A lot of you know me as a horror writer. Oh sure, I've mentioned that I do sci-fi and fantasy as well, but it's not what people generally associate me with. I'm also fairly close to finishing up my collection of short horror stories, Nest of Scars. So finding out that I'm writing for an afro-centric comic book might come as a bit of surprise. Here's why.
Horsemen hits a whole bunch of my biggest buttons. Button one, comic book settings are often an awesome hybrid of pseudo sci-fi worlds with iconic, somewhat mythological, archetype characters. I like that blend of fantasy and futurism. Horsemen is heavy on the mythos part of things so it lands squarely in my comfort zone. These aren't normal heroes, they're normal people imbued with the powers of literal gods. Very fantasy.
The world setting is a technologically advanced near-future where Africa has gotten its act together and has become the "New Frontier" and people are fleeing the dying American superpower. For a long time the world saw America as the last frontier; the place you went to for hope and opportunity. In the world of the Horsemen, this dynamic has been upset. From an authors point of view it's a fantastic platform for looking at globalization, post affluence American identity, and the direction and purpose of governance.
I've had several "raised eyebrows" that I'm writing for Griot. Sort of a "shouldn't you be black?" undertone. I mean, what could I possibly know about writing a series of all black characters? My response, generally, to this sort of thinking it as follows;: that's a load of crap. It's insulting to my creativity, empathy, and makes gross assumptions about my life experiences. Black characters are fun to write. There's a degree of complexity in empowered black characters that is engaging and interesting. It's part of the appeal of writing Horsemen, another button. Thankfully, the "wtf" response has been limited so I haven't had to slap anyone. Yet.
So that's why I'm writing. Here's what I'm writing.
Those are the Deitis. They're gods who represent things like War, Religion, Lust, etc... Ages ago, there were tons of them and they were bad news for everyone. The Orisha, humans transcended to a god-like equivalent, whooped their asses, defeated them, thought they were dead, and then left the world godless so it could choose its own fate. But these Deitis weren't dead. These ones survived, hid long enough to see the coast was clear, and have been messing with humanity ever since. Now the the spirits of the Orisha have returned and empowered a normal human family to combat them. These are The Horsemen. That's the general shape of the comic.
Here's where I come in.
In the centuries that the Deitis have been around they've managed to accumulate a fair number of bastard children. Born of the gods they're fairly powerful but are usually unaware of each other, causing them to be no real threat. Not anymore. These bastard children are tired of living in their parents shadows in the slow rotting American empire. They've set their sights on the new horizon. They're going to the African Union and only the Horsemen stand in their way. Ready or not, the Cloven are coming!
Eight stories, released monthly, one for each of the seven Horsemen all leading up to a climactic eighth part finale. Here's the schedule.
- Yemaya's Chapter - November 1st, 2013
- Ogun's Chapter - December 6th
- Oshun's Chapter - January 3rd, 2014
- Eshu's Chapter - February 7th
- Oya's Chapter - March 7th
- Shango's Chapter - April 4th
- Obatala's Chapter - May 2nd
- Grand Finale - June 6th
Y'all ain't ready!
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