Deep Discussions with Decapitated Dan: Justin Jordan

I recently had a chance to talk to Justin Jordan about his upcoming series Dark Gods. Check it out: 

Decapitated Dan: Hey Justin, thanks for taking the time to talk to me about Dark Gods. Let’s talk about you first, how did you find yourself getting into making comics?

Justin Jordan: I did terrible, terrible things in my last life.

Hah, no, doing comics is pretty much the best job in the world. I was always into both writing and comics, but it wasn’t until I was in college that it occurred to me this was a thing I could do. Fourteen short years later, here I am.

DD: So what can you tell me about Dark Gods. What’s it all about?

JJ: Basically, all the gods of myth are real, but they’re not what we think they are. They’re creatures of the primordial chaos that use our belief in gods to get back into this universe. And they want back in, badly. This is very bad for humanity.

So the book is about humanity fighting against them, trying to stop them from reentering our world. And we’re losing.

DD:  Where did this idea come from?

JJ: Man, that’s a hard question. I think the basic idea was what if gods were real, and what if there was a human organization that was dedicated to killing them? This was originally a concept called the Godkillers, and eventually it morphed into Dark Gods

DD: What can readers expect in terms of Horror?

JJ: Everything. I’ve been trying to integrate the various forms of horror. The first issue, for instance, has monsters, the second issue has more body horror, and the third issue is, after a fashion, a haunted house story.

But it’s also examining different kinds of thematic horror, for lack of a better term. So there’s cosmic horror there, cult horror, ghost horror, the horror of knowing a truth everyone else denies, and everything else I can think of.

The nature of the story allows me to do pretty much any kind of horror I want, so I’m taking good advantage of it.

DD: If you were to give this book a movie style rating (G, PG, PG-13, R,  X) what would it get, and why would you say that?

JJ: Oh, probably X. Do they still rate things X? It’s pretty extreme. I mean, it’s an Avatar book, which means that all the brakes are off. So expect to see some deeply horrifying things in it.

DD: What are you hoping readers can take away from this story?

JJ: I hope they’re entertained. That’s always goal number one when I write anything and everything beyond that is a bonus. Beyond that, it’d be good for them to be scared. I think the real horror of the book is how little humanity knows and is capable of knowing, and I think it’s good to have some grasp of that, so that would be a nice takeaway.

DD: Were you into any horror titles growing up that lead you to want to create a book like this?

JJ: A lot of John Carpenter movies. In particular, the ones that form his Apocalypse trilogy, which is The Thing, Prince of Darkness and In The Mouth Of Madness. In particular, the last two, which do a good job of  showing a world where the rules of reality itself are beginning to unravel.

DD: Can we expect more from you horror comic wise in the future?

JJ: Well, I’m also doing the post apocalyptic horror ongoing Spread right now over at Image, as well as more Crossed for Avatar. But I’d say all of the creator owned I’m doing in the immediate future is, at the very least, horror tinged.

DD: In summary give me a quick recap on Dark Gods and why fans should give it a try.

JJ: Dark Gods is about the creatures that existed before the universe trying to get back in after a long time largely locked out of it. Chaos makes them strongers, so pain, suffering and horror are what they want. We’re trying to fight them, but we are losing.

Basically, if you want some good, pure Lovecraftian horror with every kind of scary I can think of, this is the book for you.