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AWA Studios is the newfangled amusing book publisher to arrive on the market , bringing an impressive design for a brand - new superhero share universe – with room for all manner of stories and teller , as well . Standing for Artists , Writers , and Artisans , the company is head by the former leadership of Marvel Comics : CEO Bill Jemas , Marvel ’s main operating officer and publisher from 2000 to 2004 , and its master originative officerAxel Alonso , who acted as Marvel ’s editor - in - chief from 2011 to 2018 after a decade as executive editor in chief .
AWA ’s central thrust revolves around the embossment dubbedUpshot , with plan stories ranging from the traditional superheroes to action - adventure and repulsion , gear towards a variety of audience . The flagship title in this effort is a six - way out miniseries calledThe Resistance , which releases its first issue on March 18th , 2020 . Written by J. Michael Straczynski and illustrated by Mike Deodato ( the originative team behindThe Amazing Spider - Manduring Axel ’s tenure at Marvel ) , it state the floor of a disease that suddenly infects world , exact 400 million people worldwide within a calendar month … before suddenly stop . The fantasy derive from the side - effect : of the 5 % of infected individual who survive – roughly 20 million mass in total – many begin to manifest power , and a traumatized world now postulate to contend with them , as well as their near - extinction .
Related : AWA Studios Creators and Execs Preview Upshot Imprint Titles
It ’s an intriguing premise for AWA Studios ’s fresh shared universe – and the thoroughgoing reason for Screen Rant to verbalise with Axel Alonso about what it all means , from the Creative Council leading this new universe ’s founding to the first Word of God setting it in apparent movement , The Resistance . Readers can find the full interview below :
Screen Rant : Can you explain the principle for launch the Upshot imprint , instead of using the blanket AWA name up front ? Are there go to be other imprint planned alongside it ?
Axel Alonso : Upshot is our core imprint , focused on produce entertaining comic for comic - devotee , teen and above . There will be other imprints with very dissimilar creative goals and mission statements coming in the future .
You are n’t making all of the story calls yourself , but have assembled a Creative Council . How did this grouping hail into being , and how are they change the way these stories are determine ?
I thought it made sense to have a core group of Almighty pose down the foundation for the shared macrocosm , with Joe Straczynski at the core , because there is no one intimately at laying down the foundation for a new creation than him . FromBabylon 5toRising StarstoMidnight NationtoSense8 , with mind - bending re - imaginings of Squadron Supreme , Spider - Man , and Thor along the way , Joe is without peer when it get to world - construction .
Why a Creative Council ? As editor program - in - chief at Marvel , I found the editorial crown , where writers and editors did macro storey - planning , to be very helpful in plan intricate stories that overlapped multiple characters , so I thought why not do that here ? AWA ’s Creative Council is six Maker who ’ve conquered comics and other media : film , video , animation , video recording games , novel , YA fire up . They ’re six distinguishable voices , and none of them are holidaymaker – they love this spiritualist .
I understand that the so - address Axel - verse follows closer to the mannequin of the Marvel Cinematic Universe , if you will , with multiple stories that can piggyback off one another , rather than the Marvel Comics model , where big crossover events bring fictional character together . Is there still a master storyline plot out somewhere – and , if so , how far into the future does it widen ?
There is a overlord story make for out in the background ofThe Resistancethat will uncover itself over time . That say , while there will be clear connectivity between our series and character , we went out of our elbow room to avoid boxing in our creators . Resistanceprovides an easy on - incline for readers to understand our population , a simple origin narration that allows for the instauration of diverse superhuman character that span the world , but also for creators to enter in that universe . We need writers and creative person to have maximal creative exemption and the ability to take advantage of the welfare of the apportion population , which allow for for well - time guest wiz , team - ups , and crossovers .
Why concentrate on launching Upshot with a collection of miniseries at first ? Is there a program for any monthly releases ?
Our architectural plan is to print circumscribed series , each of which tells a complete story arc that brings one huge write up to a finale , with a few loose threads to be played with later . Think of it as a “ season one ” that sets up subsequent seasons . Joe Straczynski has already set out writing the 2nd spark ofThe Resistance ; his spinoff , moth , is fully written and mostly instance ; and other creators are well afoot with their own shared world account . The same is rightful forYear Zero – arc one is whole finished , Ben Percy has already written the second bow , and three issues are imbibe .
There are several advantage to this program : retailers get to betray a newfangled issue - one every few months , a unbendable catamenia of business deal paper-back book tolerate the " monthlies , " and freed from the monthly grind , we can nullify filling - in artist and schedule our launches to avoid late ship ; we wo n’t romance a series until we are absolutely sure every matter will ship on fourth dimension .
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The Resistance#1 – and the rest of AWA Studios ’s Upshot imprint – launches on Wednesday , March 18th , 2020 .
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