***SPOILER WARNING***

IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE FIRST THREE ISSUES, YOU MAY WANT TO AVOID THIS.

 

PART II

So now we sit comfortably on the other side of the first mini-series. If you're reading this, I hope you've witnessed the awesome that was "Bizarre New World" issues 1-3, and are hungry to learn more. Now with the cat safely out of the bag, I can go into greater detail about where this sucker really came from. As before, I promise not to spoil anything about the upcoming series. As long as you've read issues 1-3, you need not worry about pesky spoilers.

I wrote in PART I that I'd come up with the basic core concept while walking to my car, then moments later as I was driving down the road, a new idea occurred to me, and it was this:

'What if he's only the first? What if the entire PLANET soon joins him?!'

The idea was so damn big I just about busted a blood vessel! I was honestly shocked out of my mind at the mere thought of it. It was too big, too insane, I could never write anything so completely nuts. I could hardly comprehend the sheer scope of the concept. How could I, someone who's barely ever left the state of California virtually my entire life, possibly tell a tale that encompasses the whole friggin' human race?

But skipping over those very scary thoughts, my mind jumped into imagining the possibilities such a scenario presents. The whole planet suddenly, and without warning, can actually fly on their own power. My brain seized on one word, and it stayed knocking in my head ever since.

Anarchy.

The world as we now it would truly snap a collective circuit. Everything would go into instant turmoil. If mankind survived the growing pains of the sheer chaos the beginning of this event would surely cause, from then on every facet of our lives would forever change. From getting out of bed in the morning, to going to work, to making love, you name it. To coin 2001: A Space Odyssey "The sky is no longer the limit!"

My mind was swimming with the possibilities of how something like that would play out, but as I said before, I soon got stuck on 'the reason.' Not only could I not come up with a working hypothesis for a man flying, I certainly couldn't fathom what the heck would cause the human race to break it's earthly bonds.

Then came my faithful get together with Lex Halaby 6 years later. After my second meeting with him, I was driving away, and my good buddy Matthew popped into my head. All of a sudden, Paul wasn't alone. In fact, this pretty boy got all the credit for being the world's first flying man! This of course leaving Paul with the worst case of green eyed envy I could possibly dream of. Then the story just made perfect sense to me. From there the plot unfolded naturally, and it had a very definite ending. But would anyone give a damn?

I had my meetings with Ape Entertainment, and they were anything but convinced. They loved the whole 'world flying' concept, but would anyone care about this quiet story in the beginning? I never wanted to sell the story revealing my huge plans, but not telling people what the story was REALLY about presented problems. Could I get away with selling the story as simply 'the world's first flying man' and keep the audience interested enough to make it to the big worldwide predicament? It was a very tough sell. There's no big villain, it's a very small scoped and mundane personal story about what this guy would go through. Not exactly typical comic book territory.

Big kudos to Ape Entertainment for taking the plunge. They liked the art, they liked the story, especially where it was eventually headed, but we were all concerned if the audience would actually give the book a chance. Thanks to the reviews and feedback from readers, we no longer need to worry.

If you've made it this far, please take my sincerest gratitudes for reading "Bizarre New World." I'm now getting to tell the real story, and it's a big one. But even with the huge canvas of planet Earth itself, it still only going to run 7 issues. The 4th issue, a double sized one shot titled "Population Explosion," will hit the stores in early 2008. Then comes a final 3 issue mini to wrap the whole thing up. There are also plenty of short stories coming based on the 'flying world' concept, so stay tuned to learn more.

Skipper Martin - 10/22/07