Vault Comics is going to space with its new series, described as Ocean’s Eleven in space. “Heist, or How to Steal a Planet,” is written by Paul Tobin (“Bandette,” “Colder”) and illustrated by his “Made Men” partner in crime Arjuna Susini (“The Replacer”). The series focuses on a planet – shockingly named Heist – that is causing all sorts of trouble for the Pan-Galactic government, and so a solution is introduced by a band of thieves: why not steal it?
Over at The Beat, Tobin talks about his relative lack of science fiction reading as a child, and how he has come to the genre later in life:
“I did not grow reading stories about space. Science-fiction, true science-fiction, was rarely represented in the stacks of reading material next to my bed. Looking back, I honestly can’t tell you why this is,” said Tobin in a statement. “The vast majority of what I read in my youth was garnered from the boxes upon boxes of various garage and estate sale ‘treasures’ my grandma Steinberg would haul back to her farm in upper Iowa. I’d sort through those boxes or delve deep into the precarious stacks in the rooms of her house, or the various barns and other out-buildings, sometimes batting away wasp nests in my quest for Mad Magazines, superhero comics, Harvey comics, Creepy and Eerie magazines, and endless novels with buff men clutching swords while lissome women posed provocatively. But… there was little in the way of books about space. There were other worlds, to be sure, but they were all in the class of fantasy worlds, like those of John Carter romping his way across Mars. It seems that the Iowans of my day, or at least the Iowans who held garage sales, did not buy science fiction books.
“Maybe it was Star Wars that changed the public mindset, but I never really got into Star Wars, and Star Trek was only amusing, and so as I grew up to be a writer I never planted my character’s feet on foreign planets. It just wasn’t in my nature. But things change. The Triton stories by Daniel Torres entered my conscious. As did the world of Blade Runner. And then, finally, I was asked to help write a huge crossover combining Prometheus, Aliens, and Predator. And so my characters finally put their feet on alien soil. Okay, make that ‘my’ characters, but… still. The point is; it was FUN. And I was playing Mass Effect. And IT was fun, too.
“Space was just a background where any type of story could take place. Romance. Adventure. And, of course, stories about con men. Let’s go big. Let’s pull a BIG con. Let’s steal a PLANET.”
The series will debut in November, and features colors by Vittorio Astone letters by Saida Temofonte, and design by Tim Daniel. Head over to The Beat for a preview of the first issue as well as the variant cover by Nathan Gooden and Daniel.
