First Comics News: How and why did you create Weird Brain Entertainment?
Dave Franchini: Tons of reasons. But mostly, because I enjoy torturing myself. Haha, no. I felt it was the natural progression for me and my career. I spent a decade playing in someone else’s world and decided it was time for me to take the leap (the still terrifying leap) and try to create my own. For those who don’t know me, I worked at Zenescope Entertainment for 16 years. I started ou an intern and worked my way up through Sales, Editing, and all the way to Publisher. Over the last decade, I was there, I ran the editorial department, made decisions on art teams for the stories, booked all the covers, and had the opportunity to write and create many of the characters and storylines while working with incredible artists and amazing people within the company. In February 2025, I left Zenescope and created Weird Brain Entertainment. The plan was to have an outlet for all the weird stories from my brain that I wanted to create and tell. So essentially, Weird Brain Entertainment is just weird stories from my weird brain to your hands. Like farm to table, minus farms and tables, es and more just weird thoughts and ideas I find fun and exciting to play withh and hope that you all enjoy.
1st: How do you come up with ideas for new comic books?
Dave: There’s not really a single answer that could fit this question. Stories, at least for me, always come from a few different places and ideas that just kind of smash together and hit at the right time. I can tell you where a few of the stories I launched Weird Brain came from, though. Sven the Groundhog came from one day. In my backyard, a groundhog was sleeping. I thought he was dead, because in the few years I’ve lived in my house, my backyard has become nature’s battleground,d and I thought we had a fallen soldier. Turns out he was just sunbathing. I took a picture of him, sent him to my girlfriend, and because I’m a weirdo and she knows it, she asked me his name, and I told her Sven, obviously, like she should have known, and he was here to save us all. And the story just kind of clicked in my head and went from there.
1st: What is the story in “Hell of a Job”?
Dave: For Hell of a Job, that one was born a little differently. That one originally sprouted from this article I read about Walmart taking out life insurance policies on their poorer employees who lived in bad neighborhoods. And the idea of a company owning you and making a profit from you even after you die kind of formed. And that’s exactly what Hell of a Job is, well, not exactly. But it’s a story about a group of co-workers who one night find out that the contract they signed to work at this company actually sold their souls to hell. And now they have to go down the demonic corporate ladder to renegotiate their terms,s or they are stuck working for this company they hate for all eternity, even if they quit, are fired,d or retire. So you take that craziness of actual hell and mix it with something a lot of people can relate to, work is hell and torturous, and Hell of a Job forms from the hellfire.
1st: What type of personality does Stevie have?
Dave: Stevie Addams, the main character from Hell of a Job, is an every-person. She’s not a chosen being or super-powered human. She doesn’t have special powers or a magic bloodline. She’s an average human. She has hobbies and interests, friends and office enemies, and she is living a mostly normal,l boring life. She’s someone everyone can see a little of themselves in, at least that’s my hope, and then her life gets flipped upside down, and now she is thrown into a mission to save her own soul. She’s a little adventurous, sarcastic, and will have to face the horrors of office life in hell, as well as the temptations of demonic corporate life and the power it could bring her. She’s on a journey of a normal working person through hell, in a world she doesn’t fully understand, but she is about to find out.
1st: What is your typical demon like in “Hell of a Job”?
Dave: They are what you would assume. They are evil, depraved, trick,y and love to torture and corrupt humans. They live for an eternity, so they need to find some things to occupy their time, and breaking human spirits through manipulation or pain kind of does that for them.
1st: What job does Stevie hold at the firm she works at?
Dave: She works in one of the most soul-sucking parts of P.E.R.D. Industries Conglomerate. Her day is spent working toward unreachable goals and failing to hit impossible targets. She’s in sales.
1st: Why is Anti-Christine important to Bernadette in “Anti-Christine and the Four Unicorns of the Apocalypse”
Dave: Well, the story of Anti-Christine is about the devil’s daughter, Christine, who at the age of 13 was supposed to end the world as the aanti-Christ But, instead, she took the four horsemen, turned them into unicorns, and rebelled against her devil dad. Now, Christine’s 2,7 and the devil had another daughter, Bernadette, and she is turning 13 and will have to take Christine’s place as the bringer of the Apocalypse. Christine and Bernadette are half-sisters with a large amount of family about to unfold at the end of the world.
1st: Who are the four unicorns?
Dave: The Four Unicorns are the transformed Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. They were gifts from Christine’s devil father to help her do what she was born to :o, end the world. Each of these, during Christine’s 13th birthday coronation, was shaped and formed from the bringers of the end of the apocalypse into cute, short little unicorn friends. She used her powers to mold them into what she wanted. In the first issue, we only meet Justin, but as the story unfolds, the others will be revealed. They each have their own personalities and specific powers. They are also all named after a boy band from her childhood.
1st: Why in “Sven the Groundhog: Savior from the Stars” does a groundhog serve as the main character?
Dave: Because he is our savior and is here to save us, of course. Haha, but honestly, he needed to be. The story started with a groundhog and sparked the whole idea. Plus, if you will notice, in each of my books, they are all set in Pennsylvania(and surrounding states and cities, but mostly Pennsylvania). And groundhogs are a big part of Pennsylvania lore. But also, as the story unfolds,s it becomes clearer why Sven, why a groundhog, and what else lies out within the stars of this comic universe being created (these first 4 Weird Brain series are all set in the same universe).
1st: How does the reporter Sarah Woods react to meeting an alien groundhog?
Dave: Well, in the first issue, not so great…at least at first. But then the story begins to unravel, el and she doesn’t really have much time to debate if she’s gone insane or not. But, as thestory progressess, see we will dive deeper into the impact this is having on her and how it will affect her future.
1st: Would you rather meet aliens or demons if you had to choose?
Dave: That’s a tough question. I think there’s a better chance the aliens are friendlier than demons, though maybe I shouldn’t group all dether, maybe there are some nice ones who are just living a life they didn’t choose. So, I think it comes down to who the demon or alien is as a person…er…being. I’m friendly and curious, so I’d be open to meeting either and hearing about their lives. Also, super excited, and terrified that I’ve just lost my mind. But after the initial shock, probably back to excitement because you can’t really un-lose your mind, so just accept it and see where it goes.
1st: Do you like snowmen?
Dave: Love snowmen. Love building them. Love the whole idea of them. Wish we could bring them to life. Also, I know I have issues and form attachments to tons of inanimate objects. As a kid,d I remember a time that I kept my favorite snowball in a freezer so I could play with it the next time it got cold enough. Why do you ask?
1st: What is coming next from Weird Brain Entertainment?
DaveI hopeis that a lot is coming next. Many, many ideas and plans for stories and worlds to build, and some already in the process of being built, some with issues completely drawn waiting for the right time and correct amount of money to bring them to life. But directly next to Weird Brain? That is Frosted Up #1. This is actually live on Kickstarter right now at the time of answering these questions. Here is the link – Kickstarter.com
This story is about Crystal Caldwell, a mother, an exotic dancer, and an all-around good, albeit crazy, time. And when someone kidnaps her daughter, she does what any mother would do…she magically brings a snowman named Nicholas to life and, violently—and possibly with a smidge of psychosis—hunts down those who would try to hurt someone she loves.
This is a mix of the movie Taken with Frosty the Snowman, and sprinkled on top with a little Harley Quinn chaos.
1st: Any last words for your readers?
Dave: Thank you, really. Thank you to all of you who have been supporting me and helping me grow over these years, and especially thank you to those who have stuck with me and are helping me turn Weird Brain Entertainment into a reality. I say it a lot in my emails and my social media posts,s but I really,trulyy eternally am grateful for all the support you have given me. And to all those who have been jumping on recently, I’m just as thankful for you for giving me a chance to tell my insane and weird stories to you. I hope that I can keep making these for many years and that we can build these stories together into one giant weird universe. Also, thank you,u Richard, for this interview andfor giving me a chance to reach more weirdos out there. Stay Weird!
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