Interview with Joseph Oliveira of Afterlight Comics

I come from a filmmaking background, I made short films with friends from the age of 15, just coming up with silly stories. Then at the age of 16 I won a short film festival in Liverpool and was awarded £5,000 to make a short film to be premiered at a cinema. I kept going and a few years later I was nominated for a Young BAFTA award when I was 18. It’s fair to say I had always had an imagination and drive to tell stories. 

My plan was to break into the film industry. However, that proved difficult to someone that was naturally introverted and didn’t have lots of contacts. It’s very much an industry that’s not about what you know, but who you know.

I ended up working in a car factory for the next 10 years. During that time, I was getting further and further away from my passion of storytelling. Working 40/50-hour weeks just didn’t leave me much time to make short films anymore. Then I stumbled upon a horror comic series called The Walking Dead, which I loved! It really opened my eyes that comics weren’t just superheroes and capes. 

So, I did some research on how to write my first comic script and debuted with my first issue a year later called Ghost Island which I successfully crowdfunded. From there I travelled to 29 conventions in my first year with just the one book whilst I was still also working at the car factory. I continued to publish more comics and used the momentum to establish a horror comics publishing house we now know today as Afterlight Comics.

No day is ever quite the same. I operate many different parts of the publishing so I have to wear many different hats. From writing, to managing teams, setting up bleeds, lettering, marketing, customer service and packaging books for distribution. A lot of the time is spent problem solving. Everything is constantly changing around us, be it postage rates, tariffs, algorithms. It is a constant battle but I’ve learned you just have to roll with the punches and keep going. It’ll be our 10-year anniversary next year. The best part of the job is having creative freedom. I don’t have to ask for permission from anyone for the stories I create.

Since the very beginning the US audience has been a massive part of our growth at Afterlight Comics and still is to this day. From experience the indie scene in the UK is healthy. It’s just more difficult for creators to find their audience, there is a lack of big comic creator focused conventions in the UK. The biggest and best is Thought Bubble Comics Festival which hosts hundreds of comic creators every year. It’s an amazing event, but we could do with more of them because there is certainly demand.

I personally enjoy stories that are grounded in reality where people can relate to characters. It’s a lot more immersive and I think Welsh Folklore just captures that so well.

I think it is very important and something I am passionate about. I have a hard time learning just looking and staring at words as I’ve always been a visual person. We’ve had scenarios where people will buy both English and Welsh editions of our comics, then read them side by side to go about learning that way. Giving people more ways to experience Welsh was always the idea.

The story of Gelert has always stuck with me ever since I discovered it. It’s just so tragic. Whenever I think about it I have to give my border collie a squeeze for comfort.

We continue to bring out a brand-new horror comic every single month from so many different talented creators from around the world. You can follow us on Instagram, Facebook or Bluesky and subscribe to our newsletter to find out more about what’s to come next.