With the Debut of Bad Influence today on WEBTOON, we are delighted to be joined by Orson James and Roman Calais, the writers and co-creators of Bad Influence. We got to chat all about Bad Influence with Orson and Roman. The first three episodes of Bad Influence are now available as a WEBTOON Original, with subsequent episodes dropping every Thursday. Readers have the option to unlock up to three additional episodes using WEBTOON’s Fast Pass feature.
Could you please introduce yourselves to our readers?
Orson: Hey, I’m Orson James.
Roman: And I’m Roman Calais. We’re the writers and co-creators of Bad Influence along with Jor Ros who is the lead artist.
Orson: We actually met working in advertising — which, for all its faults, teaches you a lot about the craft of ideas. It’s also a great place to slowly lose your mind. So we started working on our own stories in secret. We were in different time zones, so sleep was the first casualty. But that’s where the groundwork was laid for projects like Bad Influence.
Could you tell us about Otherly Productions?
Roman: Bad Influence is produced by Otherly in association with HiHi Studios, which was co-founded by streaming icon Valkyrae. Otherly is the studio we wished existed when we first started out on this path. We were honestly shocked by how the entertainment industry treats creators — you’re expected to take all the creative risk, develop ideas on your own time, and then hand them over with little to no guarantee.
Orson: Otherly funds projects independently and gives creators greater ownership and control over their ideas. And makes the kind of stories that probably wouldn’t survive a pitch meeting — but absolutely thrive once they find an audience. Image Comics has always been a bit of a shining light in that regard. We think it’s time that model became the norm.
Roman: That’s why we love WEBTOON. It’s not about gatekeeping. If your story connects, people find it.
Can you tell us about the origins of Bad Influence?
Orson: Bad Influence started as the conversation that derails other meetings — the “what’s going on in the world” spiral. We’ve always been obsessed with how media, technology, and corporations shape society. The old adage “the medium is the message” really applies — every new format rewires us a little. When news and TikTok blur together, everything changes.
And it’s usually the outsiders — the misfits who sit a little outside the system — who can see that shift for what it is. They’ve got less to lose, and they haven’t been fully indoctrinated. That’s what makes them dangerous. Or in our case, interesting.
Roman: But all that needs to manifest in a way that makes for a good story. So we pushed it to the extreme. What if Disneyland was a dystopian dictatorship? That gave us a bigger, weirder sandbox — and that’s where Nel was born. For her, the world feels like an oppressive regime. But for everyone else, it’s just one happy, uplifting, playlist on repeat.
Orson: Kind of like It’s a Small World.
Roman: Yeah, just a heavily militarized version.
Who is Nel?
Roman: Practically speaking, she’s a girl who had a difficult childhood, ran away, and was taken in by the leader of an organized crime gang called the HeadLess Sixx. Their calling card is blowing off the heads of the mascot statues that dominate the city. And they’re also one of the few groups openly resisting Oswald’s regime.
Orson: We wanted Nel to be reactive, emotional, and completely authentic. She makes bad decisions. Her jokes don’t always land. She can be prickly. But she’s driven by something real. She sees Weisshorn as a lie of lies. And nobody else seems to notice. There’s a voice in her head going, “Nope — I won’t play along.”
What made Jor Ros the right artist for Bad Influence?
Orson: Where to start. Honestly, everything.
Roman: Jor’s art is vivid and alive, it catches your eye instantly. But when you look closer, it’s full of nuance, emotion, and small storytelling choices that say more than we could ever write.
Orson: He’s obsessed with manga and anime, so there’s that energy and movement baked in. But he’s also deeply influenced by pop culture, Americana, Mexican art, and street aesthetics. It gives his work this unique edge, both emotional and unmistakably cool.
How did HiHi Studios get involved with Bad Influence?
Roman: Making something original is hard enough. Getting it seen is another challenge entirely. What Rae and Kai are building at HiHi is kind of genius; a studio built around a creator’s community. It opens up new possibilities around distribution and audience engagement.
Orson: When they announced HiHi, we got in touch and shared some of the projects we were developing. Bad Influence stood out instantly. It had the spectacle, the emotion, the chaos — and it felt like something we could all grow together.
What is it about WEBTOON that made you want to publish there?
Orson: Part of it is what we talked about earlier — it solves a lot of the structural problems with traditional publishing. You can bring bold, original stories to life without asking permission first. Discovery is an issue but being a Webtoon Original helps.
Roman: And the format itself is amazingly creative. The vertical scroll is incredible for building tension, surprise, momentum. It feels almost cinematic when you get the rhythm right — and thankfully, Jor knows exactly how to work it.
How long have you been working on Bad Influence?
Orson: We’ve been working on this story for the past 2 years.
Roman: Which in indie comic time is… honestly, not bad.
Orson: It’s a big, ambitious world, so there was always a temptation to keep on the back burner while we tackled simpler projects. But Bad Influence kept pulling us back. It had this strange gravity. Eventually it pushed itself to the front of the line. Now it’s the best expression of what Otherly is all about.
Can you tell us about the world Bad Influence is set in?
Roman: Weisshorn is like a Twisted Neverland. A never-ending parade you can’t escape. There are flesh-and-blood mascots with guns. Hypnotic propaganda jingles. Smiling faces everywhere, all selling the idea that everything is fine.
Orson: But it’s all a facade. The system underneath is fierce, controlled. And if you fall out of step, the city notices. It’s the surveillance state, dressed up as a theme park. But most people genuinely like the world Oswald puts in front of them. They don’t follow along because of fear. They are genuinely his number one fans.
Can you tell us about the process of writing Bad Influence together?
Roman: It took us so long because we wanted to map out everything first. We worked together with Jor on this. That allows us to take our time, not rush towards the big twists and reveals, because we know they all have their place.
Orson: Practically speaking the two of us would agree on the general direction for the episode and then we would split up scenes. This allowed us to build off each other, explore the characters in multiple ways before settling on a direction. There are always disagreements, and we never want consensus to lead to a watered down story. But we’ve worked together for a long time and we can acknowledge when one idea is stronger than the other.
Roman: It’s more work than it sounds. But also more fun.
How would you describe Bad Influence?
Orson: It’s a glitchy, high-concept, high-emotion fantasy about control, rebellion, and what it takes to hold onto your own mind in a world that wants to script your every move.
Roman: It’s explosive, it’s raw, it’s heartbreaking — and it never holds back.
Any message for the ComicBuzz readers?
Roman: If you love comics that take big swings — visually, emotionally, structurally — this one’s for you.
Orson: And even if you’ve never read a vertical scroll comic before, don’t worry. Just start scrolling — the story will take over from there.
We would like to say a big thank you to Orson and Roman for chatting with us and would like to wish them the best of luck with Bad Influence.
The first three episodes of Bad Influence are now available as a WEBTOON Original, with subsequent episodes dropping every Thursday. Readers have the option to unlock up to three additional episodes using WEBTOON’s Fast Pass feature.
