I’ve been a fan of Justin Jordan’s work for a while now. He’s always stuck to miniseries with a strong sense of narrative direction and has an relentless style to his writing. His action scenes are breathless and terrifying, so it’s really exciting to see him enter the world of horror. “Spread” is unlike anything we’ve currently got in comics, it’s a terror filled look at wasteland America after a terrible infection has changed the world into a virtually unrecognizable mess.

Immediately you’ll see the comparison to The Thing, I mean how could you not. And while the comparison is exciting after reading the first issue you’ll realize “Spread” is so much more than a simple tribute, it takes ideas from the stories that inspired it and creates a horrifying new creature. One that’s on the move, one that has consumed almost everything, and somehow there is still hope.

Bloody Disgusting had the chance to chat with Justin Jordan about this fantastic new series, the direction it’s going in, and what inspired the insane design choices behind the beasts on the page. Hit the jump to find out about what’s bound to be your new favorite horror series.

Bloody Disgusting: How deep does the Spread go, how much research went into creating this new form of life, and what excites/terrifies you the most about it?

Justin Jordan: There’s a lot of Spread, and the people in the quarantine don’t really understand it, so we do learn a lot about it. Researchwise, in addition to the basic science article that inspired it and my general interest in biology Kyle Strahm, the artist, has been keeping a file of what I would call “Fuck Up Nature Shit” like parasitic wasps, horrible disease and other such, which all goes into the book.

But the thing allows a nice wide swath of body horror and monster making for us to work with, and that is fun.

BD: What type of horror influenced the story most? What type of fear are you trying to expose with “The Spread?”

JJ: I think the real horror, even above the body horror, is being trapped in a world you don’t understand and can’t control. That’s probably true of everyone’s life all the time, but our lives, at least in the first world, are predictable enough that we can forget it.

In Spread, this is overt. The characters are not in control. They are at the mercy of something that can’t understand, and they can’t get away from. It’s maybe the most primal form of horror that we have.

Of course there’s also monsters, religious fanatics and cannibals, just in case that fear doesn’t work for you.

BD: Why Lone Wolf and Cub meets The Thing?

JJ: Because how could you not?  Those are both awesome. Everyone likes awesome things.

More seriously, that wasn’t quite what I was trying to write, but it became clear pretty early on that it was the best way to describe it. If you don’t like those things, there’s a good chance you won’t like this book, and if you do, you probably will. I hope.

BD: The protagonist No is a tough son of a bitch who doesn’t talk much, will we find out more about what made him so quiet, lethal, and efficient? What drives him, other than survival?

JJ: Both the kid and the concept. He’s got a chance to save the world, and he’s taking it. It was because of hope that he ended up in the quarantine zone to begin with, and by the time we see him at the beginning he’s most surviving out of sheer stubbornness. He doesn’t exactly care about surviving but he refuses to actually die. Hope changes that.

We will indeed find out what made him who he is. He started off ahead of the game in some respects, but a lot of who he is at the beginning of the series is because of surviving for ten years in the quarantine zone, which tends to tough one up pretty quickly.

BD: In Strode gore was almost celebrated, and here gore feels dangerous and more lethal than the acts that create it, why the change of heart?

JJ: I wouldn’t say that Strode is a celebration of gore, exactly. The gore in that book was meant to be cool at first and horrifying later on, as we see the cost it takes. And you know, that kind of mirrors my own feelings on it. I love violence in fiction while simultaneously being away of just how horrible it is in real life. So I’m ambivalent, I guess.

But the gore in Spread is different by design. It’s meant to unsettle and disturb, and be hard to look at. And that was because I wanted to do something different with it – I wanted people to be immersed in the situation as the characters are.

BD: What excites you most about having your first ongoing series?

JJ: The ability to tell a large scale story. If Spread goes the distance we will get to see just exactly how the Quarantine Zone works, what’s become of the world, how the Spread works and what it IS, and a bunch of other stuff. It’s working on a different level of story than I’ve done with miniseries and it’s awesome.

BD: The first issue deals with some pretty horrifying images and the mutations really channel a body horror tone but allude to so much more. How involved are you with the creation of the creatures? 

JJ: That’s a surprisingly hard question to answer. For sure, the heavy lifting is done by Kyle on the creatures. I describe a couple of different kinds and how they worked, and then Kyle went wild with them. Some of the stuff he came up with that is just cool we’ll see in a few issues.

But Felipe Sobreiro needs to be mentioned to, because his colors are an essential part of the monsters and the book itself.

BD: The ending to the first issue is a beautiful tease for what’s to come, can you hint at anything for the future of the series?

JJ: Well, in the first arc, we get to see cannibals, a crazed cult, spreadworms, something really horrifying known as the Sirens, and No kicking a lot of ass (and getting his ass kicked) so hopefully there’s something for everyone. 

Spread #1 hits this Wednesday 07/09/14. Support this bad boy, it’s smart contemporary horror that pushes the envelope and a builds a big dangerous world.