‘Soul Plumber’: Last Podcast On The Left Hosts Were Inspired By Troma When Writing Their New Comic Series
They host an incredibly successful podcast. They wrote a book. Now, the boys from Last Podcast On The Left are writing a comic book. From DC Comics’ horror imprint, DC Horror, comes their series Soul Plumber.
Mary Beth McAndrews sat down with Henry Zebrowski and Marcus Parks to discuss Soul Plumber, their horror influences, why it’s easier to write a comic book, and, of course, whip-its.
Watch the full interview:
Soul Plumber follows Edgar Wiggins, a disgraced former seminary school student who loves God more than most. After attending a seminar hosted in a hotel conference room by a mysterious group called the Soul Plumbers, he discovers what he thinks is the secret to delivering souls from the thrall of Satan. But after stealing the blueprints and building the machine himself, out of whatever he can afford from his salary as a gas station attendant, Edgar misses the demon and instead pulls out an inter-dimensional alien with dire consequences for all of mankind.
Parks and Zebrowski got the idea for Soul Plumber from doing research for Last Podcast On The Left, which covers true crime, the paranormal, cryptids, and more. In particular, they were inspired by the Michael Taylor possession and the Andreasson Affair.
Michael Taylor was a man who was convinced he was possessed. He eventually brutally murdered his wife and blamed the demon inside of him. But, for Parks, it wasn’t that murder that lead to Soul Plumber.
“What we took from that story was the idea that a woman convinced him he was possessed by a demon,” Parks said. “She had learned everything that she knew from a four-day weekend exorcism course. it’s the idea of how something that small… that amount of power and the consequences of her meddling with something like that was dire for one person.”
Parks went on to add that, “The idea for this book is what if someone has that power, how bad can it go and how big could the consequences eventually be.”
Related: Hop on the CONSPIRACY CRUISE! Short Film Starring THE LAST PODCAST ON THE LEFT’s Henry Zebrowski
Soul Plumber wasn’t just inspired by true crime. Parks and Zebrowski also credit grindhouse cinema and Troma as their sources of aesthetic inspiration. “80s and 90s exploitation horror films are a really big influence on us,” said Park. “I love the idea of these really gritty environments, movies like Basket Case and The New York Ripper, old Italian, gross horror films.”
Zebrowski also said, “I like it when you’re in a gross environment and people in that world live happily within it, like in Troma. This idea of the happy residents of Tromaville, I think, is really funny.”
They also looked to the work of Jon Waters when creating the nasty world of Soul Plumber and its delightfully deplorable characters. Parks specifically cited Desperate Living, which also features characters happily living in horrendous places.
“Jonn Water toes the line of horror sometimes,” said Parks. “He definitely loves the horror world a little bit more than he lets on.”
So how does writing a comic book stack up against hosting a podcast and writing a book? Watch the full interview to find out!
Soul Plumber is available now, just in time for the spooky season. Listen to Last Podcast On The Left wherever you find your podcasts.
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