DANNY TREJO’S YEAR OF THE DEVIL: KEITH AREM & CHRIS YATES II JOIN THE CRUSADE | PODCAST #763

WEPA, Crusaders! Keith Arem and Chris Yates II join Al Mega for Comic Crusaders Podcast #763 to unleash Danny Trejo’s Year of the Devil, an original five-issue supernatural action-horror graphic novel co-created by Danny Trejo, Keith Arem and Chris Yates. We’re talking an immortal warrior, Lucifer, the Four Horsemen, Aztec mythology, biblical prophecy and five centuries of supernatural warfare, so yeah, this one gets wild pretty damn fast.

At the center of the madness is Diego De Rojas, a conquistador cursed to reincarnate throughout history after accidentally unleashing Lucifer from an ancient prison. Rather than spoil where all that insanity goes, we dig into how Keith and Chris built the mythology around Diego, why immortality isn’t exactly the gift superhero stories make it out to be, and how Danny Trejo’s own ancestry helped influence the world they were creating.

Keith also brings one hell of a storytelling résumé to the conversation. As President and Creative Director of PCB Productions, he’s worked across film, music, comics and AAA games, including Call of Duty: Black Ops, Modern Warfare, Saints Row, Ghost Recon, Spider-Man, Yakuza, Persona, Rainbow Six and Titanfall. PCB credits him with work across more than 700 commercial releases, so naturally I wanted to know how decades of directing performances and building interactive worlds affect the way he approaches a comic book.

We get into working directly with Danny Trejo, writing a character that needs to feel like Danny without becoming some cheap imitation, building the Four Horsemen, combining different mythologies without making the whole damn thing collapse under its own weight, and what Keith’s transmedia brain sees when everybody else is simply looking at a comic-book page. Chris brings us into the writing side and the challenge of fitting this massive idea into five issues while still giving readers a character worth giving a shit about.

The project made its big public debut at San Diego Comic-Con 2026, and now the countdown is on for the next stage. Danny Trejo’s Year of the Devil officially launches on BackerKit September 29 at 9 AM PT, with exclusive editions, artwork, collectibles and campaign rewards being teased ahead of launch.

Hit PLAY and hang with Keith Arem, Chris Yates II and Al Mega as we talk comics, horror, mythology, gaming, storytelling and what happens when Danny Trejo gets five centuries to hunt the forces of Hell. Follow Year of the Devil before the September 29 launch, support original creator-driven comics, and enjoy the madness with us.

The Crusade Never Ends! WEPA!

CAMPAIGN LAUNCH: September 29, 2026

Danny Trejo’s Year of the Devil on BackerKit:
https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/pcb-entertainment/danny-trejo-s-year-of-the-devil/pre-launch

Visit PCB Productions at https://www.pcbproductions.com/

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THE CRUSADE NEVER ENDS! WEPA!