Frank Barbiere has written for basically every major publisher in the last couple years and he shows no signs of slowing down as he launches another creator-owned project at Boom, this time with artist/co-creator Christopher Peterson. It’s an apocalypse with a twist and Barbiere and Peterson begin the story with Earth just 48 hours from a catastrophic asteroid impact, with 75% of the population being evacuated from the planet. It’s the remaining 25% that are at the heart of “Broken World”.
Read on as we chat with Barbiere about unexpected horrors, finding a place at Boom, the “unapocalypse”, and much more. “Broken World” #1 hits shops tomorrow, so be sure to pick up your copy.
“Broken World” is your new Boom! Studios book with Chris Peterson. The short of it is that the world is ending in 48 hours due to asteroid impact and Elena Marlowe wants to get off the planet, but can’t. What else can you tell us about the book?
Frank Barbiere: “Broken World” is pretty much uncharted territory for me as a writer. While I’m a consumer of many different genres, I’ve stuck to mainly action and straight-up “genre” books for most of my career so far, and this one is by far a much more personal, character driven story. It’s exciting and horrifying to even attempt something like this, but I’m so happy with what we’ve all accomplished—we being artist/co-creator Christopher Peterson, colorist Marissa Louis, letterer Ed Dukeshire, and editors Eric Harburn and Chris Rosa, and myself—and feel satisfied on my end. It’s largely a response from me to some of my favorite stories, like “Y: The Last Man” and Lost, as well as what I think is a more original twist on the survival/post-apocalypse genres.
The book is largely about loss and dealing with the uncontrollable, unexpected horrors life throws at us.
I think at this point you’ve worked with just about every major comic publisher in the last couple years, but it seems like you’ve found a good groove at Boom. What’s made them such a great publisher to partner with?
FB: BOOM! has built a really amazing, unique company where you can do creator-owned material but have the infrastructure and support of a traditional publisher. My editors, Eric Harburn and Chris Rosa, are very close collaborators and sounding boards, and it frankly makes the work much stronger. I don’t subscribe to the “publisher wars” some creators try to perpetuate—I’ve worked with a lot of people and honestly the one factor that brings them together is…they’re publishing my work. Image and Dark Horse are both fantastic companies that I love working with (and will continue to do so), but BOOM! has certainly stayed very involved with me and are actively developing new projects and helping me grow. It means a lot to have a home there, and everyone at the company loves comics and puts their blood, sweat, and tears into them.
I think post-apocalyptic stories are some of the most common in media nowadays. There’s something that really seems to fascinate most people about them. What is it about the concept and the genre that makes you want to play within it now?
FB: As I mentioned, “Broken World” is a story about loss and personal tragedy (though on a potentially global scale), things that mesh nicely into the genre. For me, I always wanted to do something about our world rather than a world that didn’t resemble where we currently lived…i.e. like Mad Max, for instance. I think there’s something really haunting and interesting about an “un-pocalypse,” a world that isn’t largely different, but significantly changed. I think that’s what BKV did in “Y: The Last Man” so well, and why that world was so compelling. I think we all deal with loss and the terror of things changing every day, and it’s become more and more of a fear (the uncontrollable ending of everything) in the zeitgeist. Those are the aspects I’m focusing in on, at least.
In “Broken World” the majority of the human population is evacuated off Earth in preparation of the impending asteroid impact. Still, there are those left behind, like Elena, for reasons that are never made completely clear. What are these people feeling, essentially having been sentenced to death? How do they live out their days leading up to the impact?
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FB: think they’d be feeling frustration, rage, sadness, and immense anger. The thing about Broken World (that we don’t directly spell out) is that everyone technically had a fair chance—but it was a lottery. Some folks who were perfectly healthy, fine, upstanding citizens were told they couldn’t evacuate because of bad luck. This has lead to protests, riots, and a cult where people have given up and started taking their own lives willingly. It’s effectively a death sentence, and any time the governments of the world do something that drastic, there’s going to be a response. I was pretty careful to have a specific character for a few different view points, and seeing them clash is what’s going to really make for a good story.
Along with Elena, there’s many others being left behind on Earth, a few of which we meet in this first issue. You’ve already mentioned that there’s going to be a few different viewpoints. How are these characters going to interact with Elena? What sort of role, if any, will those headed off planet be playing in the story?
FB: It’s hard to talk a lot about this without spoiling the book, haha, but everyone has a purpose. Part of the fun is seeing who these characters become as control and their “normal lives” are stripped away. I’m really trying to show the different viewpoints that can arise in the face of disaster with our cast, and they will all certainly come into conflict as the book moves forward.
Your co-creator on “Broken World” is artist Chris Peterson, who’s really been blowing up lately with books all over the place. What brought the two of you together and how has the process been working on “Broken World”?
FB: Our editors Eric Harburn and Chris Rosa brought us together, but I’ve always been a fan of Chris’s work. He’s got such an emotive style and his “acting” is great–something pivotal for such a character focused book like this. I’ve given Chris a lot of very difficult stuff to draw and he’s doing an amazing job–sometimes the “simple” stuff is actually harder than things like cyborgs fighting gorillas. Our collaborator Marissa Louise who is doing colors on the book is also bringing such a great visual style. She’s really elevating the line work and bringing so much mood to the work–I couldn’t be more thrilled with the team. At it’s core they’re making the book very easy to read, which is very important for me.
I’ve read a couple places that “Broken World” is your one new creator-owned book for 2015. Is that accurate? If so, what makes it “the one” for this year?
FB: Yep. We’re still working on “Five Ghosts”, and I’m developing other things slowly, but “Broken World” is my big focus for 2015. This book has such a large scope and I really hope we can continue it for a long time. Working on things takes a lot of time and effort, and at this point I really would just rather do one new thing very well vs. try to flood the market. I really owe BOOM! for taking a shot with me, and I wanted to put the best book I possibly could out. I’m really proud of the work we’re doing, and hopefully it resonates with readers!
