Hey it’s Zack!
I say that because some of these great comic newsletters have teams on board, and it feels important to let you know, there aren’t any interns in the building, yet. Just an update from me. Personal. Heartfelt. Caring. But also with a bang. That’s my opening. It’s Zack, heartfelt but with a bang!
Speaking of bangs, I’ve been unveiling my latest new comics to the world and we just dropped an awesome METAL SOCIETY trailer. The bell has run, the fight is on! Hey, want to check it out —
As you can see, we’re opening METAL SOCIETY with a lot of energy and excitement. And BREAK OUT also opens with a lot of energy, both its trailer and comic.
But it got me thinking about openings. Openings for a trailer. Openings for a comic. Openings for a story. When you open a door or a story, is it just an opening?
An opening is not just a portal, a doorway or a beginning, it’s really a combination of two things, if you think about it. The chamber opens and the things on each sides connect. And in the world of science fiction, it’s often two things that probably should not go together. Those quantum particles and that electrical meta-energy were never meant to mix. That robot was not supposed to develop emotions. Pete Davidson was not supposed to be a thing, but here we are, right?
So I thought I’d use that framework to tell you a little about my thoughts on BREAK OUT and METAL SOCIETY and share with you the first pages of each!
METAL SOCIETY, from Image Comics / Top Cow, with art by Guilherme Balbi, Marco Lesko and Troy Peteri, tells the thrilling drama of a future world of robots, who resurrect humans to do the manual jobs they don’t want to do. When a young human woman longs to see humanity equal, she faces off in the robotic custom of fighting to show what humans are made of.
We’ve seen many robot and human stories, but the idea here was to combine a robot society with robots in the power position with upstart humans in the diminished power spot. These two things seem like they were never meant to go together. In addition, the boxing/fighter drama and a sci-fi robot world also seem diametrically opposed, which was one of the aspects that made Metal Society so much fun to write. Robots acting like humans.
Dark Horse’s BREAK OUT, with art by Wilton Santos, Jason Wordie and Jim Campbell is the combination of heist thriller and a spaceship, which was something I was just craving as a sci-fi and heist fan. I love both these genres, but it would seem hi-technology prisons and spaceships are just too impenetrable, especially for teenagers. They’ll never get in. That sounds like a good heist story to me. But also, Break Out is the combination of a deadly threat to young people and the apathy of older generations to accept that threat. Sadly, while this seems like it shouldn’t go together, it’s reflective of the world we live in. And yet, our own conscience can hear this element in a story and feel that something is wrong.
I think if you are starting a comic whether with an elevator pitch, a trailer, an issue or perhaps any science fiction story, perhaps any story at all, it draws people in when you mention those two things that don’t go together. You don’t even need to say they don’t go together. A spaceship and a teenage heist. Robot and humans fighting. Again, Pete Davidson doing…whatever he’s doing.
If you want to hear me talk more about both series, I just chatted with David Brooke and Nathan Simmons of AIPT and you can hear that interview here. Just click on the button below.
I’m planning a big year for 2022, and I can’t wait to bring you these series and more.
METAL SOCIETY, from Image Comics / Top Cow releases May 5th, drawn by Guilherme Balbi, Marco Lesko and letters by Troy Peteri. Go check out all six covers up on METAL SOCIETY @ PREVIEWSWORLD and make sure your comic shops orders the one you want.
BREAK OUT, from Dark Horse Comics releases April 13th, drawn by Wilton Santos, Jason Wordie and letters by Jim Campbell. We just announced Issue #2 covers, and we have a preview of the first issue pages next week! Again, you may want to tell your shop which ones you want, and with paper shortages, pre-ordering has never been smarter. Check it out at BREAK OUT @ PREVIEWSWORLD.
I have a NEW SERIES only 2 weeks away from announcement. Wow, I can’t believe it’s so close.
The great thing about taking thermodynamic quantum quarks and smashing them into inverted power wormholes, you never know what you’re going to get. Just like a great story! Thanks for joining me this week and for listening to my ramblings. I hope you’re enjoying it, and feel free to leave me a comment or share Technobabble.
I’ll have to come up with a good closer. Hmmm. You stay classy, comics?
And thanks for reading!
Zack Kaplan
3.2.2020