American Gothic Press, the new publishing imprint from Famous Monsters, will be taking on the comic book adaptation of a bestselling Sci-Fi novel: PROJECT NEMESIS, the second book in Jeremy Robinson’s cycle of what have been deemed “kaiju thrillers”. Robinson, who has authored over fifty novels in many different genres, penned the script himself, which will be released by American Gothic as a six issue miniseries.
“After writing monster novels for a dozen years, covering mythology, the supernatural and science gone wrong, often inspired by the creative heroes of my youth—Harryhousen, Spielberg, Sid and Marty Croft—I realized I had yet to cover the subject that inspired me most, and intimidated me most: kaiju,” says Robinson, a lifelong fan of Godzilla and Gamera. “It wasn’t until a friend asked, ‘Why haven’t you written a kaiju story?’ and I answered, ‘I don’t know,’ that I realized I was ready.”
Kaiju is defined in Japanese as “strange beast”, and has come to be associated with giant movie monsters like Godzilla, Gamera, and the foes of Ultraman. Taking these cues from classic Japanese films and television, PROJECT NEMESIS is about a top secret government experiment that proves how real these ancient creatures really are—and unwittingly unleashes one on the unsuspecting New England population.
Joining Robinson on the colossal task of bringing Nemesis to life will be artist Matt Frank, best known for his work on IDW’s Godzilla series. “As I wrote Project Nemesis, I was seeing it as a movie and a comic book, in part because that’s what I always do when I write, but also because Nemesis is a visual monster,” explains Robinson. “She has to be seen to be truly appreciated. And as I pictured this luminous goddess of vengeance, one artist stood out in my mind: Matt Frank.”
Frank, who has also worked in video game design, says, “Whereas my Godzilla work was always knock-down, drag-out, high-octane action and my Transformers are exaggerated and cartoonish, Project Nemesis is an opportunity to do something with a more deliberate, suspense-building, movie-like quality that I have rarely gotten the chance to do.”
Longtime Godzilla artist and Famous Monsters collaborator Bob Eggleton will provide retailer incentive variant covers for each issue in the series.
PROJECT NEMESIS #1 is scheduled to ship October 2015.