INTERVIEW: Chris Condon, Jacob Phillips talk THAT TEXAS BLOOD

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By Zack Quaintance — That Texas Blood returns with the first issue of a new arc on June 30, and today I sit down with writer Chris Condon and artist Jacob Phillips to discuss the past, present, and future of this excellent book. We’ve been a fan of That Texas Blood from its start. The book has just featured such an intriguing use of tone, ambiance, and setting. Now, the second arc is jumping backwards in time.

Check out what Condon and Phillips have to say about their breakout hit comic below…

INTERVIEW: Chris Condon, Jacob Phillips talk THAT TEXAS BLOOD

That Texas Blood #7 is out June 30, 2021.

ZACK QUAINTANCE: With the pandemic limiting travel and neither of you (as far as I know) currently living in Texas, was there anything either of you did to mentally revising Texas as you worked on this second arc?

CHRIS CONDON: Yeah, it's not ideal, especially for Jacob who I know would love to travel to Texas to get a first-hand look at the place and its people. For me, I try to keep up to date on what's happening in Texas on a daily basis. I am a subscriber to Texas Monthly and I read the Texas Tribune, among other periodicals. I also read a lot of non-fiction and fiction books that are set in Texas. I'm also constantly in touch with my good friends who live down in Fort Davis, so that helps too. It all helps mold the characters I'm writing and how they feel about whatever it is they're dealing with. Luckily, we're working in a fictional county so we're able to take some liberties here and there. For example, I'm well aware that there is already an Irving and Lawrence in real-life Texas. I decided to stick with ours since all of the towns and the county itself are literary references; in this case, Washington Irving and D.H. Lawrence, respectively. Though, there are some real-life instances of doubling up on town names in a singular state, but I digress. Luckily I am vaccinated and so are my friends down in Fort Davis, so I'm actually heading that way at the end of the month. I'll be there on the 30th when our comic hits shelves, in fact. Seemed appropriate. I can't wait to visit Texas again. It's a place I truly love which I hope comes across in the writing.

JACOB PHILLIPS: Yeah, I’ve still never been! But with technology it’s not too much of a problem, there is an unending well of reference materials online which I use to my full advantage. I do a lot of “driving” around on Google Streetview to find buildings to use in our fictional county. A lot of people, including REAL LIFE TEXANS, have told us how our Texas feels authentic which is the biggest compliment we can get really, we put a lot of effort into making it as accurate as a made-up county can be. I am planning on taking my first trip out to Texas in spring 2022 and you best believe I’m going to be photographing literally everything.

From That Texas Blood #7.

ZACK: Similarly, this new arc is set in 1981. What sort of research did you each do to ground your work in that time period?

CHRIS: Luckily 1981 isn't so far in the past that we had to make a bible of what's what and who's who. For me, I watch an awful lot of movies, I watch true crime shows, and read novels - all set around that time. My parents are a great resource. The internet is obviously a great resource as well. Anything I need to look up, I can do it in a second. I also think that a sparse, isolated place like our Ambrose County wouldn't have changed too much, even in forty years. Hell, you'll still find old oil pumps along Highway 90 as you travel down to real-life Marfa. Time moves differently in different places. But we always knew we'd be playing in the past - the original title of the series was "Past is Prologue." So we were prepared to travel back to any time we needed, I think!

JACOB: Like Chris, I too watch a lot of movies so when I went to do some research I found I already knew a lot of what I was seeing. I finished watching season 2 of Fargo about a week before I started drawing the which was a big help.

ZACK: Chris, other than having Joe Bob’s recollection as a framing device, will the new arc tie into the first arc at all, and if so, can you talk a bit about how?

CHRIS: It does in that we continue the line of thought established all the way back in issue one, that this awful situation with Ray on the side of the highway isn't a surprise - it's horrible, but it isn't a surprise. We find out a bit more of why that is. The arc begins with Joe Bob talking to his pastor at church. Why do people talk to their pastors? It's when they feel conflicted and troubled. Joe Bob feels this way precisely because of the events of the last six issues. It's all interconnected in ways, which I think is important when writing about a small community. Everything impacts everything else. The happenings in Ambrose are no different. But does it directly tie into things? Does Randy come back? Or Ray? The casserole dish? The answer to that is no. There are, however, thematic ties to previous issues.

ZACK: Jacob, I loved the sweeping landscapes that showed up throughout the first volume. Visually, what if anything new has this second arc allowed you to do with the artwork?

JACOB: For the most part I’m hoping that it will be more of the same BUT BETTER. The landscape is as much of a character in the story as Joe Bob himself and I love drawing those big wide shots. One thing that I did get to do on these new issues is start inking some of the pages traditionally, which I had never done before. I wanted to give the 80’s pages a different look to the modern day stuff so that you know exactly where you are with all the jumping back and forth so this seemed like an obvious choice to me.

ZACK: Finally, if you all had to change your names to fit in better in Texas, what would you change them to?

CHRIS: Wow. That's the toughest question I've ever received. Let's go with Chrexas. 

JACOB: Well, I’d probably have to go with One-Eyed Jake after the classic Brando film of a SIMILAR name. Although, what I would have to go through to get such a name is a whole other story. 

That Texas Blood #7 is out June 30

…and…

That Texas Blood Vol. 1 is out now

Read more great interviews with comics creators!

Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.