Fan-favorite comic book creator Zack Kaplan is coming back to Image Comics and Top Cow Productions with the upcoming science fiction series Metal Society.
Joined by artists Guilherme Balbi and Marco Lesko and letterer Troy Peteri, the new series features a futuristic world where robots have already conquered the Earth, with humanity reborn to perform manual labor for the machines across the planet. The five-issue miniseries follows a young woman growing increasingly frustrated by her robotic overseers before deciding to fight them in the ring for public hand-to-hand combat matches to determine if human or machine reigns supreme. The covers to Metal Society #1 are illustrated by Balbi and Qistina Khalidah.
"I think that humanity’s greater challenges often brings us together while simultaneously showing our divisions and cracks. So whether it’s deadly sunlight, alien business men, or in this case, humans being brought back to life in a robot society, these high concept hooks actually give a platform for exploring how our society works," Kaplan explained. "I believe that Matt [Hawkins], Marc [Silvestri] and Top Cow share this interest in stories that examine our place in the world. Perhaps when we’re on top, we lose sight of what matters, but when we’re knocked down, when we’re struggling together or going through an underdog moment, that’s usually when humanity shows their true colors or stands the best chance. At least, that’s my two cents."
"Creating a new world is always a big challenge, and even getting bigger because everything with 'robots' is even more difficult, but that's exactly what makes this world so special. There are many details, wires and many, many gears," Balbi added. "I try to get a lot of inspiration from movies and references, and mix with the things I like. Understanding Zack's vision for this project was very important to take another step in my growth as an artist, but in this work I took a flight."
Kaplan's debut comic book project was Eclipse, co-created with Giovanni Timpano and published by Top Cow, taking place in a future where the sun's rays instantly burn anyone caught in its direct light to death. Kaplan's next Top Cow project was Port of Earth, co-created by Andrea Mutti and seeing Earth become a pit stop for extraterrestrial transit through the cosmos. Both comic book properties were optioned for television adaptations by Skybound Entertainment, with Eclipse optioned in 2018 and Port of Earth optioned in 2019.
Written by Zack Kaplan and illustrated by Guilherme Balbi and Marco Lesko with letters by Troy Peteri, Metal Society #1 goes on sale May 5 from Image Comics and Top Cow Productions.
Source: Image Comics and Top Cow Productions