Image Comics’ Infidel is a very recent addition to the horror comics lexicon, but in that short time, it has become a fast favorite for many readers. Written by Pornsak Pichetshote, with art by Aaron Campbell, coloring by José Villarrubia, and designing & lettering by Jeff Powell, Infidel has a star-studded team well-prepared to bring a story so powerful to the page.
Described as a “haunted house story for the 21st century,” there’s a lot going on behind the scenes of Infidel that readers may not know. However, this background is more than interesting: It makes Infidel even better to know the hard work that went into creating it.
10 This Is Pornsak Pichetshote’s First Major Comics Work As A Writer
Infidel writer Pornsak Pichetshote was an editor first and foremost; he’s worked on comics like Daytripper, Sweet Tooth, and The Unwritten, as well as six years’ worth of some of DC Vertigo’s best books. Books that Pichetshote edited have been nominated for dozens of Eisner Awards, awards given for creative achievement in comic books in America. Infidel is Pichetshote’s first major comics work as a writer— and, right out of the gate, he’s hit a home run.
9 Artist Aaron Campbell Has Illustrated Countless Big-Name Characters
Teaming up with Pichetshote is artist Aaron Campbell, who has illustrated characters like James Bond, Batman, and Sherlock Holmes. Not only has Campbell been working in the industry for over a decade, now, but he’s worked with some other incredible writers, like with Garth Ennis on The Shadow and with Matt Wagner on Green Hornet: Year One.
After years of illustrating these characters— and even recently illustrating John Constantine— Campbell teaming up with Pichetshote to create Infidel is an exciting venture with a great deal of combined talent and power.
8 The Comic Ran From March To July Of 2018
Infidel is comprised of five issues, which were released between March and July of 2018. The comics, focused on monsters that feed of xenophobia, were released at just the right time of uprising and discontent in America.
The time that Infidel was coming out is not surprising, but it does provide a great deal of context for the comic. The world that Infidel was written into has shaped it so clearly. That context for readers is something that might make an Infidel reread worthwhile.
7 The Rights Have Been Picked Up For A Movie
When Infidel was only two issues deep, TriStar Pictures picked up the movie rights in a six-figure deal before the end of the comic had even been released. While the pandemic has stalled production on a lot of movies, Infidel hasn’t been getting a ton of continuing news, but it’s a perfect plot for the time.
Fans have been starting to cast characters like Aisha, the main protagonist, as well as her neighbors, Tom and Kris. No matter what, with how well-received Infidel was, readers are hopeful that the movie will be adapted well, too.
6 Pornsak Pichetshote Edited For The Sandman & Swamp Thing
Pichetshote has been an incredibly skilled editor for years, working on titles like Unknown Soldier. While he’s now known for writing Infidel, and for now writing on television for shows like Cloak & Dagger, Light as a Feather, and Two Sentence Horror Stories, he worked on a few popular titles before he wrote his own horror comic.
Pichetshote was actually an editor for the popular titles The Sandman and Swamp Thing, the titles that likely helped him rise to prominence, as they truly show off his spectacular editing skills.
5 Colorist José Villarrubia Has Received Many Nominations & Awards
In addition to Pornsak Pichetshote, an excellent writer and prolific editor, and Aaron Campbell, a big-name illustrator who has drawn some of the most iconic characters in history, Infidel’s colorist, José Villarrubia, is immensely popular and talented, as well.
It’s as if Infidel’s crew was made up entirely of master workers in their respectively fields. José Villarrubia has been nominated for, and won, Eisner Awards. He’s also worked with Pichetshote in the past on titles like Unknown Soldier and Sweet Tooth, which will soon receive a Netflix series, as well.
4 Pornsak Pichetshote’s Books Have Been Nominated For Eisner Awards
If the film industry has the Academy Awards and the television industry has the Emmy Awards, the comic industry has the Eisner Awards. Pichetshote not only has a long list of titles he’s edited, but dozens of those titles have been nominated for prestigious Eisner Awards.
Some of those titles include Daytripper, Sweet Tooth, Unknown Soldier, and The Unwritten, the last of which was also a New York Times bestseller. Pichetshote’s many nominations probably won’t surprise fans of Infidel, but it’s good to know he has a great deal of recognition for his abilities.
3 Many Consider Infidel To Be One Of The Best Horror Comics Of All Time
Some of the best horror comics of all time, like Tales from the Crypt, Swamp Thing, and The Walking Dead, have been around a great deal longer than Infidel. However, that hasn’t stopped the relatively new horror comic from quickly rising the ranks to become a fast favorite for fans of horror comics.
Not only do casual fans and unofficial reviewers enjoy the comics, but professionals and critics enjoy the comic, too. The Huffington Post called Infidel one of the best graphic novels of all time; NPR selected Infidel as one of the best books of 2018, as well as one of their 100 favorite horror stories of all time, a rather high honor.
2 Pornsak Pichetshote Did Extensive Research For The Comic
In a world with so many white writers, Thai-American creator Pornsak Pichetshote could have written what he knew and still better represented people of color than most of the comics landscape. However, Pichetshote has noted in multiple interviews that he did extensive research into each of the intersections that presents itself in his comics.
As an Asian-American, he wanted to accurately portray the variety of racial, gender, and religious identities that appear in the characters in Infidel. Readers of the comics are probably not surprised to find out how much work Pichetshote, who edited titles like We3 and Seaguy by writer Grant Morrison, put into researching Infidel, but it’s always a good thing to know for a fact.
1 Hany Abu-Assad Has Signed On To Direct The Movie
Hany Abu-Assad, a Dutch-Palestinian-Israeli director, has been directing since 1992, despite the fact that he studied aerodynamics and worked as an airplane engineer for several years. A man of many talents, Abu-Assad has twice received Academy Award nominations, for his movies Paradise Now (2005) and Omar (2013). Most recently, Abu-Assad has directed The Mountain Between Us, 20th Century Fox’s 2017 drama starring Idris Elba and Kate Winslet. It’s been reported that TriStar Pictures will have Hany Abu-Assad directing. In addition, they’ve added Juliet Snowden (Ouija) and her husband Stiles White (Ouija) to write the script for the movie, based on Pichetshote’s Infidel story.