A couple days back, we exclusively shared character designs to Si Spurrier’s upcoming Boom! Studios series “Extermination.” Today, we have even more on the exclusive side to share, as we have an essay from Spurrier where he talks about the genesis and high concept of the idea, and what “Extermination” is all about in his mind. For those on the fence about it, I can assure you: Spurrier does a great job of selling this book just with his words. I can’t wait to see what it’ll be like with Jeffrey Edwards’ art.
Check out the Michael Gaydos cover to the left, the solicit for the book below, and then click through the jump to find Spurrier’s essay.
EXTERMINATION #1
(W) Simon Spurrier
(A) Jeffrey Edwards
We Lost. They Won. In the wake of an apocalyptic alien invasion, the world’s greatest super-heroes and deadliest super-villains must form an alliance to prevent their own extermination. Two arch-enemies, Nox, a driven hero, and Red Reaper, a ruthless villain, form a volatile partnership for the greater good. The enemy of your enemy is your friend – but will they be able to ultimately put aside their bitter past to prevent global genocide? What happens when all the battle lines are redrawn and foes become unlikely allies in a desperate war for the fate of the very planet – and the outcome of a species? Written by Simon Spurrier (X-Club, Fear Itself: The Home Front, Wolverine: Dangerous Games, Crossed), Extermination is a superhero survival story by an author that boldly explores the dark crevices of an entire genre.
Si Spurrier: “It’s Mad Max with super-powers.”
Not often does a one-line pitch conjure such a froth of images and ideas. Extermination lassoed my brain at the first post, bombarded me with a psi-bomb of possibilities and themes, and wrung-out my excitement-gland like an adrenaline enema. The tale which has emerged wears its High Concept on its rad-ravaged, rust-mangled sleeve, then plunges it into altogether more complex, darker and more rancid waters. It’s a thing of blistering deserts, acidic snowscapes, insane salvaged machinery, hi-octane chases and seething apocalyptic alien madness… but more importantly it’s a story about two people — two bitter enemies — forced together for survival and salvation.
Sometimes I think the two-tone morality of spandex comics can stray into an unhealthily simplistic view of the world — are you a Good Guy or a Bad Guy? All too often our beloved Hit-Things-Until-They’re-Fixed â„¢ genre dodges the gorgeous, ghastly nuances of what’s truly right and wrong. In Extermination we’re taking Costumed Conventionality as our starting-point then stamping on it until it shrieks.
In the boldly-coloured old world our two main characters were polar opposites: the cowl-wearing vigilante Nox and the megalomaniacal villain Red Reaper. But in the new world — a world in which the psychic technologies of the astral EDDA invaders have crippled the Earth, decimated its defences and humbled its heroes — all the old certainties must be re-evaluated. What’s the good of a crime-fighter in a world without law? Where’s the evil in a ruthless empire-builder on a planet-sized cinder?
Only together — despite years of shared history and hate — can the two men hope to save their tortured species. Only by travelling the ash-roads, assembling the burnt-out remnants of a bygone age, and taking the fight back to the devils who so grievously defeated them, can they heal the wounds of their world.
But both men have secrets. Both men have scores to settle and vendettas to pursue, and amidst the wreckage of civilisation nothing is as simple as it once was.
