GVN Talking Comics Interview: Creator Mel Gillman For Iron Circus Comics 'The Goblin Throne'

There’s a special kind of magic that happens when a creator with a razor‑sharp sense of character, a gift for quiet emotional truth, and a love of mythic spaces decides to build a world from the ground up. With Mel Gillman, that magic isn’t just present—it’s the point. Their new graphic novel, THE GOBLIN THRONE, arriving on Kickstarter through Iron Circus Comics, is a lush, intimate queer fantasy that blends danger and deeply human storytelling in a way only Mel can.

As Iron Circus continues its mission to champion bold, creator‑driven work, THE GOBLIN THRONE stands out as a project that feels both timeless and unmistakably personal. It’s a story about belonging, living up to your word, and the strange, beautiful places we discover when we step off the familiar path.

Recently, we sat down with Mel to talk world‑building, character journeys, folklore influences, and the creative spark behind this goblin‑inspired realm. Let’s dive in and welcome talented creator Mel Gillman to GVN Talking Comics.

Discovering a Love for Comics

GVN: Thank you for sharing a part of your day with us, Mel. Since this is our first chance to chat, let’s start with your creative beginnings. When did you first take an interest in art and storytelling, and whose work inspired your admiration for the craft?

MEL: Stumbling on queer webcomics as a college student is what really made me fall in love with comics. At a time (many years ago) when it was much, much harder to find queer comics in bookstores and libraries, the idea that all of these incredible queer artists were telling exactly the sort of stories they wanted to, and using the internet to self-publish their work in an inexpensive and accessible way with no publishing industry gatekeepers, really inspired me. That spirit of “just make the comic YOU want to make and put it out there yourself, whether or not a publisher wants it” is still really important to me.

A Tale with “Overlapping Perspectives

GVN: So, let’s get into your latest project, collaborating with Iron Circus, “THE GOBLIN THRONE.” This saga introduces a lush, layered fantasy realm. How did you approach building a world that feels both whimsical and dangerous, and what were the earliest pieces of that world that clicked into place for you?

MEL: “Dangerous” is a fair description, but I wouldn’t say there’s much whimsy anywhere in this book! This is a horror-romance graphic novel, told from multiple overlapping perspectives. From one character’s viewpoint, this is a cautionary fable about getting in way over your head with a monster you know is dangerous – and also, how you live with yourself long-term after your own choices have led to unforgivable harm to others. From another character’s perspective, it’s a story about deep longing and loneliness, and the temptation to use a new relationship as a way to prove to yourself that you’ve changed as a person, despite all evidence to the contrary.

A Fairy-Tale Allegory

GVN: It has been written that your protagonists often navigate identity, belonging, and transformation. How did those themes shape the characters at the heart of THE GOBLIN THRONE, if at all, and what emotional arc excited you most to explore?

MEL: Funnily, I don’t think any of those themes really apply to The Goblin Throne! Readers who read the book will find it’s a story about the uncomfortable tensions that exist between desire, shame, and moral obligation. It’s a fairy-tale allegory about being middle aged and lonely, and viewing a new romantic relationship as a fresh slate to help you put all your past mistakes behind you, and it’s about why that usually doesn’t work out the way you want it to. And it’s also just about wanting to get together with a hot goblin lady. Queer comics contain multitudes, haha.

New Artistic Challenges

GVN: Your art style is known for its softness, clarity, and emotional precision. What visual decisions defined the tone of THE GOBLIN THRONE, and were there sequences where you pushed your style in new directions?

MEL: As a graphic novelist, every book is a chance to try something new. I always set little challenges for myself with every new comic, as a way to keep pushing my own limits and growing as a visual artist. For The Goblin Throne, my biggest visual constraint was using no gutters anywhere in the book. (For non-cartoonists, that’s the empty space between panels in a comic.) Drawing a page without gutters means you have to be really, really careful with your composition choices and color decisions, to make sure that each panel feels distinct and readable, and the pages don’t end up feeling overcrowded and cluttered. This stretched my design sensibilities in new ways, but I ended up really loving it! I’ll probably work this way again.

Goblin Folklore

GVN: Goblins carry a long history in folklore and fantasy. What traditions, myths, or literary influences shaped your interpretation of goblins in this story?

MEL: There’s a few classic stories in the goblin-canon that were formative for me as a kid – The Princess and the Goblin (more the 1872 novel by George MacDonald, less the 1991 animated adaptation), Lord of the Rings, and of course Labyrinth. There’s a few goblin-romances out there in the older fairy tale canon, and a lot of them are about innocent human girls being dragged against their will into an arranged goblin-marriage, and the repulsive horror of having to live the rest of your life trapped underground, wed to a horrible inhuman creature. The Goblin Throne takes that goblin-marriage concept for a much queerer spin.

Iron Circus

GVN: Iron Circus has a reputation for championing creator-driven, boundary-pushing work. What made them the right home for THE GOBLIN THRONE, and how has the collaboration shaped the project?

MEL: Smaller, independent publishers like Iron Circus are a really important part of the comics publishing landscape, because they’re often more willing to take risks on weirder, less-market-proven graphic novels, compared to the Big 5 publishers. A brutal middle-aged lesbian folk-horror-romance comic with lots of gore and sex isn’t something a lot of big corporate graphic novel publishers would be up for touching right now, unfortunately. I’m very grateful to get to put a really weird, messy book like this out with Iron Circus.

Kickstarter

GVN: This book is launching through Kickstarter. What excites you about bringing THE GOBLIN THRONE directly to readers through crowdfunding, and how does that model influence the way you think about audience engagement?

MEL: Kickstarter is really helpful as a pre-order campaign for weird indie books – it helps them get the financial push they need right out the gate to cover production costs (which are really high right now, given everything going on in the economy.) It also makes it possible to offer some fun little bonus items that wouldn’t normally be possible with standard book publishing – we’re going to be selling some pieces of original art from the book, for instance, which I normally don’t do!

What Readers Will Find

GVN: Thank you once again for your kind attention, Mel. Finally, when readers close the book, what do you hope lingers with them—whether emotionally, thematically, or personally—after journeying through this goblin-ruled world?

MEL: I just hope they enjoy it (as much as anyone “enjoys” reading a tragedy!) This is a very unusual book, but it’s one I’m very proud of, both as a story and a piece of visual art. Comics really is an incredible medium – there’s so much you can do with it.

THE GOBLIN THRONE isn’t just another queer fantasy graphic novel. It’s a work shaped by intention, empathy, and a creator who understands how to make the quiet moments hit just as hard as the mythic ones. Mel’s world is strange in all the right ways, dangerous when it needs to be, tender where it counts, and built with the kind of care that lingers long after the last page.

With Iron Circus Comics bringing this project to life on Kickstarter, readers have the chance to support a story that pushes the boundaries of what fantasy can feel like—personal, grounded, and defiantly imaginative. If you’re drawn to character‑driven storytelling, folklore‑rich atmospheres, or want to back a creator who consistently delivers meaningful, resonant work, this campaign deserves your attention.

Huge thanks to Mel for taking us inside the craft, the world‑building, and the heart behind THE GOBLIN THRONE. And to everyone reading—go check out the Kickstarter, spread the word, and keep championing the creators who make comics such a vibrant, ever‑evolving space.