Our friend Omaha Perez of Drude fame has a new original graphic novel, Super Terre.r, coming out from Devil’s Due/First Comics. It’s in the new July Previews catalog and it is a comic you won’t want to miss. Omaha stopped by First Comics News to let our readers know what to expect from Super Terre.r just in time for readers to add it to their pull list.
First Comics News: Where and when does Super Terre.r take place?
Omaha Perez: The story begins in the year 2321 on a distant and long forgotten Super Earth (Super Terre in French), an exoplanet close to Earth’s size. This planet has ideal conditions to support human life. There are long abandoned cities left by a mysteriously absent humanoid race.
A deep space mining ship has been sabotaged in a communications dead zone. Davies, the Planetologist, lucks upon this Super Terre. With no good alternative they make their way to the planet. After several fatalities crew members dub the planet Super Terror.
1st: What is Earth like in this time period?
Omaha: Have you read the basis for Blade Runner, PK Dick’s DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP? I envision it to be similar to that. Everyone who could has fled Earth, leaving the planet to criminals and the destitute. Generations have now been born and raised on lunar and Martian settlements with no thoughts of returning to the virtually uninhabitable Earth.
1st: It reads like Aliens meets the Twilight Zone. Is that the feel you were going for?
Omaha: Thank you, that’s great! Honestly, I was just trying to recreate this intense nightmare I had. It turned out to be a real gift. All of the major plot elements of the central storyline were there including the ending, which made writing it a lot of fun. It was like fill-in-the-blanks. Of course, then several characters, particularly Davies and Philip, took on lives of their own.
1st: What caused the shuttle crash on Super Terre
Omaha: The shuttle crash initiates the crew’s fearful, negative attitude towards this lush Eden-like paradise. Several of the crew died in this incident, several more were injured. Was it a freak accident, a mechanical problem, was the pilot depressed and suicidal, does the planet itself emit malignant energy? These are questions I want the readers to ask themselves,
1st: Who is Captain Stephen Booth?
Omaha: Captain Booth is the stoic leader of the mining ship and its crew. As the entire crew has, he’s left his former life for this deep space mining expedition. He and most of the crew have made this enormous sacrifice to secure decent lives for their families – families they are unlikely to ever be with again. Booth is ill equipped to manage the crew under the crisis of an unknown killer. As he puts it, “I’m just a pilot with seniority.”
1st: Who is Dr. Dee McCabe?
Omaha: Dee is the Company psychologist – a vital role within this crew. In this crisis situation she takes an active leadership role. Captain Booth heavily relies on her counsel. She’s married to Dr. Philip McCabe, the Chief Medical Doctor. The story is mainly told from Dee’s viewpoint. The Narration is from her Log.
1st: Who is Davies?
Omaha: Davies is the Company Planetologist. As their ship was left nearly powerless, it was he who was tasked with finding a nearby habitable planet. He found the Super Terre. A disgraced archaeologist, suspicions naturally fell on him for having a motive to strand them on this planet.
1st: Why does the crew think Super Terre is uninhabited?
Omaha: Advance satellites found no evidence of intelligent life remaining on the Super Terre.
1st: Why did you switch artists between chapters one and two?
Omaha: Greg Hinkle was at that time also working on my good friend Jason McNamara’s excellent OGN, THE RATTLER (now available from Image Comics!) These were both very big projects. Drawing them simultaneously meant they were both progressing very slowly. As he had committed to THE RATTLER first, he dropped out on SUPER TERRE.R.
Jason McNamara and Tony Talbert had done LESS THAN HERO, FIRST MOON and CONTINUITY together. I met them years ago (2004?) when we had neighboring tables at WonderCon in San Francisco. Jason and I became immediate friends. I remember Tony quietly drawing all weekend.
Fast forward to ten years later, and I was really knocked out by paintings Tony was posting on Facebook. I asked him to do a pin-up for THE DRUDE (now available: Ddp/1First Comics!). I loved his piece so much I not only bought the original but we used it for the TPB cover!
When Greg dropped out of SUPER TERRE.R I immediately thought of Tony. Their styles are very different, yet within a few pages of Tony’s work you are so drawn in by his work, the art change becomes irrelevant. I am a huge Talbert fan! He knocked it out of the park with SUPER TERRE.R. He’s nearly finished illustrating DRUDE 2 and he continues to turn in stunning pages. I’m preparing to write him something new as I’m under instructions from our publisher Ken Levin to “Keep him busy.” So there will be much more from Perez and Talbert!
1st: What makes Super Terre.r so cool no self-respecting comic book fan should miss it?
Omaha: Not just comic fans, but any reader – or really anybody who enjoys a compelling story – will enjoy SUPER TERRE.R. Or come for the gorgeous art! I am confident that once you crack this book open you won’t want to put it down.
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