Julian Darius, is not just the founder of the Sequart Organization, and a friend of Biff Bam Pop!, he’s a serious talent in the comics world. If you dug his work in Classics on Infinite Earths and Martian Comics, you will love his newest project, The Canals of Earth. Meet me after the jump for the details on this fascinating Kickstarter.
Ever wonder what an alien planet’s science fiction would look like? Discover a new sci-fi masterpiece in comics form.
Humans have long looked to the sky and wondered about Mars. What if someone was looking back?
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/martianlit/the-canals-of-earth/widget/video.html
“The Canals of Earth” is the story of how Mars sees Earth, running from Martian prehistory to its space age. We begin in Martian prehistory, when Martians looked to the skies and imagined Earth as a goddess. We see some of the Martian mythology about Earth, tied to the invention of writing. We then see Martian science-fiction, in which they imagined aliens in their own image.
Want to see what alien science fiction looks like? Then “The Canals of Earth” is for you!
We also see Martian telescopes, and explore the various explanations Martians proposed for what they were seeing. (The story’s title, “The Canals of Earth,” comes from how we did this to Mars, hypothesizing Martian canals.) Then we witness the Martian space age — probes that delivered the first views of Earth, and finally the first manned Martian mission to Earth.
With 23 color pages of story, this is an insanely fun sci-fi comic, as well as an excavation of our own, Earthbound history of science fiction. It’s a trip back to an earlier, wondrous time, when we could imagine all the planets were populated — now filtered through the mirror of Martian imagination.
The Creators
The issue is written by Julian Darius, who holds a Ph.D. in English and is a prominent comics scholar who founded Sequart Organization.
The issue is illustrated by Mansjur Daman, an Indonesian comics legend known for his dynamic artwork.
The issue is colored by Diego Rodriguez, whose beautiful colors have graced such titles as Ballistic.
The cover (an homage to the classic 1902 silent movie A Trip to the Moon) is by David A. Frizell, who’s done work for Sequart Organization and did the cover to Martian Comics #3.
Background
“The Canals of Earth” is a 23-page full-color self-contained comic book. You can enjoy it without any prior knowledge. But it’s also Martian Comics #5, and its story is set in the same universe as that series.
Martian Comics debuted in July 2014, after three years of development and a Kickstarter campaign that helped us complete issue #1. The response to the series has been overwhelming, with readers telling us this was exactly the kind of fun but thoughtful sci-fi comic they’d been waiting for. After getting through issue #2 on our own, we turned to Kickstarter to help complete issue #3 – a 52-page spectacular featuring seven separate stories! Issue #4 is currently being completed, and it’s another oversize issue, running 39 pages of story.
Issue #5 – “The Canals of Earth!” – is offers a break from our ongoing story and stands on its own. It’s currently being colored and lettered. We’ve targeted a July release for the public, although we may be able to have it to donors sooner!
For more details on this project and Kickstarter, click here.
This is amazing!!!!