Wellcome, a global charitable foundation, has funded an enhanced comics app for the highly anticipated new comic book series SURGEON X. The app will launch on September 28, 2016, with Image Comics’ publication of the first issue by debut comic book writer and acclaimed documentary filmmaker Sara Kenney (Angels and Ghosts), master artist John Watkiss (Sandman), colorist James Devlin (Testament), letterer Jared K. Fletcher (Paper Girls), and editor Karen Berger, the founder of Vertigo Comics.
First time comic writer Sara Kenney secured funding for both the app and the comic itself with a Society Award from Wellcome, which supported extensive dialogue with scientists, medics, biomedical ethicists and sociologists. SURGEON X is a medical thriller set in London in the year 2036, which asks: What if we lived in a world of antibiotic resistance and rationing, where the superbugs have won? In the series, Rosa Scott, a brilliant and obsessive surgeon takes things into her own hands and becomes Surgeon X, a vigilante doctor who uses experimental surgery and black market drugs to treat patients.
“The app invites the reader to search ‘behind the panels’ and ‘behind the balloons’ to find animations, documentaries and other exclusive content,” says Kenney. “It enhances the storyworld allowing the reader to find out more about the science and also the brutal fictional world our future characters inhabit.”
A new enhanced comic app will be available each month to accompany the content of each issue and timed to the same release, and will include:
- Animated scientific shorts narrated by Alice Roberts, Professor of Public Engagement in Science at University of Birmingham;
- Historical footage detailing the medical science of antibiotics;
- Futuristic animations of political campaigns, commercials & news reports from London 2036;
- Documentary interviews with the creative team and the scientists, surgeons, historians, ethicists and philosophers who helped inform the series;
- Original music and sound design;
- The entire comic, both in color and in stylish black and white
SURGEON X marks the return to the comic book industry for Karen Berger, the award-winning, founding editor of Vertigo, who is editing her first comic series after a three-year hiatus.
“The app is the ultimate companion piece,” says Berger. “No one in comics has done anything quite like this before, and I was blown away by the idea of experimenting with off the page storytelling while keeping the purity of comics intact. Not only has Sara created a rich and incredible world, but with the app she’s using her filmmaking talents to expand on the concept in an exciting and special way.”
The SURGEON X Enhanced Comic App was created by Sara Kenney Writer/ Producer/ Director; Michael Mensah-Bonsu, Designer and Developer of Vuniiun Ltd., Simon Armstrong, Animation Director of Ticktockrobot; Oliver Kenney, Composer/Music Consultant; Marnie Chesterton freelancer for BBC, Producer of audio documentaries as well as Karen Berger and producer Duncan Copp.
The SURGEON X Enhanced Comic app is available September 28 in the App Store and Google Play Store for $3.99 U.S./£2.99 U.K.. For more about SURGEON X head over to: www.SurgeonX.co.uk