Posted in: Comics | Tagged: arks, Holly Collins, kickstarter, scince-fiction, thought bubble

Holly Collins' On Her Comic, Arks, That Is "Changing Science-Fiction"

Published Thu, 10 Nov 2022 07:57:09 -0600

Holly Collins has been talking to Bleeding Cool about what she sees as a "comic that's changing science fiction. The tagline for our series Arks is: 'Read the comic that's changing science fiction' –a punchy statement designed to intrigue and annoy in equal part." And they will be bringing volume three to Thought Bubble in Harrogate this weekend.

"The nerds would say science fiction can't be changed because it is by its very nature always changing with the times and science that precede it. We agree. But there are a lot of sacred cows in this genre that stay around long after science and reality have moved on. I believe space travel e.g people hopping across the galaxy in spacecraft is one of those sacred cows. Maybe it's stayed around because the reality is depressing. We can't leave our solar system. The distances, the physics, the radiation in deep space – the paradoxes a human would experience traveling at relativistic speeds. I get it, I love spaceships too. But the reality is not depressing, because there is a process that would allow us to migrate to different worlds with near-future technologies. The theory is just so confounding and terrifying that it has remained largely ignored by the culture."

"Arks is a comic inspired by this theory, the only current, theoretical method for achieving Extra solar travel. If we are ever to attempt it, it will likely involve a method of space colonisation known as – Directed Panspermia. These comics have taken 10 years to research and has been informed by the work of Sir Francis Crick (discoverer of DNA), astrobiologist Dr Leslie Orgel and astronomer Carl Sagan. Dr Stephen Hawking has also alluded to processes involved in the story that was originally conceived by scientists John Von Neumann, JBS Haldane, and Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in his 2016 project ' Breakthrough Starshot' which made headlines around the world.

"We hope to do for Von Neumann probes and Synbio what Gene Roddenberry did for space travel – and open up a new frontier. Then add a pinch of Dan O'Bannon to make it nasty. So if you love confounding and frightening science-fiction you will love this comic. If Alien, Seven and Jurassic Park are on your favourite movie list then this comic will blow you away."

"One reviewer described Arks as "Ridley Scott's Alien meets Adam and Eve' and we have yet to come up with a better sentence that surmises Arks. Returning to Thought Bubble, we will be debuting Issue Three, and bringing our first two comics along with their special editions (with alt covers and art & science appendix). We can't wait to be there and for you to see it! You may also catch a glimpse of our artist Andrew Morris, working on our mystery, as yet unreleased variant cover for Volume One (currently crowdfunding) plus we'll have four exclusive Thought Bubble A3 cover art prints of the; Sabbath, Gulch, Cherubim and Descent. We'd love to say hi if you're going – come find us, Comixology Hall, table 54."

Yeah, I'll be there. This totally sounds like my thing.

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