DC fans are sure to recognize Liam Sharp as the artist behind Garth Ennis' 2021 Batman: Reptillian, Grant Morrison's 2019 Green Lantern series, and Greg Rucka's 2017 Wonder Woman. But the multi-talented writer and artist has been creating all manner of ambitious and inventive comics since the '80s. Now Sharp is writing and drawing his first series with Image Comics, StarHenge.

Due out on Wednesday, July 6, StarHenge Book One #1 introduces audiences to Amber Weaver, a young woman with an interest in magic, as she is pulled into a magical war for the future of humanity that seems to be taking place in the distant past and the far future all at once. Amber narrates as a time-traveling Merlin ventures into ancient Britain to protect the magical world from robots with bad intentions. CBR recently had the opportunity to speak with Sharp about his new series. He discussed his creative process and the stories that inspired StarHenge.

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CBR: Could you talk a bit about the origins of StarHenge? How long have you been working on this?

Liam Sharp: It's material I've been fascinated by for a very long time -- since I was a kid, really. I dreamed of doing a faithful take on the earliest Merlin material, Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain, but it's very specialist fare and hugely convoluted! And it was really my wife, Christina, and my great mate Nick Abadzis (writer/artist of the Eisner-winning Laika) who said, "Look, you're a storyteller in your own right. Why not trust yourself a little more, and come up with something of your own?" So that was when it really began to take on its own shape.

It looks like a majority of this first issue is painted, but you're clearly drawing from all sorts of artistic traditions. What all goes into a page of StarHenge?

It's a mishmash of techniques I've developed, for sure! Partly pulling images out of abstract backgrounds, partly applying a traditional technique to a digital medium… I'm really just seeing where I can go with this!

How did you go about developing the mythology of the world of StarHenge?

The jump-off point was Monmouth, but then I thought about T.H.White's notion from The Once and Future King that Merlin was from the future and died in the past. And that got me thinking about what he might have to come back for.

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What other mythologies and sci-fi/fantasy stories did you look to for inspiration while working on the series?

I really allowed myself the chance to just make this a love letter not just to the comics I loved from the '80s and '90s but also to the great pulp, sci-fi, and fantasy artists of the '70s and earlier. It's a wild amalgamation of those things filtered through my experience as a comic creator. But there are influences from genre literature too. I think there's something of the vibe of Gene Wolfe's Shadow of the Torturer in there and probably a great many others if I think about it! But there's some Doctor Who elements and Excalibur and Terminator… Lots of pop culture touchstones!

What can you share with the audience about how time travel works in StarHenge?

In this universe, time doesn't splinter into threads, it shifts and changes. The Ur-Queen describes their future as a "Chronatic stub" -- a dead-end in time… For the humans, at least! But that can be changed. Most people would not notice that something that once was has somehow vanished as if it never was. She's different and is able to exist in the three key planes -- the physical, the mathematical, and the meta, which is like the astral plane. Time is created by the process of existence. We make it just by being. And as it's also not linear, but all going on at once, it can be changed.

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What can you tell fans about Amber and Daryl?

Aha! They are the heart of the book. At first, they are more or less like Doctor Who's assistants, but there's vastly more to both of them than meets the eye, and than even they know about themselves! But I don't want to say more than that!

Of all the characters you introduce in StarHenge #1, what makes Amber the perfect narrator?

Funnily enough, Merlin was the original narrator, but it got too hard sci-fi. [It would have been] very alienating for any casual readers. Then I tried making Taliesin the narrator, and that was too ponderous in an epic fantasy vein. Amber speaks in a way I've picked up from my kids and their friends -- nerd culture in her case! And I think she makes the bigger concepts more palatable and easy to digest. There's a bit of fun sass there. I've grown really fond of her.

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How have your recent collaborations with Grant Morrison and Garth Ennis impacted your approach to writing StarHenge?

To be fair, I've done my share of writing over the years, with novels and some comic projects, but I realize I'm not that widely known as a writer! Garth's an old mate, though, and I have always loved his humor and the fact that under everything, there's usually a little romance. Grant was and is fearless in scope and concept, so that's definitely inspiring!

Throughout your career, you've worked with a lot of great creators and several publishers, but this is your first series with Image Comics. What has it been like working with them?

They have been extremely supportive, and incredibly kind about the work. I'm absolutely delighted to be finally doing a book with them!

What are you most excited for readers to discover in StarHenge Book One?

Good question! I suppose it's that maybe it isn't quite what they might have imagined, but that, perhaps, it might even be a little more fun than they expected…

StarHenge Book One #1 goes on sale on Wednesday, July 6, from Image Comics.