Dark Horse Comics shined a spotlight on its characters and its dedication to different genres during Special Edition: NYC. With Deputy Director of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Alex Cox joined by writers Alex de Campi ("Archie vs Predator," "Grindhouse") and Jim Zubkavich ("Conan Red Sonja"), the rather informal panel saw the writers discuss their inspirations, their work and what makes Dark Horse such a great place to create.

De Campi began the panel by discussing her current projects for Dark Horse, "Archie vs Predator," informing the crowd of the main way her current unexpected Archie crossover differs from other Archie team-up projects. "In 'Archie Meets Kiss' and 'Archie Meets Glee,' nobody died," she said. "In 'Archie vs Punisher,' the only thing that died was Frank Castle's self esteem... The first two issues are out now, with eight million variant covers -- and there is a lot of violent death!"

From the world of Riverdale to the world of exploitation horror, de Campi went on to tell the crowd about her other Dark Horse book. "I also write 'Grindhouse,' which is a horror series, so if you like boobs and gore, you should probably check it out. They are all two-issue stories that aren't related to each other, so it's just me having fun doing these creature features and teen slashers with different artists."

de Campi told the crowd to expect "'Lady Danger: Agent of BOOTI,' my Blaxploitation story and a space exploitation story, to go out with a bang." After this current series, de Campi said she "might come back with an annual or something, but I kind of just want to drop the mic before I peter out." As for her process creating the stories for "Grindhouse," the writer told the crowd, "I sit around and drink beer and think about the worst idea I could have."

Jim Zub opened by speaking about "Conan vs Red Sonja," a crossover with Dynamite Comics he co-writes with current "Red Sonja" scribe Gail Simone. Expalining that the book is "the first meeting between the two iconic fantasy characters in fifteen years," Zub proceeded to regale the crowd with his views on the worlds and characters of Robert E. Howard. "We really got to indulge in a wish list of everything we wanted to do with sword and sorcery characters," he said of the book.

The panel then delved into a discussion of some fascinating minutiae regarding the history of Red Sonja when Cox asked if Zub was writing the Marvel Comics-created swordswoman, or the lesser-known Robert E. Howard pirate character known as Red Sonya. Zub explained the difference between the two versions of the character for the audience. "Red Sonja was created specifically for the comics, but it was built off this idea of Red Sonya who was this pirate type of character that had nothing to do with Conan -- it was this pirate type story."

"In the old Marvel stories," de Campi interjected, "they would take these old Robert E. Howard stories starring a white guy with black hair and a giant weapon like Bran Mak Morn or Kull and they would replace that character with Conan."

Continuing the history lesson on all things REH, Zub told the crowd that "the villain of the Conan film, Thulsa Doom was a villain that appeared in 'Kull the Conqueror.'" Simone wanted to use Doom in their comic until Zub told them that he was, first and foremost, a Kull villain. "Her mind was blown."

As for his take on Red Sonja, Zub said, "I wanted to create a contemporary examination of her character and what makes her tick. I wanted to explore her world and her motivations, and examine her idea of love and violence."

de Campi said she has a number of Dark Horse gigs in the works which have not been finalized, one dealing with "a classic Dark Horse character that hasn't been done in a while." She half-joked that she wanted to do a project expanding on one of the one off gags that appeared in the back of "Archie vs Predator" -- "Hellboy vs Sabrina." "But because we can't have nice things, the powers that be said no."

As for what influences they see in their own work, de Campi said, "I don't want to Tarantino it" in regards to "Grindhouse." She added that Mario Bava's "Danger: Diabolik" is a constant influence on her work, calling it "one of the greatest movies ever made." She later listed the films of Russ Meyer and Lucio Fulci as major influences on her writing, citing Fulci's Italian splatter classic "The Beyond" as a film of particular importance to her work, describing it as "gorgeous and crazy."

Zub proclaimed that the works of Robert E. Howard were a constant source of inspiration for him. de Campi agreed, though she called the work problematic because "they are profoundly racist and sexist." However, because the stories are so "wonderfully weird," their importance can't be completely discounted. Both writers agreed that they would love to see film versions of classic Conan tales like "Red Nails" and "The Tower of the Elephant," with de Campi calling Barry Windsor Smith's art on Marvel's "Red Nails" adaptation "a how to guide to comic art."

Zub said his career owes a tremendous debt to Howard's greatest barbarian. "The first professional comic job I ever did was in 2003 coloring 'The Chronicles of Conan,' which reprinted the old Marvel 'Conan' stories. And now, twelve years later, I get to write 'Conan.'" Listing his fantasy influences, Zub says he was "more drawn to the realistic, gritty pulp inspired work of writers like Fritz Leiber over the works of high fantasy of Terry Brooks and Tolkien."

The two creators closed the panel with a discussion about what makes working for Dark Horse so special. "For me it's a personal thing," de Campi said. "I just really like my editor Brendan Wright. They also have one of the highest pay rates of any independent company, and they give you tremendous creative freedom."

Zub said Dark Horse "has a really good support system. There is a tremendous amount of polish there when it comes to communication. They make it really clear what their goals are, and what they want you to do."