Comixology Originals Debut: Steve Thompson and Gonzalo Ruggieri Make Their First Graphic Novel 'Ill Vacation'

A Psychological Thriller Set in the South Pacific in the 1940s. Available Digitally from Comixology Originals June 17, 2025

Steve Thompson and artist Gonzalo Ruggieri make their Comixology Originals debut with their first long-form original graphic novel, Ill Vacation, a psychological thriller set in the South Pacific in the 1940s. Written by Thompson (24Panels) with captivating art by Ruggieri, letters by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, and edits by Rebecca Stone, Ill Vacation will be available digitally on June 17, 2025, from Amazon’s Comixology Originals exclusive digital content line.

“Ill Vacation is about monsters, ghosts, and fear-–things that grip the imagination and Gonzalo has created some of the most unique imagery to bring those elements to the page,” says writer Steve Thompson.

Told over the course of four chapters, Ill Vacation follows protagonists Bob and Mary, two young soldiers who want to help their country and its war effort. When they volunteer to take an experimental drug and are left behind to defend an island in the Pacific, things take a terrible turn. Instead of negating their fears, it turns their past trauma and nightmares into reality. Now, strange lights appear in a blood-red sky, a giant eye floats in the air, and unearthly creatures emerge from the sea to haunt them inside an ever-growing maelstrom of terror. Can they survive?

Thompson continued, "When Bob and Mary are given the experimental drug -–something designed to make soldiers lose all inhibitions and fear—those drugs have the opposite effect and open their minds to all their fears instead. A dream made real!"

Ruggieri deftly illustrates the fear, confusion, and unease of the protagonists and creates an atmospheric and dreamlike setting that is palpable throughout the story. As we learn of the personal tragedies affecting Mary and Bob, what we see is through their eyes—sometimes it is what’s really there, and sometimes it’s an illusion.

Ill Vacation is a haunting, hallucinatory, and mind-bending trip into the effects of war and peace.