Deep Discussions with Decapitated Dan: Garth Ennis

I recently had a chance to talk to Garth Ennis about his upcoming series Caliban.
Check it out: 

The word is out, Preacher and Crossed creator, Garth Ennis, has a brand new sci-fi horror comic coming out from Avatar in April.  Caliban tells the story of a deep space freighter that unexpectedly encounters the last thing anyone expected, alien life.  Humans have been exploring and exploiting resources in space for years.  They never encountered life or even real evidence of other races among the stars.  Until now.  An accident in hyperspace sets forth a terrifying story that will take you into dark places in the human psyche. As a violent chain reaction begins, the crew of the Caliban will find themselves in a living nightmare that they can’t wake up from.

If you enjoy groundbreaking science fiction like Alien, then Ennis’s Caliban is the perfect new series for you.  In its pages, Ennis manages to capture his trademark flair for spot on dialogue and original characters flawlessly and sets the stage for what is sure to be one of the seminal works in the genre.  Look for Caliban monthly beginning in April!


Decapitated Dan: This series is being solicited as a Dark Sci-Fi Horror adventure. So what can you tell me about what readers can expect from this series?

Garth Ennis: Things that go bump on a spaceship, really. Some of what you’d expect from that particular genre, and hopefully some particularly unpleasant moments that you won’t. This is my take on the claustrophobic, dysfunctional future narrative, where we board the great, rumbling starship and traverse its endless corridors to meet a crew of pissed-off misfits: then we watch them try to cope when all hell breaks loose.

Decapitated Dan: Are there big influences that caused you to go in the Sci-Fi direction with this story?

Garth Ennis: The most obvious one is Alien, which is still haunting my nightmares after 30-something years. I find it endlessly fascinating to speculate on the possibilities the story throws up, and some of Caliban definitely comes from that. Whenever I watch a sci-fi/horror movie I see Alien lurking somewhere in the background; the question is always whether there’s something new or different being said. With Caliban I like to think there is.

Decapitated Dan: Why do readers need to check this one out?  Readers know you for extreme horror and war stories. Is Caliban the beginning of experiments in new genres for future projects?

Garth Ennis: I’ve certainly been working my way through a few genres in the last year, with new projects centering on crime, dogs and now science-fiction. I think Caliban is pretty much a one-off; as far as science fiction.

Check out all things Caliban and Avatar Press at www.avatarpress.com