Much has been made of the ridiculously sexualized variant cover for Marvel’s Spider-Woman #1. The over-the-top objectification of women in comics is hardly a new issue, but every now and then an example comes along that crystallizes the problem perfectly.
It hardly seems right that female characters are the only ones who get this treatment, so in the sake of fairness, we put our resident beefcake, Mortimer Glum, on display. Enjoy!
The Jesus Island crew is a whole lot of psyched to announce our new line of EFJI skins for guitars, laptops and boards! Now you can take Yeshua and his mutant horde with you wherever you roam. Let’s take a closer look at all this awesomeness.
First up, Escape From Jesus Island GUITAR SKINS and HEADSTOCK SKINS!
http://skinyourskunk.com/escape-from-jesus-island-guitar-skins.html
Next up are our new EFJI LAPTOP SKINS, available in 24 designs and customizable to be a perfect fit for your laptop.
Check them all out at: http://premiumlaptopskins.com/escape-from-jesus-island-laptop-graphics.php
And for the boarders among us, check out these new EFJI skins for SKATEBOARDS, WAKEBOARDS AND LONGBOARDS. Customizable from 1″ to 50″ to perfectly fit your ride.
http://extremeboardskins.com/escape-from-jesus-island-board-skin-index.html
Pick up your Escape From Jesus Island gear TODAY and help us keep the horror coming!
Sculptor Nicolas Genovese is the latest twisted mind to join the Escape From Jesus Island team. Nicolas will be creating the line of EFJI 28mm gaming miniatures, which will also appear in the EFJI tabletop game. Check out our first two character sculpts, for Yeshua and Goliath/Palsy. Woot!
To give you an idea what the finished product might look like, feast your eyes on these Gears & Mutants miniatures Nicolas Genovese created for his upcoming Kickstarter project. Their evolution from initial sculpt to finished, painted product is fascinating. These pieces were painted by Redrum-Jay Painting.
In the early days of pre-production, fan Jeff Ansell (who appeared as the mutant with his eyes stitched shut in EFJI #1) suggested we create a legless mutant who pulls himself along with his arms. We loved the idea and Mortimer immediately got to designing the critter. Once created, we let you wonderful freaks pick the name and I weaved the new character of Meatwagon into the Jesus Island world.
It’s now hard to imagine this story without Meatwagon. He’s become a vital part of the Jesus Island mythos. We know our fans have tons of great ideas and we want to hear them.
HOW IT WORKS: Think up the most fabulously twisted mutant you can and tell us about him/her/it in whatever medium you would like. If you’re an artist, draw your mutant. If you’re a writer, write up a description. We’re looking for the most interesting possible character design, so whatever best helps you express your idea, do that.
BACKGROUND: Your Creation was made by ReGen Corp on the Malsum Island Research Facility and is one of hundreds of horribly mutated, failed clones of Jesus. At some point in ReGen’s brutal testing program, Your Creation earned the attention of Yeshua (the Antichrist), who saved it from extermination.
Who is Your Creation? What are its mutations? What sets it apart from the rest of the horde?
PRIZE: Our favorite submission will be turned into a character in Escape From Jesus Island! The winner will receive an 11×17 print of Your Creation, signed by artist Mortimer Glum, as well as a Mutant Design credit in the issue where Your Creation first appears.
SEND ENTRIES TO: EFJILetters@gmail.com
DEADLINE: August 3, 2014.
This is your chance to be a part of the Jesus Island universe! Unleash those nightmares on us and have Your Creation immortalized in print.
The horde has spoken and the newest addition to Yeshua’s mutant horde shall be named ISHMAEL. Congratulations to Eddey Gallegos, who submitted the most popular entry in our latest Name The Mutant contest. Eddey will receive a Special Thanks credit in Episode 3 of Escape From Jesus Island.
The fiendishly clever Ishmael makes his first appearance in Episode 4 of EFJI. As the story unfolds, he will often be seen scouting the way for Pariah, the seven-headed Beast of Biblical prophecy.
We also want to offer our thanks to Sam Mercer, whose P’nak the Harbinger submission was our runner-up, and Joe McBrady, for offering up our third-place finisher, Aquila.
Leaving a character’s name in the hands of fans is a scary proposition. There’s a reason no one else does it. You could get stuck with Squiddle McDimplefuck in your story. We’ve been crazy impressed by the amount of thought that has gone into the submissions the last couple times we’ve done this.
Thank you all for a kickass list of entries in our latest Name The Mutant contest and for your votes to select the winner. Ishmael will make an excellent addition to the Jesus Island universe. We’ll definitely do this contest again as the story unfolds, but we have a couple other contests in the works at the moment. Stay tuned for details…
In the darkest depths of Yeshua’s lair, far below ReGen Corp’s Malsum Island Research Facility, all manner of nightmare can be found. From discarded mutant test subjects, the Antichrist builds his army, warping the clones and using his healing powers to perform horrific experiments, creating creatures this world wasn’t meant to see. HIs first great success was Pariah, the seven-headed Beast of Biblical prophecy.
Alongside Pariah was created a servant. A fiendishly clever advance scout for the Beast of the Unholy Seven. This silent assassin, archer and tracker helps ensure that Pariah always catches its prey. If you see this creature, run. Pariah is never far behind.
This mutant makes his first appearance in Episode 4, and we’ll be seeing much more of him as the story develops.
Submit your entry in the comments or at our Facebook fan page.
Rules: Our team will review all entries (giving preferential consideration to names with religious significance) and create a poll question on Facebook with our three finalists. You folks will then vote and pick the winner. Whoever submits the winning name will receive a Special Thanks credit in our upcoming issue. Game on!
Hey, all. Shawn here (the guy who writes this freak show). Over the past few months, we’ve posted individual profiles on the members of the Vatican Black Ops squad that joins our cast in Episode 2. You can check out profiles for the team and 17 total Escape From Jesus Island characters here: https://jesusisland.com/characters
The way we built this Vatican team was a bit unorthodox, so I wanted to give you folks a behind-the-scenes peek at the people we modeled these characters after. We plan to do in-character photo shoots, a live-action trailer and eventually we’d love to do a full feature-length EFJI film, so it was important that we find exactly the right people for these roles.
When we first started pre-production on this story, we held a big photo shoot where we brought in friends and family, along with some actors who I knew I wanted to use in the story. We later used those photos to cast some of the characters in the early issues.
Vatican Black Ops
Commander of the raid on Malsum Island
Modeled after: Justin Cole
Mortimer and I knew we wanted to model Joe after someone local, but really weren’t sure who. Was Joe a huge linebacker or more of a MacGyver-type, minus the aversion to murder?
Later, when we were looking through the pictures from the shoot, it became clear. Mortimer’s friend, Justin Cole, had the right look, plus he’s an SCA brawler and kickass cosplayer. Here’s Justin as Joe at our Escape From Jesus Island event at Plague in Portland, Maine.
Vatican Doctor and Theologian
Modeled after: Molly W. Bryant Roberts
The character of Mary is one I’ve been carrying around in my head since I first came up with this story in 1993. As such, it was a very strange experience to meet Mary while working on the set on the zombie movie “2.” She claimed her name was Molly, but she was clearly the lead character from my Escape From Jesus Island story. She has the same irresistibly adorkable charm that makes Mary such a fun character.
I always knew if I got a chance to do EFJI in any medium, Molly was my lead. I had a blast working with her, even though she hit me with a board and her husband Jim shoved me backwards into a bathtub and ripped tubes out of my chest (in their defense, I was trying to eat their brains). Molly is awesome and you can see her in this trailer for “2”: http://youtu.be/85geBli3JeM
Infiltration Specialist
Modeled after: Jesse Jet Villarreal
When I was cast as the title monster in “Amish Devil,” I immediately pushed to get “American Ninja Warrior” alum Jesse Jet Villarreal onboard to also play the monster. I hadn’t met Jesse at that point, but I’d seen this stunt reel: http://youtu.be/ySXgmaGckvo
I couldn’t believe this guy lived in Maine. Fortunately, Jet was available, and he and I split duty as the creature terrorizing the not-so-good Amish folk in Damien Zygote’s twisted horror flick.
Jesse is a blindingly talented free runner and I designed the character of Jet, the Vatican Black Ops point man, specifically for him.
Keep an eye out for Jesse in the upcoming “Amish Devil” and the film adaptation of Stephen King’s “Cell.” Here’s Jet wreaking havoc on the “American Ninja Warrior” course: http://youtu.be/hLMFNcWKN7Y
And here’s Jet and I squaring off in Amish Devil (I’m the one with the horns).
Vatican Munitions Expert
Modeled after: Rob Dimension
I’ve known from the start that the Black Ops team needed a munitions expert, but it wasn’t until I decided to model the character after actor/filmmaker Rob Dimension that the character of Boomer really fell into place. Rob has a perfect mix of goofiness and deadly serious determination, and I brought a lot of that into the character of Boomer.
Rob and I first crossed paths when he was hosting the most excellent “Late Night at the Horror Hotel.” He’s since created a pair of fantastic short films, “No Clowning Around” and “Baggage,” and his third short, “Rabbit Hole,” will be available this August.
Here is the trailer for “No Clowning Around”: http://vimeo.com/50317014
You can check out more of Rob’s awesomeness at www.YouveBeenRobbedFilms.com, www.RobDimension.com, or @RobDimension on Twitter.
Vatican Interrogator and Personal Protector of the Pope
Modeled after: Flash Kellish
I had the pleasure of working with stuntman Flash Kellish on the film “Amish Devil.” With a background that includes stunt shows in Las Vegas and Taiwan, Flash is a tough motherfucker, and the perfect choice for one of the craziest badasses in Act One of EFJI, Oleg “Barracuda” Arlovski.
Funny story. So we’re doing a 2-on-1 fight scene in a barn for “Amish Devil.” Flash and I against the monster. My foot clips the edge when getting thrown through a hay door to the level below and I hit the ground in a bad way, fold up like a lawn chair and break my back in two places (that isn’t the funny part). Total stupid fluke injury.
So I’m pissed because I know my back is messed up. The pain is beyond belief. But I’ve been training for months to play this monster and don’t want to miss the rest of the shoot, so I am deep in denial. Subterranean. I’m trying to walk it off, which generally doesn’t work all that well for spinal fractures.
I’m talking with the director about getting some scenes rescheduled, figuring if I could just get one day of rest, I’ll be good to go after that. I walked around for about an hour with a twice broken back, including slowly shuffling back up a set of stairs to finish the scene in the barn.
Flash and his wife Shannon are the folks who finally got me to accept that I was injured and needed to lie down. Turns out, they were right. Thanks, guys!
In addition to lots of stunty goodness, Flash has two decades of acting experience and is in the Maine-based grunge-country band Bizzy Gruntry, whose first CD is coming soon. Check out some of Flash’s stunt show kickassery below:
So there you have it… Team Vatican. How will this crew fare against the forces of ReGen Corp and Yeshua’s horde? Stay tuned for Episode 3…
Invasive Species, the second installment in the Escape From Jesus Island saga, launches wide today with the release of our main cover version of EFJI #2!
This beautiful cover from illustrator Mortimer Glum features the young Christ and Antichrist, and hits store shelves in the US and Canada today. This map shows all the kickass stores carrying Escape From Jesus Island: https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=ze8U5uNxcdYA.kSUrLlBpTwO8
If you don’t have a Jesus Island retailer near you, we can hook you up with anything you need right through our online store. Below are direct order links to every cover version of Escape From Jesus Island.
EFJI #1 Phantom Variant (limited):
Some of the Phantom stores do have copies left on shelves for $3.99, but the only way to order a copy online now is on eBay. All other online stores were wiped clean.
EFJI #1 first-edition cover (limited):
$3.99 unsigned, or $6.99 signed by Morty and Shawn. These first-edition copies are a limited print run of 3,000.
http://escapefromjesusisland.bigcartel.com/product/escape-from-jesus-island-comic-book-issue-1
EFJI #2 Phantom Variant (limited):
$6.99 at Graham Crackers Comics.
http://www.grahamcrackers.com/products/escape_from_jesus_island_1_phantom_cover.htm
EFJI #2 main cover:
$3.99 unsigned, or $6.99 signed by Morty and Shawn.
http://escapefromjesusisland.bigcartel.com/product/escape-from-jesus-island-comic-book-issue-2
EFJI #2 Mystery Cover (super limited):
Since these special Mystery Cover comics will never hit store shelves, we’re setting Morty loose to create whatever his fevered mind dreams up for a Mystery Cover. We are only printing 50 of these ever and they come signed and numbered. We won’t post the cover artwork in advance, which makes it much more fun when that package arrives in the mail. The EFJI #2 Mystery Cover is $25, or $50 if you’d like Morty to sketch something inside for you. As I type this, there are 15 copies left. More than two-thirds of the total copies have been reserved in the first couple days and I don’t expect these remaining ones to last long. You can find all the details here:
https://jesusisland.com/2014/05/25/mortimer-glums-mystery-cover
EFJI Character Prints!
We have your choice of ten 8″x10″ EFJI character prints available through our online store for $5. These gorgeous prints look great on their own and even better matted and framed, as fan Kristin Sullivan did with her Aleksandra print.
http://escapefromjesusisland.bigcartel.com/product/8-x10-character-print
Thanks for your support and please tell your friends and local comic book stores about Escape From Jesus Island!
-The Jesus Island team
Hello, hello, you magnificent freaks!
We get asked all the time what programs Mortimer Glum uses to make his jaw-dropping artwork. The short answer is… all of them. His process is insanely tech-heavy and one of the key components in his arsenal is dying and needs to be replaced. The Cintiq drawing tablet that he uses for all his finishing work has had a great run, but it is not long for this world. We need to raise a little money for a replacement, to make sure Morty has all the tools needed to continue making the dementedly awesome artwork we’ve all come to love.
In celebration of Morty’s recent win as the Portland Phoenix’s 2014 Visual Artist of the Year (YAY!), we’ve made the truly terrible decision to let him do whatever he wants as a special variant Mystery Cover for Episode 2!
Here’s how it works…
Mortimer is free to do whatever he wants, unconstrained by boundaries of appropriateness or coherence. These are never going on shelves, so whatever feverish delusion his drug-addled mind conjures up is what we’ll send to the printers. I honestly have no idea what to expect, but I’m confident it will be deeply weird and quite likely offensive. We won’t release the artwork in advance. We want you to have the experience of opening this box, having no idea what you’re in for. It’s way more fun that way.
We’re only printing 50 of these Mystery Cover copies of EFJI #2. Ever.
Each copy is Signed and Numbered and is shipped bagged & boarded, bubble wrapped and boxed to ensure these reach you in great condition. As always, we don’t print on the traditional cheap comic book paper. These are on the same heavy, glossy paper you’ve comes to expect from EFJI.
The Mystery Cover comics will be $25, plus $4 US shipping (drop me a note for International rates). For an extra $25, Morty will sketch something inappropriate in your book. Additionally, everyone who pre-orders by June 15 will receive a Special Thanks Credit in this super limited-edition comic. Every dollar raised goes directly toward getting the Cintiq tablet we need to keep EFJI coming.
HOW TO ORDER: To reserve your copy of the EFJI #2 Mystery Cover, write to JesusIslandComics@gmail.com. These are first-come, first-serve, so if you want one, don’t wait around.
ADD-ONS:
$5: 8″x10″ Character prints, hand signed by Mortimer Glum. Ships with the Mystery Cover at no additional shipping cost. Below are the ten designs we have in stock.
EFJI Issues. $3.99 each unsigned, $6.99 signed by Mortimer Glum & Shawn French (+$2 US shipping). Available issues:
EFJI #1 first-edition (3,000 total printed)
EFJI #2
EFJI #2 Phantom Variant (we only have a few of these)
11×17 posters. $9.99 each (+$5 US shipping). Each is printed on heavy photo paper and comes hand signed by Mortimer Glum.
Passion of the Antichrist (11×17)
Anna’s Horde (11×17)
EFJI #1 Phantom Variant cover (11×17)
Goliath at War (11×17)
Sibling Rivalry (11×17)
The Wrong House DVD: For an additional $10, we’ll include a copy of EFJI writer Shawn French’s directorial debut, The Wrong House. DVDs come signed by Shawn and Sue Stevens, named 2010’s Best Supporting Actress by the Fright Meter Awards.
Help us keep Morty’s factory of horrors churning out the craziness. Reserve your Mystery Cover today!
Write to JesusIslandComics@gmail.com
Your suggestions are in, the Jesus Island crew battled it out over our favorites and now it’s time for you wonderful freaks to pick the winner from among our five finalists. They are (in alphabetical order)…
Darwin (submitted by Jonathan Vincent)- Morty’s reasoning for including this on his short list. “I like Darwin since Christians see his research as the A-Number One enemy to their silly fairytale.”
Doeg (submitted by Carol Hewett)- From Wiki: “Doeg was an Edomite, chief herdsman to Saul, King of Israel. He is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible book of First Samuel, chapters 21 and 22, where he is depicted as responsible for the deaths of a large number of priests.” — he’s got a nice gory death, too. The heading above Psalm 52 records that David wrote it after Doeg the Edomite betrayed Ahimelech to Saul.
Koplow (submitted by Joe McBrady): The name is inspired by David Koplow, known in Portland, Maine as The Dogman. www.portlanddailysun.me/index.php/opinion/columns/7944-the-dogman
Mephibosheth (submitted by Dwayne Meighan): 2 Samuel 9:8- “Mephibosheth bowed down and said, ‘What is your servant that you should notice a dead dog like me?’”
http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/9-8.htm
Pavlov (submitted by Cobalt Dena): We love this one for obvious reasons.
Cast your vote for your favorite of these entries here: http://goo.gl/saURwV
Game on!
