Rafael Albuquerque is easily known for his haunting art on Vertigo ’s American Vampire comics , but he ’s running out of time ( literally ! ) in Ei8ht , co - written by Mike Johnson , and due out next February from Dark Horse . We ’re thrilled to announce and reveal the first detail regarding this chronally take exception scifi epic .
io9 : What can you tell us about Ei8ht ?
Rafael Albuquerque : Ei8ht is a story about Joshua , a chrononaut from the future , who is beam to this inhospitable seat called the Meld . By trying to bring through his married woman from a deadly disease he accepts the delegacy to travel in prison term to vote out someone and , by doing that , admit that everything will change if and when he return . But weird things bump when get in in the Meld . Dinosaurs , humans , and many levels of engineering science can be found there . It ’s not a plaza in time , but something else and Joshua will have to cipher it out to stay animated and save his married woman .
Mike Johnson : We really wanted to make a setting where we had the freedom to precede any kind of character , beast , fomite , and costumes we want . The unique nature of the Meld gives us the chance to countenance our imagination run tempestuous .
How would you describe The Meld ?
RA : You ’ve belike heard of the aircraft that just disappear over the Bermuda Triangle , the events at Stonehenge , or the dark side of the synodic month ? The Meld is a place where some things that inexplicably disappear [ or ] re-emerge . So , essentially , the Meld is a boastful “ temporal chicken feed can . ” A place where you’re able to line up anything that ever lived on the face of Earth , coexist .
MJ : The Meld is the lieu your keys go when you lose them . It ’s where you ’ll find the matching sock that vanish in your wash . It ’s where a medieval horse lands after he falls through a “ charming ” portal . Maybe a mastodont or two . Things pulled out of time and into the Meld . It score it a life-threatening place , because so many different things are colliding in this new dimension .
What revolutionize the story of Ei8ht ?
RA : I think the conception came up by the will to draw everything I like in just one comic . That ’s very interesting for an creative person . Also , I wanted to wreak in a music genre that I had n’t yet and that ’s why I decided to do sci - fi . The inspiration for this came from my favorite movies and Bible from the ’ 80s and ’ 90s .
Why are you using the routine “ 8 ” in the statute title ?
RA : The turn eight and the eternity symbolization are almost very except for the orientation course in which we see them . This is a narrative about cycles/second , destiny . The numeral eight is what pushes Joshua to his path , and the unnumbered cycles/second is what he must to break through to fulfill his destiny .
MJ : Both the number eight and the eternity symbolic representation look in the level for very different and specific reason , but they portion out a connection that at long last find the fate of the character , and the Meld itself . We also wanted a title of respect that was immediately a piffling unlike from the usual , and that extend to the logotype Rafa designed as well .
How does Ei8ht connect to Rafael ’s webcomic Tune 8 ?
RA : Tune 8 was a webcomic published in Brazil a few twelvemonth ago , and it could n’t be finished at the time . The original idea was just to republish that level and complete the ending . I was n’t 100 % glad with that idea , so I invite Mike to help oneself me out with a “ remaking ” , get ’s say .
We ’ve used the original idea from Tune 8 , but place it up for a dissimilar data formatting . This is a five - issue mini serial publication . Its impressive how format might dictate how the story should be , and we experienced this in Ei8ht . We ’ve alter a lot from the original idea , however , the core of the webcomic remain the same .
MJ : This is really Rafa ’s baby , and he asked me to link up him in make a bombastic story and world based on his original webcomic . We had a great time working together on the Superman / Batman title for DC comics a few years back , and I was honored when he asked me to join him on Ei8ht .
Rafael , you ’re best know for your beautiful work on American Vampire . What are you doing differently for Ei8ht ?
RA : I think the large secret plan change here are with the coloring material . We are using a very limited palette and this book would never work without it . The colors are an of the essence storytelling tool in our Holy Writ and used in a way rarely witness in comics today .
MJ : Rafa ’s nontextual matter in this serial count unlike anything else on the stands , and he ’s bringing a floor of visual conception to the story that is stunning . We really want to give lector a setting and characters they ’ve never seen before , and we hope this is just the get-go of the stories that can be told in this world .
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