“SoveReign Comics, Imagination Full Reign” Tyrone L. Jackson is the Owner/CEO & Creator of SoveReign Comics LLC. So what’s the hype about the man behind the brand and why is his product so DOPE? Mr. Jackson was gracious enough to do this interview with me as he informs me #WhatstheTwist on SoveReign, it’s not another inspired Marvel’s comic book character, in this #Twistworthy exclusive! #Artisttalk SoveReign Tyrone L. Jackson was innovative before it was cool!
What is the story behind the title of your comic book, Orisha Exos’?
I’m glad that you asked!
The story is a tale about Earth and how it was no longer habitable so, certain individuals left, leaving a large size of the population behind to fend for themselves. Things didn’t go smoothly in the beginning but eventually, the people that were left behind began to work together and eventually pushed themselves to a higher class of existence, populating the entire solar system. They also properly learned how to harness energy from the sun.
While living in this hi-tech utopia they were attacked by the individuals that left, who returned to “reclaim” the planet, thinking that those they left behind had died off. A culture void of war, didn’t have a defense. Fortunately for them, a device that they found on the moon, Olorun, awoke choosing two pilots as it came to their defense.
The story begins 20 years after the first attack and the awakening of Olorun and follows a young girl, who’s parents were the ones chosen to be the pilots of Olorun. She wants to pilot the un-piloted, ferocious and un-syncable, Shango and does everything in her power to shine through the shadows that her parents cast. Even if it makes her look like a rebel.
In a lot of Mech anime and mangas, you always see the rebel get what they want as their path kind of unfolds in front of you. This rebel gets her feet knocked from under her, even though she is the best at the academy. It will be a fun time to see her claw her way back up. In comics, you also see the usage of all sorts of pantheons but, I’ve never seen any that used the Orisha so, I decided to use them. There is a mech for Olorun, Shango, Ogun, Oxosi, Oshun, Oya, and Yemaya.
It is a fun story to work on and it eventually started breathing life into itself. So, I ended up placing it in the far future on an alternate timeline so theres no interference with the way that other stories are being written as they take place far in the past.
Should readers start from the beginning of your 1st comic to get caught up about the characters of your writings?
I think that with any comic, if you want to TRUELY know whats going on with a story, you should pick up the first issue. The comics that I write aren’t one offs per issue, they tell a story across a number of issues. Starting with issue 1 or, the first issue of that arc as the number of issues progress.
It would be like watching a movie from the middle! Yea, you can pick up on things and keep going until the end but, there may be some things that are unknown because the first 15 minutes to an hour weren’t seen.
My number ones give a huge tale of what happened prior to the beginning of the title, as the majority of my stories pick up with the character already living life. As the title progresses, the first issue of an arc could drop some hints on things that will happen later in the arc.
While I won’t force anyone to buy the number one or, the first issue of an arc, I’ll recommend it. You never know what you may be missing.
Why a comic writer instead of a novelist?
Believe it or not, when I first started writing that was my goal, being a novelist. Then I learned how to write play scripts. I never thought about writing comic book scripts until around 2008. In 2007, when I began with the first story that would lead to the SoVerse, it was in novel form. However, I wanted to find a way to merge my writing and my artwork. So, I decided to go with comics.
I do still want to work on a novel! I have an idea of a book that will have a cluster of short stories, similar to the way The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits was done.
I have the plots for the stories and I have just settled on a title…I just have to find an open block of time now.
Are any of the characters based on you or an alternative ego of you?
Yes! All of my characters have a little piece of me. It’s what helps me write them.
However, if I had to pick two, I would say that they are Elias Reign (Reignas) from Cypher Team and Damian Singleton (Volt) from TEMPLE High.
Those two are me thoroughly! I put more of my traits into them than I have any other character.
How did you go about collaborating with illustrators and other comic writers to help develop your vision?
I met a lot of them on Facebook, either by approaching them or they approached me. Some I met through other creators.
I’m truly grateful that I have met the individuals that I have though because they have helped me to grow and they love the characters from the stories that they work on, just as much as I do. They are a truly great team and we’ve got so much to show you!
What is it about the creativity that sets you apart from other comic creators?
Wow! That’s a hard one to answer, lol.
Maybe it’s my ability to write across different genres.
The readers of my comics would have to figure that one out, lol.
What do you want the audience to take away from your writing?
Ultimately, I want them to see that I put a lot into the stories that I wrote, that it’s fully thought out. I want them to read just how much I love writing these characters that I have created.
I see you have made a lot of the female characters leads in your work, as a male, what inspired you to do so?
Believe it or not, I think its fun writing female characters, LOL.
The first stories, that led to the creation of SoveReign Comics, is about twin sisters. One with powers and one without, they are the novel stories I mentioned earlier. They have their own title as well, Infinite Reign. All I can tell you is, their story is huge to the universe.
As well, I’ve known a lot of strong women in my life so, it’s not hard for me to write strong female leads.
Not to mention, I want SoveReign Comics to be diverse. Diversity is our mission after all! There will be comics with male and female leads from different ethnicities, nationalities, religions, and lifestyles! It will depend on how the story hits me.
For the merchandise that you sell in-regards to your comics and characters, do you take special request or orders? Like if someone wanted to be made into a character in your comic but placed on a T-shirt.
If you mean taking commissions, no.
I do however have merchandise, posters, and whatnot, some figurines coming soon and shirts can be ordered.
However, for comics, they can be bought digitally from Comixology. I will do prints when I attend cons. If there are leftover prints, I will sale those after the con from the website.
If it gets to the point where a lot of individuals want a print of a comic, I’ll do pre-sales, order the prints and then send them out.
I’ve only had a couple of individuals ask to be characters in the SoVerse and for them, I have done it.
However, its one of those areas where I have to be mindful. If I ever did something like that in the future, it would be contest based and the character would only be used once.
Do you still have your Youtube videos where you illustrated the beginning and end of your characters creations?
I have the channel but I haven’t been on it for a long while now. I plan to eventually go back to it but, I will have to see how things go. Running the company and the multiple projects that we have, takes a ton of time.
I really enjoyed the interview and I greatly appreciate the time that you have given to invite me to do this. It is truly an honor!
In addition, you can check out our website to get products or learn more about SoveReign Comics here: www.sovereigncomics.com
You can also go directly to comixology to by our comics here: http://bit.ly/SoverseComixology
You can also connect with SoveReign Comics on any of the social networks:
facebook.com/sovereigncomics
instagram.com/sovereigncomics
twitter.com/sovereigncomics
