Going Beyond Real

Announcing my new Vault Series and a SDCC Recap!

Hey, it’s Zack!

So I definitely think this was the best SDCC yet. The studios were gone, the hype over trailers and celebs was absent, and it was a focus on pop culture and comics - the things we love. I got to catch up with so many great friends and collaborators, comics pros and good people. I met a lot of new people too, I got to share so many new books with so many different readers and I got to get started on some exciting new projects that you’ll be seeing a long time from now. So yeah, it was good.

Was there anything else? Hmmm.

Oh yeah.

I announced a new series.

In case you missed the exciting news out of San Diego Comic Con, I'm returning to Vault Comics, after the success of MINDSET, with an unreal new series...

BEYOND REAL

It's a collaboration with seven, yes SEVEN stunning, phenomenal artists, Fabiana Mascolo (Alice Ever After, Firefly), Eisner-winner Jordie Bellaire (Redlands, W0rldTr33), Jorge Corona (Me You Love in the Dark, Middlewest), Toni Fejzula (The Forgotten Blade, Dead Inside), Liana Kangas (Know Your Station, She Said Destroy), Dennis Menheere (Etheres, Stardust), Vincenzo Riccardi (Star Wars, Dungeons and Dragons), and maybe more. With the incredible Eisner-winner and letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou (First Knife, Mindset) and A covers from Eisner-winning artist John J Pearson (Mindset, Department of Truth).

And the scope of this series is truly ambitious! Each issue of this cerebral and heartfelt series will see these artists working in tandem, handing off scenes back and forth to each other as part of the narrative structure of this mind-bending story about simulation theory, the creative spirit, and the struggle for self-determination.

The series follows the struggling artist June following a severe accident which leaves her boyfriend in a coma and causes her to experience bizarre visual phenomena. When she discovers that the world she considers “reality” may in fact be a computer simulation, she must set out on a perilous journey through metaphysical layers of the simulation to reach the true creator and save her love from death.

If you haven't heard of Simulation Theory, it's this odd but engaging idea that we are all living inside a sort of computer simulation, like the Matrix. And in recent years, this idea has grown in popularity and legitimacy amongst scientists and the public alike. But what got me thinking, as a creator and creative, is why do we often think of this concept in very digital, robotic terms? Creation is messy, artistic and beautiful.

So with BEYOND REAL, we turn simulation theory on its head, and imagine the layers of life’s simulation in the most artistic and astonishing of ways. It’s a dark Neil Gaiman-esque adventure series into the unknown, it’s a thoughtful and complex character drama about navigating creativity, at times inspiring and unsettling, and it’s a love letter to artists and creatives everywhere. We’re in an inflection point for creators right now, and it’s never been more important to appreciate the challenges they face and respect their profound contributions to our experience in this little world.

So great ready to immerse yourself in creation and travel with us beyond on the most breath-taking of journeys, something only comics could capture...

BEYOND REAL #1 hits store shelves in October 2023, and is available to preorder now! Seriously, beyond the themes and art work, it's a story that will excite and challenge you, it's a sci-fi adventure like you've never seen, unsettling and horrific, imaginative and inspiring, and really mind-blowing!

And I can’t wait to share a lot more with you about the series, and especially the making of - which was an entire odyssey in and of itself. The one thing I’ll say is I actually set this project up before Mindset at Vault Comics, but this was such a journey, we ended up publishing Mindset first, while Beyond Real formed.

So stay tuned, each week, I’ll reveal art seen only here and I’ll take you behind the scenes on what is absolutely the most ambitious undertaking I've taken on in comics.

And thanks for reading!

Zack Kaplan

7.25.23