The
creator of the controversial Second Coming series Mark Russell has
announced his next series, and the title promises much the same kind of
commentary.
Published by Comics Ahoy, Billionaire Island will launch in March 2020.
The series
depicts a group of billionaires who go to Freedom Unlimited (FU) Island their
own island to wait out the looming apocalypse. Anything goes and there are no
laws.
Mr Russell said
that the book would satirise contemporary politics.
“..[B]ecause they are in international
waters and not subject to any law, their haven is a nightmarish police state
for anyone on the island who crosses them,” he said.
“In a broader sense, it’s a series that asks
the question: how do we save the world when all its resources are partying
offshore?”
Billionaire Island’s announcement comes as Second Coming is in its fourth issue of a six issue run. The series sees Jesus return to earth but
become aghast at what modern Christianity has become. The series satirises
megachurches, superhero comics, and US politics in equal measure. For all of
the controversy the series has garnered, it has fostered
discussion of Jesus’ teachings amongst its diverse readership.
Billionaire Island’s art will be handled by Steve Pugh, who, alongside Russell, had an acclaimed run on the Flinstones comic.
Second Coming has received positive reviews, despite a rocky start that
saw DC
Comics pull it from production and Mr Russell ask for the rights back,
after a Change.org petition deemed it to be blasphemous. Its re-emergence at
Ahoy Comics has been a boom for the young publisher.
This has not hampered his relationship with the superhero publisher, however,
and he has continued to work on projects like the Wonder Twins and Year of the
Villain: Riddler.
Billionaire
Island launches in March 2020.
Jonathan Foye is Insights’ Editor
