He sought solace in death, but Hell had other plans for Lucas Stand, a military veteran who is forced to hunt demons through time in a new comic book series co-written by Caitlin Kittredge (Coffin Hill, Black London) and Kurt Sutter (Sons of Anarchy). With the first issue of Lucas Stand now out from BOOM Studios! (and the second issue being released on July 20th), we caught up with Kittredge to discuss collaborating with Sutter, depicting the series' wide range of time periods, and much more.

Caitlin, thanks for taking the time to answer some questions for us today. Many readers are familiar with your writing from the Black London novels and the Coffin Hill comic book series, but on June 22nd you have the first issue of a new comic series coming out called Lucas Stand, which you co-wrote with Kurt Sutter (Sons of Anarchy). How did you get involved with this new series?

Caitlin Kittredge: Dafna Pleban, our editor, contacted me. We’d been looking for a project to work on together for a while and I jumped at the chance to come on as the writer for Lucas Stand. The pitch hooked me from the very beginning.

The titular character, veteran Lucas Stand, is haunted by bad decisions made in the drug-riddled days following his departure from the battlefield. Right off the bat, there is complexity to this character, who seems like a good man who has done a lot for his country, but who also has blood on his hands on the home front. How do you view Stand?

Caitlin Kittredge: I view him as a good man who’s been broken by all the horror he’s had to witness. It’s twisted him, made him bitter and angry, and when the book starts he’s not all that good any longer. But he begins a long and torturous process of redemption that forces him to confront the things he’s done, and recognize that nobody is all good or all bad—because reconciling that when you feel like you’re beyond saving is often a very hard thing to do.

Time travel is a big part of Lucas Stand’s new demon hunting gig. Can readers expect to see a wide variety of time periods in future issues? Were you a big history buff coming into this series, or has it required a lot of research to nail the different eras?

Caitlin Kittredge: We got to a different time period for every issue, with the exception of our two-parter in Nazi-occupied France. We tried to go as wide as possible within the scope of the story, from frontier America all the way to the future. And I am an extremely nerdy history buff—I definitely found that helpful for a general framework for each issue. Plus, since I read it all anyway, the research that was involved doesn’t feel like work at all.

With Lucas now working for Lucifer, can readers expect a trip to Hell in future issues? If so, how did you and Sutter approach portraying the fiery underworld?

Caitlin Kittredge: You’ll get a few glimpses of Hell in this miniseries, but Lucas sticks to the mortal world for the most part—because of his past sins and his bleak prospects for the future, when the book starts, he’s already in Hell. The torment waiting for him if he fails in his mission is always a shadow hanging over him, and I think that’s how it works best—we’re constantly ratcheting up the stakes as Lucas faces tougher and tougher foes, knowing that if he fails even once, he’s headed to the basement for good.

What has it been like to collaborate with Sutter on this story? Do you two write together or do you work on material separately and then send it back and forth?

Caitlin Kittredge: Kurt is an amazing storyteller and I found the initial story he came to the project with unbelievably compelling. Equally amazing was his generosity in allowing me into Lucas’s world not only to translate his vision but to inject my own ideas into the plotting and nuances into Lucas’s character. He’s very collaborative and open-minded and so am I, so I at least feel like we’re sort of a perfect match. Dafna acts as our conduit back and forth on each issue, and I don’t want to jinx us, but so far the flow of ideas and stories has been seamless. It’s hard to describe when a writing team is really clicking well and all their ideas are integrating, but I feel like we definitely have that sort of synergy.

Do you have any favorite horror novels, movies, TV series, or comic books that have influenced or inspired you while writing Lucas Stand?

Caitlin Kittredge: Well, I love revenge stories, but even more, I love redemption stories, and to me, far more than a straight horror yarn, Lucas Stand feels like one of those greatgritty lone-man-on-a-mission stories where the scope is almost hyperfocused on this one guy and his efforts to get the bad guy and go home.

Lucas Stand #1 is the first issue of a six-issue arc. Have you and Sutter talked about continuing Lucas' journey past these initial issues, or is this one complete story with a definite ending?

Caitlin Kittredge: There has definitely been talk of more than six issues' worth of story with BOOM!, but as far as I know we’re still just talking. However, crossing everything I got that that will change, because I adore writing this comic and I know there’s so much more of Lucas’s story to tell.

With Lucas Stand #1 now out from BOOM! Studios, what projects do you have on deck that you can tease, and where can our readers find you on social media?

Caitlin Kittredge: I created and write a sci-fi spy thriller called Throwaways that’s out July 6th from Image—less demons and time travel, more MK-ULTRA super soldiers, psychic spies, and twisted conspiracies. I’m also writing a tie-in comics miniseries for the TV show Grimm, which starts in September from Dynamite. Plus, if you read Lucas Stand #1 and like the cut of my jib, all three collected volumes of Coffin Hill, my classic New England something-evil-in-the-woods horror comic, are available from DC/Vertigo. I’m on Instagram/Twitter as @caitkitt... although I have to warn you I’m a nerd across like ten different subjects, so in addition to history, writing, and comics, you’ll also find a lot of cats and fashion and TV shows and pictures of weird stuff I find at thrift stores. So you know, if you’re into that, let’s be friends. Just don’t be creepy.

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To learn more about Lucas Stand, visit:

Synopsis: "Lucas Stand is a military vet who can't reintegrate into society and has emotionally cut himself off from the people he loves. At his lowest, Lucas does something he can't take back. Hell comes calling, offering him the opportunity to make things right. Demons escaping Hell are upsetting the balance of evil, and now Lucifer has recruited Lucas to send them back. It doesn't matter in what era the demons escape-World War II, old-timey Hollywood, Vietnam, present day-he must learn to fit in both the past and the present. Given new purpose, Lucas starts to rebuild himself and his life, even as he struggles at the human cost that comes with it."

  • Derek Anderson
    About the Author - Derek Anderson

    Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.

    When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.