This week on the AIPT Comics Podcast, we’re bringing you the full, uncut interview with Chris Condon and Charlie Adlard, the creative team behind Of the Earth. If you’re into slow-burn horror that gets under your skin, this is a conversation you won’t want to miss. We dig into how the series taps into environmental fears, why restraint can be more powerful than spectacle, and how the story builds a creeping sense of dread that lingers long after you’ve finished reading.
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JUDGING BY THE COVER JR.
Interview: Chris Condon (with Andrew Ehrich) - Charlie Adlard - of the earth - May 20 out
1. Opening hook / origin
Chris, you’ve said that roadside coyote scene was the first thing you wrote, even before you knew the full story. What was it about that moment that felt like the right entry point into this world?
2. Tone and influences
You’re blending eco-horror and neo-noir in a really striking way here. What’s each of your relationship to those genres—are there specific books or films that shaped how you approached them, or personal favorites that were on your mind while making this?
3. The prose chapter choice
That opening prose chapter from Oilfield Graveyard: Tales of the Wildcatter Myth is such a bold structural swing. What does prose allow you to do that comics alone wouldn’t, especially in setting up the mythology?
4. The Wildcatter as a presence
The Wildcatter evolves from something almost abstract in issue #2 to something disturbingly human in issue #3. How did you approach revealing it piece by piece without losing the mystery?
5. Character and transformation
The grandmother’s descent is genuinely unsettling. How did you think about her transformation in relation to the oil itself, is it possession, corruption, or something more symbolic?
6. Visual storytelling and horror lineage
Charlie, you spent years defining the visual language of long-form horror on The Walking Dead. When you approach a story like this, how does that experience inform your instincts—and where do you find yourself deliberately doing something different?
7. Pacing and silent storytelling
Charlie, one thing that really stands out is how much space you’re given for quiet, atmospheric sequences—scenes that breathe and flow without a lot of dialogue or overt plot movement. How do you approach pacing those moments visually so they still feel propulsive, and what do you think comics can do in those silent stretches that other mediums can’t?
8. Fun / silly question: If the Wildcatter had a playlist, what’s the one song that absolutely has to be on it?