In a world where humanity has vanished and eroded away, their legacy is the setting of Angelic, an all-ages series at Image Comics from the creative team of Simon Spurrier, Caspar Wijngaard, Jim Campbell and designer Emma Price. Whilst fog pervades around the abandoned and overgrown high-rises, the surviving animals have evolved and developed their own societies, with culture, language -- but also with religous-based barriers and an enforced class system. This is an all-ages series, but one told with the distinctive creative voices of Spurrier and Wijngaard.

RELATED: Image’s Angelic is a ‘Dark, Difficult’ All-Ages Series

The series will focus on Qora, a teenage winged monkey whose place in her society has already been dictated by her elders. When she starts to question their faith, however, it leads her on a wonderful and -- you'll be expecting this part -- weird adventure through their world. In the second of two interviews with the creative team (read one part with Si Spurrier), CBR spoke to artist Caspar Wijngaard and designer Emma Price about the design and concept work of the series.

CBR: When did the idea for Angelic first come together? Had you been looking to collaborate for a while?

Caspar Wijngaard: It was quite a swift decision, if I remember correctly. I was just finishing up my previous Image series Limbo and we just started discussing the possibility of doing a creator-owned together whilst out drinking after a con.

It was pitched and picked up way back in May of 2016, before the Limbo [collected edition] had even dropped, however I already had another ongoing work-for-hire series lined up so it almost took a year to finally get the ball rolling on development.

Emma, how do you get yourself into that mindset whenever you work on a new comic? How do you get into a world like Angelic, and bring its spirit to your design process?

Emma Price: There's the cold side of research for every project and then there's the heart and soul. The clinical side is basically market research; what's out on the shelves doing something similar already? Why does it work, how can we make Angelic appeal to that audience?

But being aware of the wider context only gets you so far. We want to make something unique, something that sits on the shelf and sings out alongside everything else. For that, I have to understand the story so I grill the creators about the world they're making. I read the pitch, look at the sketches and fall in love with the characters. I peel back the layers and start looking at things outside the comic world that might help me get the right vibe.

Sometimes listening to specific music helps to channel the story, but I felt that with Angelic there might not be anything remotely recognizable as music in that world, so I turned it around and brought my focus back to Caspar's art. His colors are so vivid, and the way he draws Qora in this utterly tangible way was something I wanted to lean into. You can practically touch his worlds, and that is glorious.

What kind of ideas did you want to convey through the particular design of the title on the front cover?

Price: We went back and forward with a number of different styles for the logo. There was a question of whether we wanted to lean into the faded tech of past civilizations or go for something that reflected the organic side of the various animal species now inhabiting the world.

In the end we decided that the logo itself should represent the childlike innocence of the monks, in particular Qora. The letters had to feel like they could have been painted with the clumsy digits of a winged monkey. Symbols brushed with ritualistic simplicity and familiarity, but clean enough to remain legible when on the cover.

For the cover, I married that with Caspar's art and the hexagonal devices around the edges. The combination of the organic brush marks and the unnatural, hard edges of the hexagons shows both aspects of the world and the symbiotic nature of the cyber-enhanced animals.

This is an all-ages comic series -- but what does an all-ages comic from Si Spurrier and Caspar Wijngaard look and sound like? It’s hard to imagine you’re going to ignore more mature issues just because younger readers are picking the comic up.

Wijngaard: It definitely has adult themes built neatly into its foundation, and whilst it does look and sound like a child-friendly book we're not shying away from the darker areas. For instance, later on in issue #1 our protagonist Qora encounters hermit crabs using human skulls as shells. She thinks they're utterly adorable, innocently unaware or the horror that is presented before her.

Do you feel that an all-ages setting does change the way you picture the series? Does it play into your artistic approach when thinking about design and layout of the pages?

Wijngaard: Oh for sure. With Limbo I could really push the boat out creatively, give it my own voice: with Angelic, however, I have to take into consideration that there are going to be new, younger readers that could get lost if I start using funky panel layouts and such.

That’s not to say there aren't any cool ideas in this book visually, Angelic's world has its own rules that have given me tools to do some truly "out there" things creatively. When Si sent me the script for issue #1 I knew this was the next project I wanted to work on, the concept is absolutely nuts.

Price: I have a background designing and illustrating for teen and pre-teen magazine titles, including the Doctor Who brand, as well as digital marketing for a number of Disney film titles so the all-ages audience is something I'm really comfortable with.

Si and Caspar have done all the heavy lifting in terms of setting the all-ages tone for the book, so really I've just done my best to tie it all together.

Disney films are actually a great point of reference (not that I claim to be as good as their talented design teams!). Their logos usually perfectly capture the worlds they represent without being tortuously overdone. Take Frozen or Moana for example, you know as soon as you look at them what the setting and tone for each will be, they're compelling, legible and are clearly aimed at an all-ages audience.

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On that topic of design, your lead character here is Qora, a winged monkey. What was the design process like for her? Did you want her to fit in or stand out of the world of the book?

Wijngaard: Well my initial concept was shot down as she wasn't partially adorable - Si wanted her to look more Capuchin whereas I think I veered more toward chimpanzee. I think in the final series she's probably a nice blend of the two.

The pink fur, ponytail and bandana were things I added to boost her visual appeal. We could have had a book with just hundreds of grey black and brown monkeys, but I wanted each and every one of them to have a character.

And what kind of a character is Qora? What are her thoughts and feelings as the story begins?

Wijngaard: She a teen, rebellious and adventurous, she doesn't like rules and questions everything. She wants to fly free and see the world, but life is getting in the way.

The book is set on a decimated future earth, which is something we’ve seen many times over the years. But Angelic looks so totally different to anything else I can recall -- what were your inspirations in constructing this smoky, wild, inviting and threatening world?

Price: I think for every book the setting fundamentally informs the design, whether that's through the characters, the architecture, the time-frame or even the theme.

For Angelic, the decimated Earth element is only one part of a whole. I didn't want the book to feel like the relic of a previous species, but instead focus on the characters' present. So rather than go for a grungy post-apocalyptic vibe I've kept it playful and colorful to reflect the incredibly vibrant world that Caspar's drawn.

Wijngaard: I wasn't keen on drawing a post-apocalyptic world that adhered to the tropes of sepia tones and barren deserts. I wanted to world to be alive. The planet is still inhabited and beautiful, it’s just there are no longer humans there to potentially ruin that.

What’s it been like working together on the book? How has the collaboration grown and developed the story into a real, (partially) breathable world?

Price: I worked with Si on Cry Havoc, so we're already familiar with how the other works. It also helps that we're married (nepotism, I hear you cry!) as we can easily throw things back and forth during random moments at home. One of us will be cooking and suddenly get a thought that needs discussing straight away, so there's an immediacy to our relationship that's unlike anything else. We're pretty lucky that our skills complement each other, and surprisingly our personal relationship doesn't get in the way of the working one -- we can be pretty brutal in terms of feedback to each other, perhaps more so.

With Caspar it's obviously very different, but equally rewarding. Ultimately I respect the world he's worked so hard to visualize, and it's frankly amazing that he lets me come in and throw my own visual ideas all over his beautifully rendered art.

It's the same with Jim, the letterer, who does a fabulous job melding Caspar's art with Si's words. Comics are such a great format for that, allowing everyone with different roles to come together to create something that's a greater sum of its parts. It evolves naturally as a result of each person's involvement.

Wijngaard: It's been fantastic, we all understand where we are taking the book creatively. Si trusts me, actually encourages me to go crazy with the art and he never holds back in the script, which I totally endorse. We are raising the bar each issue, which is how I like things.

Emma has created the most stunning Logo that captures the entire essence of the book and is elevating the entire package with her fantastic design, incorporating elements of the book into the covers and non story pages in really unique ways. And finally, Jim is a truly fantastic letterer, I insisted on bringing him on to Angelic as he did such stellar work on Limbo and he doesn't disappoint, an absolute pro.

Every page of Angelic provokes so many questions -- both from readers and the characters themselves. Do you think that’s ultimately the hope of the comic, thematically, and narratively -- to encourage questions and celebrate independent thought?

Wijngaard: I hope so. A ton of world building has gone into this project, we're in it for the long haul if the readers are. Everything as a function in this world, even if it’s not directly involved to driving narrative. I would spend hours obsessing over every tiny detail of a comic as a child trying to solve the riddles of its world, intentional or not, my aim with Angelic is to provide something similar to new readers. It's a huge driving force in the creation of this book personally.

Price: Absolutely, Qora's slowly developing sense of self and ability to question her existence among the monks is fundamental to the story. It's pertinent to any reader but particularly to the younger ones who will just be beginning to question their own futures. Hopefully they'll identify with her inquisitive nature and want to stick with her through her journey!

Angelic #1 is scheduled for release on Sept. 20 from Image Comics.