"Final Crisis: Escape" is on sale this May

Nemesis is one of the few non-criminals to join the Suicide Squad as well as being one of the few non-females to be named an honorary Amazonian.

And this May, in the upcoming six-issue miniseries, "Final Crisis Aftermath: Escape," Nemesis finds himself captured by the Global Peace Agency, inside the walls of the mysterious Electric City. As Nemesis works to escape, he finds only a few people he can truly trust.

CBR News checked in with someone we trust, "Final Crisis Aftermath: Escape" writer Ivan Brandon, to see if we couldn't pull a Global Peace Agency and siphon a few secrets out of him about the series.

CBR News: How did this project come about? Was it your pitch?

Ivan Brandon: [DCU Executive Editor] Dan DiDio and I had been talking about what kind of project I could do for DC, and over a meal one day, we were mulling ideas and stumbled across what would eventually become "Escape." He had some random puzzle pieces for me; that it should star the Global Peace Agency, what he wanted to accomplish in terms of the book's place in the DCU, etc. We didn't know much, either of us, but we left that meal full of french food and intrigue. I started putting some pretty strange ideas together, and where I expected to get slapped on the back of the head, Dan lit up and started throwing even stranger ideas back. We went back and forth for months until we got to where everything had clicked into place.

What can you share with us about the story you are going to tell in "Final Crisis: Escape"?

Remember "Lost"? Or "The Prisoner"? Our first issue raises a lot more questions than it answers. Nemesis wakes up drugged in a place he's never been to, with no idea how he got there. He's blacking out intermittently, surrounded by familiar faces who won't talk to him and faceless agents who don't make any sense.

Does this series take place immediately after the events of "Final Crisis"?

The story takes place at a time unknown to anyone, even Nemesis.

What is it you most like about your main character, Nemesis?

Nemesis is one of the most adaptable characters in comics. He can be anyone, and as such, he fits in perfectly in our Electric City, where no one believes anything they see.

Does Wonder Woman play a role in this series?

Sorta.

OK. What about any other DCU heroes or villains, for that matter? Chase was mentioned at WonderCon.

Chase is a very important part of "Escape." I don't want to spoil the rest of the cast, but let's say there are a lot of figures from Nemesis' past in Electric City. And one of my favorite DC characters ever, redesigned by the amazing JG Jones.

Does anyone help Nemesis escape?

Who says Nemesis escapes?

Why should folks be afraid of the Global Peace Agency?

You can't see their eyes when they come to get you. In their own words: "We're closer than you think."

Ivan Brandon's "Viking" debuts in April from Image Comics.Are you pleased with your art team of Marco Rudi and Scott Hampton? What can you say about their styles?

Marco Rudy's extremely passionate about the project. He's showing the kind of creativity usually reserved for a creator owned book. Scott Hampton's one of my favorite painters and it's a huge honor to have his covers on the series.

Quickly, please tell us about your upcoming creator-owned project for Image, "Viking."

"Viking" is a departure from anything I've ever done. It's all the stuff I'm not allowed to do with superheroes, and more. Remember that first season of "The Sopranos," where Christopher Moltisanti committed crimes to get attention and get made? Well, Finn and Egil are overzealous brothers, stabbing and stealing their way up the criminal ladder. Egil lacks much of a conscience or a sense of mortality based on the fact that every mess he makes, his brother Finn gets them out of. Finn takes less pleasure in crime and killing than his brother does, but sometimes blood is thicker than sense and Finn's not about to let Egil get killed no matter how much he might deserve it.

Are you working on anything else these days?

I hate to give this kind of answer, but unfortunately there's nothing I can talk about right now. This year's going to be absurdly busy for me, though. There's a lot coming, both in and out of the superhero world.

"Final Crisis Aftermath: Escape" #1 hits stores on May 13.