Even with Daniel Kraus’s hit novel Whalefall making the leap to the big screen, the author isn’t saying goodbye to the page just yet. The writer, whose work also includes collaborations with Guillermo del Toro and George A. Romero, has a brand new graphic novel, Athanasia, hitting shelves soon, and FANGORIA is excited to debut the entire first chapter of the new story, which puts a dark twist on the superhero genre we all know and love.
Written by Kraus, with art by Dani, colors by Brad Simpson, letters by Jim Campbell, and overall design by Tim Daniel, Athanasia is Kraus’s fourth graphic novel, following his work on The Cemeterians, The Autumnal, and Year Zero Vol. 0. The book’s synopsis is as follows:
Forrest Molson is going nowhere. One year out of high school—and one year into sobriety—she's working with her father as assistant groundskeeper at Athanasia Cemetery, the final resting place of fallen members of the Dynamic Guild, Venture City's resident superheroes. At her lowest point, Forrest discovers Athanasia's darkest secret. At night, the cemetery soil bleeds a substance created from the ooze of rotting superheroes.
This ooze becomes Forrest's new drug—and she's intent on using the unpredictable powers it bestows to be judge, jury, and executioner of Venture City's evil citizens. But, as she loses her mind to her new addiction, she inches closer to becoming the most evil of all. ATHANASIA is a superhero story seen through the darkest lens.
Our exclusive preview features the entire first part of Athanasia, introducing us to Forrest and her dismal existence as a groundskeeper. The world she lives in is ruled by the actions of the Dynamic Guild, a Justice League equivalent of superheroes who Forrest is suitably unimpressed with — or so people think. It turns out, her fate is inextricably intertwined with theirs, and so is a dark tragedy from her past.
“Once I set my mind to the challenge of figuring out a superhero story — a genre that is the opposite of second-hand to me — I figured my only conceivable route into it was through horror,” Kraus said of the new story. “When I work with horror, I generally like to keep it pretty grounded, not too much on the supernatural side — it just feels scarier to me. So I started with dead superheroes, and everything kind of oozed forth from there. Addiction was my hook, and when you're talking about superheroes, the addiction to power looms the largest. I wanted this to be an autopsy of the whole idea of superheroes.
“When it came to collaborators, I was ready to stop time to work with Dani. There simply would be no ATHANASIA without her — I don't think I would have gone ahead with the project. Her work is absolutely singular, gorgeous and horrifying and always startling. Her mastery of negative space is like nothing I've ever seen before. I've never known an artist who can make me excited with her depiction of, say, a pair of pants. Who else can make pants exciting?? Once Brad and Jim added their magic, the project just became perfect to me. I hope people like it, of course, but I can say unreservedly that I adore it. It is everything that, for six years, I wanted it to be, and even more. What a pretty, twisted little monster this is.”
Athanasia hits shelves on October 8 from Vault Comics. Check out the full first chapter below:
