With all the great comics Pornsak Pichetshote has been writing over the last few years, sometimes it’s easy to forget he used to edit award-winning books at Vertigo. He’s putting both skills to work with The Horizon Experiment, a line of one-shots by various creative teams “featuring original protagonists from marginalized backgrounds set in a popular genre and inspired by pop culture icons.”
Pichetshote is working with co-editor Will Dennis on the line, which will feature contributions from Sabir Pirzada, Michael Walsh, Tananarive Due, Kelsey Ramsay, J. Holtham and more. Pichetshote is also writing the first one-shot, The Manchurian, which will feature artwork by Terry and Rachel Dodson.
“I’m fascinated with taking popular genres, like horror and noir, and seeing what they’d look like from diverse perspectives—I explored this in my Image Comics books Infidel and The Good Asian. But, I’ve been limited to my own experiences. So, for The Horizon Experiment, I decided to use the same mentality but open it up to other people, inviting some of the most talented people I know to work on it,” Pichetshote said. “Each one-shot is the equivalent of a pilot for a new creator-owned series, with the potential of continuing should there be demand for more. Each team of creators have had different approaches—all of them have knocked me out, and I couldn’t be more proud that the end result is five very unique books, all connected by the same ambitious spirit.”
Here’s a look at each of the one-shots, starting with The Manchurian:
The Horizon Experiment: The Manchurian
Who is it by? Pornsak Pichetshote (Infidel, The Good Asian) + Terry and Rachel Dodson (Adventureman, Harley Quinn)
What is it? The story of a Chinese super spy “inspired by James Bond.”
Here’s a preview, along with a variant cover by Tula Lotay, which will connect with variants for the other one-shots:
On sale: Sept. 25
The Horizon Experiment: The Sacred Damned
Who is it by? Sabir Pirzada (Disney+’s Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight) + Michael Walsh (Universal Monsters: Frankenstein, The Silver Coin)
What is it? “A love letter to classic horror from Dracula to John Constantine, the book follows a Muslim exorcist, in a new interpretation of horror tropes.”
On sale: October
The Horizon Experiment: Moon Dogs
Who is it by? Tananarive Due (The Keeper) + Kelsey Ramsay (Dark Spaces: Good Deeds)
What is it? The story of “a family of Black Lycanthropes of East African descent who find themselves caught in a burgeoning war when the truth starts to come out that werewolves aren’t just a myth.”
On sale: November
The Horizon Experiment: Motherf#cking Monsters
Who is it by? J. Holtham (TV’s The Handmaid’s Tale) + Michael Lee Harris (Black Hitler)
What is it? “A nerdy Black kid from Brooklyn and his friends stumble upon demon-worshipping frat assholes trying to take over the world in this love letter to Sam Raimi and Edgar Wright, set to a Wu-Tang soundtrack.”
On sale: December
The Horizon Experiment: Finders / Keepers
Who is it by? Vita Ayala (New Mutants, Nubia & the Amazons) + Skylar Patridge (Relics of Youth, Resonant)
What is it? It’s about a “reverse Indiana Jones adventure that follows archeology grad student Ines Guarua, who steals artifacts from museums to return them to their native cultures.”
On sale: January