The Long Count: Apocalyptic Mayan Cyberpunk
This story originally appeared in PW Comics Week on February 5, 2008 Sign up now!
by Laura Hudson -- Publishers Weekly, 2/4/2008 2:26:00 PM
The end of the world is coming courtesy of Archaia Studios Press and its recently launched Mayan cyberpunk title, The Long Count. The 12 issue bimonthly miniseries introduces readers to a very unusual harbinger of the apocalypse: a beautiful Hispanic soccer phenom named Carmen Sandoval.
The Long Count is the brainchild of two new creators, writer and video game designer Jason Blair and artist Leanne Buckley, and its title refers to the “long count” of the Mayan calendar, whose current cycle ends on December 21, 2012, believed by some to herald armageddon.
The hero of the book isn't the person who plans to save the world, however; it's the person destined—and duty-bound—to destroy it. This usher of the end of times happens be a recently disgraced female sports celebrity, whom Buckley describes as “a strong character who doesn't fit into any of the cookie-cutter molds of what makes up the typical female comic book character.”
Although originally conceived by Buckley as a dystopian Japanese tale for a comics anthology, Blair transplanted its roots to Central America and transformed it into a speculative fiction in which the Mayans, rather than the Europeans, conquered North America. In order to create this alternate North America, called Columbiana, Blair and Buckley meticulously reimagined American history from square one with the Mayan and Aztec civilizations at its core.
“In the history of the fiction, the Southern Tribes, the Mayans and Aztecs, traveled far and wide as proclaimed by the sun,” explained Blair. “When they discovered the Northern Tribes, war broke out. Ultimately, the Northern Tribes were nearly obliterated and the Mayans and Aztecs settled the land. This is all before the Europeans reached the shores of the New World, and when they did, history takes an even bigger turn.”
Buckley, a former illustrator for White Wolf, brought Columbiana to life by researching the ancient Mayan and Aztec cultures extensively and incorporating their influence into everything from clothes and cars to architecture, Said Buckley, “There is a simply phenomenal pantheon of gods and goddesses within the culture of the Mayan and Aztec people, and their history is just amazing.”
The 12-issue series will be collected in two hardcover editions, according to Archaia editor Joe Illidge. The second issue hits stands this month.
