A new science fiction comic book series from Skybound blasts off this summer taking a young writer’s career into a higher orbit.
Horizon by Brandon Thomas with artists Juan Gedeon and Frank Martin was one of several new creator-owned projects announced at Image Expo in Seattle. We caught up with Thomas at Emerald City Comicon to talk about the origin of the book, his journey to this big moment and what fans can expect from his book.
Here’s what you need to know about Horizon from Image Expo and our one on one with Thomas on the heroes of his sci-fi thriller:
“This book is about the hypocrisy of survival,” said Thomas at Image Expo. “Our planet has suffered its last abuses, and now humanity’s future lies only in the stars, and some unsuspecting world where we can repeat all of our previous mistakes. Zhia Malen has come to Earth to make sure we finally take some responsibility for our actions.”
“Zhia Malen thought she’d fought her very last war, until she learned her planet was targeted for occupation…by a desperate world called Earth. The people of Earth will be told that her arrival on our planet means invasion. These are lies. This is retaliation, and Horizon explores what happens when our planet finally runs out of second chances. And when we meet an alien race just as committed to survival as we are.”
With a career including X-Force: Shatterstar, Voltron and The Many Adventures of Miranda Mercury, Thomas is no stranger to science fiction but this latest project takes a darker turn. Science fiction is a thrilling escape but often stories of alien species and worlds reflect on our humanity.
“Unpleasant things mostly,” Thomas replied.
With Skybound, Thomas is set to soar but how did he get here? For aspiring writers, how long does it take to make it?
“Ten. Figure on ten. That’s what I tell people breaking in. If you can’t give it seven to ten years to getting in and staying in…it’s just save yourself a lot of trouble and heartache because it will take a lot longer than you think it is.”
The story of Horizon has been in Thomas’s mind for a while but how did he turn concept into reality coming soon to a comic book store near you?
“It was actually a pitch probably I’ve had five years now. I have this running list of pitches. It’s usually like a title then a tagline. Horizon was something I’ve been holding on to for a while. Originally it was called Insurgent for a while then the world kind of changed then I was like, I don’t know if I should use that word anymore (smiling).
Thomas recalled that Sean Mackiewicz (Skybound Editorial Director) reached out in early 2014 after remembering his Miranda Mercury book, Thomas’s first pitch was Horizon and the development began.
Thomas: “We started talking about plots, walkthroughs. I used to send like these crazy detailed blocks for the first 15 issues and say here’s the first 15 issues of the book (recalling his excitement) which I don’t encourage anyone to do because it’s…insane. I’m lucky that they didn’t say “I’m not reading this!” (laughs) but we went back and forth carving deep into the concept. I started writing scripts and that evolved into an eventual green light then I got write more scripts and then we got Juan on board and now we’ve announced it. I’ve been working on this two years in relative secrecy. I didn’t realize how anxious keeping the secret was making me until when I didn’t have to do it anymore I said, wow this is so much better, not to have to do that.”
Thomas recalls the excitement of being paired up with artists Juan Gedeon (Tomb Raider, Ghost Racers, Spread, Strayer) and Frank Martin and how it took creativity to a new level.
Thomas: “Most people know Juan from Ghost Racers from Marvel’s Secret Wars, which was just insane with fire, cars and bikes and all sorts of crazy stuff, so he’s bringing that kind of energy and intensity to Horizon which is one of the reasons Sean went after him. “I think the action on this book would super cool with Juan drawing it” and he was right. Juan’s done four issues already and we got Frank Martin which is just amazing. We’re so overjoyed to get him. When Sean sends us an email saying “what about Frank Martin?” “Frank Martin! Like East of West Frank Martin? Star Wars. Iron Man Frank Martin? Get him before he changes his mind.” (Laughs).
What can fans expect from Horizon? When asked if it’s sci-fi, action, political, conspiracies, Thomas replies with an enthusiastic “yes, all.”
Thomas: “Zhia and her team have encountered the worst possible example of human beings that one can encounter. So when they come here to stop our invasion efforts, they’re pretty confident that everyone on Earth is like that, and what we becomes interesting is once they get here, become immersed in our culture, our world – what happens when some members of the team start to think, hey you know what, maybe all these people aren’t so terrible, maybe they’re like we were a hundred years ago. They’re just not as quite evolved as we are and it gets into the morality of the conflict.
Every writer is asked to sum up a new project to sell it. The tagline is the just the beginning for a moral tug of war at the heart of a fight for survival between rival races.
Thomas: “When I was working on the official Image press release I came up with this tagline and ran it by Skybound, then asked, is this too harsh? But is this really about the hypocrisy of survival. It’s about how one faction is allowed to go the extra mile to do the things they need to do to survive, and get the resources they need to thrive but when another group or faction does the same thing, it’s frowned upon, it’s condemned. That’s really what the series delves into. It’s cool action, It’s cool sci-fi, spaceships, laser guns, transforming suits, there’s a crumbling earth. You’ll find that out in the first issue because the state of earth is different than it is now so that will be exciting for people to get into and experience. You’ll find out just what kind of state earth is in and there elements that not everyone on earth is aware of how dire their situation is …so that’s all I say about that. It will be a big thing later.”
Creating a conflict on this scale requires compelling characters amid new worlds the reader wants to explore. As a writer how does he balance character and world building?
Thomas: “Always a challenge. We have a lot of discussions about cliffhangers, how fast to reveal information, but for me it’s always the character. I usually do the scripts completely out-of-order. I have an outline. I’ll first jump into a meaty character scene. Something between Zhia and one of her team members that’s really interesting. That’s fun because all the problems these characters have with each other on their home world have now been amplified now that they’re in a completely different environment. It’s a high pressure mission. The stakes – they’re literally fighting to guarantee their planet’s survival. Zhia’s (laugh) she’s hard to take sometimes – and its great to write characters like that. They do things you would never do. That’s always the greatest thing about playing with characters. They do and say things and they manipulate people. That’s always where it starts and I try to let the world building evolve out of the character moments.”
Just down from Emerald City Comicon is the Science Fiction Hall of Fame at EMP Museum. I thought of what science fiction and fantasy influences fueled Thomas and his journey to Horizon.
Thomas: “Project specific. Just in the hotel room The Matrix was on and I said, oh wow I guess there is some Matrix in there. Sometimes the influences have really permeated in there and it’s really hard to dig them out sometimes. Star Wars is my primacy influence and not that there’s a lot of Star Wars in it. When I saw Star Wars on v-h-s it completely changed the course of my life. That’s when I stated to think about, wow, what if this happened? I know we just got Episode VII but I wrote Episode VII fifteen years ago in my room! (laughing). That’s how I started out, writing extensions of Star Wars. I used to write in between episodes of my favorite cartoons like Thundercats and Voltron. And I got to write Voltron which was crazy. It’s Star Wars, The Matrix, Evangelion. It’s a weird amalgamation of movies, books and video games – for me it’s all about trying to find that feeling, give that feeling I had when first saw Star Wars trying to trigger that in someone else is my ultimate goal.”
The out of this world new comic book arrives days before the biggest comic book event on the planet and hits home for Thomas.
“Comes out week before San Diego Comic-Con and I live in San Diego so that will be a big show for me, they may have to carry me out on a stretcher!”
Horizon launches from Image/Skybound on July 13, 2016.
Take a look and click to see Horizon #1 interior art full size:
By Editor