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Time To Read Tom King's First Superhero Story, With Tom Fowler

Published Fri, 08 Sep 2017 08:30:53 -0500

Tom King has been talking to Slate about his career in comics, moving from the CIA to becoming a writer, and how his flopped novel A Once Crowded Sky illustrated by Tom Fowler was picked up by Karen Berger, who gave him an eight page story with Fowler in Vertigo's Time Warp, with Hitler's sister having to deal with a time traveller killing her brother as a child. That was edited by Mark Doyle, who moved to become the Batman editor. The rest is history…

A tour de force debut novel from a former CIA counter-terrorism officer, A Once Crowded Skyfuses the sensibility of bombastic, comic-book-style storytelling with modern literary fiction to bring to life a universe of super men stripped of their powers, newly mortal men forced to confront danger in a world without heroes.

The superheroes of Arcadia City fight a wonderful war and play a wonderful game, forever saving yet another day. However, after sacrificing both their powers and Ultimate, the greatest hero of them all, to defeat the latest apocalypse, these comic book characters are transformed from the marvelous into the mundane.

After too many battles won and too many friends lost, The Soldier of Freedom was fine letting all that glory go. But when a new threat blasts through his city, Soldier, as ever, accepts his duty and reenlists in this next war. Without his once amazing abilities, he's forced to seek the help of the one man who walked away, the sole hero who refused to make the sacrifice–PenUltimate, the sidekick of Ultimate, who through his own rejection of the game has become the most powerful man in the world, the only one left who might still, once again, save the day.

With some of that illustration art from Tom Fowler…

You know, now that's he's a big comic book success with Batman, Grayson, Mister Miracle, The Vision, Omega Men, why not go back to his first superhero story? Still on Amazon in the US and the UK...

He also talks about his heavily influence from Alan Moore, and how he's always stealing stuff. You know, I think I just really noticed… though there have been enough clues.

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