In a world dominated by comic book movies and comics adapted into TV shows, the source medium is gaining popularity with creatives from other industries as a platform for bringing life to their concepts. Scorched Earth is an original graphic novel that erupts onto the field with a story that's a literal nightmare come to life. Check out the exclusive preview below.
Scorched Earth is created by Janet Montgomery, a lead actress on the NBC medical drama New Amsterdam. The GN is written by author Dame Darcy, known from Alan Moore's Tomorrow Stories and her Fantagraphics anthology Meat Cake, as well as Shane Riches, writer and producer who has worked on Afflicted and with Mick Foley for WWE Superstars. The artist is Italian sci-fi illustrator Daniele Nicotra, alongside colorists Falk Hansel and Marlon Illagan.
The plot of Scorched Earth comes from a dream of Montgomery's in which she watched the entire world burn beneath her from the perspective of an airplane passenger. The comic book takes that disaster as a starting point when that airplane escapes the towering flames unscathed, leaving all those onboard the last remaining members of humanity. Scorched Earth follows those passengers as they discover the cause of the Earth's immolation and fight to save what remains of their planet. Here are the preview pages, complete with Daniele Nicotra's cover:
Montgomery is the latest acting talent to enter the comics industry, a growing trend among celebrities with stories to tell, most recently action star Keanu Reeves and former Disney Channel star Dylan Sprouse. The practice includes both one-off passion projects and performers who establish themselves as comics industry veterans in their own right, like My Chemical Romance's Gerard Way, creator of The Umbrella Academy. Every celebrity comic book project is a chance for someone used to the constraints of television or film to approach a new medium that blends the visual spectacle of the big screen, the personal experience of the small screen, and a special effects budget limited only by what their artists can bring to the page.
With the world a burnt horror after an extraterrestrial firebomb incinerates the planet, a resilient air marshal must lead her fellow plane crash survivors against an invasive alien nightmare that threatens to annihilate those few still alive. Created by fan-favorite actress, Janet Montgomery (New Amsterdam, Salem) and producer Erik Olsen (The Book of Eli) and co-written by Eisner-nominated Dame Darcy (Meat Cake), Scorched Earth is an end-of-days epic following a determined heroine hellbent on salvaging the planet from techno-organic monsters and humanity itself.
Scorched Earth, published by Paper Movies, releases in print at local comics providers on August 5th, 2020, and hits digital platforms on August 12th, 2020.
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