The comic is entitled 'The Futurists,' and will be set in Calcutta, India during the 19th century colonial era. It is a story about "the quest for eternal life gone horribly wrong, the search for absolution, and the path to self destruction." The comic will be done completely live, and is bound to be action packed. We were lucky enough not only to give you some preview art to check out, we also got to ask Mr. Breitweiser a few questions regarding what we can expect from what sounds like an exciting new series!
COMIC VINE: Will you be hosting the webcomic at whoarethefuturists.com ? Will it be available for purchase only?
MITCH BREITWEISER: The Futurists is going to be absolutely FREE on whoarethefuturists.com . We are going to be selling signed lithos soon, though.
CV: The panel that we see indicates that the story opens in Calcutta, 1855; should the readers expect that the story will be set in the past throughout, or does the title of the comic, "The Futurists" indicate otherwise?
MB: Our entire story will be set in the mid to late 19th century. The Futurists was actually an art and literature movement at the time, though our characters use the moniker in a much different sense. All should become clear once the prelude is wrapped up.
CV: I got the impression that your characters are European exploring Calcutta, am I right? Will they remain in India, or will we see their adventures take them elsewhere?
MB: Right now the entire story takes place in colonial India, though there has been some discussion about Futurists adventures in other far-off lands for latter tales. The British Raj era of India was ripe with intrigue and mystery. It provides a great backdrop to the type of stories we want to tell and the types of characters we want to tell them with.
MB: Actually, the art (except for that promo poster) wasn't inked at all. Due to time constraints, I am doing the entire thing digitally on my Cintiq. It's a bit of a different style for me. A little bit looser than normal, but I think the art has an immediacy to it that readers will really enjoy.
CV: Just briefly, what inspired you and Mr. Stiles to do this comic together?
MB: Patrick and I had been crafting stories since college, but with our careers really taking off and our talents maturing, we felt time was right to take one of our creations past the development stage. It's our first venture into creator-owned territory.
CV: Has Mr. Stiles done any other work in comics?
MB: Even though we have been collaborating for years, This is Partick's first published sequential work. He really has a knack for dialogue. I'm constantly impressed with how deft he is at creating character depth with his narrative. I think anyone reading "The Futurists" will be impressed with how efficient we have been with the text and art under the constraints of the brief webcomic format.
CV: How else can we follow Mr. Stiles?
MB: The best place to catch Patrick right now is at WhoAreTheFuturists.com , or his twitter account http://twitter.com/grevish . My website is MitchBreitweiser.com , or of course at http://twitter.com/mbreitwieser
A big thank you once again to Mitch for taking the time out of his busy schedule to talk to Comic Vine! I am really looking forward to this series, which is going to launch live tomorrow, Wednesday July, 1st 2009. You can subscribe to the RSS feed at the top of the page and follow the comic's gradual progression. The art work from the previews looks really incredible, and the dialogue is awesome. I am excited to find out what happens next! Can't wait for tomorrow! Are you going to check it out?
If you can, please DIGG !