Creator-Owned Spotlight: The Strange Talent of Luther Strode

In Creator-Owned Spotlight, Tastes Like Comics talks to the creators of new original stories for the comics Direct Market about their work, their processes, and their perspectives on the business.

Today we spoke to Justin Jordan, serial Zuda contestant and writer of the highly-anticipated Image series, The Strange Talent of Luther Strode.

TLC: Tell me about the Strange Talent of Luther Strode.

The Strange Talent of Luther Strode is about a kid who thinks he’s becoming a superhero. He’s wrong. Really, really wrong. The basic idea is that what if you saw one of those Charles Atlas type ads, where they promise to make you big and strong so you can beat up bullies and get the girl, and it worked. It’s also about bloodthirsty librarians, the perils of using superhuman strength against very human opponents, and a murder cult as old as humanity itself. You know, the usual.

The book is written by me, Justin Jordan, with art by Tradd Moore and colours by Felipe Sobreiro. The first issue debuts on October 5 from Image Comics. It’s $2.99 an issue, but we do accept tips.

But yeah, one of the ideas that lead to Luther Strode was the idea that there are some parallels between what horror movie slashers do and what some superheroes do. It’s not true of all superheroes, but the line between Rorschach and Jason Voorhees is not as a big as it seems.

So a lot of the comic is designed around the slasher movies of the early to mid eighties, which is why the thing has so much gore and destruction. Likewise, Luther’s costume which you can see a bit on the cover, is inspired as much by the outfits of Michael Myers and Jason as it is modern superheroes.

The part that isn’t blood and mayhem is very much like a teen drama from the eighties, although that’s more of a thematic thing – the characters are as close to modern teenagers as an early to mid thirties writer can make them.

JJ: A bit. I’m pretty fortunate that I was pretty much finished with the scripts for the series before things started rolling, so as far as this project goes I don’t have to worry about the pressure affecting my performance.

But it is nerve-wracking. Everybody, literally everybody, who has read the book has liked, and most people seem to really like it, so I think we’ve got a chance to make a pretty big splash on the market. At the same time comics, you know as well as I do if not moreso, is a rough business.

There’s no guarantee that buzz and people liking it will translate into actual sales. There are lots of good books that tank, and even the best selling indie books would be marginal hits by the standards of any other industry except maybe poetry.

Tradd and Felipe, my partners on the project, have taken a pretty big leap of faith with this. We’ve been working on this for more than a year, and they’ve done a tremendous amount of hard work with no guarantee of payoff. So I feel a lot of pressure to do everything I can to make sure the book is a success, because they deserve to get something for doing such tremendous work.

But, you know, it’s a good problem to have.

TLC: What’s it been like to deal with Image as a publisher?

JJ: Terrific. Eric Stephenson has been behind the book the whole way and has really given us a push, and Image as whole has been really supportive and great to work with.

It’s interesting, though, because the way Image is structured, you are on your own. The only suggestion they’ve made for the book is to have the lettering redone, which we are. There’s pretty close near total creative freedom but, at the same time, if you’re putting out a book you need to be your own editor, project manager, bookkeeper and, to a certain extent, PR person – although the awesome Sarah DeLaine at Image does a terrific job with that.

So there’s a trade off – you get a lot more freedom and access to retailers, but you also need to take on a lot of responsibilities. For me, this isn’t stuff that necessarily comes naturally. I’m a pretty laid back guy and I am not know for my tremendous organizational skills, so there’s a pretty distinct learning curve to it. I’m extremely fortunate that Tradd, Felipe and I work together really well, so the project management bits have been really smooth.

It’s also a lot of work. As of late, I’ve been spending anywhere from four to eight hours a day working on promotional stuff for Luther, which is, well, a hell of a lot of work. But I am tremendously happy working with Image, and if they’ll have me, it’s where I intend to put out books for the foreseeable future.

The big one is to have had any shot at winning Zuda, you needed to be able to get out there and promote it, and that was a good experience in terms of giving me some idea how to do that and the amount of work it entailed.

It was also helpful for getting artists to work with me. I’m pretty good at getting artists and this isn’t just because of my charm and dashing good looks. The key to getting good artists to work with you, aside from not sucking, is having something to show them. Something that says “Yes, there’s a non zero chance that something might happen with this.”

In spite of the fact that what, 300 comics were featured in the competition, having three comics in there was definitely helpful. It was better still when I could link to them, but it’s still handy, just as appearing in anthologies is helpful.

JJ: Tradd’s art had a real sense of energy to it. I hesitate to use the word dynamic because it sounds like something a corporate suit monkey would say, but it seems like an apt description. As it turns out, Tradd was a whole lot better than I could have guessed from his samples.

I knew his stuff looked cool as all hell and that it really moved. What I didn’t know was just how good he was at body language and visual storytelling. There are a lot of places in Luther Strode where I would have otherwise had more dialogue where the expression of the characters makes it clear what they’re thinking. Tradd makes it very easy to show and not tell.

As for what I look for in an artist, well, it varies. There are some things that I always look for as minimum; technical competence, for one thing, and I’m actually pickier about that some of the comics companies that are paying artists.

Beyond that, I always look for someone who can tell a story visually. My scripts, which you’ve read a gallion of, don’t often specify layout or have extremely detailed panel descriptions as a rule. It’s not how I write, and I look for artists who have a sense of how to tell a story and develop a page.

The technical stuff is easiest to judge. I can look at any one piece of art and tell whether or not they have the stuff, which is the result of looking at literally thousands of artists over the last decade or so.

Storytelling is a lot more subjective, and I’ve never had access to the original scripts they were working from, so I look for artists that have a lot of sequential pages up. If I can tell what’s going on in those pages without dialogue, it’s a good sign. I see a lot of good artists who only have pin up and sketch type stuff, and that’s not enough. They might be great, but I just don’t know.

Which all makes me sound a little arrogant, I realize, but I’ve needed to be pretty ruthless in my assessments. The sad thing is that there are lots and lots of people who are really a lot better at art than 99% population but simply aren’t quite pro level. A lot of these people work really hard at comics, and it’s kind of bummer to think they won’t make it.

I always try to match the right style with the right project. I love, for instance, Sean Phillips’ work. Or Steve Dillon’s. But I don’t think either one of them should be doing spandex. It just doesn’t work for their style.

I look for a certain feel, too. Tradd, for instance, was the only artist I looked at for Luther, but I would have wanted an artist with a stylized style rather than someone trying for a more photo real look. When I was looking for an artist for Red Winter, which is a darker and sort of nourish book, I looked for artists who had that kind of style.

JJ: Well, it depends. I’ve got two sequels planned for Luther Strode, so if the sales look like they’re going to support that, we’ll do that for sure. The Strange Talent of Luther Strode tells a complete story, but the ideas I’ve got for the sequels are pretty damn cool. So I hope we get to do that.

Outside of that I’ve got six projects that are in various stages of development. Two of them are pretty close to being ready to pitch, and the others are further out. I don’t expect for them all to pan out. Realistically speaking, projects tend to flame out, which is why I put so many together. Which is what I’ve been doing anyway. So not a lot has changed in a day to day sense. Write, pitch, write.

And, you know, I’d not object to doing paid work for the Big Two (or anyone else) should the opportunity arise. God knows, I’d like to get some experience with this whole money thing I’ve heard so much about.

TLC: Thanks you, Justin. it’s been a pleasure talking with you. 

JJ: Thanks dude, it was fun!

The Strange Talent of Luther Strode #1 can be ordered from the current issue of Previews with the code AUG110403 in any good comic shop.