On the surface, “No Quarter, Kill All Masters” might seem like just an everyday violent pirate story. But these are not your average pirates, and this is not your average comic book.
Its proceeds go toward a rare cancer research fund.
Combat Radio host Ethan Dettenmaier recently published a comic book with his daughter to help support research toward neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder.
There are about 4,000-8,000 people in the U.S. who are diagnosed with it, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society — and Dettenmaier’s daughter was diagnosed with it a few years ago.
He said that his daughter, now 21, luckily has insurance to cover the costs of treatment, but other kids don’t have access to resources.
“For a lot of children who get this condition, the [treatment] is half a million dollars for the infusions, and they can’t get it if they don’t have insurance,” Dettenmaier said. “I thought, ‘This is exactly who we need to help.’”
The idea for the story came to Dettenmaier suddenly, he said. He wrote the book in a week, which later became a comic.
Its premise is about a school teacher who gets drafted into a seemingly ruthless sea crew, with hidden hearts of gold, who came from all sorts of walks of life – different cultures, different struggles and different skill sets.
“The theme of the book and the comic is kind of how unlikely heroes step up, and that’s really where the entire story kind of spirals to a conclusion; it’s through the humanity of the school teacher that all these brutal pirates make their angle more humane,” Dettenmaier said.
Dettenmaier said he worked on the story while his daughter, Shawn, worked as the producer, finding the printer and the other technical details for the comic. Their publishing company, Venger Comics, was named after one of the ships in the story.
For the art, Dettenmaier said finding an artist was difficult at first because of a lack of funds. But by coincidence, he found artist Martina Matteucci, who happened to love pirates.
“I explained my situation and I sent her an email from UCLA Medical Center where I was basically living,” Dettenmaier said. “I said that I was trying to make a comic book with my daughter, and I said a little bit about what [Shawn] was going through. I don’t think [Matteucci] thought much of it at the time, but she did a really good job.”
Dettenmaier said he became inspired to make a comic since Shawn loved making her own. He also said that one day, Shawn hopes to even run her own bookstore and coffee shop.
“She started designing one when she was at the doctor because she has continuous treatment,” Dettenmaier said. “When she’s [at the hospital] getting an IV infusion, she works on her comic.”
He said that because NMSOD is so rare, it’s often difficult to try to emphasize the urgency of his daughter’s needs in an emergency room. So, they partnered with The Guthy-Jackson Charitable Foundation, whose resources include educating ER staff about the disease.
“A lot of times in an emergency room, we’re sitting there like six or eight hours, and if they don’t see anything wrong with you, they’re like, ‘OK, let’s take the guy with the splinter,’” Dettenmaier said. “I’m like ‘no you don’t understand. It’s like a stroke. I know you don’t know what this is because it’s so rare.’”
Dettenmaier said he and Shawn are excited to see the rest of the issues of the comic printed, which is set to have 30 issues.
His comic can be found at a few local comic shops, including Paper Heroes and Cruzin’ Thru Comics, where he’ll be signing copies on Saturday at 2 p.m.
More information about Dettenmaier’s comic book can be found on his website at www.noquarterkillallmasters.com.
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