David Lucarelli: Indie Creator Spotlight

 

David Lucarelli moderated a panel on indie comic creators at Wondercon 2026. He encouraged anyone who had a story idea to start telling it. "Comics is a medium you learn by doing," he said. As in any area of life, the more you do it, the better you get. 

Here's the info on his graphic novel The Children's Vampire Hunting Brigade Vol 1:

 

CVHB is a Gothic coming of age adventure that was inspired by the real life incident of the Gorbals vampire and was described by film director Joe Doughrity as Buffy meets S.E.Hinton s The Outsiders."

In 1954 hundreds of school children descended upon a Scottish cemetery looking for a vampire with iron teeth they believed had killed a couple of local kids. Today it is looked upon as an incident of mass hysteria. But what if some of those children found what they were looking for?

Flash forward to today: Gavin and Doug are two juvenile delinquents who have the misfortune to be drinking in that same cemetery the night the vampires come back. "Sometimes the good guys are a couple of bad boys."

 

 

 

When writing your story, he suggested no more than 210 words per page. David also mentioned that pacing was the most difficult aspect of comic writing to master. He suggested breaking down your favorite comic to see how the author wrote it. By reverse engineering the finished comic to the script stage, you'll gain insights into how to create a comic that fans will love.

Here's the info on his Tinsel Town series from Alterna Press:

 

The year is 1915 and beneath the glamorous surface of Tinseltown beats a rotten heart full of corruption, greed, and lies. Abigail Moore's about to dive head-first into all of it. Created by David Lucarelli with art by Henry Ponciano. 

 

 

 

Regardless of the level of success you achieve, or how difficult you initially find it, David said the main thing to keep at it. Keep making the comics you want to create. And above all, keep having fun! 

 

For more on David Lucarelli's work, see:

The Children's Vampire Hunting Brigade Vol 1 at Amazon. 

The Tinseltown series at Alterna Press. 

 

Thanks to Wondercon 2026 and David Lucarelli for sharing this story with us.