Apart from these real life stories were there any other sort of stories or artists that inspired his look or the style of story you wanted to tell?

BW:  I wanted to telegraph that this story had depth and history – but also ensure it was brutal, energetic. Mono is a set of contrasts – an officer-and-a-gentleman, but a beast – well tailored and ultra violent! My references are lofty; I wanted the art to have the class of a Clement Coll, Toppi or a Gary Gianni – with elegance of line and shape – but then I wanted to be able to ‘scream’ at the reader when needed – to have dynamic compositions and fast paced moments – like a Frank Miller or Simon Bisley sequence… and finally I hoped to borrow whatever I could from Bill Sienkiewicz‘ work – he was one of the main references when I was sending inspiration for the coloring to Fin Cramb. I hoped Fin would find a colour palette that was somewhat muted – with tons of atmosphere. When i look at this list of inspiration it is ridiculous – i have so very far to go on every front  – but I am thoroughly enjoying the journey and trying to remember this is my first outing  – i am walking around the block – and these guys have trounced Everest.

The second and third issues have a lot of high paced action in, do you find it easier to write and draw action than dialogue?

BW: Having come up with the character and some over arching storylines with Tony Brock i started to discuss Mono with Liam – it was the very early stages of forming Madefire in 2008/9 and i hoped he’d think Mono had legs – and a tail of course (ahem!) …since then we’ve worked on the overall story together along with Tony Brock but to be clear the Old Curiosity Shop final script is written by Liam. In episode 2 was nervous about having such an open action sequence and so little dialogue – there’s so much story to Mono that I want to tell – however it did seem a great way to introduce his incredible physicality and ability to course through a landscape or city. So it was a case of ‘story-first’ – and trying to make the sequence powerful visually – Liam pushed for keeping it dialogue free – and he was right – the next Episode is very different which should make for a good contrast.