Black Crown explores the vast frontier of death in this Euthanauts first look
Where do people go when their bodies die? It’s a question that religion and science both seek to answer, but there aren’t any concrete answers. Announced today at Emerald City Comic-Con, the new Black Crown title, Euthanauts, poses that the realm of death is an expansive new world waiting to be explored. The Euthanauts are a group of adventurers who willingly cross over to discover what’s on the other side, and funeral home receptionist Thalia Peacetree is the latest recruit in Tini Howard and Nick Robles’ series, joining a team of shamans and the terminally ill to take her obsession with death to a new level.
“I started thinking of death and the beyond as a space, like an actual frontier to explore, and got stuck on the idea that these explorers would have no real way to call back and explain what they’re seeing,” says writer Tini Howard. “After all, ghosts that we think talk to us are trapped in one space, not exploring new ones. Euthanauts is a book about death and dying as a universal concept. Death isn’t just a religious concept, but in a world where we barely understand consciousness itself, we have even less science for it. Grief, the spirit, the soul, the will, what we leave behind – we’re all trying to come to terms with that and we don’t all agree. How do these ideas contribute to our relationship with a deathspace we haven’t yet discovered, and what’s behind the light at the end of the tunnel? And just like any frontier, we have to determine how we safely explore it, and then how we share it.”
Howard is currently writing Black Crown’s charming action comedy Assassinistas, and Euthanauts takes her in a direction that blends rich fantasy with the philosophy surrounding death. “Our core characters each represent different ideas about death and the beyond – from people in the funeral industry, to scientists, to priests,” says Howard. “And together they’re seeing what’s on the other side. In Euthanauts, you’ll be able to see their dispatches.”
This exclusive first look at Euthanauts #1, on sale July 5, shows off Nick Robles’ atmospheric and expressive artwork, and no words are necessary to notice the intense shift in tone in these two pages. The somber delicacy of that first page gives way to ecstatic joy in the two-page spread, and Robles’ coloring is just as detailed and evocative as his linework, adding dimension to his figures while energizing the events with a fiery palette.
“I. Am. Inspired,” says Robles. “I was just finishing up a fun action series, Alien Bounty Hunter, and I knew I wanted something entirely different after that. Something intimate, with a deeper well of personal stories. Euthanauts (that name alone!) answered all my needs. I keep telling friends that I feel like I found a creative home with it. Things just feel right. I’m excited to see where Tini takes us.” Readers can discover the wonders of death when Euthanauts hits stands on July 5, but in the meanwhile, here’s an exclusive tease of the cover and first three pages.