I’ve always been wary for the much-hyped but often doomed super group. Combining a group of extremely talented and sometimes temperamental artists can quickly spell disaster for even the most well-laid projects *cough* The Infinite *cough. * As pessimistic as I’ am about artistic potpourri, there is one group of immensely talented artists and writers teaming up that has me emptying out my wallet.

Creative group 44FLOOD is just wrapping up an already successful Kickstarter project for their latest book LUST. Including work from Monocyte’s menton3, LUST will also bring together Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith for the first time since the acclaimed 30 Days of Night. LUST is a massive 72-page hardcover book that will explore the nature of vices including chastity and of course, lust.

I caught up with Ben Templesmith to talk about the final moments of LUST’s Kickstarter campaign and what it was like work with Steve Niles again.

Check out the LUST Kickstarter here.

How did you, Steve, and Menton all get together to work on LUST?

It was a strange organic thing, involving Menton mostly, working with Steve and me getting a studio with Menton… and slowly we all inched closer together until it became “You know what? We’re going to do something together eventually because we share space and bounce creatively off each other, and Steve is already in the mix on other projects… let’s do something that finally reunites Steve and Ben and crosses off the Menton collaboration at the same time” sort of deal. & thus, after figuring out we wanted to draw sexy women and horrible things… the idea for LUST came about. At least that’s my take on the whole thing.

What was it like working with Steve again after all this time?

It’ll be old and new at the same time. We’ve both evolved, come a long way and changed. Forging our own paths but eventually, sometimes the time is right to come back and do something new. Sorta like a family reunion except there are no creepy uncles. Unless I’m the creepy uncle. I probably am, actually. Bugger.

How are the artists behind LUST going to tackle such difficult topics like lust, chastity, and vice?

I came into this wanting to express my personal ideas on the subject. Of which I have many.  I know Menton is a deep thinker on many levels and really gets into symbology and meaning too. It’s not like these aren’t themes and ideas people don’t grapple with every day. There’s so much to do with them on so many levels.

For your money, which do you think the best reward in the LUST Kickstarter campaign is?

Far be it from me to tell others what to think. It’s a subjective thing. Personally I always dig sketched in editions of art books/comics. Coupling the printed matter with an original direct from the artist.

The promotional art for LUST looks very NSFW, just how Not Safe For Work is this book? Should I put it away when my parents come to visit this holiday?

If your parents have a problem with nudity or mature themes I’m wondering how you came to exist without them having a little rough and tumble, if you know what I mean…nudge nudge wink wink… ultimately we don’t really want to be restricted to doing books for children or conservative prudes. The book’s title should say it all. LUST isn’t something that conjures up images of people wearing clothes and sitting around having nice cups of tea. Life is often a mature subject, needing to be lived and dealt with by adults. LUST, like hopefully all the things we do, is really aimed at people who won’t find the human body offensive.