Wasteland (comic)

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Wasteland
image:Wastecomic.jpg
Publisher Oni Press
Schedule Monthly
Format Ongoing series
Publication date July 2006-
Number of issues 15 (to date)
Creative team
Writer(s) Antony Johnston
Artist(s) Christopher Mitten
Ben Templesmith
Creator(s) Antony Johnston
Christopher Mitten

Wasteland is an American monthly comic book series written by Antony Johnston, drawn by Christopher Mitten and published by Oni Press. Covers are by Ben Templesmith. Issue #1 was published in July 2006.

Wasteland is set one hundred years after the Big Wet, an unspecified disaster that destroyed modern society and, it is assumed, changed the world's coastlines. The story takes place somewhere in America, now a barren desert and dustbowl without modern technology. The seas are poisonous, and subsistence farming with small amounts of livestock appears to be the norm.

The book has a theme song, composed and performed by Johnston, which can be downloaded from the official website.

Contents

[edit] Format

Each issue of Wasteland is 32 pages long (with the exception of issue #1, which was a special double length premiere) and contains 22 pages of comic story, one episode of the prose serial travelogue Walking The Dust, a letters column and preview page for the following issue. The remainder of the pages are taken up by ads, normally for other series from Oni Press and/or by Wasteland's creators.

The letters column sometimes contains pieces of submitted fan art, and Johnston himself often answers the letters.

The F.A.Q. section of Johnston's website has the series slated to run for 50 issues.

[edit] The Big Wet

The most-seen explanation for the apocalypse comes from the Sunner religion, a sect that worships Mother Sun and Father Moon. According to their legend, the Big Wet was a retribution on the people of A-Ree-Yass-I for shunning the 'gifts' Mother Sun and Father Moon offered them. It seems as though this mythic place's name is a play on words by the author, & a linguistic contraction in-world, for "Area 1/I"--a military base/lab where the bomb was created.

[edit] Storylines

Thus far, the comic has established two distinct storylines. The first follows a scavenger named Michael who roams the wasteland, trading what he can salvage. His life changes forever when he finds a machine that talks in a forgotten language, supposedly giving directions to the fabled land of A-Ree-Yass-I, where mankind's downfall began. Michael tries to trade the machine at a small town of Sunners called Providence, and his fate becomes intertwined with the machine's.

The second storyline follows the political machinations of a large city known as Newbegin, where the city's leader Marcus (aka Lord Founder) is oppressing the Sunner population, most of whom are slaves.

[edit] Sunner Beliefs

Sunners have been shown to hold the following beliefs:

  • They worship 'Mother Sun' and 'Father Moon'
  • They cremate their dead in the open air
  • They are pacifists (though they appear to make exceptions for non-human creatures)
  • Fires are considered a form of tribute to their gods

[edit] Language

Many words and phrases from our own time have changed to fit the world of Wasteland, and writer Antony Johnston has stated in interviews that the comic's language is carefully constructed.

For example, many epithets involving animals have become solely references to goats - "Son of a goat", "Goatshit", "I'll be a goat's uncle", and so on. No reference has yet been made in the book to Christ or Jesus; although God is mentioned in "Walking the Dust" text pieces. The names of places and cities are new or changed ("Providence" is almost certainly not Providence, Rhode Island due to its non-coastal location, and one as yet unseen prominent city is referred to as "Wosh-Tun"). Although the book clearly states it is set "Somewhere in America", no character has yet named the country as such, instead referring to their location simply as "the country" or even "the world". It is therefore assumed that place names have been lost and/or forgotten.

Some words have the suffix "-age" added to them

[edit] Collections

Oni are releasing trade paperback collections on an ongoing basis.

# Title ISBN Release date Collected material
1 Cities In Dust ISBN 978-1-932664-59-1 March, 2007 Wasteland #1-6
2 Shades of God ISBN 978-1-932664-90-4 December, 2007 Wasteland #8–13
  • Issue #7 'Children of the Sun' was a special stand alone story and has yet to be collected in trade paperback form.

[edit] Awards

[edit] External links

[edit] Interviews