Saga Writer Brian K. Vaughan's New Graphic Novel Explores 'Sex and Violence'
Brian K. Vaughan, the creative mind behind the Image Comics series Saga, is launching a new graphic novel with artist Niko Henrichon called Spectators. While the two haven’t released much information about their new project, fans do know that Spectators will explore ‘sex and violence’ and the cultural acceptance of each across all forms of media.
American writer Brian K. Vaughan and French artist Niko Henrichon previously worked on a project together in 2003 called Pride of Baghdad. That storyline followed a group of lions who escaped from the Iraqi capital zoo following a bombing raid carried out by the U.S. Military. Since Pride of Baghdad, Vaughan and Henrichon have been looking for the next opportunity to work on another graphic novel together, so long as they found the right publisher to release it. With the launch of an all-new digital comics platform that was seemingly perfect for their upcoming project, Vaughan and Henrichon got to work.
In an interview published by Entertainment Weekly,Vaughan and Henrichon discussed what went into developing Spectators. The writer behind Saga says one of the biggest hurdles was finding the right publisher for this particular story, “We talked about taking it around to traditional publishers, but we had our fears there because this book is definitely graphic in every sense of the word. It feels like the mainstream publishers are really set up to do young graphic novels at the moment, which is great, but we worried about what we would have to sacrifice.” After searching for the perfect platform on which to launch their new book, the creative partners found the digital comic site Substack which, like Image Comics, allows creators to retain the rights to their own works while also allowing them the freedom to create nearly boundless works of fiction, with other benefits available to readers as well.
The major plot points surrounding Spectators have so far been withheld by Vaughan and Henrichon, but they have revealed that the book will be about sex and violence with the two pulling from their own cultural backgrounds to better illustrate the divides between the two subjects. Henrichon commented on the fact that violence is much more widely accepted in American media but nudity and sexuality is a bit too much for American readers. However, Henrichon says that in France, the opposite is true, and those cultural divides will be greatly explored in Spectators.
Spectators will be published on Substack a few pages per week in the form of old school comic strips that mix the classic style with that of new age graphic novels. Those pages are free for anyone to read, however, paid subscribers will have access to much more creator-owned content. Those who pay for a subscription get access to content including behind-the-scenes content and the-making-of footage. Spectators by Saga writer Brian K. Vaughan and artist Niko Henrichon will be available for free, with paid subscriptions available from $69 annually to $7 monthly exclusively on the digital comic site Substack.
Source: Entertainment Weekly