Why is the TVaholic talking about a new comic book that was released yesterday? Well, because The Stranded is from both Sci Fi and Virgin Comics. They have been working together on creating potential multimedia properties in the science fiction genre that would make both a great comic and possibly a great TV show, movie or video game as well.
The Stranded is the first of two new comic books being released under the dual imprint of Sci Fi and Virgin Comics. Check out a cover from the first issue below. Each story idea had to be approved by both companies to move forward. Once the idea was accepted, both had input into the creation process at each stage. Virgin, first and foremost, wanting to make a great comic book and Sci Fi, obviously, wanting it to be translatable for publishing in other media formats. While the TVaholic has never been much into comics, anything that could potentially lead to another great sci-fi story making it onto the small screen, sounds pretty good.
Yesterday, the TVaholic, along with other media outlets, was offered the opportunity to talk with the creator/writer, Mike Carey, and the editor, Stuart Moore, of The Stranded. The only thing the TVaholic wanted to know, was how the creative process might have differed during this project, from what would normally go into creating a new comic story, since everybody going in new there were future TV, movie, game, etc. possibilities down the road? This question turned out to be answered early on and then was expanded upon later in the interview, so the TVaholic sat back and listened to what was a pretty interesting discussion. We will have the entire interview posted here at TVaholic.com, as soon as we can wrestle the transcript of the 45-minute Q&A into a readable post.
For those that don’t know, which included the TVaholic until yesterday, Mike Carey is a very prolific writer of comics. His has recently worked on titles such as X-Men, Ultimate Fantastic Four, Voodoo Child, and his own concepts like, Faker, Crossing Midnight, and The Re-gifters. He also spent extended periods working on Lucifer, John Constantine, and Hellblazer. Most recently he has been traveling the country on his book tour for his first novel, The Devil You Know.
Stuart Moore has written books, comic books, graphic novels, and novels. These include a serialized study of comics called A Thousand Flowers, graphic novel work on Para, Firestorm, Earthlight, and New Avengers/Transformers and two novels: American Meat and Reality Bites: In the Jungle No-one Can Hear You Scream.
So, what is The Stranded about, you may be wondering by now? Well, it is initially being released as a five issue miniseries. The story arc in the first five issues could be thought of as the rough equivalent of introducing a new TV show with a two-hour pilot episode. If it shows promise, the story will continue on from there. As for the story itself, from the press release:
In The Stranded, five seemingly everyday people must face the terrifying question: what if your entire life – your childhood, your family, your memories – was a lie? For the stranded, Sisera, Endo, Drum and Cullen, it’s true. They are each unknowingly from another world called Standfire, and now their past is returning to try and kill them.
One by one, The Stranded are assaulted by Janus, an altered human working for a mysterious, otherworldly force that seeks their destruction. Their only hope: Tamree, a dark, mysterious woman sent to Earth to protect them. She must awaken the buried individual memories of The Stranded — along with their powerful, unique psychic and physical abilities. But even if they can defeat Janus and his unseen masters, they must also deal with one of their own…who, damaged and unable to deal with her incredible new powers, cuts a swathe of incredible destruction across the Earth.
The story sounds promising. What do you think, sound interesting to you? A review copy of the first issue is on its way, so a review of The Stranded will be coming soon, as well.
The first issue of The Stranded will have two different covers. One is from Marc Silvestri, who has worked on Cyberforce, Witchblade, The Darkness and X-Men and is pictured below. The other is from Greg Horn, who has worked on Elektra and Emma Frost.
This whole collaboration process seems like an exciting way to bring new stories to life. What do you think about the joint venture between Sci Fi and Virgin Comics?
