With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to impact the world, a team of fan-favorite comic book creators are working with some of the world's leading scientists to raise awareness about the pandemic's effects on science, politics and society in the free new Webtoon webcomic series Planet Divoc-91. With its first chapter debuting on July 15, the nine-chapter series is produced by Dr. Bella Starling, Director of Vocal at the Manchester University National Health Service Foundation Trust, and Sara Kenney's Wowbagger Productions, in association with the United Kingdom Academy of Medical Sciences.
Following two young adults after 15% of the world's population is stranded on the eponymous, faraway planet, the two attempt to learn the truth about what happened to Earth as they move to safety. Featuring covers by a host of superstar artists, the first chapter is written by Kenney and illustrated by Charlie Adlard, the second by Charlotte Bailey and Nick Brokenshire and the third by Hannah Berry, with creative teams for the subsequent six chapters to be announced at a later date. In an exclusive interview with CBR, Starling, Kenney and Adlard revealed how the project came together and their hopes for the project and its message as it grows in scope and relevance.
CBR: While the inspiration for the project is, unfortunately, all too clear, how did you develop the idea to craft an interplanetary story around it?
Dr. Bella Starling: We wanted to create an alternative narrative to the very distressing global situation encountered with COVID-19, whilst at the same time exploring the scientific and social issues being raised, always with young voices in mind. Sara and I knew each other already, the ideas just flowed and we egged each other on -- with the help of many, many others including artists, scientists, young adults and funders who shared the vision -- to make it real.
Charlie Adlard: All this was done before I came on board, but, suffice to say, I was intrigued by the initial idea, and, at the same time, I was desperate to help in some form or other which was more than just staying in. So Divoc-91 came in just at the right time.
Sara Kenney: We started developing the idea back in March when things were grim and uncertain, so we thought a more entertaining metaphor for what we’re experiencing could work. The initial discussions we had with the young adults were a guiding light and words that came up a lot were ‘overwhelmed’, ‘strange’, ‘surreal’ and ‘isolation.’ The feeling of being on a different planet is an obvious metaphor, but we thought we could have a lot of fun with alien experts and a world that was familiar yet very strange.
How has it been working in association with some of the most prestigious scientific organizations in the world?
Kenney: Within the walls of every prestigious science org are sci-fi and comics fans, so it’s always a pleasure to work with them. The Academy of Medical Sciences (AMS) are an amazing team. They’re currently preparing a document for the House of Commons, Science & Technology Committee’s inquiry into the government’s response to coronavirus, which will include views from our young adults. There are many layers to what we’re doing, but the beating heart of this project is how storytelling, art and science can lead to positive change. Collaborating with these prestigious orgs helps us do just that.
With the multi-chapter scope of this project, how was it coordinating between the creative teams to develop this overarching story?
Kenney: We’re only on Chapter 3 at the moment so there's a long way to go! But we’re working with total pros, and they’ve been brilliant at taking the material and doing their thing. Charlotte Bailey, writer of Chapter 2 is also a sci-fi fan, so she instantly got it and with Nick Brokenshire on art we were in safe hands. Hannah Berry is working on Chapter 3 and she is very smart and funny, with a twisted dark side –- which all works perfectly for Planet Divoc-91.
Charlie, how was it working with Sara Kenney on this?
Adlard: It was great working with her -- very easy -- and it was also really handy to have someone to hold my hand through the [to me] murky waters of Webtoon, which I’d never really encountered before. So she was a brilliant help in showing me a brand new way of doing narrative art. It helped that the script she wrote was really engaging too and the characters came alive on the page instantly, a hard thing to do, especially when writing dialogue for much younger characters than yourself. It felt real.
Having just wrapped a different sort of pandemic comic in The Walking Dead last year, how was it shifting to sci-fi satire?
Adlard: Hah, yeah… some people have suggested that I’m “perfect” for this, and the pandemic situation as a whole, having been immersed in 16 years of apocalyptic storytelling.
But, joking aside, it was easy. I’ve always been good at shifting gears. I did multiple other projects in between TWD issues, and it was never a problem. But after TWD, the last thing I wanted to revisit EVER was the zombie apocalypse, so anything different would have an instant attraction. In fact, the more away from my previous work, the better.
Sara, you've worked in comics before, including the Image Comics series Surgeon X. How was it writing the inaugural chapter of this project?
Kenney: Shaping the characters and building the storyworld is always a lot of fun. If I’m honest, actually writing the inaugural chapter was really nerve-racking, because I didn’t want to let anyone down. I wanted Bella and the young adults to feel like we’d hit the right beats to represent how they felt; the science orgs do not regret funding us and Charlie to feel like the script was something he’d be proud to draw. That said, I think it’s natural to get nerves over stuff you really care about, and we all have hope that this project can help shift the coronavirus narrative in a positive way.
What messages were you especially keen on highlighting in this story?
Starling: All the different types of science involved in managing pandemics. That everyone, including young adults, has an important voice in how pandemics progress -- unpacking the interplay between science, politics and society.
How has it been working with the art team and editorial on this project?
Kenney: What an honor to get to work with Charlie Adlard -- his art is incredible, so inventive and full of emotion, which is probs one of the reasons TWD lasted so long! He was so generous of spirit when I kept adding pages, so now Chapter 1 is an extended edition and a little piece of coronavirus art history in my book. Kirsten Murray, our editor, has a tough job keeping a big rabble of writers and artists on track, but she’s totally on it. James Devlin, the series colorist and designer, has gone above and beyond, check out Tendai’s rainbow jacket! Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou works magic with his lettering. One of my guiding principles is to work with not just talented, but ‘good people,’ and we definitely have that for sure!
Given the global scope of the pandemic and prejudices that have surfaced, how did you want to address this in the story? The creative team, at least for the initial chapters, doesn't appear to contain anyone of East Asian descent; have you consulted with anyone who is in order to get their feedback on this?
Kenney: I’m Anglo-Burmese and really interested in the representation of Asians in culture. We’re working with a diverse team of young adults and one of them -- who is Chinese -- conducted some research for the project whilst locked down in China back in April. She collected the views of ten young adults from China; South Korea; Japan; Thailand; Malaysia and Vietnam. She also interviewed a doctor and nurse who work in Wuhan and a historian, mathematical modeler and epidemiologist in China. All their views and stories are inspiring the project.
We’re also collaborating with teams in India and South Africa, who are co-curating content with us over the coming months. Through this comic project, we will continue to explore the prejudices that have surfaced, but through our collaborations, we also have a well thought out strategy to imagine how we might fix just a bit of what is broken.
Starling: [Regarding the] global scope/prejudices, through Planet Divoc-91, we hope we can help people make sense of pandemics and prejudices, both through the development process and through reading the comic. What’s really important for me is that we also learn from how people engage with the comic, the science behind it, the development process and feed that back into the science and scientific policy that will carry on being vital to the current global situation. We’ve built this feedback into the process. We’re really hoping to expand this project into India and South Africa, including with creatives from these areas - we’re just waiting to hear if we’ve got the funding.
Produced by the Manchester University National Health Service Trust and Wowbagger Productions, in association with the United Kingdom Academy of Medical Sciences, Planet Divoc-91 launches on Webtoon on July 15.