Exclusive: Christian Ward Details 'Event Horizon' Prequel Series
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Back in 1997, a horror sci-fi movie unlike anything seen before was released. That movie was "Event Horizon," and featured a stacked cast of Lawrence Fishburne, Sam Neill, Jason Isaacs, and many more.
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"Event Horizon," follows a spaceship crew that receives a distress signal from a ship called Event Horizon, seven years after the ship disappeared in the void of space.
Dr. William Weir (Neill) joins the Lewis & Clark ship and crew, with Captain Miller (Fishburne), tasking his crew with flying to locate Even Horizon and discover where the ship has been. The crew arrives only to find the hellish torments that have plagued Captain Kilpack and the first crew that disappeared for seven years.
Now, nearly 30 years later, the story of "Event Horizon" is being brought back to life by IDW Publishing. The new series will take a look at Captain Kilpack and the original crew of Event Horizon.
Cover art by Christian Ward for Event Horizon: Dark Descent
Cover art by Christian Ward for Event Horizon: Dark Descent
IDW
Longtime writer Christian Ward has been given the keys to the kingdom of "Event Horizon," and he has famously written "Batman: City of Madness," "Two-Face", and so many more.
Writer of the new "Event Horizon" series, Ward, spoke to Newsweek Comics all about the new prequel story.
Talk about the "Event Horizon" prequel
A cover for the upcoming prequel series Event Horizon: Dark Descent.
A cover for the upcoming prequel series Event Horizon: Dark Descent.
IDW
"Like many of us, like yourself, it made a real lasting impact on me, and I think that's really to do with just like, there was really nothing like it before, and really there's been nothing like it since ... there's a bigger story that's never been seen, it's re primed us to be able to kind of step into that void and tell a story that you know a five issue mini series allows us a lot more time and a lot more space to kind of tell a story much wider and expansive than you know a 90-minute movie does."
What was the pitch like to write this comic?
"She was listing up the licenses, and some of these have been announced, some of them haven't. And she kind of went for the list, and then she got to Event Horizon, and I pounced.
"I knew what the story would be. I knew what my aim was, and it was just a case of pitching to Nick and then the larger kind of IDW editorial team, they greenlit it immediately. Then it got passed on to Paramount, who greenlit it. And it even got passed on to Philip Eisner, who's the original screenwriter, and he was absolutely thrilled with what I'd come up with. And then, you know, it was putting together the team."
Philip Eisner was contacted and shown the comic, but was Paul Anderson also contacted?
"I couldn't speak to Paul, but I do know Philip is very excited. I haven't had any interaction with him directly, personally, but he's read my pitch, and he approved my pitch. He's read my treatment. He's read the breakdown of what happens. And you know, he's got the first issue. Read the first issue, and yeah, he's very excited. In fact, funny enough, Nick met him at a recent screening of the film in LA and he was very excited, you know, because obviously for him, this film was a cherished baby. To see it have, you know, a life of its own, kind of that's so exciting, you know. So, yeah, I think he shares our enthusiasm for what we're doing."
What was your biggest inspiration for this new "Event Horizon" story?
A page from the upcoming "Event Horizon: Dark Descent" comic.
A page from the upcoming "Event Horizon: Dark Descent" comic.
IDW
"I presume you're kind of, you're treading around the hereditary thing. I mean, basically. What, what I wanted to do, you know, when I rewatched the film, you know, it is, it's so Gothic in its design and medieval in this design. You go into the gravity drive chamber, it is medieval. You know, the spikes, the balls, the arches, you know, there's nothing kind of there's elements of the film that are very kind of industrial, but at heart, it's medieval, and that's what makes it quite interesting.
"You know you look at the film like Alien, which is kind of like a gothic horror in space. This feels far older than that. And because of that, because the idea of the, you know, the chaos realm, which is the stand-in for Hell, I went back to looking at kind of like the medieval descriptions of hell, and looking at kind of like medieval text where hell is a thing, and the Divine Comedy, Dante's Inferno. And really kind of explored, you know, very old text to do with demonology and how Lucifer and all that, and so basically, that's where my Paimon comes from."
Say everybody loves this comic, is there a chance that a story can be written past the events of "Event Horizon?"
"It's funny you should say that. I mean Paramount have been very excited with what I cooked up. IDW has been very excited. And, you know, part of the pitch that I put forward was a far more expansive world. And I'm doing what happened before the events of the film, but I've also thought about what would happen afterwards, you know. And really, you know, there are much bigger plans, much bigger plans. And it all starts with Dark Descent issue one.
Fans can preorder the "Event Horizon: Dark Descent" No. 1 until July 14, and the first issue will officially drop on August 20.
To watch the entire interview, watch the video above.
For more comics, head to Newsweek Comics.
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