“My aim, with every story, is to entertain, educate, surprise, and leave people thinking.”
NEIL GIBSON, TWISTED COMICS CREATOR
n a world where the lines between reality and fiction blur, Neil Gibson is a master of dark and twisted tales that are captivating readers across the globe and turning heads in the comic book industry. He is the creative force behind Twisted Comics and the author of the mind bending ‘Twisted Dark‘ series of graphic novels.
Neil’s engaging stories delve deep into the human psyche, exposing the raw and uncomfortable truths that lurk beneath unstable surfaces. From the corporate corridors of Qatar to the eerie pages of Twisted Dark, Gibson’s journey is as unconventional as the stories he weaves—a testament to the power of embracing one’s darker impulses to create something truly extraordinary.
So, what drives a scholar with an engineering degree and an MBA to leave behind the comfort of high-paying consulting gigs for the uncertain path of a comic book creator? In this exclusive interview, BOOM explores Neil’s moments of clarity amidst the chaos that led him to become one of the most compelling voices in modern comics.
Brace yourself, as BOOM dives into the mind of a storyteller who thrives in the shadows, where every twist is a revelation, and every dark turn leads to unexpected enlightenment! This is going to be GOOD!
Neil: Oh, thanks for having me on the show. It’s a pleasure to be here.
Neil: Oh, good question. How did that transition happen? Well, it happened because I was stuck in a project in Qatar, in the Middle East. I remember looking out my window. I was in this, you know, I was wearing a suit and I was in this fancy office. I pressed a button on my phone and someone would bring me tea. I look out the window, and there are these Indian labourers, working in slave like conditions, in 50 degrees celsius heat. And, I just thought how unfair life was, just based on where I was born, and the opportunities I had. And that was the genesis for a story. It’s only because I had so much free time on the project there. Normally when I was doing consulting projects, you worked until ten, every night. This one, I was done back in the hotel by 07:00 p.m., and I had all this time. So I thought, why don’t I try making a comic book out of the story idea I had? And then it grew from there. And then I put the first book out, and I went to number one on Amazon, in the U.K. And, it was all a shock because I was a science background, like an engineer and MBA. I didn’t think I was creative, but it turns out people like my writing. And so, I’m pretty happy with the results so far because I get to do what I love as a job.
Neil: As it happens, I came up with a story, just a couple of days ago. It’s about a woman, and there’s this book called ‘Why Would He Do That?’ And it’s called ‘Deserve It’, and she’s in an abusive relationship. Her husband forces her to do things she doesn’t want to do and belittles her, and he treats everyone else with so much respect, but not her. And she always felt deep down that she deserved it. And then things escalate. It’s one step too far, and she breaks up with him, and then she realises just how toxic his relationship was, and all the bad things that she shares on social media, and she becomes a hero for it. And then the twist is that she never was married, never had an abusive partner. It was all the stories she created to garner sympathy. And, then, of course, everyone comes, like, hounding for her, and she’s like, “Why? Why are people so cruel? Why are they doing this to me?” And the result is because you deserve it. And the reason I did that is because I think a lot of women are trapped in abusive relationships. But I thought, how could I put a twist on it? And at the same time educating people about, I’m sure everyone’s been in bad relationships with boyfriends or girlfriends, and not necessarily toxic ones, a lot of abusive ones, but ones where after you’ve been out of the relationship for a while, you realise, oh, that became quite bad. We were not good for each other, but you just kept on out of habit for so long. And that’s an interesting thing, and I just want to twist it––mix it up.
Neil: What key message or themes do my latest releases convey? There’s so many. It’s absolutely a powerful medium for social commentary, but sometimes with ‘Twisted Dark’, it’s so on the nose, it hits home too easily. I like how ‘Star Trek’, the original series, was a social commentary, often time, but doing it with aliens, so you could dress it up, and put a different spin on it. So I’m doing that more with ‘The Theory‘, my science fiction story, so that it’s not so close to home, but I can still get messages across. But, my aim, with every story, is to entertain, educate, surprise, and leave people thinking. So, there’s no particular key message or themes because there’s so many of them. I just want people to learn things that I found interesting, and to share what I’ve learned, and what I find thought provoking and interesting. Hope that makes sense.
Neil: We primarily publish thriller books because that’s the easiest thing for me to write. I find dark stories and suspense quite easy compared to comedy, which takes me four times as much work to write, if you’ve read ‘Tabitha‘ or ‘Trapped’. And those genres are popular in industry, certainly. The funny thing is I love reading horror books and horror comics, but I hate horror films. I get really scared, but I don’t think I write horror. Some people classify my work that way, but I think horror has to be supernatural, normally. Mine is very real world work. Yeah, that’s why. But I don’t want to be stuck with one genre. I have an action one, but for some reason, darkness is appealing to me. I like things to go quite dark, and then, to throw in a joke or two.
Neil: It’s not that I prefer anthologies for ‘Twisted Dark’ and ‘The Theory’, and the upcoming ‘Twist of Fantasy’, but it’s how I started off, because I love short stories, okay. I love short stories. When I used to read science fiction books, and I get ones that were a compilation, normally by the same author because I prefer that. And then I’d flick through the contents page, I look for the shorter story because then you just get bang bang, bang, interesting concept, interesting concept, or good twist, good twist, in as short a space time as possible. Other people prefer long stories where you really get into the characters, and that’s great too. But I just happen to love short stories. So, with a short story, you can be so economical about it, and that’s why I love comics, it’s the economy behind it. Because a picture says a thousand words, you can so quickly convey things that would take much longer to do in a book or in a tv show or film for that matter. So, I like being able to tell short stories, getting over and done with. But, critically, ‘Twisted Dark’ and ‘The Theory’ are not actually anthologies because they are all one giant story, and all the characters connect together, and they all affect each other. It’s only when you get to read to volume four of ‘Twisted Dark’ you start to realise this, I think.
Neil: Oh, I’m rubbish at marketing. I can mostly rely on word of mouth, and fans pushing it, and telling other people about it. I’ve tried doing Facebook Ads, back in the day, but it never really worked. So, I would say, it’s mostly word of mouth, and enough people have discovered my work that way that I can keep doing what I do.
Neil: Yes, it’s sad that comic shops are struggling more and more. We do rely on comic shops and bookshops, but I think it’s moving towards Kickstarters and selling direct to customers. We have people buying it straight from our website. But I for one, miss the comic book days, the comic shops, because going into comic shops, you can speak to them, get recommendations…what’s new, and I think they’re great.
Neil: I think it’s because there’s darkness inside of everyone and the stories are all very believable. This could be happening next door to you and maybe someone you know or just part of yourself. That’s why I think people find them relatable. It’s not about, I don’t know, robots punching sharks or something, which is cool. My stories, at least for the ‘Twisted Dark’ series, tend to be very grounded and thought provoking.
Neil: That’s a horrible question! That’s like saying, which of your children is your favourite? Well, I have an upcoming one. It’s the best thing I’ll ever write, in my opinion. It’s called ‘Tabernacle’, and I’ve written it. So, it’s already over 400 pages of words. That’s in prose before I even convert it to to, script, so who knows how long it will actually end up being. And that’s a superhero action drama. And that one appeals to me the most, because it’s not realistic––it’s heightened. It’s believable, but it’s set in a different world where people actually have powers and how that would work in reality. That’s what appeals to me most, because I think it’s a bit of fun and action as well as the thought-provoking and darkness and humour. These are good questions you asked, by the way, that really put me on the spot.
Neil: Again, another good question. Meaningful to me… There are some stories which I’ve cried out when I wrote them, because they were quite emotional, so I guess that. But I can’t remember which ones, to be honest. In terms of groundbreaking, I have to think ‘Twisted Dark’ is, because it’s the way it’s designed. It’s designed to be read in any order you like. And if it gets adapted for TV, which is my goal, I have a very specific way of wanting to do it, which has never been done before in television. But then it hasn’t happened yet, so who knows? I can’t really say which one has stood out for me most. For example, ‘Theatrics’ is my favourite ending. The best thing I think I’ve done so far is ‘The Theory’. Best thing I will do is call ‘Tabernacle’. My biggest series, is ‘Twisted Dark’. I think ‘The World of CHUB CHUB!‘ is personal to me. Okay, that’s a meaningful one, because that’s about my childhood. It was never meant to be a comic. It was meant to be a gift for my mother. But she found it so funny, she insisted I publish it. And now the whole world knows what a horrible kid I was. But that’s probably the most meaningful one for me. Good questions.
Neil: Yes, I do have a favourite character, and that is Amy, from ‘Twisted Dark’. My favourite character in ‘Game of Thrones‘ was Cersei Lannister, because I found her so odious. I thought, “how can someone create a character like this? How can someone exist like that, be that bad?” And someone, somewhere, was the strongest man who’s ever lived. Usain Bolt was probably the fastest ever human over a short range of 100 metres. Somebody, somewhere is probably the tallest man, or shortest man, or smartest woman, or whatever. Amy from ‘Twisted Dark’ is the most selfish person who’s ever existed in history. That is why I find her fascinating. Yeah, so she’s my favourite character. In fact, I’ve written a whole book on her called ‘Twisted Amy’.
Neil: If so, how? Digital comics actually help print comics, because people will read digital comics and then buy the print versions. So it hasn’t really changed our models so much as it’s tweaked it a bit, I guess. Encouraging people to read the free versions first. But I think the future of the comic book industry is sadly moving away from comic shops, but going direct to consumer and being a big enough brand that people buy from you directly via Kickstarter, for example, that’s where a lot of people think it’s moving. I tend to agree.
Neil: I’ve got lots of projects that I’m excited about. Some I can’t talk about yet, because we haven’t finished signing the contract yet, which is annoying. Some contracts take months to sign. But one that’s arriving soon in August is ‘Trapped’. We’re doing a Kickstarter for this poker comic. It’s based on the life story of Joe Stapleton, who’s a poker commentator and comedian. And with some fiction, but some reality thrown in there. And if you don’t know the poker world, it’s a fascinating world. I wrote a story that’s quite funny and thought provoking, hopefully. So, I’m excited about that. That’s coming out in August, and if anyone wants an advanced copy, just email me [email protected] and I’ll sort you out.
Neil: If I could have any superpower from a comic book character, which one would it be and why? I’m gonna have to go with Stan Lee’s view on this. And that’s luck. Like Domino, I think that’s the best superpower to always be lucky. I think Napoleon said about his generals, I don’t care if they’re good. Are they lucky? Yeah. Be awesome.
Neil: What advice would I give budding comic book creators if they’re new to it? The advice is always the same. It’s start small, but to start. There’s a bestseller in the U.K. called ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ series, and his viewers worry about finishing it first, then worry about making it good. And I meet lots of people who have ideas for a seven book series and like, we’ll just start making a one page comic first, then a four page one, then an eight page one, then a 22-page comic. You learn so much from that, and it prepares you for the big journey later down the road, but you have to walk before you can run. So I’d say definitely start small, but do start.
Neil: With any people we partner with there’s three things you want. You want them to be pleasant to work with, you want them to be on time and reliable, and you want them to be good. And as Neil Gaiman said, you only need two of those, but ideally you go for all three. So, I’m looking for are they good writers? Are they good illustrator? Are they Are colourists? they’re letterers? Are they easy to get along with? And, do they deliver on time? That’s it really.
‘The Traveller‘ Steampunk Adventure Comic: Lonely and depressed, with only diseased sheep to his name, Iosef decides to end his life. Before he can pull the trigger, though, an otherworldly traveller appears before him. In a panic, Iosef shoots and kills him.
Traveller is a steampunk adventure story set at the turn of the 19th century. Made using cutting-edge 3D modelling combined with traditional hand inking, the story focuses on the greater good and what price we are prepared to pay for it.
Neil: I can absolutely share sneak peek stuff. But the newest stuff tends to be on our Patreon page, which is at Neil Gibson on Patreon. And then I do up to the minute behind-the-scenes things––new art comes out, new story concepts. So, if you email me, I will send you some stuff. But you can look at the free stuff on our Patreon page for behind-the-scenes things, because I like seeing how things get made. And so, we show you how we make stuff.
Neil: There’s so many people I’d like to shout out, but, if I can only do one person, it’s probably going to be Conor McCreery. He’s a good friend of mine, great creator. Yeah, great guy, and I’m excited to be working and making comics with him. Now, I’ve sort of like a dozen other people I want to thank as well. No, I’m going to stop there, otherwise, I’ll get in trouble.
Neil: Well, I am rubbish at social media, but it’s @ngtwistedcomics is the handle for Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and anything new that comes along. But I don’t make most of the posts myself, to be honest. We have social media gurus who do it for me. I have to approve them, because I don’t like going on social media. But if you want to contact me, I think @twistedneil at the same things is my personal one, but I don’t check it. I find a post from a year ago, someone messaged me and I go, “Oh, I should respond to that.” I’m pretty rubbish in it. But if you go to twistedcomics.co.uk, that’s our website, and we have a bunch of free material there from us. See if you like it without buying. Yeah.
Neil: How would you make the world a better place? So many ways. I think, start by being kind. Reduce what you use, recycle, reduce, reuse, recycle. Eat less meat. I think technology is a major factor in it and using latest technology to reduce our carbon footprint to reduce pollution through education as well to learn how to behave. It also starts by voting, and voting for the right people. This is a tough question. I’m just a writer. Why do you want to listen to my advice on how to make the world a better place?
Neil: Well, thanks for having me on the show. Great to speak to you, and I think it’s really cool what you guys are doing, travelling around in the RV. Very, very cool. And for listeners out there, who don’t know this, these guys have a fantastic setup with solar panels everywhere, lithium batteries, which powers all their equipment. Really cool, forward-looking stuff.
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