Lock and Load for Larry Hama's Call of Duty

by Vince Brusio

The hit game franchise comes to comics with Larry Hama's prequel Call of Duty: Black Ops III #1 (SEP150018) from Dark Horse Comics! In this new series, an elite group of soldiers wage a secret war across a futuristic, war-torn world transformed by technology. In the bullet-ridden first issue, the team infiltrates Tashkent, Uzbekistan to take down a double agent. But as they close in, they uncover something much more sinister and ugly. Veteran comics writer Larry Hama grants us an exclusive interview to talk about his character, and how he likes operational detail.

Call of Duty: Black Ops III #1 (SEP150018) is in comic shops November 4.

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PREVIEWSworld: What’s your attraction to Call of Duty? Why did you think it would translate to a comic adventure? 

Larry Hama: A game is all about visual continuity, so right off the bat, it’s easier to adapt than prose to comic form.  With novels and short stories, a lot may happen inside a character’s head, and it is hard to avoid long scenes where characters just sit in a room and explain the plot. I like to tell the story through the action and dramatic interaction of the characters.

PREVIEWSworld: How did you come up with a game plan for your Black Ops story? What’s the background story on your brainstorm for pitching the idea to Dark Horse?

Larry Hama: Actually, Dark Horse came to me, and asked me to adapt their game concept to a comic story.  I had to do a lot of reading to bring myself up to speed, then I sat down and worked out a premise that could be covered in six issues, each issue taking place in a different city or location around the world.  The first story takes place in Tashkent and the last one is in Moscow.  It’s an origin arc in a way, since it depicts the formation of the team by gradually adding the characters, and fitting them into the action.

PREVIEWSworld: What characters are introduced in the story, and what can you tell us about them?

Larry Hama: Team leader is Jacob Hendricks, a decisive commander with strong situational awareness and leadership skills. He is protective and loyal, but pragmatic and realistic when it comes to mission objectives. A master of finding out-of-the-box solutions to no-win scenarios.

John Taylor is 2^nd in command (executive officer) A master of field improvisation and on-the-spot decision-making. With a degree in electronic engineering, he is an adept hacker who is working familiar with all CDP systems, codes and commo gear.  A fifth generation soldier, Taylor inspires confidence and respect.

Dylan Stone is senior NCO, a hard-bitten “sergeant’s sergeant” First Shirt. Doesn’t ask how to complete any impossible task, he just does it- or finds somebody who can do it, and makes sure it gets done.  It’s been said he knows hundred ways to kill people that nobody else knows about. Does not abide fools.

Joseph Fierro handles demolitions, improvised munitions, and explosive ordnance disposal. He has a vast knowledge base of anything with an ignition rate over 2500 fps, and he has memorized entire blast radius tables. Fierro has the hands of a neurosurgeon, the eyes of a watchmaker, and the sense of humor of an emotionally underdeveloped adolescent.  Probably the most well-liked of the team.

Alice Conrad, specializes in sniping and sentry-removal. She is an orphan who grew up foster care and institutions. A detached loner with no social skills, no friends, and no interests outside of tightening her target groups, she is nonetheless a team player because that’s part of her job, and she always does her job to the max.  Graduated from the covert marksmanship school at Skunk Works, and Ranger School. Cross-trained as team medic, she is not known for a comforting bedside manner.

Javier Ramirez Ramirez is a Stanford grad with a degree in mechanical engineering. He was a Recon Marine before he did an exchange training program with the Australian SBS. Can service, repair and upgrade all team equipment and weapons, and has qualifications up to tac nuke.  If he wasn’t hard driving black bag operator, he’d be living in his mom’s basement and online too much.

Mokrie Baba, the “Wet Witch” is a continuing antagonist, and an assassin sent out by the secretive head of wet work ops in the basement of the Lubyanka in Moscow.

PREVIEWSworld: If you had to blog or tweet about a particular scene(s) that really got your inner geek going, what would that scene be in the story?

Larry Hama: I like operational detail: the show and tell of how it’s all done in the field, and how everything can go very wrong very fast and all the consequences of inaction, hesitation, and sloppy organizational thinking. In one of the books, there is a raid, pretty much a direct frontal assault (the worst choice in any situation) on a well-defended fortified position, with little or no intel or reliable threat assessment. The idea was to show how the team stacked the deck in their favor by every possible means, took the initiative, and commanded the fluid situational flow of the event to their own advantage while exploiting the weaknesses and mistakes of their opponents as they were revealed. That’s my own cause and effect geek showing through. I want to know how and why, and what was that little button for, and how do you go around that corner without getting shot?

PREVIEWSworld: Will you be making any appearances at the tail end of the convention season to promote the book, or can people contact you anywhere on social media to learn more about Call of Duty: Black Ops III?

Larry Hama: Yes, I’ll be doing a panel at Rose City Comic Con in Portland on Sept 19, and a live stage interview at NYCC in October.  I make announcements and post general chit-chat on my FB fan page here.