We love reading about fantasy worlds, and we love reading comic books, so you really can’t go wrong with something that mixes the two. The new comic series Luminous Ages (Kickstarter), by Anthony Christou, certainly seems like something that we would want to read. We caught up with him to learn more.
AP2HYC: Can you talk a bit about the history fantasy world in which this story takes place?
Christou: Luminous Ages is a massive universe. The first six pages describes how it was created. The universe started with one big dream. This dream then spawned reality. The first world that was created was a planet called Ekratoria. Dream energy is the life force and also what creates magic spells and items. The world of Ekratoria and other Dream planets are very surreal. When I wrote the story and built this world I really wanted to create something so expandable and huge, to the point that if I decided I wanted walking whales it would fit in to this dream world. The dream world is known as Oniro, from the Greek word to dream! I really wanted to make this world an epic fantasy dreamscape which also features nightmarish realms. The first issue starts at a time of peace just after the first Great War. The first Great War began at the dawn of Ekratoria’s creation, as all the different creatures and alliances scrambled to take certain parts of the planet. This story starts in the farming city of Kiria, beginning with a farm boy, Thrakos, coming of age and discovering he is a mage of the mark (Dream mage)!
AP2HYC: What kind of magic and creatures can we expect?
Christou: The magic is dream magic. The three main schools of dream magic are Captuveri, Luminary and Chosen magic. They all harness the power of dream energy differently. I cannot give away the powers that Captuveris or Luminaries possess, as to be honest, these powers are new. No cannon of comic or film has actually thought of applying magic like this to a whole world and universe! In issue two, we start to investigate the powers of Thrakos, but the powers get explained in future issues. Honestly, I cannot wait to show what Captuveries, Luminaries and Chosen mages can do! This issue Thrakos is going through his transformation.
In terms of creatures there are really amazing creatures being created. Again, being an artist I wanted to have a world where a creature with a lions head, snake tail and goat legs could fit into a dream world. The great news is that there are thirteen god-like beings: nine arch dragons, three mage gods and the beast god. They all have spawned six races: humans, dragonkin, demon, angel, titan and beasts. The six creature types have been gifted the ability to harness dream magic. There are also other creatures and monsters in the world that get created by dream magic itself, but these races cannot be dream mages. They can however, wield dream artefacts and weapons.
AP2HYC: How does the artwork match the tone of the story?
Christou: Well, in the world there are the mare (Nightmare Forces) and the Tranquil (Good Dreams). The comic has elements of gothic dark worlds and utopian fantasy landscapes. I have gone for a painterly style in the comic book to create more realism. I am a fan of Dungeons and Dragons, Magic the Gathering and The NeverEnding Story. I really wanted to match the fantasy art style of this genre. The nightmare realms, as we unveil them, will be like the horrific areas of the video games Dark Souls, and the utopian areas will be similar to movies like Avatar and NeverEnding Story. The comic is my own style and it is evolving as issues are released; I am always trying to improve on my writing and illustration skills. The goal is to be unique, but also fit the tone of fantasy comics and games we all have grown to love.
AP2HYC: As the Kickstarter campaign states that only 1000 copies will be printed, is this a mostly digital series?
Christou: At the moment, I am printing 1000 copies that are signed and numbered as the first 1000 in the series; they are limited edition. The first batch of comics I make are always limited edition. If we print more of the first issue we will change the cover and only sign any further copies. They will not be part of the numbered series of the first 1000 that I have sold. This is a limited first edition and if popularity grows we will print it again with a different cover as a second edition.
AP2HYC: And you’re also creating an artbook?
Christou: Well yes, we are making an artbook, but the goal is to make it more of a guide in the style of a comic book. This first artbook has bonus story and other background information. It is a twenty page artbook. If we hit our stretch goals we will turn it into a forty page artbook with speech bubbles and caption boxes explaining more, so I am trying to make a different kind of artbook for Luminous Ages.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/luminousages/luminous-ages-comic-book-1-and-artbook
Have you contributed to Luminous Ages yet? Let us know in the comments section or send us a Tweet!
