GVN Talking Comics Interview: Writer Jordan Thomas for Comixology Original’s ‘Exorcism Island’

When talking to talented writer Jordan Thomas, you realize that success in the comic business is achieved by putting in the work. Nothing is handed to you, and the possibility of rejection is always present. But if you are serious about this career choice, you need to persevere and perhaps create your own opportunities. That is what Jordan did, and the results have led him to work with some of the most prominent publishers, including Image, Boom! Comics, Scout, Oni Press, and Mad Cave.

Recently, Jordan teamed up with his frequent collaborator, artist Chris Matthews, for Comixology Originals’ five-issue series Exorcism Island

Following a terrifying confrontation with a possessed woman, Father Gigi Amato finds himself sent to a remote Caribbean Island run by the Vatican to join a group of priests tasked with looking after the most troubled, long-term, demonic possession cases. The group of psychologically and emotionally bruised priests bicker and bond in their attempt to keep the madness of the island under control, but dark forces are working against them from all sides as evil digs its nails into their spiritually poisoned, isolated home.

In advance of the premiere of Issue#1, we had the opportunity to catch up with Jordan to discuss his creative beginnings, his willingness to face rejection, and this exciting new horror series with Chris Matthews. So, let’s welcome writer Jordan Thomas to GVN Talking Comics.

Creative Background

GVN: Thank you for sharing just a bit of your day, Jordan. Since this is our first visit, let’s start with some of your creative background. What inspired you to pursue writing comics, and whose work made young Jordan think that writing was his destiny?

JORDAN: So, I studied screenwriting at University and from there entered the thrilling world of corporate copywriting in London. I’d always been a comics fan and then I learnt about Kickstarter where a lot of people were funding their own comics and that’s how I got my first comics made and straight away fell in love with the process, the collaboration with the artist, the speed you could create something compared to the film world. In terms of who inspired me in general to be a writer, I was always intensely into films and also an avid reader tearing through the Star Wars expanded universe novels and Stephen King books, so storytelling was something I loved from three or four years old. Then when it came to comics, the writers who made a big mark on me in my youth and when I got back into reading comics in my early 20s were people like Bendis, Brubaker, BKV, Garth Ennis, Mike Carey, Remender – that kind of early to mid 2000s guys who were creating comics that felt fresh and exciting.

Facing Rejections

GVN: In your career since 2017, you have had the opportunity to work with several prominent publishers, including Image, Boom! Comics, Scout, Oni Press, and one of my favorite indie publishers, Mad Cave. As you pursued those opportunities, did you have any trepidation in pitching your stories, and did you face much (if any) rejection before you got your foot in the door?

JORDAN: Oh yeah, so many rejections. The first series I self-published through Kickstarter, Frank At Home On The Farm working with Clark Bint, got picked up by Scout before I’d even had the final issue printed. Then when that got announced I had someone from AfterShock immediately contact me through DM on Twitter asking for pitches and I thought, “Well, this being a comic book creator is easy”. Then AfterShock must have rejected close to a dozen pitches from me and everything kind of stalled in the publishing world and I just kept making my books on Kickstarter, which then led to Weird Work with Shaky Kane, which even before it got picked up by Image caught the attention of some high ups at publishers and opened some doors for me. But even now I still get way more pitches rejected than accepted. I probably write five pitches for every one that gets picked up. If you’re worried about rejection, comics really isn’t the place to try and make a living.

Quarantine

GVN: Before we jump into the reason we have come together, I want to touch upon the unique project that was “Quarantine.” An amazing collection of different artists, examining the impact and experiences during the pandemic. How did that project come about?

JORDAN: When lockdown happened I spotted that a lof of the small press artists I was a fan of suddenly had a lot more time on their hands as they’d been furloughed from their day jobs – most small press creators are just working on their comics in the few hours they can find in the evenings. So, I thought it could be cool to pull us all together and actually make something out of a less than ideal situation. I reached out to a group of people and luckily a bunch of very talented artists said they’d be part of the project, which made it easier to get more people to sign up. I wrote the script pretty quickly, in like 3 days or something, had the wonderful Russell Mark Olson do some character designs of the recurring characters so the book would have a certain consistency and then just assigned each of the artists a page of the script. It was all done, from script to printing the book over about 5 or 6 weeks.

Exorcism Island

GVN: So, as I mentioned, you have a new project coming up in collaboration with your Mugshots partner in crime, Chris Matthews, for Comixology Originals. A five-issue mini-series entitled “Exorcism Island.” How did this project come to be, and could you provide our readers with a summary of what the story explores?

JORDAN: The story is a tale as old as time, the Vatican owns a secret island in the Caribbean and they send all the longterm demonic possession cases there as well as a handful of priests to attempt to exorcise the naughty spirits. Of course, this is a terrible idea and things quickly begin to escalate from bad to really really terrible and we follow the group of exhausted, irritable, cynical priests as they try and deal with their ever worsening situation trapped on an island with more than a dozen possessed humans that hate them and want to make them suffer.

The collaboration came about because Chris and I are good friends and love making comics together, so all we do is plan books we want to do. As Mugshots was wrapping up we came up with a couple of pitches for books we wanted to do next and this was the one that got picked up first by the good people at Comixology. Ideally Chris and I would just always be working on new comics together and sending them out into the unsuspecting world.

Pitching to Different Publishers

GVN: As I mentioned, you are working with Comixology Originals for this series. Did you pitch the concept to them, and were there any other publishers you considered?

JORDAN: As I mentioned earlier, rejection is a massive part of working in comics, especially when you’re not a star name. With that comes the need to play the percentages and that generally means sending your pitches to absolutely everyone who could potentially give you some money to make it a reality. So, yes the pitch went out far and wide, and we had interest from other publishers but Comixology showed great vision and judgment moving much faster than anyone else and genuinely seemed to really love the idea and the work we had as part of the pitch. I’m very glad it worked out how it did as so far I’ve found Comixology a real pleasure to work with and the whole experience of making the book has been great.

Collaborating from a Distance

GVN: On a side note, regarding your collaboration with the talented Chris Matthews: you live in Valencia, Spain, while Chris resides in Berlin, Germany. Although both of you originally hail from south of London, does this distance impact your collaboration? Or have you worked together enough to have a solid understanding of your story and visual goals?

JORDAN: I’d be willing to bet that like 95% of creative teams in comics don’t see each other in person more than once or twice a year if that. Our families still live in the same area, so we do get to hangout in person once or twice a year, but otherwise it’s just video calls, constant WhatsApps, the usual kind of thing. In general we work well together because we trust each other, love each other’s work and know that we both want the comics to be as good as we can possibly make them. That’s the most important parts of a collaboration I think.

Projects on the Horizon

GVN: I do want to thank you for chatting with us, Jordan. Before I let you escape, I want to allow you the opportunity to talk about any other upcoming projects you might have on the horizon.

JORDAN: Well, Skin Police the dystopian, action-packed, sci-fi series I do with the extremely talented Daniel Gete is now in its second volume over at Oni Press; the collected edition of vol. 1 is out already and we’re two of the four issues that make up vol.2 are already in comic stores. Besides that nothing I can really talk about. I’d just say that anyone that hasn’t checked out Chris and I’s Mugshots series should definitely go and grab the collected edition as soon as they’re done reading this and you can keep up with what I’m working on at my Substack titled Subtle Sledgehammer. Thanks!

Issue# 1 of Comixology Originals Exorcism Island by Jordan Thomas and Chris Matthews is available digitally now. Stay tuned for our interview with artist Chris Matthews, coming out around the release of Issue#2.