Most comic book fans know Shane Davis from his work as co-creator on Superman: Earth One, as well as his artwork for both DC and Marvel Comics. However, Davis now has his own creator-owned comic out, Axcend, with Image Comics.
Axcend is about a teenager, Eric, who escapes into the world of video games on the anniversary of his twin brother's death. However, this is a comic book, so that means that soon, Eric finds himself with video game superpowers that he can access in the real world.
Although part of the first issue of Axcend takes place within a digital world, at its heart, the title is a superhero comic: What happens when Eric takes his newly discovered superpowers into the real world? He's still the same person there, but now he's more: how will that affect his day-to-day life and struggles as a teen?
Tech Times spoke with Davis about Axcend, as well as what readers can expect in upcoming issues and where the initial idea for the series came from.
"It tumbled around in my head back in 2007," says Davis. "I knew back then that I wanted to do it, but at the time I was just working a lot in mainstream comics, going from one project to another, so I never got around to it."
However, once Davis sat down and started working on Axcend, it came together quickly.
"I always knew I wanted to do a story with a young kid with maybe not the best moral compass and giving him absolute power and playing with that a lot," said Davis. "It's weird because it just worked out one night in my head and I started writing it and I kind of wrote it as a three-arc story. And then I condensed it into a two-arc story. What was weird about it is that I always knew the ending and I always knew the beginning. I always knew the three players—the three characters—how everything fit together."
However, Davis had more work in mainstream comics that took him away from the idea, so he set it aside for about a year. Once he returned to the world of Axcend, most of it remained the same.
"I looked back at it and I really didn't change the overall layout of it that much," said Davis.
The first issue of Axcend shows Eric delving into the digital world of video games, but Davis assures readers that this isn't the main crux of what they can expect from future issues of the title. However, the game is still important to what's happening to Eric and the other characters.
"For the overall story arc, we actually never go back into the game," said Davis. "The game itself: it's really more about something that plays out later on, but it's more about the mentality of gaming and the distance between violent acts—what's real and what's not real. It's more about the game and reality: what happens when the two things clash together."
Axcend, though, isn't just a comic book about video games and super powers. Davis also plans on tackling more serious issues within its pages, too, such as bullying and depression.
"I felt like teen bullying and depression were a serious issue to tackle as I placed all three of my characters in a position of being bullied," said Davis. "I feel like this has only escalated in the previous years, especially with social media being easily accessible and so commonplace."
However, with Rayne, the female protagonist in the comic, Davis plans on approaching the subject differently. There's also Ruin, the third protagonist in the series, who readers will meet in issue three.
"Rayne is a famous pop-star/gamer, on the top of her game, living a very different life, but dealing with bullying and pressure from the tabloids, so a lot of her character will be dealing with escapism through drugs and alcohol," said Davis. "In issue three, we will be introduced to Ruin, who also gets bullied, but we see his reaction to the abuse. This issue specifically is very sensitive."
Most comic book fans know Davis through his artwork and the Superman: Earth One graphic novels. However, Axcend is completely his own creation. Davis believes this transition from working for other creators to, basically, working for himself gave him a new sort of freedom.
"It has been very creative and liberating," said Davis. "I'm a big fan of comics that are written and drawn by the same person. I'm happy I was able to do that, as this story has a lot of personal aspects to it. It's definitely a different experience for me. It feels very natural and organic. Everything that I concept and write flows more naturally into my drawing because it's already in my head. The concepts don't get lost in translation. I enjoy it very much and I hope to do much more as a writer/artist."
Axcend #1 is available now everywhere Image Comics are available.
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