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Interview with Austin Hamblin
writer of “Welcome to Purgatorio” Interview conducted by Nigel Patterson, July 2026 EIN: Austin, before we talk "Elvis", please tell us about “Comic Book Resources (CBR)”. AH: Yeah! I have always been obsessed with comics which is why I started to make them. Along the way I started to write about the comics I love. Nothing fancy, just on my substack or free for some small websites. I saw a job posting to write for CBR and I thought why not apply? I had a decent portfolio of comics journalism, and I ended up landing the job! EIN: And your collaboration with comic book artist, Scott Twells. Tell us about that. AH: I met Scott in around 2011 on a forum called Digital Webbing. The point of the site was for comic creators to find collaborators. We just “messed” really well. Since then, we have done hundreds of comic pages together. Though we have never been on the same continent as each other with me being the US and him in the UK. EIN: Living on two continents must raise some difficult issues when producing a comic book. How do you handle these? AH: Well honestly it’s a lot of playing phone (email tag). With smart phones it so much easier now than when we started. We do video chat from time to time. I think though what makes our collaborative process so easy is we are open and communicate very well. EIN: How did the idea of an Elvis Presley comic book come about? AH: So, I had always been aware of Elvis (how could you not be), but I didn't know much about him. All I really knew was some of his music and about Graceland. I watched the Austin Butler biopic and it was so interesting to me. What a life Elvis had and an odd career. He was a cultural bridge in music and for people I think. I was messaging Scott and I told him I couldn't believe Elvis isn't used more in pop culture. There are certain dead celebrities which seem to be used over and over again, but Elvis isn't one of them. So that morphed into this! EIN: It’s interesting you say that. Did you know that Elvis has had more comic books published than any other celebrity or group? The 2004, 450-page book, “Elvis Hero of the Comic Books”, details more than 400 graphic novels, comic books, cartoons, et al, involving him. AH: I feel stupid now I had no idea. Maybe I’m just not reading the right things haha. I need to grab a copy of that you’ve got me interested! EIN: Austin, no need to feel stupid. The pop culture world is a mighty big place with hundreds of thousands of comic books and the like! EIN: For our readers could you briefly describe what the story in “Welcome to Purgatorio” is about. AH: Someone is killing and eating people in celebrity purgatory and Elvis is going to find out who! EIN: Austin, the original title for "Welcome to Purgatorio....Corpses! Corpses! Corpses Everywhere" was “The Celebrity Purgatory Murders”. Why the title change? AH: We changed it because we plan on doing more in the universe of Purgatorio (it will all happen before the murders because we kill off a lot of people).
EIN: We couldn't help wondering if the "Corpses! Corpses! Corpses!” tag was a play on Elvis' film, “Girls! Girls! Girls!” Are we on the right wavelength or lost in space? AH: Nope you got it! I have to give Scott credit for that. Though he is the artist on this project he is a fantastic writer and extremely creative person. He will often add meaningful and great ideas to the comic we collaborate on. EIN: The pr for "Welcome to Purgatorio" includes "Featuring 100 Dead Celebrities". Please tell us about this. AH: I don't know how we did it, but we did fit in 100 dead celebrities. Not all of them get speaking roles, some are just seen in the background, but man was it fun to do. We go really diverse with the celebrities we chose using politicians, musicians, actors, memes (RIP Harambe), athletes, a porn star, and some of our favorite comic creators. Scott and I like to do weird stuff and we sure did with this one. EIN: The physical portrayal of Elvis in the story is very different to what we usually see. What was the thinking behind this? AH: This is such an off the wall idea we wanted to have fun with it. A story like this can't take itself too seriously and both Scott and I never take ourselves seriously. EIN: The use of “King Fu" in relation to the Elvis character is clever. How did it come about? AH: We knew we had to include that! It was one of the first ideas we had when we started talking about the book. We talked about what are the key things about Elvis we need to hit.. he makes music... check.. oh he's obsessed with martial arts that HAS to go in! EIN: Did you always envisage "Welcome to Purgatorio" as a "For mature readers” release? AH: Yeah! I think when you look at a lot of celebrities they all engage in a lot of non-child friendly activities. Crazy sex, drugs, and partying. I don't know if we would have been able to use my dark sense of humor if we didn't. One thing I think is hilarious but is extremely offensive is when we see Kurt Cobain for the first time. Half of his head is missing... funny, but not funny (also I am a huge Nirvana fan). EIN: Talking of Nirvana, did you know Kurt Cobain designed an Elvis related artwork that was used as a backdrop at many Nirvana concerts? EIN published an article about it in 2022: 'The Enigma of Elvis Cooper' he called “Elvis Cooper”, due to its mixing Elvis and Alice Cooper. AH: I didn’t know that, but I’m not shocked. So many people in artistic fields are “students of the game”. If someone was a student of the game in music of course they would land on Elvis. I’m the same way in comics. I read anything and everything. From Superman to My Little Pony to manga to self-published comics to old religious propaganda comics. Anything I can get my hands on. EIN: I suspect that the artwork style in the comic book will be new to many Elvis fans. How do you describe it? AH: I love Scott's art. I best describe it as old school alternative comics mixed with Adult Swim. EIN: "Welcome to Purgatorio" is drawn in black & white. Why not color? AH: Well, it’s for a few different reasons. One is time it takes longer to do color and Scott has a lot of comics he wants to make. The other is printing costs - it's much cheaper to print black and white. This story would look great in color, but I think the black and white nails the vibe we are going for with the DIY underground type comic and maybe it feels a little noir with the mystery of who is doing the killing.
EIN: Was it originally intended for "Welcome to Purgatorio" to be a standalone comic book rather than part of a compendium of your works with Scott? AH: We didn't know what we wanted to do with it. We finished it and pitched it and it sat around. Over the years Scott and I have done a lot of short comics together which got published in anthologies. Many of them are out of print and I had fans asking me how they could read them. So, we thought what if we put all of our short comics together, our single issue horror comic “Bugged Out”, the first issue of our long running series “The Adventures of Punk and Rock”, and “Welcome to Puragatorio” all in a collected edition. It worked out well! We will be doing more in the universe and it will eventually be getting it's own collection. Elvis will always be our lead. EIN: At the end of “Welcome to Purgatorio” it states, "To be continued..?" You’ve just said Elvis will the lead for future comic books. Is any title in development? AH: We are excited to tell more stories in this world, but as of right now are unsure when. EIN: We are dying to know. Who won the death match between Andy Kaufman and Ruth Bader Ginsberg? AH: Andy retained his title as the 'Inter-Gender Wrestling Champion of the World', but he cheated and gave Ruth an eye poke. EIN: An off-topic question. Your bio indicates you are a pro-wrestling fan. Stone Cold or the Hulkster? AH: Can I get a hell yeah? Stone Cold was always more my style and he also didn't openly used the N word and feel the need to not apologize for it. My all-time favorite will always be Macho Man! Oh yeah! EIN: Austin, is there anything else you would like to say to EIN readers? AH: So, “Welcome to Purgatorio” may appear as though we are poking fun at Elvis and we kind of are. We are poking fun at everyone. However, Scott and I are both fans. Elvis’s work ethic and talent are unmatched. He is such an interesting larger than life character. We wouldn't do an entire comic based around him if it he didn't kick so much ass! Lastly if you want to follow me on social media you can do so here: https://linktr.ee/austinallenhamblin EIN: Austin, thank you and all the best for your future comic books. We look forward to more adventures with Elvis!
Investigate more or purchase via Amazon US or Amazon UK More about Austin Hamblin: Austin Allen Hamblin is a staff writer at Comic Book Resources. He has written comics for Image, Source Point Press, Cosmic Lion Productions, Orange Cone Productions, and Candle Light Press. Click to comment on this Interview
For more about “Welcome to Purgatario” plus sample internal pages see EIN’s Elvis Book News page (July 28) And read all about the 450-page book release, “Elvis, Hero of the Comic Books”
Interview by Nigel Patterson.
EIN Website content © Copyright the Elvis Information Network.
Elvis Presley, Elvis and Graceland are trademarks of Elvis Presley Enterprises. The Elvis Information Network has been running since 1986 and is an EPE officially recognised Elvis fan club.
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