Love is an incredibly powerful emotion. It can give a career criminal the desire to escape from a violent and turbulent life. What happens though when the only way to save the person you love is to go rushing headlong back into the world you just barely escaped from? And how will a desperate criminal navigate that dangerous world after he's been away it from for so long? These are the questions that fuel, Dead Rabbit, writer Gerry Duggan and artist John McCrea's new creator owned crime series from Image Comics.

Dead Rabbit follows the exploits of Martin Dobbs a retired thief and armed robber who wore a mask and used the titular nom de guerre during his legendary criminal career in the '90s. Dobbs gave up his life of crime for love, but in the debut issue of this series he's forced to redon the Dead Rabbit mask to pay for his wife's mounting medical bills. CBR spoke with Duggan about his inspirations for the series, its wild Boston setting, and working McCrea who co-created the fan favorite '90s DC Comics crime-comedy series,Hitman

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CBR: With Analog, your other ongoing Image series, you're having a lot of fun blending the crime fiction archetype of the private eye with near future sci-fi. Dead Rabbit is also a crime fiction tale, but one that explores the life another classic crime standard: the thief. What can you tell us about the origin of and inspiration for this series and its protagonist, Martin Dobbs?

Gerry Duggan: I grew watching WPIX and movies like Sorcerer and old noir films. So this was a chance to tell a story about a criminal, and the big thing about the Dead Rabbit is he is a criminal, but he is never the biggest criminal in our story. Whether it's corrupt cops or the mafia, or the healthcare provider that is bankrupting the family because of someone's illness there is always someone else you want to see take the loss.

I had a talk with my wife late last year as we were starting on this. We were talking about why we read comics, and for us it was that we wanted to see justice in the world. I don't think our world has a lot of justice in it. That's a big reason why we read comics in this family, and we're hoping there are a lot of other comic readers like us who would like to see someone like Martin Dobbs who retired as a thief many years ago out of love for his wife. And he's now unretiring out of the same love to try and save her.So, were having a hoot.

Plus this was an opportunity for me to work with a legend in John McCrea. I've been a fan of his forever and ever. So to be paired up with him on this comic is definitely a bucket list item for me. I know you've read ahead and gotten to see that there's so much love on these pages. People are not going to remember that I had anything to do with this. I'm just trying to tee John up and let him go crazy.

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I first got to know John's work via DC Comics Hitman and some of the things I love about his art are his character designs and his acting. In this series they're fantastic. How did you guys come together?

I've admired and loved John's work for so long.

I was talking to Eric Stephenson about collaborators because there were a couple different stories I was trying to get off the ground. At that time, Dead Rabbit existed as a partial outline. Then Eric asked, “What about McCrea?” I thought it would be great, but there's no way I'd get to work with him. Eric encouraged me to e-mail John though and one thing lead to another.

Once John came on board I started writing just for him. I write full scripts, but I give him the ability to change things up as he needs. I'm just trying to tell John this story and then get out of his way so he can tell the world. There's stuff in every issue where I go, “That's my favorite version of a fight scene.” If I ask John to throw someone through a windshield it's going to be the best version of someone going through a windshield that you'll ever see.

I feel very fortunate. We have an opportunity in front of us to hopefully bring new people to Image, but also to tell a great crime story, a great love story, and a drama that will make you laugh. I also hope there are times where it feels like a super fucked-up comedy.

One of the things I like about Martin Dobbs, that I think sets him apart from classic thieves like Robert De Niro's character in Heat, is his motivation comes from love. That means he's not this icy, cool type thief. He's a desperate character who makes mistakes and has to improvise.

Yes! I totally agree. Heat is one of my all time favorite movies, but De Niro's character in that movie lived by that code. If you see the heat coming you walk all from it all. That is not Martin Dobbs. He's not going anywhere. He's made his lot in life. He gave up the mask and now he's putting it back on. He understands there are going to be consequences for putting it back on.

It's funny you mentioned Heat, because that's been a really important movie to me over the years. And in the end of that movie De Niro's character paid the price for violating his own code. He didn't walk away. He went back for Waingro.

We're going for that sort of hardboiled feel, but we're also hopefully sprinkling on some Duggan and McCrea pixie dust. There's a fight scene in issue #3 that is probably the most Duggan and McCrea thing you'll see... until issue #4.

Another really fun thing for me is, I'm getting to flex some Boston muscles. I traveled from New Jersey up to Boston for college in the '90s. My old dormitory is listed as one of Boston's most haunted places. I even had some weird experiences in there. Some of them were just weird, but I definitely had some things that were paranormal-weird happen as well. So the idea I can have fun with the city of Boston is super cool, because you don't get a chance to see much of Boston in comic books.

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The Boston setting brings to mind another thief based crime movie, The Town. I couldn't help but think about the opening bit of that movie where they talked about all the robberies that came out of the Charlestown neighborhood.

Totally! There's something in the second issue that happened to me and we almost died because of it. I was in a cab and the driver could smell weed on one of the guys in the back seat. Then somebody passed him a joint through the slot you're supposed to just past money through. Then all of a sudden it was Party Cab and we were heading down a hill when a vodka bottle rolls from underneath the seat and this guy couldn't hit the brake. He broke the bottle neck by jamming down on the brake as we were careening towards a red light

That's the thing about Boston in the '90s. I spent a couple years there and it really was like the Wild West. Part of that was I worked in the pubs so there were plenty of drunk people, late nights, and all sorts of nonsense. Another part of it though was that's just the character of the city. So we're hoping to bring that forth.

Also, I don't want to spoil anything, but the second volume of Dead Rabbit will have a real world Boston connection in a way that I think will be really cool and it's something I have not seen done in a comic book yet.

Another fun element of the issues I got to read was the pacing and velocity. There was plenty of conversation and deep, emotional moments, but you and John really ramped up the tension and the story flew from one action set piece to another.

Thanks! Credit goes to the artists for all that stuff, but one thing I try to bring to the proceedings is I remember that we're in show business. We can do whatever we want, but at the end of the day this is entertainment and I'm trying to give readers a break from their lives. They spend a couple of bucks and get some time in this other world.

We're just trying to make the comics that we want to see out there. So that's great to hear. That's all the stuff that's under the hood that we pay careful attention to; pacing and velocity. Where do we need to hit the brakes? And where do we ramp things up? I'm trying to write all of this stuff like it was a TV show all the way through. Sometimes the perfect word balloon or caption box doesn't show up until like the Friday a book goes to print.

I also think Dead Rabbit will certainly appeal to fans of your other work because it has the sort of signature Gerry Duggan elements of comedy, violence, and pathos.

Thanks! I hope so. If we make you laugh, cry, or think that was weird or messed up then I can sleep like a baby.

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Finally, fan support is crucial with creator-owned books, but one of the great things about them is you get to choose how long the story goes and where it goes. It seems like you've got a lot of room to explore Martin Dobbs' present day predicament and his past exploits as the Dead Rabbit. Can you talk a little more about your long term plans for the book?

Sure! It's always helpful to have an end in mind when you're in the position I'm in. That's also important regardless of whether you're telling a story that's creator owned or work for hire. Because I thought I was going to be done with Deadpool around issue #19 or #20 when we ended our “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” arc. I thought that was a good place to wrap things up, but there were other endings that presented themselves.

Sometimes you have to get to the end before you want to. Sometimes you get more time and can take your time. John and I have talked and we'd love to do like a 60 issue run here, but if we don't get that kind of run we'll bring up the ending that we know we have so we can put a pin in things.

And you're absolutely right, part of the fun of this series is going to be the '90s of of it all. That's also a part of the book that sings to me and feels like it will be special to readers.

I remember serving the guys who worked at Fenway Park drinks and getting them drunk before they went into work. And in return, on our days off they would let us into the park for free. It was sort of the barter system. I met all sorts of characters including guys who were doing armed guard service and maybe should not have been doing it. I met guys who were criminals and they were some of the nicest and best people I ever met. That's the spirit of this book.

We're coming up on Final Order cut off for Dead Rabbit. It's Monday September 10th. And one of the things I'd like to stress about any comic whether it's Image or Marvel is take the guess work out of your retailer's hands! If this book seems appealing to you let your retailer know so they can pre-order it for you. If you're a Deadpool fan or a Hitman fan add this to your list. We won't disappoint!