Star-studded Creator Led Project Premiering on Kickstarter May 16th.
CHICAGO, IL (May 12, 2023) — Renowned graphic novel and art book publisher Magnetic Press has announced the upcoming premiere of their first original production in partnership with Horrible Future: BLACK BOX CHRONICLES, a science-fiction anthology that spans multiple generations in mankind’s expansion into space and beyond the stars. Developed by Horrible Future founders Mark Schey and Chris Northrop, the anthology serves as an introduction to the sprawling drama and high-concept fiction that will be explored in a multi-media plan that includes print, digital, audio, video, and interactive elements.
BLACK BOX CHRONICLES is set in the future age known as The Great Outward Expansion wherein mankind has not only left earth to colonize other planets but other star systems as well. Humanity’s natural instinct to explore is given free reign through exponentially advancing technology, reaching new plateaus of knowledge faster than anyone could have imagined. But regardless of how much data and processing power civilization achieves, there remains one barrier that can only be crossed in one direction: the one separating life and death. But one Scavenger believes he may be able to solve life’s biggest mystery by assembling scraps of data from a variety of Black Boxes recovered from several centuries’ worth of spacecraft that all share a secret connection, one that may answer the question of what happens in our final moments when we pass into “The Great Dark.”
Told by a creative team of some of the comic industry’s most talented artists and writers, this collection of 15 interconnected short stories set the historical groundwork for the BLACK BOX Universe. Horrible Future founders Mark Schey and Chris Northrop have gathered a roster of seasoned talent from around the world, including David Mack (Daredevil, Kabuki), Michael Avon Oeming (Powers, Bulletproof Monk), Zach Howard (Hellboy, Wild Blue Yonder), Eryk Donovan (Memetic, Quantum Teens are Go), Marco Fodera (Nathan Never), Gavin Smith (Star Trek: Mirrorverse), Toru Terada (Small World), David Messina (Star Wars: Han Solo & Chewbacca, 3Keys), Giovanni Rigano (Global, Artemis Fowl), Drew Moss (The Crow, Red Sonja), Christian Dibari (Revolvers, Providence of Madness), Taki Soma (Sleeping While Standing, Bitch Planet), and Mario Alberti (Spider-man and the Fantastic Four, The Wall).
In addition to the anthology, a world-building Art Book entitled BLACK BOX DESIGN SPACE will be released featuring an encyclopedic look at the various devices, locations, and technologies that make up this new future setting. Fully illustrated by concept artist Shane Molina, this supplemental volume will further immerse readers into the world of BLACK BOX through rich cutaway schematics and lore that add further dimension and layers to the mysteries explored in the anthology.
“We love hard sci-fi like The Expanse and thought pieces like Black Mirror. If Black Mirror is a shadowy reflection of humanity using technology, the Black Box is what happens after the technology kills you,” says Schey. “We wanted to create stories of that caliber but focused on a destination that few have dared to explore: the barrier between life and death. We wanted to take a scientific – albeit fantastic – approach to a subject that is normally seeped in the supernatural, exploring some alternate ideas about what happens in the last moments of a person’s life from a hard sci-fi perspective. While we don’t pose any concrete answers, our stories follow future explorers committed to figuring it out once and for all.”
In addition to the anthology and encyclopedia, additional supplementary content is in development, including original music by one of the fictional characters, longform prose short stories, and tabletop roleplaying materials using Magnetic’s D6MV System based on the classic D6 System by West End Games.
BLACK BOX CHRONICLES will debut on Kickstarter on Tuesday May 16th with special limited hardcover editions of both the anthology and the Design Space art book. The campaign-exclusive hardcover edition of the anthology will feature artwork by David Mack, while the general trade paperback edition will feature artwork by Shane Molina. A limited, deluxe slipcase set will feature both hardcover books inside a blue foil-laden slipcase with magnetic closure. Other campaign exclusives will include resin miniatures of some of the ships and drones featured in the series, a deck of premium playing cards featuring design motifs and artwork from inside the universe, and other unlockable bonus items that will be revealed at launch.
“On its surface, BLACK BOX is a cool collection of dark, character-focused snapshots,” says Mike Kennedy, Magnetic Press’s Publisher, “but when taken as a whole and looked at together from an altitude, BLACK BOX becomes a unique sci-fi series about the one thing technology and science can’t concretely explain: what happens after death. While Mark and Chris aren’t trying to make any theological claims with this series, the journey the characters take in their individual search for answers opens up some fascinating possibilities and intriguing reading.”
Interested readers and fans are encouraged to visit www.blackboxchronicles.com to pre-register for the upcoming campaign. Pre-registered and early backers will receive a limited edition linen two-sided poster by Shane Molina added to their pre-order for free.
The limited pre-order campaign will run for 18 days, ending June 2nd at 5pm CST. Books are expected to ship to backers and bookstores in October.
More info about Magnetic Press is available on Facebook, Twitter, and the official website, www.magnetic-press.com.
More info about Horrible Future is available on Facebook and at www.HorribleFuture.com.
About Magnetic Press
MAGNETIC PRESS is a subsidiary of Polarity that publishes graphic novels, art books, and tabletop games curated with a focus on internationally recognized content and talent presented with premium production value. The Magnetic brand was founded by writer and video game producer Mike Kennedy in 2013 featuring creators both new and established from around the world, sharing their stories with an English-language audience often for the first time. Their award-winning library includes numerous celebrated titles such as the Love series of wordless wildlife graphic novels, The Collected Toppi artbook series, and several titles by multiple-Eisner Award nominee Tony Sandoval. Magnetic has earned a total of 27 Eisner Award nominations in each of their first seven years of eligibility since their debut. Magnetic also won the Gold Medal of Excellence in the graphic novel category of the 2015 Independent Publisher Awards for Love: The Fox. In 2021, Magnetic launched Magnetic Press Play, an imprint dedicated to gaming and new media endeavors, with their first release of Carbon Grey The RPG, based on the Image Comics series by Hoang Nguyen, using their proprietary D6MV variant of the classic D6 Roleplaying Rules created by West End Games. Additional tabletop games are in development based on other popular licensed properties.
About Horrible Future!
HORRIBLE FUTURE! is a content production team that creates unique genre stories in graphic novel and comic book format. With over 30 combined years of experience in development, creation, and project management, founders Mark Schey and Chris Northrop seek to engage readers with high concepts that inspire wonder and independent thinking. Schey is a producer/writer with high-profile brand experience (including X-Files Online) and Northrop is a comic industry veteran, writer, and artist, with over 15 years of experience in many aspects of comic book production, most notably on Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins.
About Polarity
David Steward II’s POLARITY is a diversified global media company with a mission to bring authentic content to a diverse global audience. To create a richer content experience and offering, the company believes in the value of embracing diversity and highlighting previously unheard voices, as well as new and emerging views and voices. In addition to Magnetic Press, the Polarity portfolio also includes Lion Forge Animation, Oni-Lion Forge Publishing Group, and Illustrated Syndicate. With broad operations in animation, publishing and general media, Polarity has established itself as an impactful force in the entertainment industry. Steward II has been putting resources behind his vision of expanding the market for comics and comic-related pop culture to new age groups and demographics since the early 2010s, building a portfolio of titles and imprints that feature characters and creators from a wide variety of backgrounds. He’s extended that vision and ethic to the larger media landscape with an organization that can orchestrate content development, production, financing, and distribution across different channels.
