Comics

Interview: Talking Terror Tales, Antumnos, and ‘old, cold folklore’ with debut droid Jon Lock

3rd April 2024

We have a new script droid making their debut in the pages of the latest 2000 AD – Jon Lock! His debut comes with the Terror Tale: Antumnos in Prog 2376 where, with art droid Richard Elson, he tells a tale of, as he puts it, ‘old, cold folklore’, shadowy government agencies, mystery disappearances, and the funny things that happen in Wales’ soft places…

As you’ll find out when we chat, Lock’s no newcomer to comics. No, he’s been writing and making comics for more than 10 years now, primarily his really great multi-volume epic of corporate con-artistry and a makeover of the world of the dead: Afterlife Inc. where Jack Fortune, master of the corporate con, lands in the afterlife and realizes that death might be the greatest business opportunity of his life.

But Antumnos is his very first appearance in the Prog and that’s worth celebrating, particularly as it’s a really great six-page Terror Tale with artist Richard Elson that sees us deep in the heart of Wales with two spooks from a shadowy government outfit investigating all manner of weirdness in the valleys… there’s no welcome in the hillside here, that’s for sure.

So, time to settle down and start chatting to new script droid, Jon Lock – everyone say hi to the new boy!

Hi Jon, your very first 2000 AD story is out in Prog 2376 right now – Terror Tales: Antumnos, with art from the brilliant Richard Elson.

First of all, what’s it like to be a Prog debutante? Was there whooping and screaming when Tharg gave you the call?

JON LOCK: Oh, absolutely. It’s like getting an invite to meet the King – only this King has the dark and terrible power to hurt you if you refuse.

Now, can you fill us in on what Antumnos is all about?

JL: Antumnos follows two agents of HERNE, a shadowy government agency tasked with exploring the strange and unknown, as they investigate the disappearance of four hikers in the deep, dark heart of Wales, only to discover something best left buried…

What was the impetus behind the tale? Is there a conspiracy theorist in you that thinks about the shadowy government organisations and the rest? Have you been sitting on a British X-Files pitch for a long time? Or is there a longstanding love of the supernatural and the folklore of Wales in there?

Antumnos sprang from a conversation Rich and I were having about our shared love of old, cold folklore. There’s something about the landscape of Britain that gets under your skin. Peel back the rolling hills and biscuit-tin villages, and there’s something hard and grim beneath the surface. The land’s like a whetstone, sharpening those hardy enough to survive on its windswept rocks.

From that discussion about places that genuinely scare you it was a short leap to our other shared love: The Fourth World of Jack Kirby. We’ve seen many depictions of myth and folklore over the years, especially in a horror setting, where the idea of an ‘Otherworld’ could be purely magical or even Lovecraftian. One approach we felt hadn’t been taken was to go ‘cosmic’ – to make the ‘fair folk’ of legend inscrutable, godlike figures of chrome and alien science.

The further you dive into Welsh folklore such as the Mabinogion or the Book of Taliesin, the more encounters with the Otherworld sound like alien abduction stories. The Matter of Britain combined with space gods is a surprisingly good fit, and as for HERNE… well, who doesn’t enjoy a secretive government agency?!

With something like a Terror Tale, just like a Future Shock, there’s a real skill to getting a full story that really works into just the six pages you have to play with.

How difficult was it to do? Compared to your other writing, what sort of mindset do you have to get into to really condense a full, satisfying tale into such a limited page count?

JL: I’m lucky in that short-form stories such as these are where I cut my teeth as a writer. There’s a strong tradition in UK comics, both in 2000 AD and in the independent scene, in doing a lot with a little.

Having self-published comics for over a decade, I try to be as efficient as possible, as while it’s always tempting to go big… more pages equals more work. I’m currently working on a 208-page graphic novel, which is a wonderful experience in itself, but I’ll always be at my most comfortable with something in the region of 4-8 pages. You can say a lot with that format and it challenges you to leave dead weight on the cutting room floor.

Similarly, with over four and a half decades of Future Shocks, Terror Tales etc, how difficult was it to come up with something original and approved by Tharg?

JL: I’m my own harshest critic and I can’t get behind a story if there isn’t something weird and special at its core. More than anything, Rich and I wanted to make a story that played to our interests and that we could get excited about. If you’re grinning like an idiot when you finish a script, you might be on the right path – and that enthusiasm is infectious.

I think some of that passion carried over into our pitch to Tharg, who gave us the go ahead to make Antumnos a reality.

One thing that really struck me about the strip and the ending is that it feels like there’s a lot more to be told with Antumnos and Agent Sharpe? Is that the case and how eager are you for Tharg to get in touch about continuing it?

JL: If the option presents itself, I’d leap at the chance to expand the world of Antumnos. Contact with the fair folk and their otherworldly fortress of Caer Sidi has significant consequences for humanity, leaving HERNE on the frontline of a brewing war.

I’d also like to explore exactly how humanity survived its first contact with the Otherworld, centuries prior, and what secrets remain hidden beneath the Welsh landscape.

So that would be a yes – Tharg? If you’re reading this?

Have you seen the finished piece yet in all its glory?

JL: Only just! Rich was good enough to keep me in the loop throughout development, so I got to see the finished artwork well in advance. I’ve only just seen the fully lettered pages, where the story finally comes alive, and Simon has done an absolutely amazing job with the letters.

Always good that you’ve seen it in its completed state! – in which case, what did you think of the artwork by Richard?

JL: Rich’s artwork is just incredible. I honestly couldn’t be happier with the finished piece. The great thing about Rich is that whether he’s drawing something truly cosmic (and if you’ve seen Antumnos you’ll know what I’m talking about) or the quieter moments of two agents sharing a pint, the level of detail he packs in is on another level entirely. My favourite thing in the whole story is Agent Hob’s design – there’s so much subtle character work going on in his face, his build… He feels so real. You know you’re in safe hands with Rich on the job.

Now, as a debutante, feel free to tell us about all about yourself, including what comics writing you’ve done so far?

JL: I’ve been writing comics for over a decade now, both as an independent creator and as part of Big Punch Studios, which I co-founded in 2015. I’m perhaps best known for my series Afterlife Inc., which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary. So far, there have been six volumes of Afterlife Inc. (or two supersized hardback omnibuses) and I’m currently working on Volume 7, which has been funded in part by a National Lottery Project Grant.

In addition to the production of the new book, I’ve also been delivering comic-making workshops for children in deprived areas of Gloucester, which is where I share a studio with fellow Big Puncher Nich Angell.

As part of Big Punch Studios, I’ve written and edited multiple series, such as Cuckoos, Orb, and 99 Swords. I’ve also dipped my toe into the world of tabletop gaming, having co-designed the hit card game Sandwich Masters, and I’ll soon be collaborating with Nich on a prose project set in the world of his award-winning tabletop RPG Colostle.

Off the back of my work in comics, I was hired to write the upcoming Toxic Crusaders video game, based on the cult Toxic Avenger franchise from Troma Entertainment. The game should be out at some point this year, around the same time as the Toxic Avenger remake starring Peter Dinklage, Kevin Bacon and Elijah Wood – which promises to be a surreal experience. Nich and I have also just signed a deal on a really exciting new project that I’m not allowed to talk about yet, so I’ll instead be mysterious and just say ‘watch this space’.

It’s been a strange, wonderful decade getting to this point, but I owe it all to comics, which will always be my lifeblood.

Yep, as I said in the intro – you’re far from being a comics newcomer!

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Is this the first time you pitched to 2000 AD or is your writer’s tale more the traditional one of pitch, rejection, pitch, rejection, pitch, rejection, repeat, repeat, repeat?

JL: Unless you count an unsuccessful Future Shock pitch when I was a mere 19-years-old, this is my first proper attempt at a 2000 AD story – which I think goes to show just how lucky I am!

And with that one statement, you have earned the never-ending hatred of so many rejected script droids, not to mention many existing script droids who remember their own plentiful rejections!

We already opened with a brief question about what it means to you to have that debut Prog credit, but can we go a little deeper into it here – what does it mean to you to be a member of the 2000 AD family now?

JL: It’s a genuine honour to be part of the 2000 AD family. It’s an institution that casts a long shadow across UK comics – something I’ve tried hard to live up to. Having worked in indie comics for so long, I think I’d developed something of an independent streak, assuming that I’d always be on the outside making my own books my own way.

When the opportunity came to pitch to 2000 AD, however, it was genuinely exciting. It was a chance to rise to the occasion and make a story that could hopefully stand alongside all the great work that’s come before.

To build on what I was saying earlier about being lucky, I must be living a charmed life as the story proposal (and subsequent script) met with Tharg’s approval quite early on. It’s always nerve-wracking opening yourself up for criticism but aside from some slight feedback on the last few panels, the finished story is pretty much identical to the first draft.

And are you planning to do the thing many new droids do – popping into your local newsagent and/or comic shop and proudly buying the Prog? Maybe even going in with a Sharpie to offer to sign copies?

JL: I have my complimentary copies of the Prog sitting proudly on the desk beside me, but you can guarantee that I’m heading into town tomorrow to grab some additional copies. I hadn’t even thought of going on a signing spree but if I ask very nicely (and offer to provide my own pen) maybe they’ll humour me!

Let’s talk a little of your comics reading history – what are your early and/or most important comic reading experiences and what part did 2000 AD play in them?

JL: Like a lot of kids growing up in the UK in the nineties, my introduction to comics was probably the Beano and Dandy. Beyond that, my life really took two dramatic leaps forward a) in primary school, when I discovered Fleetway’s Sonic the Comic (ironically enough, my introduction to Rich’s artwork) and b) in secondary school, when I discovered Grant Morrison.

STC was the first time I realised that humans actually made comics and that I might be able to do the same, while stumbling upon Morrison’s work started a love affair that persists to this day. Morrison taught me that comics can (and should) be weird, wonderful and heartfelt. There’s magic in low art – and as much as comics have been maligned or dismissed over the years, they’re the purest form of storytelling I can imagine. The moment I discovered those books, I knew that I was set for life. It was comics or nothing.

I was something of a late arrival to 2000 AD. The first Prog I picked up (I confess, I can’t remember which number) featured a Sláine story that really got under my skin, and which I still think about to this day. I didn’t really dive into 2000 AD properly, however, until a friend gifted me the entire run of Morrison’s Zenith in Prog form. In addition to being a classic piece of Morrison history, this was also an excellent crash course in all things 2000 AD that opened my eyes to what was out there.

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What about favourite 2000 AD strips or writers that really had an impact on you?

JL: To this day, I think Ten-Seconders might just be the single, greatest elevator pitch I’ve ever heard.

Oh isn’t it just – Rob Williams, Dom Reardon and the rest doing incredible things – ‘Those who fight back against the tyranny of the ‘Gods’ are nicknamed the ‘Ten-Seconders’ – so called because that is the average life expectancy given to those brave enough to battle the overwhelmingly-powerful opposition.’

JL: Despite being late to the party, I’m a big fan of everything that came out of Vertigo and the British Invasion in the eighties – and you don’t get that without the pioneering work of people like Grant Morrison and Peter Milligan.

Well, I would ask you about influences, but you’ve already started in on those with Morrison, Milligan, and the whole British Invasion/Vertigo era. What other works and creators would you consider influences on your approach to making your comics?

JL: As my previous answers probably suggest, I’m a Morrison man through and through. Neil Gaiman, Mark Waid and Alan Moore have also been big inspirations over the years (somewhat predictably, given my reading tastes growing up).

I like to revisit Casanova by Matt Fraction, Gabriel Bá and Fábio Moon every few years – I’m re-reading it right now and it honestly blows me away every time just how free and wildly creative it is. Speaking of Bá and Moon, Daytripper is an absolute masterpiece. Reading Locke and Key by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodríguez was the first time I was utterly humbled by a book – and the realisation that I would never, ever make something that good! Oh, and on the prose front, Nick Harkaway is a sublime genius – go read Angelmaker, your brain will thank you!

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Nearly finally, one for fun – if there was just one 2000 AD character that you could write, which one would it be – feel free to go wild here, if you’ve got a fantasy pitch all worked out, now’s the time to make it!

JL: Ah heck, why not aim high and go for the big man himself? The great thing about Judge Dredd is that his world glances off both the incredible and the mundane, all tied up in the tortured powder keg that is Mega-City One.

Dredd’s this cypher – a symbol of unrelenting duty in which the highs and lows of humanity are reflected. Let’s push Dredd into the background and feel the city breathe around him.

Let’s set a story entirely within the ‘lifespan’ of a single bullet, from the moment it fires to the moment it finds its target. How much can happen in that split second? Mega-City One holds its breath… and in that single instance we see everything – the victim and the murderer, the guilty and the desperate, laughter, failure, the pulse of humanity, all connected, trying their best – before boom! The bullet finds its mark and that one perfect moment is lost, leaving just Dredd, the only thing that never changes, to swoop in and enact justice, as implacable as death.

Again, Tharg? If you are listening, I think Jon’s got a Dredd pitch for you!

Finally, what’s coming up for you in the near, or not so near future, whether that’s for Tharg or elsewhere?

As mentioned above, Nich and I have just started work on something big that’s going to keep us occupied for a few years – something that I hope to be able to shout about very soon. Beyond that, I’m plugging away on completing Afterlife Inc. Volume 7 with my amazing art team and generally keeping my head above water.

Plus, if Tharg will have me, I’d love to have another crack at something for 2000 AD!

Well, based on just how good Antumnos was, I reckon Tharg will be getting in touch for more Jon!

Thank you to Jon for taking the time to answer those questions. Like we say, with the quality on show with this debut effort we reckon it won’t be long before you see more credits for the new Lock-droid.

You can find Jon Lock and Richard Elson’s Terror Tales: Antumnos in the current Prog, fresh out right now with another stunning debut, the first cover by RM Guera, the artist on the new Rob Williams written Dredd, Rend & Tear with Tooth & Claw – it’s a cover that will just jump off the shelves and grab you by the throat it’s so damn good! Get it from the 2000 AD web shop, set up a subscription to guarantee you’ll never miss a Prog, or head to your local newsagent or comic shop (heck, pick it up from a newsagent or comic shop that’s miles and miles away if you want!)

This is what you’re looking for… stunning, ain’t it?

For more from Jon Lock, head to his website here – www.jonlock.com – and do be sure to check out his excellent Afterlife Inc. series, something that’s every bit as good as the killer concept of a corporate makeover of the afterlife sounds – it’s all written by Jon with art from over 60 artists across the six volumes or two massive Book of Life/Death, The Afterlife Inc. 10th Anniversary Collections.

This is how Jon describes the series…

“With the vision, the business-smarts and a ragtag collection of allies behind him, Jack strives to reinvent the afterlife as a modern-day corporate entity. Establishing a new business is always challenging, but now Jack must balance the demands of a free market with rampaging archangels, a misplaced God and the dark secrets at the heart of their world. This may be the job he was born to die for, but has Jack’s reach finally exceeded his grasp?”