Geoffrey Thorne is a writer and comic book artist based out of California who has worked in various media over the past decade. He is known for his web series 'The Dark', as well as contributing to various'Star Trek' ranges. With a new comic book series, 'Prodigal', soon to be released, Geoffrey was kind enough to participate in this interview for Shiny Shelf.

Geoff, tell us about your writing experience in online and print media.

Well, let's see...

I started taking writing seriously in late 2000 or early 2001. Since then I've sold short stories to multiple anthologies both in the "real world" and online. Of the online publishers only Phobos Books actually published anything. This was two stories in their 'Reality Cops' series. That was a John Ordover operation though so it's not surprising it actually did what it set out to do. The other companies or anthologies all folded or went bankrupt before the stories they'd bought saw daylight so everything reverted to me.

Aside from that, I've been lucky enough to write a fair amount of 'Star Trek' material including 'Sword of Damocles', my contribution to the 'Titan' series.

Recently I discovered eBooks or, I guess, I realized I had a bunch of stories lying around that editors had liked but which no one had seen and I was sick of no on seeing them. So I'm publishing them, individually, for Amazon's Kindle platform on their website as well as for all the other eBook platforms on Smashswords.com.

It's interesting, so far. Since these are individual stories, I didn't feel comfortable charging much for them. So far (about two weeks) I've sold about 40 of them. This might just be the future for us scribblers: a level playing field and all that. I like it. And then, of course there are the comics. The story there is similar to the 'net publishers but, FINALLY, my partner and I have something that is actually coming out and, I think, is pretty awesome.

You have a new comic book, 'Prodigal', due for release. What can you tell us about it?

If you like adventure with guns, knives, magic, hot babes, hot boys, assassins, sword fights, fist fights, gun fights and humour, I think you'll be well pleased by 'Prodigal'. It's the story of Byron Lennox (the muscle) and Pae Me Jacinto (the brains), professional "retrieval specialists." They run a small company, just the two of them, whose motto is 'You Want It, We Get It. No Questions'. Generally their jobs go smoothly. Pae is a genius, self-taught engineer and hacker with an IQ that hovers around 200; Byron has the reputation for being an indestructible man. He cannot be beaten in a hand-to-hand fight. Period. Normally their jobs go smoothly with little or nothing in the way of drama. Naturally, we tell the stories of when a job goes to hell.

What was the genesis of the idea for 'Prodigal'?

Todd (Harris) and I are big fans of movies like 'Raiders of the Lost Ark', 'Big Trouble in Little China', and 'The Rundown'. We've also got a deep retro streak when it comes to comic books, going back to the newspaper adventure strips like 'Terry and the Pirates' and 'Flash Gordon'. We wanted to tell a story that sort of mashed up those two loves of ours and I think that's 'Prodigal'. We call what we do neo-pulp fiction. It's old-school in that the story doesn't involve secret identities, complex arcane plots or the basic sense of grim darkness that has taken over mainstream comics. We like fun so we made some.

Can you take us through the creative process, from initial concept to final page?

We bang out the broad strokes of the plot together, allowing for the story I want to write and including the sorts of things Todd thinks would be fun to draw. Thank I go write scripts while Todd does character, tech and landscape designs. We swap, give each other notes, make corrections, discuss. Once we're agreed (which takes no time at all), I go off to write the scripts which I hand off to Todd. He starts drawing. Once the pencils are done he hands them off to me for lettering. Then he inks the pages. Then I do something called flatting, a grayscale process which is sort of preparing the pages to be colored. Todd colors the art and then we're done. Files go to the publisher and then to a printer and then you've got a comic book.

What were the challenges you faced during development of 'Prodigal'?

None, really. Todd is a perfect partner. For me, anyway. We might as well be the same guy when it comes to this. It was, by far, the easiest and most pleasurable job I've ever had. No contest. The hardest thing, I guess, was learning how to letter a comic book. It's just the two of us making this thing so we had to do the jobs of a crew that is normally composed of five or six people. It was hard work, very hard work, but I wouldn't call it a "challenge."

Are there any plans for 'Prodigal' beyond this series, in any medium?

Yes. We're Pinky and the Brain, though I couldn't tell you which of us is which on a given day.

Having worked on a web series, short stories, novels, and comic books, is there one particular format that you feel drawn towards more than others?

No. So far, despite the rollercoaster aspect of the indie publishing world, I've been pretty lucky. I've gotten to try my hand at nearly every literary form and, so far, I haven't sucked too badly at any of them. It's fun figuring out the rules of each and then telling a story in a new and different way. I get bored easily so flitting from prose to script to blog or whatever is the only way I could keep at this. And I mean to keep at this.

What's your greatest comic book / graphic novel of all time?

Today? Neil Gaiman's 'Sandman' series. It's literature. Pure and simple. Tomorrow it could be Jack Kirby's 'Kamandi' series.

Right now we're seeing the motion comics format gaining a lot of momentum, spearheaded by Marvel. Do you see it as a natural outgrowth of the comic book medium, and could it one day rival fully-animated series in terms of volume?

I can't decide if I like motion comics. It's a neat trick and, as novelty items, they sort of hold my interest but, really, for me, they are too far shy of an actual animated film to satisfy on that front. As a new form of comic book I'm not sure I would ever switch from simply reading them the normal way (even as eBooks) to watching a motion comic. I guess you could say the jury's still out.

After 'Prodigal,' what's next for you?

Well. I'm going to be publishing a collection any day now. Hard copy. Todd and I have more 'Prodigal'-related material coming. I'm writing for a TV series that I prefer not to name at this time. And I'm going to be competing for this year's "Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award." I'd like to do more 'Star Trek' stuff but, as always, that's up to the editors.


For more info on 'Prodigal', and a preview of the first chapter, head on over to the Genre 19 website.

Julio Angel Ortiz maintains his collection of curiosities at www.voxbomb.net.