwaves.

Owner of B-Bop Comics, Frank Mangiaracina said the comic is unique.

“I think that’s what people want. Stranger things is like that I would say,” Mangiaracina said.

The series follows former television journalist Jerri Bartman as she struggles with substance abuse. She moves to a small imagined Missouri town where she has to face her fears along with a werewolf and monsters.

“It’s this fictional city that I kind of modeled after Columbia, and a little bit of Lenexa. It’s a smaller town in Kansas City. But there is a plotline coming, where there are some bigger city developments that are happening with a particular creature,” Dastmalchian said.

The actor and creator hopes to one day bring Bartman’s story to Kansas City for a live-action show or movie.

“I dream about getting a TV show or film made of Crowley at some point, and then we go and spend a couple years in Kansas City like making the show,” Dastmalchian said.

“I think everyone in town would love it,” Mangiaracina said.

For now, Dastmalchian will follow the series on the page and hopes you will stop by your local comic shop to pick up a copy.

“See how it feels to walk into a comic shop especially you haven’t been for a long time. It’s an incredible feeling,” Dastmalchian said.

There are two more issues of the series soon to be released. Dastmalchian said when you read them you will find some secret references to the metro.