Q0. Tell our readers a bit about yourself.

I am the founder and creative director of ZOOLOOK, a San Francisco-based new media agency I established back in 1996 that develops entertainment properties for the web, video, television, film and wireless entertainment. I’m also a graphic designer specializing in print, web and video, and a musician.

Dread & Alive creator- Nicholas Da Silva

When I’m not in the studio, you can find me, an avid

snowboarder, traveling around the world, looking for the perfect snow.

Q1. Can you tell us about the Dread & Alive series?

A1. Dread & Alive is the first comic book of its kind with a Jamaican protagonist. The hero, Drew McIntosh, is inspired by the Jamaican Maroons, ex-African slaves who fought back the British and escape into the Cockpit Country of Jamaica where to this day, they govern themselves and are recognized as being independent. The story meshes fact with fiction while offering an insight to the ways of the Jamaican Maroons. The series is also the first to feature a cd collective featuring the best in conscious reggae music. The story follows  Drew as he travels the planet with his partner, zoologist Brandy Savage and his mentor, Cudjoe, wise and benevolent village chief of the Maroons, as they confront the forces of babylon in an effort to protect the earth and all its inhabitants.

Q2. What prompted you to create this series?

The Dread & Alive series

A2. As a kid, my dad would always take me to the library which I found fascinating. To me, the library was not only a place of knowledge, but a place where one could escape into a world of fantasy. At the time, I was into reading science fiction and comics! But the more I read, the more I discovered the lack of compelling stories centered around african-based characters. So I began writing my own stories. I used my love for history to study Jamaica’s culture, music, people and history to create Dread & Alive.
 
Read the whole thing here!