Posted in: Comics, Image | Tagged: image comics, kyle higgins, massive-verse, no/one, patton oswalt, Rachel Leigh Cook, radiant black

Patton Oswalt & Rachel Leigh Cook Spinoff Radiant Black's No/One

Published Tue, 20 Dec 2022 12:57:12 -0600

by Rich Johnston

Comments

Kyle Higgins, Brian Buccellato and Geraldo Borges are spinning off a new comic book series, a true crime-style superhero comic, called No/One, a ten-issue series that will join Radiant Black, Rogue Sun, Radiant Red, The Dead Lucky, Radiant Pink, Inferno Girl Red, and C.O.W.L. in the expanding shared Massive-Verse published by Image Comics, and will begin in March 2023. "The Richard Roe murders shocked the city of Pittsburgh. In the months since, the killings have sparked a dangerous political movement, copycat killers, and a masked vigilante who's still determined to hold the powerful accountable. Not a symbol. Not a hero. They could be anyone. They're NO/ONE."

Its story will be expanded upon with an original monthly companion podcast titled, Who Is No/One, which will star Rachael Leigh Cook and Patton Oswalt as Pittsburgh Ledger reporters Julia Paige and Teddy Barstow. Black Market Narrative will produce the audio series with Higgins in the director's chair and sound supervisor Matthew E. Taylor, with C.O.W.L. co-creator and Black Market Narrative editor, Alec Siegel, to sound edit, Kristopher Carter to score the audio series, and there will be mixing in Dolby Atmos for spatial audio on supported platforms. No/One colourist and poster artist Mark Englert will create exclusive episode posters each month, also be released as a line of "podcast variant" covers.

The world of NO/ONE will also feature an interactive, alternate reality game (ARG) narrative across in-universe social media accounts, websites, and other audio/visual elements (fans should be sure to follow: @000no_one, @TheDropPL, and subscribe to: http://the-drop.info, and http://edgenews.info).

TheDropPL currently reads "Hey there, internet. Teddy Barstow here, Metro Editor for The Pittsburgh Ledger. Today, we have a big announcement to make. But before that, a to catch everyone up on the NO/ONE saga that has gripped Pittsburgh: Six months ago, the digital activist @000No_One released a statement (volume up). From there, he targeted four people of means. This started with a video threat to Julian Colon, CEO of Colon Pharmaceuticals. When Mr. Colon refused to comply, NO/ONE released a collection of personal journal entries that appeared to show Mr. Colon's complicity in a decades-long cover-up of genetic testing and illegal human trials in Puerto Rico. Next was Edwin Lin, CEO of the popular cryptocurrency exchange, CoinHole. When Mr. Lin failed to respond, @000No_One froze his personal assets and released a series of email and text exchanges that revealed Mr. Lin to be misusing customer funds in an elaborate money laundering operation. NO/ONE targeted Pennsylvania state senator Noah Kemp after that. 7 days later, another data drop, this time with audio. Phone recordings of State Senator Kemp discussing a plan to funnel federal grant money to his own programs. Finally, Louis Capel. His data drop also came 7 days later, featuring a series of letters from construction companies to Mr. Capel, laying out what looked to be a pattern of intimidation culminating in arson. Four targets, four sets of allegations, four sets of receipts. Zero arrests. That's when the attacks started. Julian Colon and Edwin Lin are now dead, four shots to the chest, victims of what law enforcement is acknowledging to be the work of one person who also just made an attempt on State Senator Kemp's life. Mr. Kemp survived, with rumors swirling that someone claiming to be NO/ONE aided in fending off the attack. The attacker is still at large. When it comes to the current "accountability" movement here in Pittsburgh, there's a lot of noise. A lot of opinions. A lot of misinformation. At the Ledger, we pride ourselves on thoroughness, nuance and speaking truth to power. So we're going to do our best to guide you through what's happened since these threats started and keep you posted as things develop with ongoing coverage through our new dedicated platform, The Drop https://the-drop.info. And as a part of The Drop, we'll be launching a podcast with a specific focus. Here, take a listen to a teaser. Oh, and this account? Sometimes it will be me. Other times it'll be Julia Paige. On a blue moon, maybe J.C.— head of PL Media— will jump on. Regardless, we'll try to call out who is who. Transparency, after all, is paramount for accountability.Stay safe, Pittsburgh. We'll get through this together. -Teddy"

You'll have to listen to the audio yourselves.

"In 2011, I quit my job as a sound editor to write Batman, Nightwing, and Deathstroke for DC Comics. Now, twelve years later, I could not be more excited to return to old roots for my next series in the Massive-Verse," said Higgins in an exclusive on the announcement at io9. "Brian, Geraldo and I—along with a host of wonderful collaborators—will be exploring the issues of our times across the mediums of our times, the news, political, and entertainment cycles that dominate so much of our lives. This is our ultra-contemporary take on an urban vigilante. Similar to Radiant Black, we're excited to push the boundaries on what a modern superhero experience can be."

Buccellato added: "I'm excited for people to get a chance to dive into our cross-media comic experience because NO/ONE is not just a grounded superhero crime story. I've worked in comics for close to 30 years and I can safely say that this series is unlike anything I've been a part of before. The world building, allegory and multimedia experience bring a new level of immersion to not only superheroes but the very ideas of accountability and vigilantism within modern society."

"I've been very lucky to have had the opportunity to work with my childhood heroes, characters like Batman and Wolverine, for almost 20 years," said Borges. "But now, I have a chance to build something from scratch and tell a modern, original story with Kyle and Brian. NO/ONE is both a true crime story, with a great mystery, as well as something much more. I´m pushing my art in a direction I've never done before in comics—I have no words to describe how excited I am for people to see what we've built."