In the aftermath of the election of a nigh - fascistic US President of the United States , what happens when one of the country ’s most liberal , most economically powerful country adjudicate to cut all association from the union ? That ’s the premiss of Black Mask Studio ’s provocative new serial publication Calexit , and we ’ve got an undivided tone at the distressful picture it paint .
herald after the first month of Donald Trump ’s time in office , Matteo Pizzolo and Amancay Nahuelpan ’s Calexit reckon an even grimmer realness than some aghast American citizens might find themselves in at the moment . The series takes fears of an emboldened far rightfield to their furthest extrapolation by putting a vindictive authoritarian in the White House , and keep an eye on a mold of role dismay to go in a country where their fellow citizen no longer see them as fellow Americans . Check out a few pages from the issue below , making their debut here on io9 .
“ We did n’t roll in the hay how well timed Calexit would become when we started cook it up last year . The Word was conceived during that toxic stew of the US presidential main campaigns where it just felt like everybody was fighting with everybody and even in general likeminded people were at each other ’s throats — and the people who were n’t likeminded with one another were literally perforate each other , ” Pizzolo said in a statement provided to io9 .
“ And in the context of the militarized police force presence growing throughout urban America , the Federal Government backing down in the Bundy standoff , the furor of metropolis like Flint who ca n’t bank on the government activity to even offer them with safe drinking H2O , and the changeless cry to palisade in our state … it did n’t need a literal President Trump for a dystopia like Calexit to feel all - too plausible . The big shift for us has been that our burden as storytellers went from take a crap it feel potentially plausible to making it find actually fictional , because the material human race is take in up to our dystopia at a rapid clip . ”
Although Calexit initially started out as a twisted prolongation of reverence about the revival of the far right , Pizzolo is alarmed at just how swiftly its conception have gone from thought experiments to alarmingly naturalistic in the meter it ’s guide the series to bump off comic shelf . “ In the time since we cooked this fictitious mankind up , ” Pizzolo continued , “ Trump was elected President and pushed through his controversial travel ban executive order , with numerous state refusing to enforce it and the Supreme Court opinion largely against the state . When President Trump pulled America out of the Paris pact , California responded by co - founding the United States Climate Alliance with other states , in verbatim defiance of the Federal Government , and California even go so far as to spirt a one-sided climate arrangement unmediated with China . And Trump threatened to deputize the National Guard . It ’s all really startling . When we put this book together we were n’t hop for ‘ prescient ’ to be the parole bombilate around it . ”
But Calexit is n’t just a fictional crabwise measure , however — and not all of it is as unrelentingly grim as it sounds . As well as telling the on-going story of resistance leader Zora and the battle to release California as its own autonomous state , each government issue of the comic will also come up with insight into real - world political discourse and activism , featuring interviews with activist little and large about what Americans can do to become affiance in the political process in the running play - up to important House and Senate elections in 2018 . “ The first number features interviews with Amanda Weaver , who is a political organiser with Reclaim Chicago ; Lexi Alexander , the director of Green Street Hooligans and Punisher : War Zone , who has been a powerful vocalism for diversity in Hollywood ; and Bill Ayers , a lifelong organizer , activist , and educator who is probably best love for his role in the Weather Underground , ” Pizzolo told us . “ We focused the interview on inspire thing people are doing and literal actionable steps anyone can take if they have n’t been part of the political procedure before but suddenly feel a need to participate more . ”
“ For me in person , Calexit ’s non - fiction section was revolutionize by Brave New World revisit , ” Pizzolo continued . “ When I was a kid reading Brave New World I fell in dear with the characters of John and Lenina and Bernard , and then after finish the history I came upon the Brave New World revisit section in the back where Huxley delve into the non - fiction constituent inspiring the tale ’s fabricated world . And I did n’t even read revisit the first clip , because it ’s not necessary for enjoy the story . But I know it was there and eventually I go back and interpret it , and it pierce the veil between the fictional worldly concern and the genuine world in such a coolheaded , alone way . ”
“ So it seemed like there was an opportunity to do something like that here , but I ’m no Huxley and I do n’t have any of the answer , so we ’re really lucky that some genuine superb activists took the clock time to help us connect Calexit ’s sullen story with veridical - world step we can all take to maybe make the future a fiddling bit good for all of us . ”
Calexit # 1 is in entrepot July 12 .
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