Growing up in UK Oliver mostly read European comics moving towards some American comics such as Watchmen in the late 80s. Then in the early 90s he lived the Third World for five years, cut off from comics and popular culture in general. Around 2003, while living in Los Angeles and working mostly as an camera assistant, he decided to give writing a try. One of the things he wrote was The Exterminators. Initial planned to be a TV series Oliver quickly realized it was not network material and so he took it to the comic book publisher he respected the most. The Exterminators was first published by DC Vertigo in 2006 as an ongoing monthly series.