‘Dead Kings’ Shows What Happens to Humanity After the World Is Over

What happens after the end of the world? The world starts over — but that doesn’t mean that things get any easier, or the human spirit any less complicated, which is where AfterShock Comics’ new comic book series Dead Kings takes root.

According to writer Steve Orlando, the new series is set “Post-Post-Apocalypse. The human spirit, and species, is enduring, even after we’ve invoked science and sorcery to drive ourselves to global war. In Dead Kings, there is no mystery to magic, it’s simply assets and technology, and like any other type of dangerous technology, we’ve abused it to create massive diesel-punk war machines that nearly destroyed the world. But the world’s crawling back, and in Thrice-Nine, the kingdom that used to be the Slavic Empire, anarchy rules. The Oprichniki, Secret Police without a Captain, run the loose nation as a police state, the Wild Wild East; rounding up anyone who disagrees with them or lives against their standards.”

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The series centers around Sasha Vasnetsov, who is trying to rescue his brother Gena from a work camp. “He never accepted Gena until he was kidnapped, and now Sasha has promised to liberate his brother and return with him to their mother before the end of her fiftieth year,” Orlando tells Heat Vision. “He’s going to need help, and he finds it in Maria Kamenaya, an abandoned iron soldier and survivor of the Great Iron War that almost killed the world.”

Matthew Dow Smith, who is co-creating and illustrating the book with Orlando, calls the new project “a bit of a homecoming for me,” as it reunites him with AfterShock Comics founder Joe Pruett. “Joe actually gave me my very first job in comics back in the early ‘90s, so it’s a thrill to work for him again,” he says, “not to mention getting to work with Steve, who is not only an old friend of mine, but also one of the best writers working in comics today. We’ve been talking about teaming up on something for a long time and when he brought this concept to me, I knew I had to do it. Strong concept, strong characters, a unique visual language, it’s exactly the kind of material I got into comics to work on.”

It helps that Smith is such a fan of the publisher’s output. “Honestly, I have yet to see an Aftershock title I haven’t loved,” he says. “It’s such a diverse roster of talents, concepts and genres, from [Marguerite] Bennet and [Rafael] de Latorre’s Animosity to [Warren] Ellis and [Phil] Hester’s Shipwreck to Layman and Kieth’s Eleanor and the Egret. Anytime I see an AfterShock book on the shelf, I know there’s going to be something new and fresh and unexpected inside, and it’s one of the reason I was so excited this project is coming out under their banner. They’ve built something special and it’s a thrill to get to be part of it.”

For his part, Orlando is also appreciative of the publisher. “AfterShock has been nothing but supportive of Matt and I building this expansive, next-generation world in mashing up oil, steel and folktales,” he enthuses. “Working on the project has been energizing, using the ‘Marvel Method’ — a plot and art-first method of producing a comic — has engendered so much raw creativity that I almost can’t imagine working an original concept any other way. Matt’s making me better with his creativity and inventiveness, and tolerating my eccentricities. … Actually, that goes for the entire crew.”

After creating such critically acclaimed series as Crude and Namesake, Orlando promises that Dead Kings is “the biggest original series I’ve ever done — it makes the world building in Namesake look like flash fiction.” How big is it? The writer isn’t aiming low, it turns out. “The pure ethos of struggle, of the cold, dark, enrapturing world of Russia’s great authors like Bulgakov and Gogol is there! But it’s painted with action scenes and devious foes right out of Pacific Rim and True Grit.”

The series launches Oct. 24 with a first issue featuring colors from Lauren Affe and letters by Thomas Mauer, not to mention a variant cover from Jessica Jones co-creator Michael Gaydos. (Smith provides the main cover, above.) A preview of the first issue is below, along with Smith’s cover for the second issue.

“This is Russian Folklore to the tune of Blade Runner 2049, and it’s going to take you to a world you’ve never seen,” Orlando says, attempting to sum up the series. “The world a generation after the end of the world, where the first sprouts of goodness are fighting to grow up through the cracks. Please, come with us, and help them thrive.”