With the release of Exorcism Island #1 from Comixology Originals this week, we are delighted to be joined by Jordan Thomas and Chris Matthews. Jordan has written many comics, including Frank At Home On The Farm, The Man From Maybe, Skin Police, Mugshots, XINO and Hello Darkness. Chris is an animator whose art can be seen in Mugshots.
Hi, Jordan and Chris, it’s great having you both here with us. It’s great to have you here with us again, Jordan.
Thanks for having us
Jordan, can you tell us about the origins of Exorcism Island?
JORDAN: I had this image pop into my head. An isolated location with a collection of cabins set out in the shape of a crucifix and thought it was pretty cool. I imagined it would be a possession story and straight away knew that it was people that were demonically possessed in those cabins. At that time Chris and I were close to finishing Mugshots, so I took the basics of the idea to him to see if he’d be keen to work on that style of story and he was, so I began developing it. Asking the questions you always have to know for a good story, What? Why? Who?And what next?Â
Chris, you created all of the art for Exorcism Island. What part of that process did you enjoy the most?
CHRIS: I think my favourite thing about this book was trying to find the balance of the three tones in each panel, using solid colour shapes to build a composition around is quite a fun way to work
As far as actually drawing things, it’s probably the possessed – there’s one that appears later in the book that I was particularly enamoured with.
Jordan, what can you tell us about Father Gigi Amato?
JORDAN: Gigi is kind of our way into the scenario. He stands in for the reader. The story starts with him being sent to the island and having to come to terms with the reality that demonic possession exists. He’s a good person carrying around a lot of regret, guilt and shame and his part of the story is about dealing with that, however it is very much an ensemble piece as opposed to just Gigi’s story.
Chis, was it a challenge illustrating the world of Exorcism Island?
CHRIS: It was actually a relatively smooth process; a lot of the book takes place in this barren landscape so the focus is really on the characters, which was great when it came to building compositions. It meant I could really lean into the almost completely black outfits the priests have on.Â
What can you tell us about Exorcism Island?
JORDAN: From my perspective it takes in a lot of my favourite elements of horror. A slow build with a focus on atmosphere and tension and giving the audience glimmers of what’s going on. Extreme moments, but not jump scares, more presenting something terrible or shocking in a way that hopefully sticks with you after you’ve finished reading the comic. There’s some Catholic church shenanigans and conspiracy type plot lines, which are always fun. There’s also humour and a strong group of characters with their own personalities and ways of dealing with all the madness being thrown and that, and, of course, what every great horror story needs, a memorable terrifying villain.
CHRIS: It’s orange, It’s nasty, it’s funny.
For anyone looking for something scary to read for this Halloween season, on a scale of 1-10, how scary is Exorcism Island?
CHRIS: 13
JORDAN: Making truly scary comics I think is a real challenge as you’re stripped of a lot of the tools that movies have to get you jumping out of your skin, but I think certainly we have some real creepy moments in there and we also weave between more of a The Exorcist tone and a bit more of a fun, gross Sam Raimi tone, so I’d give us an 8. Not quite Junji Ito, but also not for the faint of heart.
Any message for the ComicBuzz readers?
JORDAN: Go check out Exorcism Island! It’s free if you’re an amazon member and only like two bucks if you’re not. And if you like it I’d definitely recommend giving Mugshots Chris and I’s other collaboration a look and also my current series at Oni Press, Skin Police. Viva comics!
CHRIS: If you do decide to read it, I hope you like it. If you don’t like it, that’s also fine too.
We would like to say a big thank you to Jordan and Chris for chatting with us and wish them the best of luck with the release of Exorcism Island.
