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Chris Callahan Talks the Afterlife and “The Misplaced”

By | December 11th, 2019
Posted in Longform | % Comments

Last month, Source Point Press released the first issue of “The Misplaced,” a new miniseries by Chris Callahan. The story is…well, let’s let the solicitation tell the story:

Cover by Chris Callahan
Written and illustrated by Chris Callahan

From the mind of television graphic designer Chris Callahan comes the first of a 4-issue supernatural mystery miniseries that will leave you questioning the very existence of existence. What if paradise wasn’t as it seemed? A tragic journey to the new world… Two souls separated by death… After a fatal shipwreck, James finds himself dissatisfied with the tedious machinations of eternity in the afterlife. A journey to discover the truth of his wife’s disappearance reveals a terrible secret even Knowledge can’t explain. The Misplaced is a dark supernatural tale of love and desperation that spans several planes of existence.

Today, we’re thrilled to be sharing an essay written by Callahan about his favorite depictions of the afterlife, many of which influenced “The Misplaced.” Make sure to pick up the first issue wherever comics are sold, and grab the second when it drops on December 26th.

Creating the Afterlife: 10 Fictional Depictions of What Comes Next

I’ve always been fascinated by the stories we tell ourselves about what happens after we die—and I know I’m not the first or only human to wonder about this. Archaeological evidence puts the first human burial at around 100,000 BCE. There is no evidence of religion at this point, but I’m willing to bet there was a story associated with this burial, a belief about this human’s “life” (or lack thereof) or their afterlife. Reverence for the dead does not come without some acknowledgment that a spark which was there is now not, even if the body itself is still whole. So what happened to that missing piece?

Our first figurative image of a goddess, the Venus of Hohle Fels, would be carved from a mammoth tusk approximately 65,000 years after that first burial. This particular artifact was found in a cave, but other Venus statues from around the same time are often found in graves. Based on this alone, I don’t think it’s a great leap to say that pretty much from the beginning, ever since there has been an “us” roaming the Earth, we have looked to ourselves and insisted: There must be something more.

Crack open a scientific journal, and pretty much everything can be explained by biological processes. I tip my cap and often find myself in the “life is just chemicals” crowd. But as soon as I write that, I find the notion unappealing. The you that’s you is more than chemical reactions, if for no other reason than it has to be.

My own musings on the subject led me (albeit indirectly) to writing “The Misplaced,” a four-issue comic series about spirits and what happens to them in death. Perhaps the most personally rewarding part of that process was the research. What you find if you step outside of strictly religious texts is a wide variety of takes on the afterlife, as well as some of the best, most thought-provoking stories that have ever been told.

I present here my “afterlife playlist,” ten of the most compelling tales of life after death represented in television, film, comics, and literature.

Black Mirror – San JuniperoNetflix Heaven is a place on a server. If an afterlife ever becomes scientific fact, this is the most likely way it will happen. The basic idea at play: In this world, you can download your consciousness onto a server independent of your body and meet other people in the same condition. But would you really want to stay in this “world” forever? Bring tissues and be prepared to have some interesting thoughts afterward. It won two Emmys, for TV writing and TV movie.

“Swamp Thing” – ‘Love and Death’ DC Comics Wherein Swamp Thing descends into the afterlife. Few comics have ever managed to strike the level of balance between horror, romance, and just plain bizarre as Alan Moore’s run on the series. In this story, Anton Arcane ships Abby to Hell. Swamp Thing goes on a quest to save her, taking him past, among other things, the ghost of Alec Holland.

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The Lovely Bones Alice Sebold After she’s murdered, a teenage girl observes from Heaven as her friends and family move on. I watched the movie before I read the book—horrible mistake. If you take anything from this article, it’s this: Please read instead of watch The Lovely Bones. One of the most heartbreaking, suspenseful, and mysterious versions of the afterlife ever told in modern literature.

The Brief History of the Dead Kevin Brockmeier The dead inhabit a city in the afterlife, but they only stay there so long as someone alive remembers them. The problem? The population is dwindling, and a plague ravages the people on Earth. A fascinating look at life after death told in what amounts to a meditation on memory.

“Sandman”DC/Vertigo I’m going to say something semi-controversial: I liked but did not love the first seven issues of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series. It gave us a glimpse into hell, and the quest was fun, but really it was issue #8 that told me this was going to be a different kind of comic. In the issue, Sandman visits his sister Death, an unexpected and incredibly original take on a “Grim Reaper” type character. They are both members of the Endless, eternal beings, which sets up a fantastic juxtaposition in the story. The end is handled with the craft of a master storyteller. For my money, it’s one of the finest single issue comics of all time.

The Good PlaceNBC Eleanor Shellstrop wakes up in Heaven. Her every whim is met. She can drink a dozen margaritas and never wake up hungover. There’s only one problem: she wasn’t righteous in life and doesn’t belong in Heaven. There is an abundance of serious dramas in this category of fiction. While still questioning the general meaning of life and its effect on death, The Good Place stands out simply because it is so damn funny.

What Dreams May Come Universal Pictures Heaven rendered as an impressionist painting. When I first saw the trailer, my kid brain couldn’t process why anyone would want to see a not-funny Robin Williams movie. I ended up watching it anyway—and what a rewarding experience. A few light moments aside, this is a very heavy film. After Chris Nelson dies in a car crash, he heads to Heaven. Unfortunately, his wife Annie, grief-stricken, takes her own life and ends up in Hell. Chris decides to leave Heaven and go after her.

“Nice Place to Visit,” Twilight Zone – This one item probably inspired my work on The Misplaced more than any. After a bank robbery goes wrong and the perpetrator is shot, a thief finds himself in Heaven. He wants for nothing. But in true Twilight Zone fashion, not all is as it seems.

“The Life After” Oni Press What if you one day figured out you were stuck in purgatory? What would you do? The protagonist Jude does just that and answers the latter question by teaming up with Ernest Hemingway’s ghost and… well, honestly, if “teaming up with Ernest Hemingway’s ghost” doesn’t sell you, nothing else I say will. It’s an eccentric and haunting take on what comes next.

Inferno – Dante Alighieri How could this not make the list? If you missed it in your English lit class, or forgot all the words you read because it was (cough) years ago—trust me, it’s worth studying again as an adult.


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