For the latest installment of Voices from Infosec series, Kali Fencl (@kalifencl) spoke with Allan Liska about a passion project he’s been working on, a cybersecurity comic book!
In this edition of Voices from Infosec, Ransomware Sommelier Allan Liska returns! You may already be familiar with Allan from Breaking Badness episode 42 or you might have heard us catch up with him at RSA 2023 in our Stronger Together mini-series. It’s always fun to chat with Allan, and we’re excited to share this conversation with our listeners because it focuses on a passion project currently in the works: a comic book featuring a cybersecurity insurance investigator.
I don’t want to give too much away here, because it is truly a fun and funny episode to listen to, but Allan shares the origin of his love of comic books along with how the process has been of writing his own. He delves into how he found illustrators who took on the challenge of creating a film noir feel for a modern day character (small spoilers: it wasn’t easy!)
Allan had mentioned this project to me at RSA, and after following his Kickstarter campaign for the remainder of the summer, I thought our audience would be interested in his writing process and how he’s going about making this project a reality.
What’s interesting to me as I become more entrenched in this industry is that the interests and passions of those in cybersecurity and infosec are wide and ranging, which is incredible. It’s my hope that if others in the industry want to work on their own projects, learning about Allan’s process might help get gears turning from just an idea to a tangible product.
Who is Johnny Dollar?
You might be unfamiliar with this character, but after listening to Allan share his origin, you’ll be wanting more. Allan was able to take a character within the public domain and reshape his story through the lens of a cybersecurity insurance investigator. As far as I’m concerned (and you can correct me if I’m wrong), we haven’t seen a character like this as of yet.
Is this character meant only for people within the cybersecurity and infosec community? Not necessarily, however, if you are in the industry, there are elements that you’ll likely get more of a kick out of, but of course I’ll let Allan explain that more in detail.
Allan also shares his plans for the character. The comic book will span four issues, each building off the previous one, and according to Allan, you’ll see references to some familiar names. The first issue is nearing completion and Allan is hopeful we’ll see it by the end of October. For updates on its release (and the following releases of issues 2-4), be sure to join Allan’s mailing list.
That’s about all we have for this week, you can find us on Twitter @domaintools, all of the articles mentioned in our podcast will always be included on our podcast recap. Catch us Wednesdays at 9 AM Pacific time when we publish our next podcast and blog.
*A special thanks to John Roderick for our incredible podcast music!
