With the campaign for The Forgotten Divine graphic novel launching soon on Kickstarter, from Mark Russell, Russ Braun and AHOY Comics, we are delighted to be joined once again by author Mark Russell. Mark has written books such as Bible: God Is Disappointed in You and Apocrypha. He has also written comics such as Harley Quinn, The Gang of Harleys, Dastardly & Muttley, Future Quest, Star Wars Adventures, Swine, Creepshow, Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of Terror, Project: Cryptid and Thanksgiving.
Hi Mark, it’s so great to have you with us again.
Can you tell us about the origins of The Forgotten Divine?
I can’t remember, to be honest. But I’ve always been fascinated by cults and especially the question of how you get rational and sometimes educated people to join a cause or belief system that, by all external appearances, is absolutely nuts. And I wanted to try to answer that question from within the cult. What the rabbit hole looks like from the inside. And I built the story of Rodney Coleman and his visions of an alien world with that question in mind.
Who is Rodney Coleman?
He is a homeless man and veteran who served as an AED during the War in Afghanistan. He spent his time there defusing explosive devices and came back from the war with severe PTSD. A fact which he assumes is driving his visions. But when others start experiencing the same visions, he becomes the focal point of a movement. In a way, it’s going crazy that saves his life.
When you conceived the idea for The Forgotten Divine, was Russ Braun the first artist that came to your mind?
I have long admired Russ’ artwork and thought he would be ideal for this project, but hiring him was Tom Peyer’s suggestion. But, yes, he was the first and thankfully only artist we talked about for The Forgotten Divine.
Did you want to release The Forgotten Divine as a graphic novel from the inception of the idea?
The problem with bringing this story to life is that I felt it was too long for a single issue but not long enough for a trade. Tom’s solution was elegant. Publish it as a one-shot, but in a way where its odd length would be more of an asset than a problem. That’s where crowdfunding came in.
How long have you been working on The Forgotten Divine?
I wrote it about two years ago and when I turned the script in I told Russ to take his time with it. I wanted it to be as good as it could possibly be and to only be as long or short as it needed to be and didn’t want to change the way we worked to hit an arbitrary deadline or page limit, and I think the fact that we decided to make it the way a craftsman builds a jewelry box in their garage really shows.
We have heard The Forgotten Divine described as a satirical science fiction drama. Has it been a challenge to write?
I don’t feel it’s as satirical as it is metaphorical. It’s not really parodying anything or anyone. There are funny moments, but the humor’s not really the point. The hard thing, for me, was kind of letting go of my original vision and letting the story become what it needed to be. Which is a story that takes a cult seriously. That’s primarily about what the people in the cult get out of it and why it’s almost inevitable for that to end in calamity.
The Forgotten Divine is AHOY Comics’ debut Kickstarter. How did that come about?
It was Tom’s idea and I think they chose this story as the trial balloon because it’s such an awkward length to sell in stores as a one-shot or a trade.
The concept for The Forgotten Divine sounds unique for the mainstream comic audience. Do you think the mainstream comic audience is ready for The Forgotten Divine?
Yes. I think people are always ready for something different, even if they don’t yet realize that. I think what the medium needs more than anything right now is a lot more flavors in the ice cream parlor, and this is definitely one of those. And while it might take a little while for pistachio caramel or whatever to find its audience, once it does, those people tend to really love it.
As crowdfunding is involved with The Forgotten Divine, does that make The Forgotten Divine special for you?
Not so much the crowdfunding itself. But the fact that I got to tell a story exactly the way I wanted to that’s not a page too long or too short and that everybody treated as a labor of love… that will always be very special to me.
What can you tell us about The Forgotten Divine?
While The Forgotten Divine is a science fiction story at heart, I feel like there’s a lot packed in there. It’s also part horror story, crime novel, and commentary about how the need to assign direction to our lives causes us to collide.
As the crowdfunding campaign is launching soon. How do you feel?
Hopeful. I think once people read the sample pages on the Kickstarter Page, they’ll get a really good idea what this story is like and whether they want it. I am confident enough that I’ll let the verdict ride on just those two pages.
Any message for the ComicBuzz readers?
Yes! Please just go to the Kickstarter page for The Forgotten Divine and sign up for the updates. You don’t necessarily have to buy the comic, but there will be a lot of really cool extras and samples and things that you might want regardless of whether you take the plunge on The Forgotten Divine. But also… take the plunge on The Forgotten Divine. It’s my biased belief that we’ve created something really wonderful.
Feel free to check out the The Forgotten Divine page on Kickstarter.
We would like to say a big thank you to Mark for chatting with us and wish him the best of luck with The Forgotten Divine.
