We are delighted to share character designs from Benjamin. Benjamin #1 is shipping in June from Oni Press as a limited series in prestige format. The Benjamin series is from Edgar Award nominee and Philip K. Dick Award winner writer Ben H. Winters and artist Leomacs. To accompany the character designs, we also have commentary from Leomacs and Oni Press Editor-in-Chief Sierra Hahn.
LEOMACS:
As Ben put it, for Benjamin we needed someone who physically looked like a house cat. Facially I wanted him to be striking but who could remind us of a slimmer Philip K Dick, but more house-catty and less intimidating.Marcus is such a cool character, but his budget and job suck a fair bit of coolness out of him. He is a hotel manager who wears a secondhand doorman suit he adapted, so he can look professional. (That’s the suit’s backstory I thought up.) Now, the dog, well… the real life Strawman is actually my dog. He was initially meant to be a beagle, but as my dog Charlie (a female springer spaniel mix) is very expressive and always with me, I asked if I could use her as a model and Ben agreed. I’m glad because at least now she’s earning her keep a little bit. (Just joking, of course.)
SIERRA:
I love that Leo describes Benjamin as a house cat. He definitely has more alley cat vibes to me, but in the best possible way. I wouldn’t say he’s streetwise, but he’s tenacious, hungry for the truth, and the center of his universe.Leo did a brilliant job bringing Marcus to life. Like he’s someone who wants to show up for the role (at his job, for Benjamin’s crazy adventure, his ex, the dog) in the most generous way. He doesn’t like to let people down even though it may hold him back from being undeniably, perfectly himself.
