Interview: A 'Thorn' in the Paw of Injustice!

Let’s get into Thorn right away. What is the story about?

The story is about how to bring justice to a system of injustice. It’s also about protecting a community against various types of legalized, or state-sanctioned violence. And, the story is about what it means to be a Black vigilante in an anti-Black world; to that end, it’s about imagining a better, more just world, while trying to dismantle an unjust world.

What can you tell us about Thorn and Alton Eldridge? Why do we follow them through this story?

Thorn and his alter ego Alton Eldridge (see issue #0!) want to keep their community, Rosebush Heights, free from various types of systemic violence approved by the legal system. But they both go about it in different ways. Thorn spends his nights protecting the community from physical violence in the form of bad cops and criminals that are protected by the justice system. Alton spends his days working with the city to protect Rosebush from outside investors trying to take control of the neighborhood. He also runs the local community center and works with kids in the neighborhood. Alton’s and Thorn’s worlds collide when these forms of violence start to threaten and harm the kids Alton cares about.

What made you want to team up with artist Mark Pate for this?

Mark is my closest friend from grad school. We were both at theology school together but we were spending our free time working on comics. One of our professors got us connected, and soon after, we found out our apartments were right across the street from each other. So we started meeting up and working on our own individual stories. This was my first time trying to write a comic, I was 30 years old, and Mark was giving me a lot of guidance. Finally, after I had spent a lot of time developing my first story, Mustard Seed, Mark agreed to draw the first issue for that comic. And that became our first collaboration. So as I started developing what would eventually become Thorn, I did so while talking to Mark about everything I was thinking about what the story could be. What it could say. What it could mean. How it could subvert the superhero genre. Stuff like that. And so Mark took a stab at mocking up the suit and the Thorn emblem, or shield. And when I saw that I knew that was it, and Mark was all-in. It also helps that Mark and I both share a heart for the social issues being brought up in the series and so we both, together, approach the creation of the story with a lot of sensitivity and care.

Is this strictly a street-level approach to vigilante justice or are we in for some high-flying excitement?

This is definitely a street-level approach. The story is meet taking my childhood love for Batman and fusing it with the way I think about the world now as an adult in my mid-30s. The way I pitch the book in one sentence is “It’s Batman, but Commissioner Gordon is his main villain.” So for the Thorn series, the 12 issues, it stays a street-level vigilante story. But once this part of Thorn’s story is told, there are plans to see him crossover with some of the more superpowered heroes of the Advent Comics universe!

Tell us about your collaborators on the book. Who is the art team the title?

Well, the heavy lifting is done by Mark Pate. He is the artist, colorist, and letterer for the book. So everything you see with your eyes in the book, that’s all Mark Pate. The other team members are Rasool Berry and Sheldon Allen.

Rasool is the editor of the series, and he is also a documentary film producer and podcast host – definitely check out his work. He and Mark worked for the same organization at different times and a mutual friend connected them and Mark had Rasool read the #0 issue for Thorn. From there we met with Rasool a few times. He read issues #1 and #2 and gave us some incredible notes on the first two issues just because he really liked it and thought it could be something meaningful. His notes were phenomenal and really leveled up the first two issues so we asked if he would like to officially be involved in the project as the series editor!

As for Sheldon, I invited him on as a script consultant to help make sure the dialogue was tight. I always tell this story, but I was in Forbidden Comics in NYC and randomly picked up Snatched #1 (Scout Comics) off a shelf and flipped through it. A minute later I was at the counter buying the whole series because it was the best, most natural, sharp dialogue I had ever read in a comic. Immediately I hopped on Twitter and found Sheldon and befriended him. Flashforward two years later, when I knew I wanted an extra set of eyes on the dialogue and certain scenes in the series, I reached out to Sheldon to see if he would come on board. Now we are going over the scripts together and he’s going to shift to a co-writer in issue #9 and I couldn’t be more excited.

In terms of audience, who Thorn for?

Thorn is for fans of Batman and Spider-Man who might be looking for something similar to those characters but with a new twist. Thorn is also for superhero fans in general. I cannot stress this enough, Advent Comics is building out a superhero universe that can rival Marvel or DC, and the goal is quality. Tony Kittrell, the publisher, and owner of Advent, knows what he’s doing. But also, Thorn is for people who like stories about freedom from oppressive systems (like Star Wars or Dune or any number of sci-fi operas) but with a street-level setting.