Jordan Thomas and his Multiple Projects
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Last year, Jordan Thomas released Issues 1-4 of his Horror Comic Series, Frank At Home On The Farm. Recently it was announced that this series will be re-released and distributed by Scout Comics. I caught up with Jordan to talk about his views on Horror Comics, his Influences and Working on Multiple Projects.
Thank you for taking the time to chat with me this week. Please tell the readers a bit about yourself and the work you do.
Jordan Thomas: Hi, my name’s Jordan Thomas and I write comic books. After a few stories in anthologies I released the 4-issue miniseries Frank at Home on the Farm on Kickstarter. The series then got picked up by Scout Comics and is now starting to be released in comic shops as well as through their website. Since I wrapped up Frank I’ve also crowdfunded the one-shot Quarantine, which features over 30 artists including Darick Robertson and Sean Phillips, and the first issue of a crime series called Mugshots with Chris Matthews.
Tell me a bit about the inspiration behind Frank at Home on the Farm.
Jordan Thomas: Well, the actual genesis of the idea is pretty weird. I was up late watching Before Sunrise, this romantic drama directed by Richard Linklater, and a random moment in it gave me the idea for a farm full of creepy animals and it went from
there.
More broadly, stuff like The Shining, David Cronenberg, David Lynch are all sloshing around in there. Clark loves a lot of the old horror comics’ art style so that definitely influences the look of the book.
Where did writing start for you and what is your origin story?
Jordan Thomas: I got started early. I started writing regularly in different forms from around nine or ten years old and then studied scriptwriting for film and TV at uni. From a really young age I was obsessed with films and comics. Although I didn’t start reading comics till about 12, I have folders and folders of trading cards from all kinds of comics – Marvel, DC and then things like Evil Ernie, Valiant, Spawn. I always liked weird stuff.
Frank at Home on the Farm is clearly influenced by Horror but where does the overall horror genre sit for you? What are your go to’s?
Jordan Thomas: When it comes to comics Hellblazer is probably my favourite ongoing series of all time, so that would be my big horror influence in comics. But I’m a big horror film fan from the gory stuff like Hellraiser and Nightmare on Elm Street to the more psychological like Hereditary and Rosemary’s Baby – and I love a good ghost story.
What are your biggest obstacles when it comes to your work? How do you overcome them?
Jordan Thomas: Money to pay the artists! I always have more scripts and ideas I want to get made than money to pay for the artists I want. Kickstarter is great but a lot of work and I can only really manage 3 campaigns a year, which isn’t really up to how much I’d like to be releasing.
From a writing stand point I’m not the best rewriter when it comes to just going back over a script in Word, so I have to find different ways to look at it to keep improving the work – sketching out page layouts, chatting with the artist,
tweaking dialogue once I have the finished are and I’m doing the lettering plan for the letterer.
How did you go about finding the right artist to work on this project?
Jordan Thomas: I knew Clark’s work from his previous project. I’d actually been trying to find an artist for something else but wasn’t getting anywhere, so had a rethink and decided to try and get Frank made instead. Once I’d settled on taking Frank forward I immediately knew I wanted Clark and luckily he was available and excited about the story from the off. He really has been the most incredible collaborator I could have hoped for.
Many of us creators work on projects outside of our 9-5 jobs. Do you have any advice for balancing careers with passion projects/side hustles?
Jordan Thomas: Don’t take on too much. It’s better to focus the spare time you have on getting one thing done rather than spreading yourself too thin. Try and get into a writing routine, whether it’s an hour every night, or two hours three nights a week – whatever works for you, but I think discipline is important. And don’t compare yourself to other people. Just worry about your stuff and be happy with what you’re making.
Do you have any upcoming events/projects/releases you would like to discuss?
Jordan Thomas: Well, I do have a fair bit going on – after saying not to spread yourself too thin. I’ve written a bunch of shorter sci-fi comic scripts that I’m going to put out in an anthology working with incredible artists like Anna Readman and Benjamin Æ Filby – that should be pretty fun.
My next longer form series is a crazed police procedural with the legendary Shaky Kane. Shaky’s already completed about a dozen pages for that and it’s looking great. Part one should be on Kickstarter early next year. Me and Chris Matthews are also planning more Mugshots for anyone who checked out that project but it’s not written yet and Chris is still finishing up issue 1.
And finally, I’m writing the scripts for a series called Sekhmet based on a concept by Karen Holloway with art by Glenn Fabry who you’ll know from his Preacher and Hellblazer covers and a million other amazing things. So yeah, a busy year coming up.
Thank you for taking the time to do this! Where can readers find you and your work?
Jordan Thomas: Following me on Kickstarter is the best way to make sure you don’t miss out on any of the new campaigns – just search Jordan Thomas. Or else I’m pretty active on Twitter @jordan_j_thomas and on Instagram @ampersand1988 – I’m always chatting comics and posting art online, so they’re a good way to keep up with what I have going on.
Where to find Jordan Thomas
Jordan Thomas on Twitter
Jordan Thomas on Instagram
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Frank at Home on the Farm Issues 1 & 2
