So, what is OTHERWORLDS?
What is this crazy image below, which you may have seen out there in the world, on my social media feeds and elsewhere?
What have I roped you into?
For those of you who already know me and my work, you may remember OTHERWORLD — without the “s” — a creator owned limited series that I wrote and drew some 15 years ago for DC Comics/Vertigo, with Eisner-nominated color by the incredible Jeromy Cox.
For various contractual reasons, I was never able to finish that project — about a war between two inter-dimensional nations and a group of young people from LA drafted to fight for them — and I left it on a cliff hanger.
People have been asking me for years when I was going to finish the original OTHERWORLD. I was pleased to see it struck such a chord with so many of its readers, considering the book was fairly dense and certainly high minded, tackling everything from war to religious fundamentalism through the lens of a racially and sexually diverse cast.
And trust me, I had intended to wrap that story much earlier, especially to give a payoff to all of those who invested in it creatively and as a “thank you” to the folks who supported it all these years.
So is OTHERWORLDS just that? Is this just the end to the original series, finally?
No, not really.
It’s something… else.
A bit of a sequel. A bit of a prequel.
I’d call it a requel. A re-imagining, actually. Using a new format and the new drawing techniques I learned while working on WONDER WOMAN: HISTORIA VOL 1, and 15 extra years of experience to create something new.
Taking some of those old concepts and characters and that story and reexamining them now, 15 years later.
I’m not the same writer or artist or thinker. I couldn’t just pick it up from where I’d left it off. I wish I could — perhaps it would have been simpler! But it certainly wouldn’t have been this interesting, or fun!
For fans of the original series, none of the new series will negate what came before it. I don’t want anyone to think their investment in the original material didn’t matter. But it will recontextualize it in a (hopefully) very cool way, one that I’m very excited about.
The gang at Zestworld has given me an incredibly unique forum to dive back into the world of OTHERWORLDS. I’m eternally grateful for the opportunity. And I’m thrilled to be learning to work in scroll comic form, which is how like, half the world reads their comics these days. Any opportunity to be challenged 30+years into this career is one I’ll gladly take, and my fingers are crossed that you’ll dig the results too!
So- what can you expect from this little adventure in digital scroll comics, on a new platform that’s creating a whole new kind of comics publishing, one focused on artists and their vision?
Every week you’re going to get a new chapter and watch this story unfold. I’ll also be dropping bits and pieces of process and behind the scenes extras. And my hope is to use the various series I plan to introduce here to expose you to some fresh talent and give these voices a platform to not only help me build out OTHERWORLD, but to create other worlds of their own as well.
You should be warned — It’s gonna start smaller than the original OTHERWORLD. More character focused. More of an unraveling mystery. I’m adapting to the format and letting it tell me where and how to take these characters, and how to reveal them to you. I just hope that you’ll stick around for the ride. I think it’s going to be more fun and more personal than anything I’ve worked on before.
In our next e-mail, I’m going to bring everyone up to speed on the original OTHERWORLD, on some of the big ideas behind it, and showcase the one character who matters most to OTHERWORLDS— and it won’t be who you think it is.
Your best bet is to subscribe (I know, I know -- another subscription!). Go check the tiers -- for $8 a month you'll get the new issues plus a bunch of other fun stuff as we go down this crazy path together.
I’m so excited for you to see it all!