Ghosted Blends Heists with Horror

If there's anything I love more than heist stories, it's horror stories. So why not have both in one? The new series Ghosted, by Joshua Williamson and Goran Sudzuka, mashes the two genres together with an Ocean's 11-style heist to steal a specter. But how does one steal a ghost?

We talked with writer Williamson about the new book, on sale today.

IGN Comics: What's the quick pitch for Ghosted?

Joshua Williamson: Ghosted is “Ocean’s 11 in a haunted house instead of a casino.” Our main character Jackson T. Winters is broken out of jail by a rich collector of the supernatural and is tasked with stealing a ghost from a haunted house. Jackson then goes about building a team of the best supernatural experts in the world.

IGN: I'm a big fan of heist stories, and I assume you are too. How'd you come to cross heist with horror?

Williamson: It started with the horror. With the haunted house. I knew I wanted to do a story that involved a haunted house. The visual in my head was all there. But I also had been thinking a lot about doing a crime book about grave robbers. And at the same time I had thoughts about a crime team up book. Very Ocean’s 11-ish.

Then one day it just clicked… “What if someone wanted to steal a ghost?” It all came into place after that.

IGN: This first issue deals predominantly with getting the team together in a very familiar heist-movie fashion, but the cliffhanger suggests that you'll be deviating from that in the issues to come. Would you say that's true? Are you trying to turn the heist genre on its head, so to speak?

Williamson: Part of combining the two genres was to say how they could feed of each other. It very much becomes a haunted house story as the series goes on, but keeps that criminal element to it.

I always love trying to twist the cliché, play with the tropes and having these two genres together made that easy. Adding a supernatural element to such a well known heist “team building” trope was a blast. This is the kind of book I want to read.

IGN: Writing about criminals can be a tricky balance, just because they're usually "unlikable" people. How do you approach building a character with a seedy history while still endearing him to the reader in a way that they'll root for him?

Williamson: This for me was the hardest thing to do. I always like to root for the heel, the bad guy, and I like the seedier characters, like Jackson. To me… I didn’t mind that Jackson wasn’t all that likeable. But that isn’t the best plan to try and win over an audience, y’know? Giving him a sense of humor and still keeping his better joke qualities made him a bit more of a character you can love to hate and maybe just grow to love.

Jackson was so clear in my head from day one. He was the easiest character to write and has all the best lines. But I spent a lot of time on Jackson’s character arc in this first series to try, so that people can go along with him on this crazy journey and see if they still dislike him in the end.

IGN: Is this planned as a mini-series or ongoing? How'd it wind up at Skybound?

Williamson: It started as a mini but… we’ll see what we announce soon.

I’d talked to a few publishers about Ghosted and no one seemed really interested. My managers and I talked and they suggested Skybound. One of the fastest green lights I’ve ever gotten. They’ve been great. Amazing to work with. It’s been an insanely rewarding experience.

IGN: How did Goran come on board? Has his contribution to the style of the series altered any plans you might've had?

Williamson: Goran was suggested by Robert Kirkman and Skybound. They had been trying to find a project for him for a bit. I met Goran at NYCC 2011 and we talked about him doing the book. Standing outside the con while he smoked and I talked. It was great to chat with him in person and share our ideas for the book. This was the exactly the kind of book we both wanted to do.

IGN: Anything you want to add?

Williamson: That I hope people dig it. This is the most “me” of anything I’ve ever done. I don’t hide my love of Vertigo, Dark Horse, IDW or Image. This was my love letter to all the comics that made me want to make comics. This is the kind of book I wanted to read. Crime and horror. With an edge. A bloody edge.

Ghosted #1 is on sale now at your local comic book retailer and digitally at Comixology.

Joey is a Senior Editor at IGN and a comic book creator. Follow Joey on Twitter @JoeyEsposito, or find him on IGN at Joey-IGN. He often wonders whatever happened to Billy's RadBug.

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