Exclusive NARCO Preview Pages and Q&A with Writer Doug Wagner

After a decade of collaborating on stories featuring "violent horror and extreme characters" in comic book series such as Plastic, Vinyl, and I Was a Fashion School Serial Killer, writer Doug Wagner and artist Daniel Hillyard are bringing their unique brand of quirky humor and peculiar horror to the world of the Hitchcockian thriller with Narco.

Centered on a narcoleptic recluse who sets out to find his neighbor's killer after becoming the prime suspect in the murder investigation, the first issue of Narco arrives in comic book shops on March 4th from Image Comics, and we caught up with Doug Wagner in a new Q&A feature to discuss the Hitchcock films that influenced Narco, writing the unconventional main character of Marcus, and teaming up with Hillyard on a "colder, quieter, and more psychological" story that trusts its audience while taking them on an unexpected journey.

You can read our full Q&A with Doug Wagner below, and we also have a look at the cover art and preview pages from the first issue of Narco (including two pages that are exclusive to Daily Dead readers)!

Narco #1 has a pre-order cutoff date of February 9th, so make sure to order from your local comic book shop before then. To learn more about Narco and other exciting releases, visit:

• https://imagecomics.com/comics/releases/narco-1-of-5

Following Plastic, Plush, Vinyl, and I Was a Fashion School Serial Killer, how did Narco become the latest project you and Daniel Hillyard teamed up on? How long has this been in the works?

Doug Wagner: Daniel and I have been working so continuously together now (nonstop since 2016) that we don’t really ask if we’re doing another book together, just what kind of book we want to do next. Keven Gardner, president of 12-Gauge Comics, actually came to us with the core idea of a main character who passes out when he gets too excited. We were deep in the middle of Vinyl and Plush at the time, so we all agreed we wanted to finish that stretch of murderous chaos before moving on to Narco. After a run of stories that leaned hard into violent horror and extreme characters, we felt the itch to strip things back and do something colder, quieter, and more psychological.

Narco has been living in my head ever since Keven first floated the idea. It started as a loose concept wrapped in feelings of hopelessness and uselessness. Marcus may be the most physically challenged character I’ve ever written. He’s essentially “baby-proofed” his entire existence, so figuring out how to build tension around someone like that was a real challenge. Once Daniel got involved, though, it clicked fast.

I could tell right from the variant cover that this was going to be a Hitchcock-inspired tale with your trademark style. What horror movies and Hitchcock films helped shape Narco?

Doug Wagner: Hitchcock is all over Narco, especially in the idea that tension and anxiety are more interesting than spectacle. I’ve always adored Hitchcock—Rear Window, Psycho, and Vertigo—but Rear Window probably had the biggest influence. I still watch it every year, and I learn something new every single time. Hitchcock’s ability to manipulate obsession, unreliable perspective, and the slow corruption that comes from chasing the wrong truth is brilliant, and Narco is very much wrapped up in those ideas.

Outside of Hitchcock, I kept coming back to films that trust the audience. That’s something Daniel and I preach all the time, so I revisited movies like Don’t Look Now and Se7en to try and capture that same confidence. Horror-wise, Narco isn’t about monsters. It’s about dread, inevitability, and the feeling that you’re already in over your head.

What can you tell our readers about Marcus and the murder he gets involved with? What made him the right character to center the story around?

Doug Wagner: Marcus is a guy who believes he’s rational, grounded, and in control of his life. Naturally, we rip all of that away from him… violently. He becomes the primary suspect in a murder investigation that feels straightforward at first, but the deeper everyone digs, the less reliable everything becomes.

What hooked me about Marcus is that he’s not a traditional hero. He’s not brave in the heroic sense. He’s brave because he keeps moving forward, even when his own mind is working against him. He’s obsessive, deeply human, and motivated as much by guilt as by justice. He doesn’t trust easily, and over the course of the series, he starts to realize he may have very good reason not to.

How has your creative process with Daniel evolved over the years, and what did it look like on Narco?

Doug Wagner: Early on, our process was much more rigid. I’d send Daniel scripts, he’d send me inks, and the book would be done. It worked, but it was very mechanical. Pretty typical for how a lot of comics are made. Now the process is much more fluid. I trust Daniel to solve problems visually without me micromanaging, and he trusts me to leave space on the page for his storytelling to breathe. We share every step of our processes and give honest feedback throughout. At this point, Daniel isn’t just the artist, he’s a close friend and true collaborator. I write now knowing how he thinks, and that trust lets us take bigger and bigger risks.

With Narco, that trust was essential. We talked constantly about pacing, negative space, and what not to show. Some of the most important moments happen between panels or in what’s left unsaid. You can’t really make a quiet, psychological thriller unless both creators are comfortable letting silence do some of the heavy lifting.

Can you tease what readers can expect over the course of the series?

Doug Wagner: Narco is a slow descent. Every issue peels back a layer, but it also muddies the water. Clues contradict each other. Characters reveal sides you don’t expect. By the time readers think they understand what kind of story this is, it quietly becomes something else and far more personal.

If you like horror and crime stories that sit with you, that make you question motive and memory long after you close the book, this one’s for you. It’s grounded, uncomfortable, and very intentional about where it’s going.

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From the Press Release: Fan-favorite writer Doug Wagner and artist Daniel Hillyard—the duo behind beloved series Plastic, Plush, Vinyl, and I Was a Fashion School Serial Killer—will reteam for the upcoming thriller, Narco. This five-issue miniseries is set to launch in March 2026 from Image Comics.

Marcus Wesphal blacks out from the slightest surge of excitement—a narcoleptic curse that’s kept him quiet, calm, and locked away at home. But when he witnesses the girl next door’s murder and collapses, he wakes to find himself the prime suspect. Now Marcus has one chance to clear his name: outrun his failing body, reconstruct the moments he lost, and hunt a killer before he blacks out again… possibly for good.

"If you haven’t figured it out yet, Daniel and I are a little bit obsessed with quirky horror, AND we're both huge fans of Alfred Hitchcock," said Wagner. "We’ve been talking for years about what OUR version of his works would look like. Well, Narco is that version. It combines our weird sense of horror and humor with classics like Rear Window and Psycho."

Hillyard added: "A Hitchcockian thriller with a whodunnit story and our usual twist of the unusual. If any of that piqued your interest then Narco might just be the one for you. Grab a pop tart, pet your possum (not a euphemism) and see if you can figure out who the killer is."

Narco #1 will be available at comic book shops on Wednesday, March 4, 2026:

• Cover A by Hillyard
• Cover B “Hitchcock homage” by Hillyard
• Cover C Blank Sketch cover

Narco #1 will also be available across many digital platforms, including Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, and Google Play.

Cover A by Daniel Hillyard

Cover B “Hitchcock Homage” by Daniel Hillyard

Narco #1 Preview Pages

Narco #1 Exclusive Preview Pages